The Next Steps Checklist companion Tutorial is live! Listen to an excerpt here, or download the next steps checklist to access the full video! ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist! Want a likeminded community of leade…

Greetings Kind Leaders! Just a quick head’s up that there’s no episode of the Kind Leadership Challenge this week. That’s because on the next episode, I’ll be unveiling a new companion tutorial to the next steps checklist. It’s a short step by step demo of the checklist that will teach you everything you need to solve your next leadership challenge…

It's time to talk about mandatory fun. Not the kind that involves forced merriment and trust falls, but the actual rest and recreation that keeps you from falling apart. ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist! Want a li…

If the surveys are right, many of the leaders listening to this episode are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death. The good nees it, there's a simple solution to that fear, and I'll share it today. ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Downl…

Strategic planning is just like riding a bike! ...Crashes Included. ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist! Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind …

We'd all love it if our leadership growth curve was a nice, straight diagonal line upward. However, mine definitely hasn't been, and I doubt yours is either. The good news is that there are lessons to be learned in the hard times that will help you come back stronger. ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Tak…

It's great to be close with your team. But there's such a thing as being too close... ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist! Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn mo…

When you get right down to it, Leadership is nothing more or less than the ability to make decisions. And anyone can do that, right? Well, maybe. Because if that is true, then you are no better or worse a leader than the quality of your decisions. And that feels great when you’ve just managed to keep your head in a crisis. But what about the other …

There's no one "right" answer to almost all leadership problems. The good news is there's often several "good enough" answers, one of which may well be the "best" for your situation. ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checkli…

I don't normally comment on current events. However, the recent systemic failures at Boeing and Lincoln University of Missouri, and the serious consequences of those failures, made it clear that we need to talk about how kind leaders can best balance healing toxic workplace cultures without putting ourselves at risk. More on Dr. Antoinette Candia-B…

How can we as leaders wield our power in a kind manner? Ultimately were the boss, the head honcho, the big cheese. Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that, especially when you’re juggling less money, more mandates, a burnt-out team and a frustrated community. But what if you actually have a lot LESS power than you think? That realizatio…

So, you’re here because you want to build a better world without burning out! That’s a great goal! But as the person who made “Build a better world without burning out” the Kind Leadership Guild’s tagline, I know it’s also a pretty mushy goal. For instance: What do you mean by Better? And Better for Whom? And what part of the world are you trying t…

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like every leadership influencer and researcher I follow is talking about how we all need to know our “why” and our organization’s “why”. However, one’s personal and professional “why” can change from month to month, and even minute to minute! So today, I’m going to talk about how we can get more clear on our why, a…

One of the roughest moments of my early days as a library dean was the realization that to be the best leader I could be and the leader my team needed me to be, I couldn't be a librarian anymore--or at least I couldn't primarily be a librarian. That shift was necessary, but it was hard. Today I'll give you a roadmap to navigate your own leadership …

Today I'm discussing one of the top vote-getters in my recent listener poll: Workplace Drama! Specifically, I'll explore toxic workplace drama, healthy workplace conflict, and how a kind leader can guide team members--and themselves--to shift from the former to the latter. ~~~ Related Resources: The Origins of Justice Stewart's "I Know It When I Se…

in a world where colleges’ obligations are growing and revenues are shrinking, how do we as educational leaders keep our institutions sustainable? Today I'll be talking with higher ed finance podcaster Gary Stocker to better understand the current state of Higher Education funding and explore the biggest concers on the minds of higher ed leaders, s…

How are you feeling? No really, how are you feeling? I’m not just asking you about the literal emotions you are having, but how are you experiencing and managing them? This week, I'm sharing the first lesson from my new course on Emotional Awareness for Leaders, which is only available in full to members of the Kind Leadership Guild. Enjoy the peek…

Those of you who have downloaded my Next Steps Checklist know that you get my regular emails with insights from classic podcast episodes, and questions designed to get you thinking more deeply about how and why you do what you do as a leader. However, a lot more people listen to this podcast than receive my emails, so I thought I'd share a recent q…

