Michael McKinney | Leadership Coaching and Advisory Services |
Everything you overcome on the outside At LeadershipNow, we want to change the way you think about leadership. It is not about position. Leadership is everybody’s business. It is for men, women, and children. It is for families, business and communities. It is for you. In today’s world we need leadership now. We need people of all ages from all backgrounds to take advantage of the myriad of opportunities that exist to make a difference. The path to leadership begins in the mind. Leaders think differently. They see the world differently. Leaders are ordinary people that understand that they make a difference and have made the decision to determine the kind of difference they will make. We all possess the capacity for leadership, but only those who cultivate it will ever become truly effective leaders. Families, businesses, and communities can all be transformed by good leadership. And it begins with each one of us, together, learning from each other, becoming better leaders and using our influence to build others. By providing articles, features, books, multimedia, and other resources, we would like to encourage you to develop the leader in you — to become an active participant in shaping your future and the future of others. The Leading Blog offers the latest leadership thinking and timeless principles to help you grow your leadership. More than book reviews, the commentary points to the fundamentals of leadership that will help you to meet today’s leadership challenges. Our goal is to help us all to transcends the limits of our default in-the-moment thinking to think critically from a long-term, broader perspective. To lead outside of ourselves and our circumstances. Beyond creating successful leaders, we want to be prepare leaders to make the kinds of choices that change their world and impacts others long after they’re gone. We have a choice. That choice is what LeadershipNow is all about. Here are some quick stats…
About | MICHAEL MCKINNEY Leadership and management have been a topic I heard discussed growing up as my Dad conducted seminars and consulted in the field. My own interest was piqued in my college days. Two books heavily influenced me and got me thinking about leadership. First was a 1976 book by Warren Bennis titled, The Unconscious Conspiracy: Why Leaders Can’t Lead, and the other was a 1968 book by Peter Drucker titled, The Age of Discontinuity: Guidelines to Our Changing Society. In The Unconscious Conspiracy Bennis discusses the leadership crisis. He writes, “The crisis calls for leadership, but the leaders aren’t leading. They’re consulting, pleading, temporizing, martyrizing, trotting, putting out fires, either avoiding or taking the heat, and spending too much energy in doing both. They’ve got sweaty palms, and they’re scared.” Hence the name Leadership Now. Drucker wrote that before 1850 every technology was experienced-based as opposed to being knowledge-based—apprenticeship rather than study. Productivity will depend on putting knowledge to work rather than skills acquired through experience. He observed that the fifty years before World War I might have been called the “Heroic Age of the Entrepreneur.” That necessitated an emphasis on management to organize large numbers of people to do what was reasonably well-known. However, beginning in 1970, the emphasis will again be on entrepreneurship— “the ability to create the new and different.” Bennis too talked about the need for leaders to have an entrepreneurial vision to avoid the routine and think about the forces that affect their destiny. Drucker advised that as the Age of Continuity ends and we enter the Age of Discontinuity, we “will have to learn to put the future ahead of yesterday.” He explained that “In a period of change, and especially rapid technological change in which new industries will appear as the economic leaders, to strengthen yesterday weakens tomorrow.” Over fifty years later, his instruction cannot be ignored. In 1980, I formed LeadershipNow to study and share what I was learning about leadership, management, and personal development. At this same time, I founded M2 Communications to manufacture multi-media products for consultants and speakers. I secretly hoped to get to know those in the field that I would cross paths with as a result of my work. In this way, I was fortunate enough to meet people like Buckminster Fuller, Stanley Marcus, Louis L'Amour, Jim Rohn, Peter Drucker, and Warren Bennis. All contributed to my education and made my day. I am a member of the National Speakers Association. I’ve also tried my hand at publishing Foundations Magazine—a personal development e-zine. My interest in Biblical archeology lead me to found the CenturyOne Foundation in 1996. It is a non-profit organization that promotes biblical archaeology, historical and biblical research, lectures and publications on subjects pertaining to the time of the first-century C.E./A.D. When I’m not reading leadership books, I like to read anything by Lee Child (Did you know that someone, somewhere, buys one of his Jack Reacher crime thrillers every 13 seconds?), and Daniel Silva. A word about affiliate links: Some of our articles and posts contain affiliate links to products, apps, and services. If you click through and purchase, we will receive a small commission on the sale. These links are provided for your convienience and importantly, help to support our work here. We appreciate your use of these links. Follow us on: If you would like to link to this site, see How To Link to this Web Site. |
“LeadershipNow is one of my go-to sources for information on the latest thinking, inspiration and practical advice on leadership.” — JESSE LYN STONER
CEO Seapoint Center, Coauthor of Full Steam Ahead! Unleash the Power of Vision “Michael's blog was recently ranked as the number 1 leadership blog in the world. When you read you can see why, it is well written, insightful and very useful.” — KARL MOORE
Professor McGill University, Westmount, Quebec, Canada “Fresh. Relevant. Actionable. That's how I'd describe the brand of thought leadership that Michael McKinney brings to LeadershipNow. It's my first stop for curated resources that address today's compelling leadership issues.” — JULIE WINKLE GIULIONI
Principal of DesignArounds and co-author of Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go “In my world of infinite information overload, I don’t think I had ever seen Leading Blog. Serves a useful function. Does it well. Not just a repeat of what 10 others are doing. Nicely done. I’ll spread the word around.” — JOHN KOTTER
Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at the Harvard Business School “Michael McKinney is indefatigable. He’s created a go-to resource for leadership in all aspects, in all fields. Whether you want intellectual stimulation, apt quotations, book reviews or inspiring products, LeadershipNow has them all.” — JAMES STROCK
Founder, Serve to Lead Group “Michael McKinney's website is the go to for every person who wants to know everything about leadership. Leadership Now is a resourceful and informative blog.” — LOLLY DASKAL
Founder of Lead From Within, executive leadership coach, author of bestselling book The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness. Grow Your Leadership Skills KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST LEADERSHIP IDEAS The Best Books of 2018 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU LEAD |
| |||
© 2020 LeadershipNow™ All materials contained in https://www.LeadershipNow.com are protected by copyright and trademark laws and may not be used for any purpose whatsoever other than private, non-commercial viewing purposes. Derivative works and other unauthorized copying or use of stills, video footage, text or graphics is expressly prohibited. |