Thanks to Dan McCarthy

Dec 30, 2014 | Better Blogging

Six and a half years ago, Dan McCarthy founded the Leadership Development Carnival. Seventy-nine carnivals later, he’s decided it’s time to pass the torch. I want to thank Dan for the carnival and for the example he set and also highlight some lessons you can learn from Dan.

Dan McCarthy is a leadership development expert

Dan writes about leadership development at about.com. His bio there will give you a review of his qualifications, but here’s a summary:

“For over 20 years Dan has helped thousands of leaders and aspiring leaders improve their leadership capabilities.”

Lesson: Write about what you know and are known for.

Find a gap and fill it

There were lots of blog carnivals when Dan started the Leadership Development Carnival. There also were (and are) lots of people writing about leadership. His carnival filled a gap in the market.

The Leadership Development Carnival has always been a place where you could look for leadership development insight and for bloggers you weren’t already familiar with. Over the years I read many bloggers for the first time because of the Carnival.

Lesson: You’re more likely to be successful if you do something unique.

Dan’s standards set a good example

Too many blog carnivals publish just about anything that comes in. The Leadership Development Carnival was different. Dan says that he usually rejected half the submissions he received.

Lesson: When you have high standards you add value for readers.

Succession at the Leadership Development Carnival

Dan will still be around, writing about leadership development at About.com and working at his day job at the University of New Hampshire. He’s just handing off the carnival to free up time and attention for other things.

Becky Robinson of Weaving Influence and the Lead Change Group will be adding the Leadership Development Carnival to her portfolio.

One last thing

Thanks, Dan.