It just takes a little thoughtfulness and some small choices to make big shifts in how inclusive we are for our teams and our community. Today's episode will explore some concrete ways we can all become more inclusive leaders. ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to…

This episode was inspired by a post I saw on social media from a front line worker who was struggling to become friends with their somewhat reserved new boss. And although that's certainly a noble sentiment, friendships between leaders and team members can open a big can of worms. In this episode, I share what kind leaders should strive for instead…

When we talk about managing up, we're usually focused most intensely on our direct supervisors (as we should be). But what if you have an opportunity to advocate for your team higher up on the food chain? Here's some thoughts on what to do. ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not…

Leadership is lonely by definition, as well as by necessity. And yet, to build a better world, you need to figure out how to you have to open up to that world. Today I'll talk about how you can strike a sustainable balance between those truths, and let down your guard while still keeping yourself safe and objective. ~~~ ~~~ To listen to more episod…

A leader's power doesn't (necessarily) corrupt, but it does reveal. So what does your use of power reveal about you? ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist! Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back t…

The blessing of being an interim leader is that you know your responsibility has an end date. The curse is that everyone else you have to deal with knows your authority has an end date. Today we'll talk about how to navigate that blessing and curse so you can leave your team better than you found it. ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindlead…

Most leaders pride themselves on their resilience. Being tough and persistent enough to overcome our career challenges is how we got where we are, after all. However, there is such a thing as being too resilient for your own good... ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure wh…

You know that one project on your list? You know, the one down at the bottom, that's been gathering dust for longer than you care to admit, that you just can't seem to get started on. Today I'll show you how--and it's as easy as making a sandwich. ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, …

Firing a team member--if you're a leader you've either already done it, or will do it some day. But is there a way to terminate someone and still be a kind leader? Of course there is--in fact, firing someone can be one of the kindest things you can do for all concerned. In today's episode, I'll teach you how to set yourself, your team, and even the…

The Busier your life is as an educational leader, the more important it is to make sure you take breaks. And today I'll share some simple tactics to make it easier to step away and recharge. ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps…

For obvious reasons, I talk a lot about the benefits of kind leadership and the ways implementing it can heal yourself, your organization, and the community you serve. But I've been pondering a slightly different question—what are the consequences of practicing unkind leadership? ~~~ To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com! …

If you're listening to this, you have at some point been hurt (intentionally nor not) by a leader. And unless you are a tremendously wise and lucky leader, at some point you have almost certainly hurt someone you lead. So today, we're taking a deeper dive into how trauma happens to and is caused by leaders, the importance of facing trauma rather th…

Today is the final episode in my little introduction to the Kind Leadership Guild, my monthly leadership development group for leaders who want to build a better world without burning out. Juanita James accepted my invitation to come on the podcast and share her experience in from the Guild, what she's learned, and how she's applied it in her work …

Back in late May, as I prepared to facilitate the first meeting of the Kind Leadership Guild, I was kind of nervous. How would I go about setting the values and rules of the Kind Leadership Guild, so that the group experience would be effective, humane, collaborative, and, well, Kind? In today’s episode I’ll share how we worked together in the firs…

Over the summer I and an intrepid few long-time followers of the Kind Leadership Challenge have been beta testing the new improved version of the Kind Leadership Guild! The Guild is a support group and community of practice where educational and library leaders come together to heal themselves, their teams, and their organizations, so we can all ef…

I’ve been hitting reload a lot on my podcast host’s website this morning. Right when I got up, after my workout, before I logged in at the office, and during my coffee break. Then…it happened. With 14 hours to spare, July 2023 became the first 1000 download month of the Kind Leadership Challenge. This is by far the best performing podcast not relat…

There's a pivot point that occurs any time an organization grows beyond a certain scale, be that the size of the staff, the budget, or the community served. It’s a shift that I call feeding the beast, where doing cool things becomes a lower priority than sustaining what’s already been built. In today’s episode I’ll share some lessons I learned from…

