By Rick Forbus, Ph.D.

Everyday practical leadership does not require flawless execution of management skills, but rather, an intentional pursuit of excellence. As you pursue excellence in your choices, relationships, tasks, planning and even general thought processes, leadership development will surely follow. Living your life and performing your life’s tasks with distinction and quality is a noble quest.

Excellence is the state of excelling. It implies superiority and eminence, according to the dictionary. When someone or something is excellent we believe that there is a quality or feature that stands out in comparison to others. Everyday excellent living can be a pathway to success.
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By Rick Forbus, Ph.D.

Are you glad for do-overs in your organization and in your life? You may be asking how do organizational and personal second chances coincide. Well, that is the topic of this article. Recently, while talking on my cell phone, I was multi-tasking by typing a long e-mail. For a portion of the phone call I lost focus on my typing and placed my fingers inadvertently on the wrong position and mistyped a full paragraph. When the call was over I re-read my email. It started out correct, but the part where I had lost focus read a little like this: “U qill fet vack to tou in that shortly.” An entire section was just one finger position off. It hit me as funny as I tried to reclaim the meaning and retype it correctly.

As a coach, it seems that there is some teachable moment in just about everything. A learning moment is what this e-mail incident became for me. My e-mail needed a little backspacing and so does my life sometimes! It seems that certain organizations need some backspacing, as well. If it were not for the mulligans and do-overs most organizational leaders would be in tough shape. Many times trying another strategy after a failure brings encouragement and synergy to the team. Admitting a do-over is a powerful position for a leader. Most organizations get less-than-strategic results at times, and a redirection and a little backspacing can be the answer for better outcomes.
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By Rick Forbus, Ph.D.

Before I go any farther with this article I want to make it clear that I know this is an unusual topic for project managers. Forgiveness is never easy whether in organizational life, family life or just generally in relationships. It is, however, a relevant topic when it comes to leadership. To forgive someone is a powerful and complex action. It can mean to absolve or clear another of their wrongdoing towards you or others. It may include the next step of freeing that person or persons from the repercussions of their incorrect actions. When we make an emotional decision to exonerate another or to be exonerated by another for our actions, something deeply emotional transpires.

Leadership has never and will never take place in a vacuum. To be a leader one has to involve others. It is the “involving of others” that brings about the relational challenges. Most leaders, from my experience as a coach, consider walking into another’s office and asking for their forgiveness a glaring weakness. Leaders also often find it awkward to respond when someone forgives them for a wrongdoing. Even though it is difficult to talk about forgiving someone in the corporate setting, what may appear to be a weakness, could be a definable strength as a leader.
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By Rick Forbus, Ph.D.

Get ready for this article because it is full of personal indulgences and shameless bragging! I am blessed to have four grandchildren. I am not old enough, but miracles do happen. All four are different and I learn lessons on leadership, management and relationship-building from them.

Samuel Maclane Forbus
Samuel is five. If you watch the TV and have ever have watched “Monk” then you know a little about Samuel. Samuel keeps all of his stuff more organized than I do by a long shot! He could count to 110 when he was four. He has completely memorized all NFL and NCAA football teams, their colors, their mascots and at
least one popular player. He knows all of the books of the Bible, sends himself to bed promptly at 9:30 pm and is very hygienic. He keeps up with all of his things, is articulate and loves to play soccer. Not that he needed motivation, but we have been giving him $1.00 for every soccer goal. He made 7 one Saturday and just called to let us know that he was registered for the new league and we should get our dollars ready! Samuel is focused.

Leadership lessons learned from Samuel.
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By Rick Forbus, PhD.

In a recent coaching session, a “star” manager shared the frustration of unclear, inconsistent and untimely communication in the organization where he manages. Actual deliverables in this organization are above expectations and money is good. The problem is that mixed signals come from the top and he feels insecure. The head leadership is bright, successful but unskilled in communication.

The above case is one of many regarding frustrating communication. Many times the issue is the “back noise” in the workplace and management is unsure of what is actually reality. What I mean by “back noise” is gossip, disloyal behaviors, no team spirit and general employee unrest.
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