As I have grown older, I have become increasingly aware that we live in toxic environment. Our food, water, and air are contaminated with poisons.

Over time these poisons take a toll on our bodies. Years from now, I believe we will discover that many of our worst diseases—especially autoimmune ones—were the direct result of the toxins we were ingesting.

What do penguins have to do with leadership and changing your toxic team culture? More than you realize.

The power of a few can influence the behavior of many. Leadership, as John Maxwell suggests, is really nothing more than influence.

On Sunday night at the NRB Convention, I was on a panel discussion led by Phil Cooke. Our topic was “How to Change Organizational Culture.” This is something every leader eventually faces.

Phil began the session by stating, “culture triumphs vision.” I agree completely.

From the days of Enron and Worldcom to more recent Wall Street collapses, Ponzi schemes, and political scandals, much has been written about the need for greater accountability in the workplace. Cultures of accountability foster trust, integrity, and sustainable performance. But the reality is that few companies do this well.

Here are six myths that sabotage accountability in the workplace and what you can do about them:

I believe that the local church is the hope of the world. But for it to reach its redemptive potential, it must be well-led. This means that those of us with leadership gifts have to step up and step it up. We have to take responsibility for our own leadership development.

Here are four steps I use to absorb new ideas and become a better leader:

For the past few years we’ve been studying breakthrough teams in some of the world’s most respected firms including Pepsi Beverages Company, American Express, Texas Roadhouse and Zappos.com.

Predictably, we found that great teamwork is about such things as effective goal-setting, instilling performance measurements, and increasing trust levels; but it’s also about something much softer. Something surprising.

This morning as I was running, I listened to Episode 99 of the Catalyst Podcast. It was an interview that Brad Lomenick did with Charlene Li, author of the new book, Open Leadership.

One thing in particular grabbed my attention. Brad asked her what has changed in the last two to three years in terms of social media. She said,

If you have a gnawing suspicion that work sucks, but aren’t quite sure what to do about it, this book is for you. In their recent book, Rework, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hanson challenge conventional business wisdom and show a better way to make work more fulfilling and less frustrating.

Continuing in my series of “20 Leadership Questions,” we come to the eighth question that Michael Smith asked when he interviewed me. This question is similar to the last one.

Continuing in my series of “20 Leadership Questions,” we come to the seventh question that Michael Smith asked when he interviewed me. This is basically a follow-up on the previous question.