Articles

At a First Business Bank Emerging Leaders event, Jason Ilstrup, President of Downtown Madison Inc. spoke on the importance of emerging leaders’ involvement with their communities and how that can benefit the development of the emerging leader, the growth of the organization in which they work, and how it can ultimately lead to mutually-meaningful work engagement.  As Madison area resident, Bruce Holoubek, owner of Contracted Leadership, and Host of The Development Exponent Podcast is familiar with the city’s business development and networking circles and has known Jason for some time. But it was how Jason’s presentation precisely resonated with Bruce’s mission to help business leaders build mutually-meaningful work engagements, that moved Bruce to invite Jason to the podcast to take...

As we focus on being effective leaders we mostly approach leadership development from our own perspective. Coming from the angle of personal development, we ask how we can be better leaders today than we were yesterday. We defer to subject matter experts, consult coaches, and learn from other executives at leadership retreats and events. However, we don’t look often enough from the perspective of those who allow us to be leaders in the first place-- the young professionals and emerging leaders we mentor. It’s about them, and the adage reminds: The measure of a true leader is not in how many followers they have, but in how many good leaders they create. Eric Schremp is a 25-year young professional, who...

Would you trust someone who doesn’t know how to use a steering wheel drive your car? It’s what we as executives and organizational leaders do when we promote workers to leadership roles who have no sense of personal purpose nor vision for a meaningful mission. The fault is not in bad hiring, but in a shifting culture that allows less and less time for quiet self reflection and development of an inner guidance system. Take heed that, it’s not you-- and you do have the power to make it better.  To help us gain footing on what’s happening and what we can do, Bruce Holoubek, owner of Contracted Leadership, and Host of The Development Exponent Podcast talks with the right...

In his quest of exploring the relationships between leaders and the emerging leaders they develop Bruce Holoubek, owner of Contracted Leadership, and Host of The Development Exponent Podcast talks to Rani Mani and Jose Camacho of Adobe. Rani Mani is the head of Global Social Influencer Enablement and Employee Advocacy at Adobe. She is passionate about cultivating and nurturing communities and coaching others to do the same. Her nickname at Adobe is “The Velvet Hammer” due to her ability to lead with her head and her heart-- to be assertive and firm yet with kindness and respect. Rani’s mantra is “To make the impossible possible.” Jose Camacho is the Social Media Enablement Strategist at Adobe. He is passionate about building...

No matter what kind of development you are exposing yourself to there comes a moment when you need to decide if you're going to put your new ideas into action. When you're willing to change your current behavior thoughts and patterns, is when your learning takes on true value. However, change is a strange thing that affects each of us differently. Some people hate it all, some are okay with some of it, while others live for it. Chris Clarke-Epstein made it her life’s work to figure out why some people fall into these groups. She is an internationally known writer and speaker, she’s written and contributed to 14 books and numerous articles, one of her books has been translated...