Embracing Courage

Ladies and Gentlemen, today we are going to talk about politics. We’ve just finished a grueling New York City Democratic mayoral primary season. The apparent winner is Bill de Blasio, an Italian who managed to get enough votes from the black community to easily defeat the leading black candidate, at least for now (avoiding a…

The Sounds of Silence

Great leaders are great listeners. They encourage others to express their opinions and seriously consider what they hear, even if it challenges pre-existing beliefs http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2013/09/03/6-ways-leaders-can-get-better-results-by-not-talking/. Yet, when we think of great leaders, listening is not the attribute that first comes to mind. Our perceptions of leadership are heavily influenced by Hollywood. We expect leaders to…

Herding Millennials

When managers get frustrated, they sometimes describe their work as herding cats. And the more managers are being asked to manage Millennials the more cats it seems they have to herd. If you’ve ever owned a cat, you know what a challenge that can be. Asked to describe the Millennial population, managers use expressions such…

Diversity: A Question of Balance

I’ve written a series of blogs focusing on the urgency of addressing gender diversity in new and customized ways, pointing out that approaches currently used are unlikely to break the glass ceiling http://stangercarlson.com/2013/08/27/developing-women-is-risky-business/ http://stangercarlson.com/2013/08/28/women-in-waiting/ http://stangercarlson.com/2013/08/29/designing-for-women/. I’ve also explained the value of diversity from a business standpoint http://stangercarlson.com/2013/07/24/unlocking-diversity/. Now along comes an HBR blog piece that…