Nat Crawford - Executive Coach, Speaker, Leader

What popular leadership buzzword(s) comes to your mind?   For me, it’s empowerment. Empowerment defined is the power given to someone. This notion of giving away power sounds great. Who wouldn’t want it if they’re a leader? But here’s the problem with empowerment: you can lose it as quickly as it was given. There was a myth that Nordstrom had a one page policy guide. On its one page it said, “Use good judgment at all times.” That sounds awesome! True empowerment. Here’s the reality. Nordstrom’s real policy guide is 7,344 words long. So much for empowerment. So if empowerment isn’t the solution, what is? Ownership . As a leader, I prefer ownership over empowerment. Why? Empowerment is conditional and on loan. Ownership is self-driven and comes from within. Wait. Ownership? What about accountability? That's another leadership buzzword. Isn’t accountability the leadership way? Let me answer it with an illustration: Have you ever stayed at an Airbn...

Forget the Golden Rule. That's the best leadership advice, if you want to increase engagement in employees and volunteers.  "What?  You'r ea pastor! You can't tell people that!" I know you’re thinking that. It's okay.  In the workplace, I think we can do one better than practice the Golden Rule...not actually  forget it. Here’s what I mean: Today, I dropped off my kids at school and my Kindergartner’s teacher handed me a “thank you” for volunteering this semester. What did she hand me as a thank you? You guessed it: meatballs. Let me be more specific: a meatball sandwich. “So what?” you ask. She understands the Platinum Rule from Ty Bennett’s “The Power of Influence” and the concepts taught in Gary Chapman’s “The 5 Love Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.” If you want to reward and thank your volunteers, employees and those you lead, you got to thank them the platinum way. According to Ty Bennett,The Platinum Rule goes b...