One of the roughest moments of my early days as a library dean was the realization that to be the best leader I could be and the leader my team needed me to be, I couldn't be a librarian anymore--or at least I couldn't primarily be a librarian. That shift was necessary, but it was hard. Today I'll give you a roadmap to navigate your own leadership …

All Work and No Play can make a leader go a bit stale. I've been struggling with this a bit lately myself. But then I picked up a good fiction book for the first time in I can't remember how long, and whipped through it in about a day. And as I closed it I realized what I--and a lot of other leaders--have been missing. FUN! ~~~ Related Episode Are …

The great thing about summer for many library and educational leaders is that we finally have some time to think. That’s also the worst thing about Summer. We finally have some time to think about all the struggles that come with our jobs these days, and the question that follows-- How do I live with this? And if that’s what it takes, do I even sti…

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like every leadership influencer and researcher I follow is talking about how we all need to know our “why” and our organization’s “why”. However, one’s personal and professional “why” can change from month to month, and even minute to minute! So today, I’m going to talk about how we can get more clear on our why, a…

Recently a question popped up in a social media group i follow that stopped me scrolling cold. The anonymous poster asked: How do we handle a library director who has shiny object syndrome and keeps proposing new projects before more quickly than they can even determine whether the previous great ideas are worth doing, much less handle the boring s…

I've always been a little dubious about the abundance mindset thing. Yes, if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. But that doesn't mean you have to accomplish everything. And it definitely doesn't mean that if you don’t accomplish your goals, then you're weak or a failure. The impossibility of simply wishing away scarcity with the …

I’ve been thinking a lot about routines this week, because changes have made my routines a bit wacky. We moved house a little over a week ago. and we’re still figuring out things like the best drawer for the rolling pins and which light switch controls what. In addition, between burning off some vacation days and some post-semester doctor appointme…

Today I'm discussing one of the top vote-getters in my recent listener poll: Workplace Drama! Specifically, I'll explore toxic workplace drama, healthy workplace conflict, and how a kind leader can guide team members--and themselves--to shift from the former to the latter. ~~~ Related Resources: The Origins of Justice Stewart's "I Know It When I Se…

This is a weird episode for me, as I try to keep things pretty evergreen on this show. However, a recent university closure hit a little close to home for me, and got me thinking about the precarious balance of mission and sustainability in all the institutions we lead. So, since I don’t think this challenge is going away anytime soon, let’s talk a…

There’s a bit of conventional wisdom that floats around, especially in mission-driven fields, that the best leaders are the reluctant ones. The ones who never sought power, but accepted the mantle when it was thrust on them, and who rose to the challenge because of, not in spite of, their lack of interest in leadership. And I have seen over the yea…

So back in Episode 60, I mentioned the bonkers life I was expecting during April and May, between working on TWO different universities’ re-accreditations, moving house, multiple hiring processes, the end of the school and fiscal years at my place of work, and just the sundry ups and downs of life as an educational leader in late spring. In episode…

When you are a leader, what you think does not matter. Well, OK, it’s not the ONLY thing that matters. You do need to have a vision and goals of your own. But if you don’t have a critical mass of team members and stakeholders that think more or less the same way, then what you think doesn’t matter, because you will not be able to make your vision a…

Once upon a time I was the person who would check my email one last time before bed, or come in early on short notice to prep for an event. These days my work is a lot less urgent and a lot less visible to our patrons and faculty. And in my weaker moments, my work feels a little less important too. However, if I’ve learned nothing else in my 5 year…

You may remember that back in episode 48, I announced my word of the year is clarity. And as I reach the 1/3 mark of 2023, I am feeling a good bit clearer on who I am as a leader and leadership coach, how I want my work to flow, and on my vision for the better world I wish to see. I also realized that a lot of you probably could use more clarity ab…

Because many educational leaders find the first half of the spring semester the most stressful time of year, I’ve been talking a lot about the squishy side of kind leadership lately: self care and avoiding burnout and what-not. That said, there comes a time each year when we need to set aside the vision boards and meditation apps and open up our sp…