Category: Leadership Skills

Being the Boss

On February 27, 2023, I started a new role as Vice President of Human Resources for Space Center Houston—following a 30-year Federal career in Human Resources, mostly with NASA.  In honor of my first anniversary, I thought it was appropriate to summarize Linda Hill and Kent Lineback’s Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader.

If you were a high performer in your work before becoming a manager, you may find the journey into management particularly difficult. Because of previous success, stars are understandably reluctant to give up the attitudes and practices they think produced their success thus far, and they’re unwilling to change themselves.  But, as Marshall Goldsmith wrote, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.

Too many leaders fail to live up to their potential. Why? Because they stop working on themselves. Leadership is about using yourself as an instrument to get things done. It can be learned, but only if you are willing and able to engage in serious self-development.

That’s one reason I continue with this blog.  It forces me to continue to learn about leadership and improve my own skills and perspective.

Click here to learn the 3 imperatives for becoming a great leader

The Truth About Leadership

In 1987, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner were scheduled to present about leadership at a two-day conference following Tom Peters—a leading management guru at the time. Academics at Santa Clara University, Kouzes and Posner decided to focus on individual leadership skills and the challenges that take place to “make extraordinary things happen.”

Following the presentation, they published The Leadership Challenge—a blockbuster business book that has sold over two million copies. On the 25th anniversary of its publication, they released the fifth edition of the book.

In 2010, Kouzes and Posner published another book entitled The Truth About Leadership: The No-Fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know.  As they point out, the context of leadership has changed dramatically since they first asked people in the early 1980s to describe their personal best leadership experiences and their most admired leaders.

However, as the context of leadership has changed, the content of leadership has not changed much at all. The fundamental behaviors, actions, and practices of leaders have remained essentially the same since Kouzes and Posner first began researching and writing about leadership nearly four decades ago.

Click here for more from Kouzes and Posner