Right now, if I were to ask you to think of an inspirational leader, what comes to mind? Many people tend to say things like charisma, boldness, driven, high-achiever, or gifted communicator. However, a pattern I see when talking to people about this topic is that the answers mostly center around innate gifts. You either have them or you don't.

I remember the first time I learned about a litmus test in chemistry class. As usual, my mind was easily distracted and I wasn't really listening to what the teacher had to say about the differences between an acidic and alkaline solution. What I do remember is how cool it was seeing the strip of paper change colors based on the different liquids it was put into.

When thinking of the word “conflict”, most of us picture something like in-your-face, mean-spirited attacks. The kind we typically see on workplace comedies, or have heard horror stories about from our friends or family. While this can certainly happen, I have observed that conflict more often takes another form in many workplaces…

In recent years I have grown increasingly interested in the topic of resilience. For our purposes, we could define resilience as the capacity to recover quickly and bounce back from difficulties or hardship.

Leaders have so many demands placed upon them that it can be hard to find time for their own development. That is why I like to occasionally post recommendations for various resources that leaders can work through on their own schedule. Today I want to focus on some great TED Talks for anyone looking to become a more effective leader.

If you are a sports fan like myself, you may have heard commentators talk about a certain coach and say something like, "he took a group of individuals, and made them a team." This typically means that coach is pretty good at their job.

Perhaps one of the most popular topics I work with clients on is conflict. It's no surprise, as conflict truly has the power to make or break a team, depending on how it's handled. However, while conflict is one of the most common topics I work on, it often comes in a reactive way rather than a proactive one.

So if I say the word meeting, what comes to mind? Chances are if you are like most people, whatever you imagined probably had a negative connotation. In fact, there is such a stigma around the modern-day workplace meetings that they have become an endless supply of material for memes, TV shows, and comedians.

I like to joke around and say that the most productive people tend to also be the laziest. In reality, we know that is not the case, but there is a hint of truth in it. Paradoxically, I have observed that many hyper-productive people do not work the most hours and often maintain a relaxed pace throughout the day.

A few years back I was conducting a workshop with a senior leadership team. Our goal was to build greater cohesion amongst them as a team, and also map out some priorities for developing their people in the coming year. Beforehand, some members of the team reached out to express their concern with one individual.

We've all been there. Sharing something with a coworker in confidence, and somehow the whole office knows the next day. Or perhaps we have been on the other end. A coworker spilling the tea to us about someone else on the team and suddenly we think, "wow... what must they be saying about me when I'm not around?"

It's September 2015, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just discovered that many Volkswagen cars being sold in America have been installed with a "defeat device." This was actually software in diesel engines that could detect when an engine was being tested versus actual driving, and change its performance significantly to improve its testing results.