If you talk to successful people in any walk of life and ask them how they became successful, almost all of them will include the contributions of one or more mentors in their list. One of the best ways to develop, to learn, or to do anything new is to work closely with someone who […]

Quick review: the only essential trait of a leader is that a leader has followers. Everything else is commentary.
I’m certainly not the first to say this sort of thing, and on the surface it looks like a simple statement. It is simple to say, but the ideas behind it are profound.
It means, first, that no […]

Leadership starts with adherence to the principal principle: be great at what you do.
It doesn’t matter what you do. It doesn’t matter where you do it. Some are called to be great in a way that changes the world, others are recognized with Nobel prizes. Most of us are not given such high callings or […]

(If you are just tuning in, you might want to take a glance at Part 1 to catch up.)
Heady stuff. Do you, um, have anything a little more about, you know, me?
Why yes, I do.
Understanding how to be an effective leader is good for your career. The stuff we’ll talk about in the coming months […]

So maybe you already knew you were leading in at least a small way. Maybe you didn’t. But why should it matter either way, and why it is so important for scientists, engineers, and all the folks who make the technology we use everyday?
Let me start with a confession about a trait you may have […]

Look at your organization and its power structure. It is probably controlled by managers of one stripe or another. They’re in charge, and non-managers in the organization generally do what managers tell them or polish up their resumes.
But managers aren’t necessarily leaders. The terms leader and leadership are often used interchangeably with manager and management. […]

Here is a big idea to get the ball rolling.
There is only one essential trait that defines a leader: leaders have followers. This idea was articulated to me most clearly by my boss and mentor a few years ago, and I’ve since spent a lot of time thinking about what that deceptively simple statement […]