good leadership

Leading from good to great does not mean coming up with the answers and then motivating everyone to follow your messianic vision. It means having the humility to grasp the fact that you do not yet understand enough to have the answers and then to ask the questions that will lead to the best possible insights.

“How do you do a good job as a leader when you have to sell a decision you don’t agree with?” Part of what we’ve talked about is how to get to a place personally where you can disagree and commit. For me, it usually requires asking for space to discuss something until I understand. I may not agree but I need to understand why we’re making the... See more

One of the best ways you can show productivity trust = modeling and embracing “blank time.”

“In many ways the magic of Patagonia comes from the constraints we place on ourselves which are grounded in our deep sense of responsibility to do right by the environment and society,” Stanley told me. “We can't go to the Fashion Institute of Technology library and choose from 5,000 fabrics for the spring line. We have a couple hundred we can... See more

Chouinard and his business partner, Tom Frost, made what would become a legendary decision to shift away from pitons. It foreshadowed many other decisions Chouinard would make over the next fifty years, each with a similar pattern: Come to grips with damage you’re doing, set bright lines about how you’ll shift your business to reduce that damage,... See more

"The greatest predictor of success for leaders is not their charisma, influence, or power. It is not personality, attractiveness, or innovative genius," the pair write. Instead it's a quality called "relational energy." Having it can help your company be up to four times more successful.