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Stressful situations in business, at work and at home tend to show our true colors as leaders. Who we really are comes through in the heat of the moment. Our struggles and insecurities often make life's challenges more rather than less stressful. Long-time friend and business associate, retired USAF Colonel Lee Ellis, shares leadership lessons learned from his five years as a POW in Vietnam in his latest book, Leading with Honor (2012). His "leadership engagement model" helps us understand how our underlying emotions cause us to lead and respond to stress in three different ways: withdrawal, engagement, and domination.  Patrick Lencioni provides great insight into the value of healthy conflict in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Leaders must lead and facilitate healthy, productive conflict so that relationships, teams and organizations will grow, mature and become the best they can be. This is essential for working together to find the best solutions, build the best relationships and teams, and for the greater good of our families, workplace and communities. This simple yet powerful model helps us understand and improve relationships, families, teams, companies, communities, governments and even countries.  Self-deception is like this. It blinds us to the true causes of problems, and once we’re blind, all the ‘solutions’ we can think of will actually make matters worse. Whether at work or at home, self-deception, obscures the truth about ourselves, corrupts our view of others and our circumstances, and inhibits our ability to make wise and helpful decisions. To the extent that we are self-deceived, both our happiness and our leadership are undermined at every turn…   The raw emotions of a polarized electorate are taking a toll on employee relations. How can leaders promote peace, love and understanding? Business owners, executives and HR leaders can help ease workplace tensions that are negatively impacting collaboration, engagement and organizational performance. Read more
 How can senior managers create teams that feel trusting enough to enable challenging discussions that can move their organizations forward? These four steps apply to companies of all sizes from any industry. Read article
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