By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you enhance your staff’s performance. Reading time: 3:46.

Nicknames, strategically designed and thoughtfully assigned, can be a leadership tool that brings out the best in others.

After all, nicknames can reinforce a reputation. Think of Lieutenant General Thomas Jonathan Jackson. You know him as Stonewall Jackson.

Nicknames can celebrate exemplary performance. Think of former NFL football running back and wide receiver, Elroy Hirsch. Fans of yesteryear knew him as Crazy Legs.

And nicknames – rooted in an act of faith deep within a leader’s gut feel for another -can inspire a change in behavior that surprises and delights. Think of the prostitute Aldonza. You know her as Dulcinea – the Sweet One—in The Man From La Mancha.

Aldonza, you may recall, protested the first time Don Quixote called her The Sweet One -Dulcinea.

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