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What We Need to Know About Empathy

By: Josh

I never thought I’d learn so much from, and be so impacted by, a children’s book of all things.

But in Cori Doerrfeld’s The Rabbit Listened, protagonist Taylor endures a significant loss. As he experiences the roller coaster of emotions in response to the loss –...

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Connecting with Your Most Junior Members

By: Josh

How many levels of management exist between you and the most junior members at the baseline of your organizational chart? For me, it’s five right now. That’s five echelons of subordinate leaders between me and the people who ultimately carry out our organization’s...

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What is Authentic Leadership?

By: Josh

When asked to produce a list of the best, most desirable qualities in a leader, many people tend to include the word “authentic” in some way. Our team at 3x5 Leadership even considers leading authentically to be one of the 10 important habits of intentional leaders.

If...

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How to Learn from Bad Leadership Experiences

By: Josh

Who is the worst boss or leader you have ever had? What made him or her the worst?

More importantly, what did you learn from them and that experience? Have you thought about how you have grown from it?

We have all had bad bosses, poor leaders over us, and less-than-ideal work experiences...

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How to Love and Lead a Jerk

By: Josh

It’s inevitable – we will always be working or associated with THAT person.

Maybe it’s a boss who is self-promoting and self-serving. He routinely takes all the credit for success, shares the blame with you and others when something goes wrong, and he doesn’t...

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The Capstone of Culture: The Imperatives of Alignment and Assessment

By: Josh

“With all that we’ve discovered here, I’m worried about our vision. Should we change it?”

These were the expressed concerns of a leader whose team I was working with during their “Culture Conference.” Through a series of team-based exercises, we spent...

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We are Not Victims of Culture. Leaders Shape It. So, Here’s a Primer on Culture.

By: Josh

In 1987, Paul O’Neill took over as CEO of Alcoa, the Aluminum Company of America. A century earlier, the company’s founder invented the process of smelting aluminum and Alcoa had enjoyed long-held success up to this point – consistent investors, strong returns, and a...

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3 Ways to Bring Your Organization’s Values to Life

By: Josh

What are your organization’s defined values? Do you know them?

What about your people, do they know your organization’s values?

More importantly, what do these values do? How do they guide the day-to-day attitudes and behaviors of individuals and the collective group?

I...

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The Problem with “Stop Bringing Me Problems”

By: Josh

I was standing among a small huddle of senior leaders within my organization and witnessed a really interesting conversation take place. All the leaders were very experienced, serving in senior positions amongst their 700-person departments. In this huddle, they were talking casually...

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The Camouflage Effect: The Modern-Day Wardrobe of All Great Leaders

By: Shawn

Organizational norms often elevate leaders to near-mythical entities, as if they exist in a realm entirely separate from the very teams they are tasked to direct. Leaders are often viewed solely as organizational decision-makers, and rarely do you hear a leader characterized as a...

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13 Ways to Lead with Humility

By: Josh

Where does humility rank on your list of most important leader qualities? I imagine it is not necessarily one that makes it toward the top of many of our lists, let alone a quality we initially think of at all. Socially, groups tend to rally around bold, brash, and charismatic...

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The Power of Your Energy

By: Josh

Several years ago, I was transitioning out of a job managing a mid-level team of about 100 people (company command for the Army readers out there) and into a new role in a different organization. I loved this team and had given everything I had to them over the 18 months I had the...

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Gain Perspective to Give Perspective

By: Josh

Having moved into a new role on a new team a few months ago, I have felt a bit overwhelmed with what seems to be a mountain of tasks requiring immediate attention. While my team and I have been working diligently to get into a sustainable rhythm, we have been in a sort of crisis mode...

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The Difference Between the Critic, Pessimist, and Optimist

By: Josh

Are you a critical leader, a pessimistic one, or an optimistic one? Let’s consider a thought by famed businessman and leadership author, Max De Pree:

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a...

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How to Establish Credibility as a New Leader (or at Least in a New Role)

By: Josh

Why should people follow you? What makes you credible in your peoples’ eyes and the eyes of the organization?

Popular leadership author, John Maxwell, describes that if you think you are leading and turn around to see no one following you, then you are just taking a walk.

So, why...

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How We Can be More Present as a Leader

By: Josh

Leaders are busy. We have meetings, engagements, emails, decision to assess and make, and the hope to manage time to enable personal growth and reflection…all in a single day. And we still strive to get out of the office to be with and pour into your family. It’s easy to get...

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How to Actually Ask for Feedback

By: Josh

How do you solicit and receive feedback as a leader? Do you? How regularly if so?

We require feedback for our growth as leaders. Nothing is more important for our self-awareness than understanding how people view and receive us. We can reflect, take self-assessments, and gain new...

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Solutions or Compassion: When to Offer Advice…and Not

By: Josh

 “Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”

Looking back at his 35...

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When to Shut Up

By: Josh

We can pull inspiration and conviction from a lot of different sources in life. And while I don't really consider social media to be one of those regular sources for me, I was surprised to recently find a post that did just that - offered a little inspiration and a little conviction,...

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Simplifying Leader Development

By: Josh

I am preparing to transition out of a challenging role and a season at work that was defined by long hours, a consistently overwhelming list of tasks and responsibilities, the need to manage organizational issues and urgencies every day, and not enough time accomplish half these things....

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The Case for Kindness

By: Josh

I used to work with a colleague who was incredibly smart. He simply knew a lot of things about…A LOT of things, both within our work and beyond it. He was well read, informed about current events, and could engage on almost any topic. I respected him for his vast knowledge, and he...

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You Can’t Lead if You Can’t Communicate. Why Leaders Ought to Write.

By: Josh

Mark Twain’s quote, “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead,” is a message that regularly emerges in my mind. Whether it’s writing for work, writing for 3x5, or talking about writing with others, I’m reminded of his...

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Big Picture Thinking (How to avoid becoming a “failed strategy” statistic)

By: JJ

You and your team have just finished a significant amount of work crafting a clear and purpose driven vision statement. You’ve carefully laid out your long-term goals, developed the strategy necessary to achieve those goals, and are motivated to get after it. Now fast-forward six...

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How to Ask Better Questions

By: Josh

The less I talk, the better the discussion.

This is a philosophy that guides how I lead, engage with others, run meetings, and facilitate developmental sessions. There is power in questions. They create space, opportunity, engagement, and creativity. Questions can create meaningful...

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