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.