Blog Posts

By Dr. Scott.

A “year in review” piece might seem a little ahead of it’s time here in October, but I can assure you, there is a method to this madness.  This October marks the one-year anniversary of this Madison School of Professional Develop Wednesday Leadership Blog, of which, I have the privilege and the honor of being the main contributor.  This anniversary event was highlighted in a recent Madison Education Group (MEG) press release.

The first piece I wrote for this blog series was published on the MEG website in late October 2024.  In that piece, 3 Daily Leadership Questions, I—admittedly, somewhat unknowingly—established the format, tone, and style for the blogs while also setting a foundation for the themes and concepts to be explored.  Now, a year later, I am taking a look back through some of the blogs we’ve published to date to highlight the blog’s evolution and to also revisit the key themes examined throughout.

Humble Beginnings

Last October, in that first piece, 3 Daily Leadership Questions, I focused on two major leadership themes—achievement and influence.  Around these two concepts, I proposed three important questions that leaders should ask themselves every day: “what will I accomplish today, who will I influence today, and who influenced me today?” 

With these three questions, I established the format and structure you may now be familiar with today.  In subsequent pieces, like those that appeared in December 2024, such as Leadership Trends 2025 and Gifts for Leaders 2025, I honed this approach and began a more structured format that included concluding remarks.  Later, in 2025, these conclusions would evolve further into the current “final thoughts” section.

I must say that I am somewhat pleased with my predictions in Leadership Trends 2025.  My reflections on the year ahead are all still meaningful and relevant to leadership here in the last quarter of 2025.  I encourage you to revisit that piece and, as we near the holiday season, Gifts for Leaders 2025 is another good re-read if you’re starting to think about Christmas gifts for important people in your professional life.

New Approaches

Into the early months of 2025, I continued to approach the weekly blogs as stand-alone pieces, but the style and structure of the blog series was staring to take shape.  In Leaders Communicating Effectively 2025 and Preparing Yourself for Leadership, I realized that I needed to harness the power of the 5 Paragraph Essay Technique, albeit with a flare and style that was less persuasive and more conversational.   

In March, Dr. Robin Westerik, President of MEG, contributed to the blog in Leadership Advancement through Mentorship.  In that blog, Westerik highlighted the importance of mentorship and coaching such as the coaching education courses offered through the Madison Coaching Academy and the coaching services offered here at MEG.

By April, I was beginning to think about leadership, and the blog itself, more broadly.  That month, I began the first multi-part series.  I had realized that I had more to offer the conversation around leadership than just self-help style, leadership advice.  And, that through this blog, I could impart all the knowledge and experience I had gained teaching business studies and leading my own organizations.

I decided to start with the academic side of things.  In that first three-part “thinking about leadership” series, I briefly covered leadership theories, leadership styles, and leadership best practices respectively.  This series set the stage for later multi-piece series throughout the year including a series on, first visionary leaders, then succession planning, and finally when leadership leads poorly.  In fact, just last week, we finalized that series on bad leadership with Badly Leading Leaders. 

Missed one of the series listed above and want to read more?  Check them all out here:

Visionary Leadership: 6 Characteristics of Visionary Leaders, Strategic Innovation and Inspirational Communication, Visionary Leaders and the Situation, Visionary Leaders and Personality Traits, Building Visionary Cultures, Maintaining the Vision, and Seeing Out the Vision.

Succession Planning: Leadership Potential, Implementing the Succession Plan, Monitoring Succession Plan Implementation, and Emergency Succession Planning.

Bad Leadership: Leaders Leading Badly, When Leaders Lead Badly, and Badly Leading Leaders.

2025 also presented some struggles for this first-time blogger.  The summer months proved very difficult to keep momentum and to keep installments dropping weekly.   Since that time, though, I’ve found my groove a bit more and producing content for the weekly postings has become a more regular part of my daily and weekly routine.  I’ve also spent 2025 researching the art of blogging and I’m happy to report that I continue to incorporate best practices and strategies for taking this blog series to the next level.  This is perhaps one of the things that I am most excited for in this second year of the blog.

The Big Takeaways

For me personally, and as I stated for the press release commemorating the one-year anniversary of this MSPD Wednesday Leadership Blog, “It has been a really fun year sharing my leadership knowledge and experiences and I’m excited for another year of using this platform to promote the importance of leadership studies and development.”  For me, this may be my greatest takeaway—that this blog series has really been fun and I look forward to continuing to think deeply and write about leadership.  As the blog has grown and evolved, so too has my own satisfaction.  Each week, when the post goes live—even with a few occasionally typos or editing artifacts embarrassingly published for all to see--I feel a great deal of pride and a sense of fulfillment.

As for the blog, this first year has established a clear format, tone, and style that can be impactful in and of itself as the themes and concepts explored continue to take shape and mature.

As for the major themes covered in this first year, I’ll highlight three items that were regular topics of discussion as well as the most recurring in terms of recommended best leadership practices. 

The first is the importance of effective leadership communication and the significance e of active listening.  This theme was introduced time and again throughout this past year as a critical leadership skill.  For example, see Leaders Communicating Effectively 2025, Preparing Yourself for Leadership, Strategic Innovation and Inspirational Communication, and even Leaders Leading Badly.

Along with effective communication, mastering and applying emotional intelligence skills is critical for leaders to, among other things, build trust, manage conflict, and lead effectively.  For example, see Building Visionary Cultures and Leading with Integrity.

And finally, organizational behavior and building strong, positive organizational cultures resurfaced again and again throughout this year’s blogs, including: Leading with Integrity, Building Visionary Cultures, and Monitoring Succession Plan Implementation.

Final Thoughts

Well, it has certainly been an eventful year. Looking through all of the publications over this past year has been a rewarding process all to itself and I hope you enjoy re-reading through some of the blog postings I’ve highlighted here.  My personal favorite is the series on visionary leadership which I’ve listed above.  As always, I open to ideas, comments, and suggestions from my readers and I look forward to another year giving effective leadership the spotlight it deserves.  I hope you’ll join along and spread the word about this blog, the professional development and membership opportunities here at the MSPD, and the coaching services and coaching education certifications provided through the MEG and the Madison Coaching Academy respectively.

Thank you for reading the Madison School of Professional Development Wednesday Leadership Blog where we highlight leadership best practices each week.  Check out more from this blog and other blogs hosted by MEG here.

If you have a topic that you would like to see me pontificate on, drop me an email at info@meg-spd.com.

Dr. Scott Eidson is the Executive Vice President of the Madison School of Professional Development and holds doctoral degrees in both history and business.  When not thinking about leadership, he’s usually thinking about surfing or old Volkswagens.