Jack Dunigan

Author, consultant, and trainer of leaders

For more than four decades, Jack Dunigan has been leading, consulting, training, and writing. His experience is varied and comprehensive. His training and consulting clients are as varied as the Chief Justice of the Navajo Supreme Court to a top-rated campsite management company. But his advice is not merely academic. His blog, www.ThePracticalLeader.com, is focused on practical advice for leaders and managers of businesses, corporations, nonprofit agencies, families, organizations, departments, anywhere and anytime a person leads others. His latest book is Three Absolutely Necessary, Always Present Skills of an Effective, Successful Leader (CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2012).

Wed, 01/16/2013 - 09:37
Four Types of Leadership KnowledgeNothing builds confidence like being in the know
Thu, 03/12/2020 - 13:02
When the definition of power includes the “ability to exert influence,” then you’re also describing an element of leadership: knowledge. Take, for example, Ann Landers. Ann Landers is a pen name invented by Chicago Times columnist Ruth Crowley in…
Measuring Your Response to OthersEvery effort, even those not up to par, yield a teachable moment
Tue, 11/19/2019 - 12:02
What good is it? Often the mantra of the obsessively practical or the hopelessly cynical, a “what good is it?” response typically indicates disgust, disappointment, or disdain, maybe all three. Obsessively practical leaders seem to become, well,…
Stuck in First Gear? Is the Impediment to Progress You? Your role is not to make sure everyone does things right
Thu, 08/08/2019 - 12:03
It happens easily enough and usually innocently enough. You start a business or organization then endure what is often a long and expensive learning curve. Along the way you learn. You learn a lot. You discover the competencies and incompetencies of…
Three Motivators That Really WorkWhen profit is disconnected from purpose, bad things can happen
Wed, 02/13/2019 - 12:01
Graham was a salesman of specialty products with a proven record of success. His many years of experience had yielded a high degree of confidence in himself and the products he sold, and an advanced level of competence in his craft as a personable,…
Your Core Business? What Is It Really?Eight actions governed by core values
Wed, 12/12/2018 - 12:01
The scene is a Russian chemical weapons facility. James Bond, 007, and his partner, Alec Treveleyan, 006, are on a mission of sabotage. As they enter the warehouse armed with explosives, senses on full alert, they turn to each other and say, “For…
The Gold Rush Syndrome: How Effective Leaders Capitalize on a DreamWhat the gold rush syndrome means for you as a leader
Tue, 09/11/2018 - 12:03
Do you know the one thing you can do to light the fire of motivation, energy, creativity, and self-propelled action in your employees? The discovery of gold in Northern California lit off a tidal wave of prospectors, who came by the thousands to…
Success Secret No. 4: Don’t Set GoalsWithout a big picture, all the goals in the world make little difference
Tue, 04/17/2018 - 12:01
This is the next secret in our series, “The Secrets to Success You Don’t Know That You Already Know ” at The Practical Leader. Here we’re going to talk about Secret No. 4: Don’t Set Goals. You’ve probably heard of that famous Yale research study,…
Never Sanction IncompetenceMargins of error can become broad highways for failure if we let them
Tue, 12/22/2015 - 14:54
Whenever I hire a new employee, as part of his orientation I am always careful to emphasize that it would be wrong to mistake my forbearance for indifference, that while I am long-suffering and will give him time to learn the ropes, there are…
The Attitudes of an Effective DelegatorLet’s start with gratitude
Mon, 12/07/2015 - 13:59
Delegation. If you’ve been in leadership for very long, you’ve undoubtedly had a class or two on the subject, read a couple of books about it, and encountered effective delegators as well as ineffective ones. I have as well. Your experience might…
Two Little Words That Infallibly Predict an Employee’s DepartureWatch out when ‘we’ turns into ‘they’
Thu, 10/22/2015 - 14:47
I noticed the shift in vocabulary during a general meeting of department heads. The substitution of just two words signaled to me that a long-term employee was on her way out. In less than 30 days, she was gone. There are often lots of signs that…