Rodger Dean Duncan's Blog, page 12

So You Want to Lead? Do It With ‘Feeling’

My friend Jim Rainey took over the reins of a huge agribusiness concern that had been hemorrhaging from operating losses for the previous five years. As the “turnaround guy,” he carried a heavy load of expectations.

A few days after joining the company, Jim walked into an early morning strategic planning meeting. You can imagine the attentiveness of all the eager beavers trying to impress the new boss. When he first entered the room, Jim overheard a young man mention that his wife was in the hos...

Feel Burnout Approaching? You Need Some ‘White Space’

Let’s get real. Too many people are in the business of busyness.

In fact, a crammed-full calendar is sometimes regarded as a badge of honor. Living on the edge of burnout is too often accepted as “just the way it is.”

What’s up with this? How did we ever get on this deadly and counterproductive merry-go-round? How can we get off?

Answering those questions is the mission of Juliet Funt. She’s CEO of a company called WhiteSpace at Work. She helps leaders clear a path through the daily piles of tas...

Raising Girls With Grit, Confidence, and Courage

With a wife, three daughters, eight granddaughters, and hundreds of female friends and colleagues, I have a well-developed appreciation for the amazing value women bring to our ever-evolving world

I’m also aware that gender bias, social traditions and other realities of modern life can pose speed bumps for women. I wish it weren’t so, yet it is.

Rather than wring our hands and play helpless, my wife and I taught our daughters (and son) that their satisfaction in life is limited only by their ow...

How Well Do You Listen — REALLY Listen?

No one on his deathbed ever said “I wish I’d spent more time at the office.”

Don’t get me wrong. Work is a wonderful thing. It can be very fulfilling and can provide meaningful service to others.

But personal relationships are the most important things in our lives. It’s through relationships with others that we learn about ourselves, about how to make choices, how to self-correct, how to grow and develop, how to contribute to the human community, how to turn dreams into reality.

And listening i...

Do We Need to Re-think How We Think?

Many leaders use present-forward thinking to move their organizations forward in small increments. Conversely, “future-back” thinking can enable leaders to plan for and build a more prosperous and sustainable future.

That’s the view of Mark W. Johnson and Josh Suskewicz, co-authors of Lead from the Future: How to Turn Visionary Thinking into Breakthrough Growth.

In the first part of this conversation (see “Struggling With Change? Try Leading from The Future”) they explained how “future-back” thi...

Lead Without Fear: Mindful Choices to Stamp Out Doubt

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Anyone who’s only faintly familiar with American history will recognize this quote from Franklin Roosevelt’s first inaugural address.

That confident assertion was in the very first paragraph of his 1,916-word speech. It became a rallying cry for a nation dealing with economic depression, war, and a multitude of other struggles.

It’s been said that the fears we don’t face become our limits. That’s certainly the view of consultant and bestselling au...

How to Avoid Murdering Your Relationships

Most of us have heard that people don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses. Salary and benefits are of course important. But high on most everyone’s must-have list is respect. People want to be treated with dignity.

This isn’t touchy-feely stuff. It applies to loud and tough-minded people just as much as to the most soft-spoken introvert.

Relationships, someone once said, never die a natural death. They are murdered by ego, attitude and ignorance.

Maya Hu-Chan has some solid counsel that can help anyon...

Can Machines Have Emotions? Smile If You Think So

Early in my career—back in the stone age before computers and smartphones—I worked in environments where memos were a primary means of communication. Sure, my colleagues and I could talk face-to-face, but the culture of the time was to memorialize much of our interaction in writing.

Believe it or not, there were some advantages in what now seems such an archaic practice. Unlike texts and emails—where one tap of the “send” button can fill you with instant regret—the old-fashioned memo provided a ...

You’re Suddenly a Manager? Here’s What to Do

Let’s face it. Change can be challenging. Especially change you didn’t see coming. And even if you did receive some warning, some change can come across like a splash of cold water.

Take, for instance, people who suddenly find themselves in a new manager’s role they didn’t seek. They were just minding their own business when—bang—now they’re expected to lead a group of people who only yesterday were their peers. 

With the change in responsibility come changes in relationships. And, especially in...

So You’re Suddenly A Manager? Here’s What To Do

Let’s face it. Change can be challenging. Especially change you didn’t see coming. And even if you did receive some warning, some change can come across like a splash of cold water.

Take, for instance, people who suddenly find themselves in a new manager’s role they didn’t seek. They were just minding their own business when—bang—now they’re expected to lead a group of people who only yesterday were their peers. 

With the change in responsibility come changes in relationships. And, especially in...