The most difficult and impactful decisions in a leader's life are the people decisions. Drawing from examples in the military, a leader has to assess whether an issue was a mistake or a lack of discipline. One merits second chances and the other demands more aggressive action. Here's a case and outcome that illustrates the situation. How would you have handled this situation?
Taking a cue from the late President George H.W. Bush, character and moral compass are essential for good leadership. Here are some ideas to help you bring them to life.
When evaluating individuals for advancement into management roles, I prioritize character over knowledge, skills, and abilities. The latter are developed with coaching and training, however, by the time they get to you, it's too late to teach character.
In construction, a strong foundation is fundamental to creating a solid, resilient structure. The same applies when it comes to developing new managers. In this article, I share guidance and a framework to help with the development of strong, resilient new managers on your team.
The toxic employee has a “special” knack of destabilizing groups, destroying trust between coworkers and stifling conversation and creativity in nearly every situation. For a number of reasons…none of which are worth much, too many leaders hesitate when it comes to purging these radioactive waste products from their teams. If you’ve been rationalizing retaining one of those characters that creates fallout with every encounter, it’s important to recognize what you’re doing to everyone else and then to take action.
There’s a class of professionals in the world one of my former bosses labeled as “70-Percenters.” They’re the people who are great at making noise, and even getting things started, but they don’t know how to close. They’re not finishers. Here are 5 key behaviors of finishers:
I’ve learned much from Bob, but perhaps the most important reminder that he serves up is for us all to touch everyone that we come in contact with in a positive way. And while much of this blog focuses on dealing with the tough issues of leading and managing, even the tough issues offer opportunities for positive touches.
This week’s focus is on scouting talent, and like most of my posts, I’m encouraging you to break some established rules. The best leaders that I know are also the best talent scouts. They are acute observers of people and extraordinarily quick to identify individuals with potential. They are also great developers of talent, but that’s a separate topic for another day. In my experience in working around and talking with individuals that have outstanding track records in finding and developing new talent, there are three core attributes that they look for...
Bob is leaving behind the business that he helped start and grow and save and grow and sell and sell again, and no one in BIGCO cares. Frankly, no one in the upper ranks even knows that he exists. The dirty little secret: he's just another faceless number on a spreadsheet and his departure will improve the expense to revenue ratio, and solve an annoying compensation problem in this now remote outpost of BIGCO. Bob is in the prime of his career, an expert and one of the last shreds of the soul of a great business. Bob is relieved to be moving on, but to BIGCO, it's not even noticeable. Good for Bob. There's more.
