There’s a story we tell during our Leading With Courage Academy workshops of the negative correlation between how a person ascends through an organization to the level of honest communication that person receives. In this instance, a person we’ll call George becomes the President of a major division within his company. It’s a huge promotion for him and naturally, he’s feeling like a million bucks. As George admires his fancy new office and title that goes with it, a colleague

In this, the second part of our two-part Leading With Courage℠ conversation with Paul Darley, the CEO of W.S. Darley & Co., we dive into how the 109-year-old manufacturer of firefighting and emergency equipment continues to bring aboard new generations successfully, while minimizing family friction along the way. We also examine why it’s so important for leaders who seek long-term credibility to communicate the bad news in a transparent fashion to the organization just as muc

As the head of a 109-year-old company, Paul Darley strives to build upon the proud heritage of W.S. Darley & Co. (now four generations of Darleys) by manu- facturing a superior line of firefighting, emergency and special operations equipment. Darley recently took some time for a Leading With Courage℠ conversation with us that highlights how his company has sustained a culture of success for over a century while forging strong relationships with firefighting organizations arou

In Part I of our Leading With Courage℠ conversation with foodjunky.com Co-Founder and CEO Travis Johnson shared how his concierge service makes ordering food from local restaurants easy for individuals, groups, and catering. He also opened up about the de-railers to effective leadership that he tripped over in his first few years in business. From those experiences, he’s become someone who is never afraid to ask the customer, “What do you think?” We continue the conversation

foodjunky.com is a concierge service that makes ordering food from your local restaurants easy for individuals, groups, and catering. At the helm of this online platform is Travis Johnson, whose mission is to alleviate the headache of ordering lunch and instead deliver a whole lot of happiness to customers. Leading With Courage Academy: foodjunky.com has been in business since 2011, but you had the idea for the company a lot farther back from that date, didn’t you? Travis Joh

“It’s All About People.” This was the motto that Brian Scudamore adopted for his company, ironically, after he let the entire team go in the name of revamping his culture under a clarified vision. From this critical turning point to bring about a fundamental change in the way he hired, Scudamore transformed a $1 million company into 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, a thriving junk removal business that operates in hundreds of locations across Canada, the U.S. and Australia. As part of our

"The Family is there to serve the business. The business is not there to serve the Family." Craig Duchossois The Duchossois name has become synonymous with horse racing and its painstaking rebuild of Arlington Park to become one of the crown jewels of the sport. But it’s a family that’s also been associated with businesses related to access control and a broad array of investments. Since 1994, Craig Duchossois has led The Duchossois Group, Inc. We had the opportunity to sit

In our previous post, Hardik Bhatt shared how he transitioned from the private sector with Cisco into public service with Governor Bruce Rauner’s administration after thinking he’d left it all behind after his earlier role as CIO for the City of Chicago. As the Illinois State CIO, he is laying the foundation for success with plans like his 75-day transformations. Our Leading With Courage℠ conversation picks up with Bhatt charting a course to build upon his early wins and a

Here are four questions to ask that will help you make tough decisions with greater consistency and confidence. This is an example of the tools you can use immediately that are a hallmark of the Leading With Courage℠ Academy's programs and workshops. Click here to learn about the Academy, or click here to check out our latest one-page overview of the Academy. #leadingwithcourage #leadershipdevelopment #leadingwithcourageacademy

As we begin a new year, which of these "speed bumps" on the path to progress and adopting new ideas and processes are you going to be on the alert for? #leadership #leadingwithcourage #leadingwithcourageacademy