Being Negative and Complaining
"Two men look out the same prison bars: One sees mud and the other stars." -Frederick Langbridge It's very easy and so tempting to be...
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Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Apr 6
Light A Fire Within Instead of Under Someone
The Cambridge Dictionary defines the saying, "light a fire under someone" in this manner: to make someone act quickly or forcefully,...
214 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Feb 5
Personal Integrity Is Being Congruent; Not Hedging, Not Sidestepping, Not Misleading
"A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth." -Aesop In a 2015 Hallmark Christmas holiday movie called, "I'm Not Ready...
162 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Jan 3
A Top Regret of the Dying - Wishing They Hadn't Worked So Hard
Bronnie Ware is an Australian woman who spent many years working in palliative care. Her patients were those who had returned home to...
154 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Nov 9, 2023
The Value of Feedback
According to the book The Leadership Challenge, one of the things leaders can start doing to become better leaders is to ask people to...
139 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Jul 4, 2023
Don't Be Petty and Don't Delight in Other's Misery
Petty is an interesting word. The Collins Online Dictionary defines it as: mean or ungenerous in small or trifling things a petty person...
259 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Jun 4, 2023
What it Means for a Leader to Take on "Extreme Ownership"
Photo: Jocko Willink (left) and Leif Babin (right) I've written before about "extreme ownership" and how passing the buck (i.e., blaming...
380 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- May 2, 2023
Good to Great to Gone
I was once part of a leadership development initiative (in 2019) that required partnering and collaborating with a third-party vendor,...
184 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Apr 9, 2023
Book Review: The Leadership Challenge, 7th Edition
In this book review of The Leadership Challenge (7th ed.) by James (Jim) Kouzes and Barry Posner, I'll compare the 7th edition (2023) to...
1,196 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Mar 7, 2023
Don't Get Hooked on "Fake Work"
“Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must...
700 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Dec 19, 2022
Don't Outsource Your Thinking
If there's one thing I've learned from attaining my Ph.D. it is this — don't outsource your thinking. As a society, we've become lazy,...
430 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Nov 18, 2022
Book Summary & Review: How to Be an Inclusive Leader (2nd ed.) by Jennifer Brown
SUMMARY Based on her many years of watching all types of individuals react to the issues surrounding diversity, equity, inclusion, and...
1,172 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Jul 1, 2022
Values-Based Leadership
Professor Harry M. Jansen Kraemer, Jr. of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management says a values-based leader aims to...
439 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Dec 1, 2021
Book Review – LEAD NOW!: A Personal Leadership Coaching Guide for Results-Driven Leaders (2nd ed.)
“Leadership is a future-oriented ability to establish direction, align people, and help others to work together. We believe a leader is...
53 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Feb 22, 2021
How to Give Direct and Clear Feedback
From front-line leaders all the way up to C-suite leaders, I have seen, time and time again, how managers have made a mess in delivering...
112 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Dec 30, 2020
Resilience Is Adapting Successfully to Adversity, Hardship, and Tragedy
“The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.” -Robert Jordan, The Fires of Heaven Looking Back at...
101 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Oct 5, 2020
Blocked Personal Learners Don’t See Value in Self-Development
“Growth is the great separator between those who succeed and those who do not. When I see a person beginning to separate themselves from...
58 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Mar 17, 2020
Overcoming Obstacles: Attitude and Approach Are Answers to Pains and Problems
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”-William Shakespear In his book, The Obstacle Is the Way, Ryan Holiday...
33 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Jan 6, 2020
Steve Jobs Had Moderately Low Emotional Intelligence
I thought this might be an interesting case study. I’ve come across many articles where writers (both lay and scholars) have stated that...
184 views
Steve Nguyen, PhD
- Dec 25, 2019
People with Secure High Self-Esteem Don’t Need or Seek External Validation
The older I get, the more reflective and observant I become. It might be because I’m older and a bit wiser, but I think it’s more about...
48 views
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