If you can walk, can you walk faster? Of course. Apply some effort, move those muscles more quickly, and your speed increases. If you can think, can you think harder? I don't think so.

If we want to make real progress in advancing women, we are going to have to rethink the methods we've been using. Why? Because the evidence clearly shows that these traditional approaches simply aren't working.

As a startup CEO and someone that has spent the majority my career in a leadership capacity, I have seen social media as part of my job for as long as I realized its viability for building a brand.

I'm not a "futurist" -- although I've always thought that would be a great job. Even so, as I work to develop many different leaders among different organizations and industries simultaneously, I can't help but notice three under-invested areas in how we develop our emerging leaders.

Can you go a year without a salary or stay in a job where you're not happy? That's about the length of time to find a new executive-level job.

Five years ago, experts were obsessed with peak oil; now we have more natural gas than we know what to do with. It is clear that we have -- or are on the verge of developing -- all the technology necessary to respond to climate change. And that's where the pessimism kicks in.

Who in your organization knows the most about how to make it better? Generally, it's not the managers or leaders -- it's the people doing the actual work.

Given a choice between an "A-Player" with a bad attitude and a "B-Player" with a good attitude, senior managers overwhelming choose disposition before qualifications.

It is in learning to use an Inner Coaching voice that women can systematically disengage from the habitual and socialized patterns that keep us from leveling the playing field.

Our dynamic, global economy demands creative leaders who are able to forge new paths. Mentorship must be more about empowering the mentee than about shaping the mentee to be like the mentor.

If you've realized -- or received feedback -- that you need to develop your "executive presence," you're certainly not alone. For most people promoted to senior positions, it's not standard equipment. It takes a bit of concerted effort to learn.

Ten years, 11 months and 21 days ago, I walked away from my entrepreneurial addiction. It had been quite the ride.

While not too long ago many CEOs were hipsters, time seems to have taken its toll. These days, most operate as minders of the status quo -- old-school capitalists, equal parts American Dream, ever-higher profits, low or no taxes and "kill or be eaten."

Calling all corporate people, politicians, pundits, and public speaking pros: Please strike the following 30 phrases from your vocabulary. The world ...

Membership on a senior leadership team gives you immense cachet. You're in a circle of highly visible, powerful leaders.

After working with many clients, I can say definitively that there's no point in trying to change someone's fundamental character. Yet when four key ingredients are in place, we do indeed alter our thinking and behavior in modest ways that can make profoundly positive differences.

Let's face it -- unless you're a U.S. Supreme Court Justice or tenured professor, "job security" is an oxymoron these days.

Far too many leaders and managers inadvertently do things every day that send the message they distrust even their best people.

Personable and professional are not mutually exclusive -- rather, they are complementary. If you are frustrated with not getting important information on a timely basis from your people, it helps to suspect your own level of approachability.

Nightmare bosses cause a reactive mess of coping behavior among their team. People will avoid giving them bad/controversial but important news, suck up to them, hide below their radar, or worse, adopt similar behavior with their own teams.

Meeting unnecessarily is a kind of addiction -- we do it, but know it's bad for us. How can you get your work done when you spend, on average, 80 percent of your time in meetings?

One of the top three reasons great people leave an organization is because "my job isn't what I thought it'd be." When someone else has written the job description, and/or the scope of the actual role and responsibilities are different than what's stated, this becomes a problem.