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The Polished Leader

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  Can a leader become too polished? Professionalism matters. Preparation matters. Excellence matters. But leadership also requires something that cannot be manufactured by a perfectly polished presentation: **A recognizable human being.** In this episode of **The View from My Window on the World Podcast**, I reflect on authenticity, vulnerability, approachability, and the relationship between the leader and the people being led. Do the people on our teams know more than our mission statement? Do they understand what drives us, what we value, why the mission matters to us, and something of the person behind the leadership? And perhaps an even more challenging question: **Would members of your team be uncomfortable if you unexpectedly walked into a serious conversation in which they were honestly discussing your leadership?** Authentic leadership does not mean indiscriminate disclosure or abandoning appropriate boundaries. It means developing enough congruence between our stated valu...
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Leadership Digest for July 31

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Purposeful Foolishness

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Leadership is not merely about making a plan and sticking to it. Sometimes remaining faithful to the purpose requires departing from the strategy. In this edition of Leaning Leadership Ladder, I reflect on risk, failure, responsibility, and what I call “purposeful foolishness”—those moments when a leader must make a bold and possibly unpopular decision because it appears to be the right thing to do. Courageous leadership is not careless. It listens to counsel, examines the evidence, weighs the consequences of acting and not acting, and accepts responsibility for whatever follows. When have you had to depart from a plan in order to preserve a principle? #Leadership #CourageousLeadership #DecisionMaking #EthicalLeadership #LeadershipDevelopment #LeaningLeadershipLadder https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/purposeful-foolishness-tom-sims-clfmc  
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Subscribe to The Leaning Leadership Ladder

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Send in the Clowns

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  Soothing the Leader's Soul Tom Sims Certified Mentor @ SCORE Mentors | DTM, Facilitation, Networking March 27, 2026 Leaning Leadership Ladder Soothing the Leader’s Soul: Why Aesthetics Are a Leadership Discipline What kind of environment helps you think clearly… and work well? It’s a deceptively simple question. But most leaders never ask it. We design strategies. We build systems. We measure outcomes. Yet we often ignore one of the most immediate influences on leadership effectiveness: The environment in which we lead. A Few Questions Worth Asking Pause for a moment and consider: What colors surround you during your workday? What hangs on your walls? What captures your imagination when your eyes drift? Are there objects—art, sculpture, photographs—that deepen your thinking? What in your space settles your soul… and prepares you to work? These are not decorative questions. They are leadership questions. Aesthetics Matter More Than We Admit There is an entire discipline devoted to...
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