leadership

These leaders are all about making improvements and finding better ways to get things done. And as a result, they inspire and empower other people to own their work and chime in with their suggestions or observations about how things could be streamlined or upgraded.

Under transformational leaders, people have tons of autonomy, as well as plenty of

So how many of these unicorns are out there? One of us (David), along with Tricia Naddaff, CEO of Management Research Group, analyzed data from thousands of employees in which people rated their bosses on goal focus and people focus. Less than 1% of leaders were rated high on both.

I later used a specific question when talking to junior officers and sergeants in small bases in Afghanistan: “If I told you that you weren’t going home until we win—what would you do differently?” At first they would chuckle, assuming I was joking, but soon realized I wasn’t. At that point most became very thoughtful. If they were forced to

Human beings are generally not capable of managing more than six to ten people, particularly when things go sideways and inevitable contingencies arise.

I had a client whose maturity scores didn’t improve over a 3-year period. If data was all that was presented this could easily be interpreted as a failure of progress. But when they focused the narrative around the successful integration of the multiple acquisitions they had over the past few years, the focus shifted to the successful expansion of

“It felt pretty daunting for me when I stepped into this role myself. Just know that we’ve all been there, and we understand. But you were chosen for a reason. I’m here to support you in learning this new role, and I know you’re going to master it sooner than you might think.”

“What are two things I could do differently next time to be more impactful?”

Cover and Move: it is the most fundamental tactic, perhaps the only tactic.

First, their members trust one another. Second, they are bound by a sense of common purpose—a shared ideology or purposeful trait. Third, given the small size and rich interconnectivity of a small team, they can create a sense of shared consciousness among the group: a state in which all members have a common understanding of their mutually-held