Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Damon Leichty, Partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP. We hope you enjoy Damon’s wisdom and perspective.

“The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men gang aft agley.” —Robert Burns (1785)

Forgive me my friends, but I’m done with “leadership.” The term is passé. It’s overused. Defunct. Stale. The term has been glossed so many times it has lost real meaning. And the malaise that sometimes attends our view of “leaders” has become so pungent that we are no longer inspired. 

Give me instead a conqueror. 

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Dr. Jerry Thacker, Superintendent for Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation. We hope you enjoy his wisdom and perspective.

All high performing organizations will have leaders who exhibit passion, have a plan, and use teamwork. These leaders have a vision, set goals and monitor them, hire talented people, and invest in developing them. The principles I will share are used in the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation and can be adapted to any organization.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Karen Moscato. We hope you enjoy Karen’s wisdom and perspective.

Bernie Madoff. ABC aired a two-part series on his Ponzi scheme earlier this summer. We all know the story in which he bilked people out of their money for over 30 years. But the interesting part of the movie was the depiction where Bernie gave most of his investors a second chance at pulling out their money. He was using his “reverse” psychology to increase their trust in his abilities to make them rich. Or in many cases richer. I bet they all wish they would have taken Bernie up on that second chance!

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Dr. Bruce Gobdel, retired Crowe Horwath LLC Partner. We hope you enjoy Bruce’s wisdom and perspective.

Critical Components For High Performing Organizations

In my thirty-seven years of consulting with many diverse clients, the best organizations were consistently those that were values driven. They clearly knew who they were and what they stood for. In addition, the best leaders of client organizations were visionary. They had a capacity for seeing a desired future state for the organization, along with the passion for getting the organization there.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Gregg Fraley, CEO of Gregg Fraley Innovation. We hope you enjoy Gregg's wisdom and perspective.

This is an article about innovation and risk. Specifically, it’s about taking enough risk to insure survival and growth of a company. Let me explain.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Aaron Perri, Executive Director of South Bend Venues Parks & Arts. We hope you enjoy Aaron’s wisdom and perspective.

“Enjoy your summer break!” an office intern recently exclaimed to me on his last day of the semester. “Summer break?!” I thought to myself, “that sure sounds nice.” I reminisced about running through the sprinkler, playing in the park, and enjoying Grandma Perri’s vinegar & cucumbers. While this annual three month respite no longer exists in my life, I’d like to reflect on a few childhood memories that continue to influence my professional life.

“It’s important to remember that not all competitive landscapes are remade violently, overnight,” writes Inc. Magazine editor Leigh Buchanan. “Obsolescence creeps as often as it lunges.”

She continues, “While CEOs obsess over getting big-banged out of existence, odds are good that their companies will suffer a more pedestrian fate: they will simply cease to matter. The brand goes stale, core strengths languish, and opportunities to keep pace with – or get in front of – changing customer needs pass them by. The world moves on. They don't.”

How relevant are you? Have you asked yourself that question recently? It goes something like this: In 5 years will the services I’m providing still be relevant to my clients?

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Jerry Scott. We hope you enjoy Jerry’s wisdom and perspective.

A paradox in today’s world is that the digital age has made us more efficient in many ways but perhaps less effective in others. And the scale appears to be tipping precipitously in the direction of less.

I remember green screen email that could only be sent inside the company network and one paragraph at a time. Think of some great prehistoric Twitter. Write more than a paragraph and you had to say “continued” and then type a new email. An inter-office memo would take six emails.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Phil D’Amico, Director of Business Development and Marketing for Majority Builders. We hope you enjoy Phil’s wisdom and perspective.

When I think about what determines the success of an organization, an individual, a team, or a business, I cannot help but continually come back to what is/are the attitude(s) of that person and group. I am reminded of what former Notre Dame coaching great and legend Lou Holtz said in reference to the importance of attitude in winning teams:

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger, Andrew Schroeder, Assistant Controller at Gibson. We hope you enjoy Andrew’s wisdom and perspective.

Experiential learning. You may remember this as a buzz phrase a few years back, and in some circles perhaps it still is. It has since been replaced by new phrases, but it was a key criterion when I selected a university and a career. Theory has its place, but I believe strongly experience is how we all really learn. In an ongoing quest to learn how leaders develop, grow, and succeed, I believe experiential learning incubates the greatest leaders.