The Development Exponent: A Leadership Perspective

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What if you could have your biggest organizational issues assessed and addressed, with guaranteed results? That’s the promise of Contracted Leadership. We at Contracted Leadership are more than consultants. We’re contractors who work side-by-side with organizations and we aren’t afraid to get our hands dirty. That level of commitment is required of anyone representing us. Each subcontractor has...

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Creation is the key to learning. When we can apply what we learn, we make knowledge our own. My guest takes that belief to new levels. Dan White is the founder and CEO of Filament Games where their ultimate goal is to inspire people to learn more on their own. I knew I needed to speak with Dan White after watching his video about how to embrace failure. In the video, Dan shares his belief that ...

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Ambition, courage, and curiosity are character traits you’ll find in many founders and many innovators across disciplines. I immediately saw all three of those traits in my guest on this episode, Mary Dixon. Mary is a founder in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, working to improve the lives of human beings through research and development that empowe...

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After starting his accounting firm serving the for-profit world, Nick Curran had an “accidental” conversation that led him down the path his business was to follow for the foreseeable future — providing accounting services exclusively to non-profit organizations.

As CEO of Numbers 4 Non-Profits, Nick leads a substantial team of accountants, consultants, assistants...

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Growing up in a family-owned general contracting business, Sam Daniels worked in the field, learned back-office stuff, and then went to school to learn more of the business skills needed to be a significant part of the family business going forward. His journey into leadership and the lessons he’s had to learn — and how he’s learned them — provide great food for thought for those in the role of...

We all learn, in our own particular ways, that life is no walk in the park. Crisis, hardship, loss, and myriad other circumstances chip away at youthful optimism and threaten to undo us. But it’s our response to these things that largely determines whether we will be resilient and strong, or cowering and soft. As a top decision-maker in your organization, you know this. It’s one of the many things that has set you apart as a leader...

When you hear about someone needing to unplug, you likely picture someone frazzled and on the edge of a burn-out. We can all relate to similar feelings of overwhelm; it seems almost inevitable. However, that outcome could have been different if the person had proactively taken the time to refresh before getting to that point.

Jim McNulty, Sr. Vice President of B...

The building of any organization requires an inordinate amount of enthusiasm for what you’re building and why you’re doing it, certainly more than the average person possesses. That’s why good leadership is at such a premium — it’s unusual for that kind of passion to exist in an individual, much less to exist in a way that is sustainable over the long haul.

Tim O’Brien is a leader who oozes passion for what he’s doing and it’s all ...

There are many people who impact you deeply as you go through life, but only some who do so more deeply than you know at the time. Chris Clarke-Epstein is one of those people for me. Chris was a unique individual who possessed a movie-worthy personality and style. Her speaking prowess was the kind that captivated audiences before they knew what was happening. She was a chameleon of conversation, artfully adapting the way she intera...

Any leader in any organization has to be mindful of the example they set. What you model will be a good example or a bad example for distinct groups of people: those you lead, those you serve, those with whom you are in a close relationship, and those who observe your life from a distance. This undeniable reality is an aspect of leadership that seems to fall off the radar for many senior leaders. Position and success somehow obscur...

Real Estate is an industry that everyone understands on a basic level, but very few know about the highly specialized niche businesses that serve the industry. These organizations keep the real estate machine humming along smoothly for the benefit of both buyers and sellers. Some of them enhance the process to provide greater value for everyone involved.

Peter Schravemade serves as Strategic Relationships Manager at BoxBrownie.com,...

In his book, “The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong,” Dr. Laurence J. Peter quipped that “People in a hierarchy rise to their level of incompetence.” By this, he meant that employees are typically promoted based on their success in previous roles under the assumption that they will do well with even greater amounts of responsibility and leadership. Laurence says this formula of “success leads to promotion” often continues...

We’ve all heard it said that the shortest path between two points is a straight line. That’s undoubtedly true, but what we often fail to realize is that the BEST path is not always the most direct or straight path. Sometimes it’s the bends and turns in the path that brings the rich experience and learning that we need the most for carrying out our life’s work.

My guest, Max Duckworth has taken his own winding path on his way to fil...

“The obscure we see eventually, the completely obvious, it seems takes longer.” ~ Edward R. Murrow. 

 Edward R. Murrow was a broadcast journalist and war correspondent who gained prominence during World War II. His statement points out something we all know, the obvious things don’t always get our attention right away. It happens to all of us.

It even happens at work. We're busy, we're preoccupied, and mistakes are made. Sometimes ...

These days the word “authentic” is bandied about quite a bit, almost so much that it’s lost its meaning. That’s why it’s refreshing when you get the opportunity to chat with a leader who truly embodies the meaning of the word. Carl Atwell is an individual with whom I had that sort of conversation recently. He’s an “all-in” guy, which is one of the main reasons he’s so authentic. Carl doesn’t believe there’s any reason or point to p...

When you hear the phrase “change the world,” which seems to be prevalent these days, do you tend to think of grand things, things that move the needle in big ways? Perhaps the type of things that come to mind are finding a cure for cancer or establishing a context in which world peace can be attained. If that’s how you think of world change, you’re not alone.

But let me challenge you to think of it differently. You and I can change...

As a top decision-maker, you know the difficult balance between caring for team members in a personal way and maintaining proper professionalism with your team. I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all approach to this difficult issue, but I do believe there are guidelines that can serve to maintain the balance in effective and fruitful ways.

My guest on this episode of the podcast is Jason Adamany, CEO and Founder of IT Servic...

One of the distinct things about the way we here at Contracted Leadership approach leadership and leadership development is the concept of “mutually meaningful work engagements.” It’s a hallmark of what we do because it is many times THE difference between average organizations and stellar ones, as well as the primary means by which individuals in the organization attain fulfillment and satisfaction in their work.

This episode brie...

Every Senior Leader should be aiming to replicate themselves by developing future leaders from within their organizations. It’s a proven way to increase team ownership, improve existing teams and structures, and to build a stronger organization over the long haul. One of the primary ways this kind of leadership development happens is through living out the organization's values consistently. You can engrave a set of company values ...