Great Leaders Gossip

When you hear the word, gossip, what comes to mind? Gossip, at least in my mind and my circles, has a negative connotation. I can easily recall and am not proud of the many times, while eating steak and vegetables on the night before the road game, my NHL teammates and I would also feed on tasty morsels of negative gossip. But, what if I were to suggest that gossip can also be an important learned leadership skill?

John Maxwell has defined leadership as influence. Gossip influences powerfully. Gossip has a huge reach of delivery in one-to-one conversation, but what about electronic delivery through e-mail, text, what’s-App etc.? What about social media? The opportunity to deliver gossip is ever-increasing and impacting more people than ever before.