I am intrigued with “Total Leadership” and will continue to look into the book and program relative to my work as an executive. As for your “…Developing Future Leaders” blog, I appreciate your question on if we “are standing in the way or offering a hand” when discussing the future leaders of our workforce.

I am fortunate to work with a company that has a keen eye on retention of talent, workplace culture and development. I absolutely believe we, as leaders in our company, have a responsibility to be raising the next generation and therefore preparing others to take our place. What I find, though, is many are not at all comfortable with this. Dynamics that play into preparing the next generation of leaders are the aging executives who hear footsteps and are beginning to feel insecure with the demands of keeping up in an everchanging digital world and the various youthful attitudes that come into play with the younger workforce, many who have very ambitious career goals, high expectations and little professional experience.

It’s a fascinating time and a passionate debate and definitely a great example of where the Four Experiments can play a huge role.

I am very glad that we use your book “Total Leadership” in one of our master courses.
Your suggestions about integrating all spheres of a leader’s life are extraordinary and I am very much looking forward to discuss your book in class this Friday and follow the development of my fellow students.

But reading about the Lehman Brother’s example pp. 214 – 215 made me wonder whether you intend to elaborate on this, as the company’s insolvency may cause critical comments.
Personally, I am sure that at the heart of this insolvency is bad leadership. And this brings forward some questions:
Have the four way experiments have been introduced too late?
Is the maxim “the sooner the better” also true for Total Leadership or does one need a certain degree of maturity?

I would appreciate if you get back to my questions.

Best regards,
Karsten Franke

I think that the President and First Lady are the Kennedy’s of our time. They are “real” in all aspects of their lives and they understand the benefit of sharing their challenges and relating to the American people, as people themselves, first, and then President and First Lady.

My only hope, as I watch news coverage about the President, is that he be given the support and the opportunity to truly impact change.

Everyone is so quick to criticize everything that he does, and they lose sight of the big picture. Give him some time, and let him do what he can to enrich the USA.

I like Bill Jensen’s work (“The Simplicity Survival Handbook”), which gives some really nice tips for email/voicemail, that I suspect are relevant for tweeting, podcasts, etc.

In particular, he stresses that every communication effort should focus on “Know, Feel, Do”…what do you want the recipient to know, how do you want them to feel, and what if anything do you want them to do.

So, know that I read this, feel good about the four-way wins in your life, and don’t do anything different!

- Joe