The conventional wisdom is dead wrong. Leadership frequently does require negotiation, and good leaders are invariably effective negotiators

Example: Holding one-on-one meetings, which is a medium choice and a component of your voice, will help you get to know your directors’ individual interests and concerns, structure arrangements that satisfy those interests and concerns, and still allow you to mak...

When deciding how to communicate, recognize that the medium you choose reveals something about you and your relationship with the person you are trying to lead.

A generic, “copy-pasted” memo, for example, about a plan or proposal, could signal that you take people’s support for granted, th...

When the poet Walt Whitman wrote, “Surely, whoever speaks to me in the right voice, him or her I shall follow,” he conveyed the notion that persuasive communication is fundamental to effective leadership. Whitman’s words also underscore the importance of shaping leadershi...

Organizations, large and small, look to their leaders to establish vision. Popular commentary on corporate leadership presupposes that a company’s vision comes from its CEO and that, without a strong CEO, the company has no vision. But that’s not necessarily the case. Members located throughout a...

Effective leaders realize that they need to know people as individuals to truly understand their interests. Some of your peers care more about shoring up their power in the short term than they do about their units’ long-term health. Some individuals care more about long-term car...

Like a skilled diplomat, a leader—whether a corporate CEO or a department head—negotiates support from followers by appealing to their interests, communicating with each of them in the right voice and medium, and forging a single compelling ...

According to conventional wisdom, leading people requires vision, charisma, and a palpable self-confidence —but not negoti...