Leadership Blog

Incite to Leadership logo icon favicon

From Incite to Leadership founder and CEO Jo Ilfeld, read the latest on strategic vision, leading change amid complexity, and honing the way you communicate and collaborate with others. Get resources, practical strategies, research, and more.

Successful People Need Help Too!​

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | July 23, 2015 |
successful people need help too

I’ve been following well-known executive coach and best-selling author Marshall Goldsmith for several years now. What I love about him is his no-nonsense take on how people view change and how to actually do it. He gave a great talk at a recent Inc. Conference and has posted short (3 minute) excerpts on his website.

Read More

What’s just outside of your comfort zone?

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | July 16, 2015 |
What's Just Outside Your Comfort Zone-

In the US we just celebrated July 4th, Independence Day. I was lucky enough, to travel, as we do most years, to Tahoe to celebrate the 4th with my husband’s family in the fresh mountain air. This year, I resolved to go on the hike I have long worked to avoid. Each year, my sons…

Read More

Renaissance (Wo)Man Or Expert? Time Management For The New Millennium

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | July 9, 2015 |

This past year I had the honor and privilege of leading a Lean-In Circle. The participants were an amazing group of women and leaders and I was honored to spend the year with them. While we didn’t entirely follow along the Lean In curriculum as specified by Sheryl Sandberg and co, we did take advantage…

Read More

A Smile is a Frown When Upside Down

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | June 18, 2015 |
a smile is a frown when upside down

What do you see in this picture? I see a typical residential scene. A street of houses, people walking, cars driving by. Now turn 180 degrees with me. What do you see now?

Read More

Leadership Rules for the Age of Complexity

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | May 31, 2015 |
leadership rules for the age of complexity

I was recently having coffee with a good friend (Happy Birthday Kathrin!) and we were discussing the biggest challenges business leaders face currently. Near the top among these challenges has to be managing all contradictions in today’s workplace, both internally for yourself and within your company.

Read More

13 Lessons I’ve Learned From My 13 Year Old

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | May 26, 2015 |

Prologue: My 13 year old son was recently Bar-Mitzvah’ed.  At our temple, parents can give a short talk to their child before the main service begins. I’m sharing below the talk I gave to my son.

Read More

Why Is My Body Not Working Like I Want?

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | April 2, 2015 |
why is my body not working like i want

One of my closest friends, Dr. Sara Gottfried, just wrote her second book, “The Hormone Reset Diet.” I’m not recommending it because you need to lose weight. Because you don’t! You look fabulous just as you are right now! But there are two exceptional things about this book:

Read More

I’m Perfect Just The Way I Am… Or Am I?

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | March 26, 2015 |
are your blind spots holding you back from reaching your achievements

Recently I was sitting with a client and going over the results of an assessment that I love and regularly use with clients. As we began to go over the “Blind Spots” part of the assessment, he turned to me and said:

Read More

How Does Your Personal Appearance Affect Your Leadership?

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | March 12, 2015 |
How Does Your Personal Appearance Affect Your Leadership?

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the first ever Women’s Leadership conference called ‘Lead On’ put on by Watermark in the Bay Area. Not only was it fabulous to reconnect with some close friends there, but it was motivating to be with so many women passionate about leadership.

Read More

Feeling Stuck At Work? How to Handle a Personal Downturn

By Jo Ilfeld, PhD | March 5, 2015 |
Feeling Stuck At Work? How to Handle a Personal Downturn

There is a Buddhist/Taoist story of an old farmer who had been working his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “We’ll see.” the farmer replied.

Read More