Browsing: Leadership

Here’s an excerpt from a wonderful piece in Feministing by intellectual powerhouse Courtney Martin, questioning whether contemporary feminism makes room for shy or introverted girls. Courtney articulates something I’ve worried about for years – in our efforts to instill confidence in young women, are we promoting an ideal of sassy outspokenness that’s just as confining [...]

What would it look like if we could really make our culture more balanced between action and contemplation, between introverts and extroverts? What if we started in our own lives? What if we did it TODAY? I propose that readers of this site work together to make concrete changes in our personal lives — changes [...]

In yesterday’s New York Times op-ed on political leadership styles, David Brooks describes President Obama as a non-hierarchical but passive, thoughtful yet aloof leader: “I would never have predicted he would be this sort of leader. I thought he would get into trouble via excessive self-confidence. Obama’s actual governing style emphasizes delegation and occasional passivity. [...]

Back when I was a lawyer, I worked for a firm whose culture I loved – it was a quirky and intellectual place, as law firms go. I stayed years longer than I should have, because I liked the culture so much. I thought about this today, when I attended the World Innovation Forum (#WIF11), [...]

“He who should inspire and lead his race must be defended from travelling with the souls of other men, from living, breathing, reading, and writing in the daily, time-worn yoke of their opinions.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson What do you think of this idea? I disagree with the notion that we should avoid traveling with the souls of [...]

That’s the title of an article in last week’s Wall Street Journal. The article introduces introverted leaders like Doug Conant, the much-celebrated chief of Campbell Soup (whom I wrote about here) and Tim Miller, the CEO of Rally Development Software, whom I interviewed for my book. Tim has many impressive qualities — smarts, humility, and determination among [...]

If you fear public speaking, this story will inspire you. (It was posted on my Psychology Today blog, in response to my article on “Why You Fear Public Speaking, And What To Do About It.“) “My story is that I started out with SEVERE communication apprehension. It was so bad in my early twenties that [...]