Posts with the "leadership" tag:

The Echoes of Downton Abbey

Mark Putnam | 8 Comments | Posted: January 14, 2013

Societal change is difficult to describe, much less interpret accurately.

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The Interdependence of Leadership and Governance

Mark Putnam | 8 Comments | Posted: June 28, 2012

Many years ago I knew a young college basketball coach. As I listened to him describe his philosophy of coaching, I was impressed by one tenet – the system is more important than the individual players. He found a way to overcome a deficit in talent by organizing a strong collective system.

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Make It Go Away

Mark Putnam | 9 Comments | Posted: November 22, 2011

We are reminded as leaders of community-based organizations, educational institutions, communities of faith, businesses and corporations, and government agencies that our duty of care can never be compromised by self-interest. We pray for a world where the challenges of discrimination, abuse and other horrors do not exist. But when we encounter them, as leaders, we must respond firmly with decisiveness and compassion for victims.

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Reality Check

Mark Putnam | 11 Comments | Posted: June 20, 2011

I live a sheltered life. My work as a college president relies on the splendid efforts of others who are constantly anticipating, preparing, advising, researching, organizing and arranging many aspects of my personal and professional life. It’s a wonderful privilege for which I am very grateful, but sometimes it’s also a mixed blessing. I find it’s easy to lose perspective.

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The Right To Know

Mark Putnam | 21 Comments | Posted: December 6, 2010

Early in my career I took every opportunity I could find to talk with people in leadership. It didn’t matter what type of organization they were leading. I was just curious about how they ordered the world and interpreted their own experiences. The result is that my memory is full of vignettes about a wide range of topics that have stayed with me even today.

On one occasion I had a private discussion with an organizational CEO. He was very seasoned in his work and already had been recognized with important accomplishments. As the conversation unfolded we turned to some of the greatest challenges he experienced in his career. He described a situation in which his private action was misinterpreted by the public. He said to me, “In the minds of the public, sometimes A + B = G.”

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