Leadership Articles - Steve On Leadership

Don’t Use a Hammer to Swat a Fly on His Head

Will the judge drop the hammer? I suspect you missed this crime that happened a few years ago in a small New Hampshire town. There on a bright and sunny day two young thieves stole a canoe from inside a Walmart. Though hardly as valuable as an Ocean’s Eleven heist, it was just as clever. The mastermind of this felony was a 15-year-old boy I’ll call Jake. He and his friend wanted to go out on the river fishing, but they had no canoe. He and his friend noticed a brand-new canoe on display in Walmart and it was perfect. [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-04-14T09:41:19-04:00April 14th, 2022|Leadership, Leadership Lessons|

Getting to Yes with Lower Friction

I’m slow to notice things sometimes. Like how frequently almost all media companies now move right to the next show in a series without a break. I noticed it when I was watching a rerun of the Big Bang Theory on cable and then again when we were watching Longmire on Netflix. When I stopped and thought about why they do this, of course, it makes sense. If I’m on a cable channel, it likely holds me on that channel and I might see more commercials. If I’m on Netflix, it creates more binge watching and hooks me to Netflix. [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-03-03T17:58:35-05:00March 3rd, 2022|Change Leadership, Leadership|

What is a Vaccine Whisperer

Today at a meeting someone asked me what my favorite music is, and I said, “folk music.” My love of folk music began when I was a counselor at a Virginia Boy Scout camp in 1969. One of the few vinyl albums available to listen to in the Admin/Dining Hall was Simon & Garfunkel’s Sounds of Silence. And the lyrics from the title song that really caught me were: “And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening” In that summer 52 years ago, I thought those lyrics were [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-02-16T20:05:50-05:00February 16th, 2022|Change Leadership, Leadership|

Watch The Stories in Your Head

Has this ever happened to you? I was at the gym yesterday on the Stairmaster when I saw a woman I thought I recognized named Linda. Within a nanosecond, though, I realized it could not be her because she passed away this past Fall. But then my brain shifted instantly into remembering Linda’s wonderful life story – but it was only my memory, my narrative of her life, not the total narrative. I’ll bet this happens to you, too – you see someone you think you recognize and it isn’t them, but then “pop”, you think about the person and [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-02-03T20:01:51-05:00February 3rd, 2022|Credibility & Inspiration, Team Leadership / Teamwork|

What Resolution? I Forgot Already

My wife Patti and I enjoy the Voice and especially the enthusiasm of one judge, Kelly Clarkson. I recently read Clarkson shared this amusing New Year’s resolution, “To the person that lost weight over the holidays… Don’t worry, I found it and will get it back to you starting January 1st," Clarkson joked. New Year’s Day is what Katy Milkman calls a “landmark date”. Landmark dates help we humans move away from the past and experience the Fresh Start Effect. Yesterday on January 17th when I went to Planet Fitness I saw fewer people – just like last year. Why [...]

By Steve Wood|2022-01-18T18:50:54-05:00January 18th, 2022|Change Leadership, Leadership, Uncategorized|

Do You Know What You Don’t Know

Yesterday I went sailing on another rather dreary day here in New Hampshire. But the day brightened when I approached a dock on the far side of the lake and an excited little boy ran down on his dock and waved. He yelled, “Nice boat, where did you come from?” “Far away,” I said, smiling. His mom smiled, too, as she walked-up and spoke to him. When I turned the boat I could see his face – it was full of wonder about knowing what he didn’t know. The Unknowable. I was stopped dead in my mind’s tracks last [...]

By Steve Wood|2021-07-13T16:18:38-04:00July 13th, 2021|Change Leadership, Leadership|

Do You Take Responsibility?

It seems like today no one wants to take responsibility for anything. I think it is because people are afraid to be wrong. We have all heard the expression “put your John Hancock on it.” Most of us know this comes from the very distinctive, first signature we see on the actual Declaration of Independence. This week we will be celebrating Independence Day, that fourth day of July in 1776 when John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration with a very large, distinctive signature. The actual original document only had his signature and that of Charles Thomson. [...]

By Steve Wood|2021-06-29T13:59:07-04:00June 29th, 2021|Credibility & Inspiration, Leadership|

When a Nightingale Sang Statistics

Until recently, if you said, “nightingale” I would think of a bird. If someone had asked me if I had ever heard of Florence Nightingale, I would have said, “Sure.” If they then asked me who she was, I would have said, “A nurse, I think.” But what I did not know was she wasn’t only a nurse, she was a game changing statistician whose statistical work saved thousands of lives and the course of medical sanitation forever. Florence Nightingale. Nightingale was born in May 1820 into a wealthy British family in Florence, Italy, the city she was named for. [...]

By Steve Wood|2021-04-29T12:01:59-04:00April 29th, 2021|Just Plain Interesting, Women Leaders|

LeBron James – A Credible Leader

I remember first reading about LeBron James 20 years ago when he was just a high school sophomore and made the All-American high school basketball team. At that time I remember wondering if LeBron would go the route of many young, gifted athletes and drown in his own wealth and celebrity or become a real game-changer. Two years later when I read about how he gracefully and wisely turned-down a $10 million check from Reebok chairman and CEO Paul Fireman, while he was still a senior in high school, I thought, “this young man seems wise beyond his years.” (I [...]

By Steve Wood|2021-04-14T08:59:21-04:00April 13th, 2021|Credibility & Inspiration, Leadership|

He Likely Saved Your Life and You Never Knew

I have always been curious about how a few leaders and entrepreneurs became game changers. People whose actions changed the world for the rest of us. This year I thought I would write about several dozen of my favorites. I will start with a man who has been called “the greatest scientist of the 20th century” and I bet you never heard of him - Maurice Hilleman. Hilleman created eight of the fourteen vaccines you and I see on our vaccine schedule today - measles, mumps, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, chickenpox, Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae bacteria. Hilleman, [...]

By Steve Wood|2021-02-03T11:16:42-05:00February 3rd, 2021|Change Leadership, Leadership|