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What My Dogs Have Taught Me About Leadership
I’ve had a lot of great leadership mentors over the years. Coaches, authors, and a handful of extraordinary bosses who shaped how I think. I’m grateful for every one of them.
But some of my best lessons have come from a different source. Four legs. A wagging tail. And zero interest in my credentials.
Here’s what our dogs have taught me.
Lesson 1: Show Up Every Single Time
Every time Lynn or I walk through the door,
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Read MorePre-Call Planning Isn’t Just for Salespeople
When people hear the phrase “pre-call planning,” they almost always think of sales. It brings to mind a salesperson preparing for a client meeting: reviewing notes, thinking through questions, maybe even anticipating objections.
Read MoreThe Leader You Never Hear
Our church has a great worship band. Some of their songs have gone viral across the US. They know how to lead the congregation in worship. However, most people in our church’s auditorium never notice my friend Seth Reed.
Read MoreLeadership Stability: Weight in the Right Place
In the world of leadership, we often pay attention to what everyone else can see, the presentations, the results, the visible wins. But in my experience, the real strength of a leader is usually found in places no one notices.
Read MoreAvodah: Your Work Is More Than a Job
Most leaders I meet are tired. Not tired of working hard – but tired of fragmentation.
They feel pulled between performance and principles, results and relationships, ambition and integrity. They want to succeed without selling their souls in the process.
There is an ancient word that speaks directly to this tension: Avodah.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, avodah is translated three ways: work,
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Read MoreStillness, Service, and Seeing People Clearly: Leadership Lessons from the Veranda
By the time our week in Kenya was drawing to a close, I realized something important: the most enduring leadership lessons of the trip didn’t just come from the animals.
They came from the people. And from the hours spent sitting still.
Much of our time at Ol Pejeta followed a predictable rhythm, early morning drives, shared meals, afternoon rest, evening outings. But some of the most meaningful moments happened when nothing was scheduled at all.
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Read MorePower, Restraint, and Responsibility: Leadership Lessons from the Wild of Kenya
Fellow leader: in my last LeadersBlog, I shared how our Kenya safari slowed us down enough to see clearly. This time, I want to talk about what we saw once our eyes adjusted, specifically, what watching animals in the wild taught me about power, restraint, and responsibility.
Safari mornings start early, but not all early mornings are the same.
One morning, most of the group departed at 6:00 a.m.
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Read MoreThe Long Way There: What a Kenya Safari Taught This Aspiring Leader About Slowing Down to See Clearly
Some trips start the moment you arrive.
Others start long before. Maybe somewhere over the Atlantic, halfway between exhaustion and anticipation, when the seat barely reclines and you realize there’s no shortcut to where you’re going.
My wife Lynn and I took a “Trip of a Lifetime” Kenya safari last fall along with our daughter Drew. This trip was very much the second type of trip.
Austin to Philadelphia.
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Read MoreBuen Camino: Everyone Walks the Same Path, but No One Walks the Same Journey
Happy New Year! 2025 has been marked with some significant trips for me and my wife, Lynn. Here is one story of significance from the Buen Camino trip.
Read MoreThe Both-And of Leadership: Formal Roles and Personal Relationships
If you’ve been in leadership for more than five minutes, you’ve probably felt it: that constant tension between delivering results and genuinely caring for your people. It can feel like the world is trying to force us to choose, performance or people. But in my experience, the best leaders? They don’t choose. They embrace both.
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