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Your attention, please! Issue 364 of Uncommon Sense has arrived! Let’s get busy! As the Managing Partner of Leadership Development Systems, I have spent years studying, teaching, and trying to live the principles of enlightened leadership. For some time now I have had a leadership concern on my mind that I am finally ready to […]

One of the great myths of leadership is that leaders establish standards by announcing them. They don’t. They establish standards by enforcing them. You can hang a beautifully framed list of organizational values in the lobby. You can hold retreats. You can distribute laminated cards. You can even hire a consultant who uses words like […]

The Oppressive Oppressed In California, a century of traffic science and public-safety research had established strict licensing rules for truck drivers navigating fully loaded 80,000-pound, double-trailer behemoths amid tiny subcompacts on our busy freeways. Our legal system has insisted that drivers of such interstate semis must be highly skilled and certified before stepping into the […]

Last March I was invited to deliver a speech on the subject of Navigating the Storms of Life. It was to a rather diverse audience and the speech resonated with the people. I thus received a second invitation to speak on the unusual and esoteric subject of sacred religious texts. I prepared carefully for that […]

I have occasionally wondered how many things I might have done in life if I hadn’t been afraid to do them. Probably quite a few. Fear is one of nature’s better inventions. It keeps us from petting rattlesnakes, investing our retirement funds in Nigerian princes, and saying certain things to our wives that—while technically true—need […]

Building Your Power of Expression Protean, adj. Pronunciation: ˈ’prōdēən, prōˈtēən Meaning: The word protean denotes the idea of someone or something tending or able to change frequently or easily. Kind of reminds me of a shape-shifter or a person of extreme versatility. Usage: “It is difficult to comprehend the whole of this protean subject.” “Shostakovich […]