Yesterday I said that I receive one email a month telling me that our work has changed somebody's life. Well, what follows isn't exactly this type of email, but it inspiring nonetheless, and I'd love to share it:

Dear Jerry,

At this time of year I reflect on all that I have and all that is around me.

The one thing that I always come back to is the importance of family and their safety and growth, and the importance of providing the people that I work with and those that work for me the opportunities to improve themselves. This provides them the ability to see where the company they work for, which hopefully they find fulfillment in, is headed and how they can have a treamendous effective in how we make it their. Now I know if I succeed at the family level, the thing that I struggle with is how do I know if I have succeeded at the employee level. The company is easy as the Income statement tells me that status, but on an individual level how do I know? It is tough to ask everyone, but I do try to as it seems it is the only way to know. The other side is will they tell me what they think I want to hear or what they really feel.

Well, I guess that is getting way to deep at this time of year. I hope that your family is well and enjoy the holidays together. And as always I wish continued success as you have shone a light on all of us to provide us a glimpse into ourselves and what we truly can be capable of. For that I am truly grateful and without it I would not be doing some of things that I have done since those Leadership classes. You have taught us the way and it is upon us to ensure that we continue on the path.

Thanks for all that you do to keep us leading and have a great 2011. By the way it is great to hear these stories every once in awhile.

This is beautiful and it underscores the importance of feedback as a leadership tool. If he can create an architecture of feedback within his company, my feeling is that he will get to know what his employees really feel!

Thanks - JB

Welcome

I love leadership. More specifically I love when I'm able to introduce notions of leadership and leadership development to those executives who instinctively know that there's something more in the world than their typical day-to-day routines and their typical year-to-year lives. That something is called transformation - and when they transform, magic happens.

Leadership is inspiring. It has the potential to change lives - both the lives of those participating in their own leadership journeys as well as those they lead. Because my work involves creating and facilitating leadership learning and training, I am one of the first to receive the good news that someone's life has been changed as a result.

I average about one email a month from one of my past leadership development participants that begins with “Jerry, you changed my life.” Of course, this is a bit silly because only we ourselves can change our lives! But I’m certainly pleased to be a small part of the transformation process. Let me give you three short recent examples:

1. From one of my nine-day Local Leadership Institutes, a participant was quite moved by the theme of the last three days of the nine-day program when I constantly ask the question, “What truly matters in your life?” Each night after the course she had long conversations with her husband – and after three days she decided that she wanted to live closer to her daughter who was a college freshman in another state. She and her husband not only quit their respective jobs (in a tough economic environment) and sold their home (in a tough housing market), but they moved 1200 miles, found a new home, found new jobs, and, to boot, she wrote a 400-page book on inspiration based on all the nifty things we were able to do on her class. They are currently on their second journey to Africa to help do their small part to alleviate poverty and hunger in the world. Inspiring.

2. One of the most recent PMI Global Board members who took my 9-day class in 2005 wrote that the course was the reason she was elected to the Board. I argued that she would have made the Board irrespective if she had taken the course or not. She immediately countered with, “You told us that self-awareness was the foundation of leadership, and you made me more self-aware. You also said that leadership was a choice, and based on my enhanced self-awareness, I decided that I was good enough to apply for BOD position – and I was!” We settled our email exchange agreeing to split the credit 50-50!

3. And a third alum of mine thanked me for giving him the awareness of his capabilities and the courage of his convictions to apply for a job that he originally thought was miles beyond his range. He is today the CEO of a $36 million direct marketing corporation!

I’m not sure how I originally got into this business, but I give much credit to my work experience as a VP for China Trade, traveling to more than 110 countries, my consulting and training work at such fabulous places as The Center For Creative Leadership, Harvard’s IMI, Peter Senge’s Innovation Associates, Tufts University's Gordon Institute of Technology, and finally my work as President of The Leadership Group.

So it is against this background that I would love to share my experiences, my feedback, and my insights to anyone willing enough to listen and share their own views. It is for this reason that I welcome you to this blog in hopes that it initiates a wonderful dialogue on the unique topics of leadership development and transformation.