Few Do-Overs in Leadership, Instead, Do-Different
Unfortunately, do-overs in leadership are rare. Instead, work on rebuilding your leadership foundation mid-flight by using these three big ideas with your team.
Leadership Caffeine™—The Alchemy of Great Leadership
Newsflash, there are no shortcuts to great leadership. Much like the failure to change nature's principles in search of longevity or turning lead into gold, one's ability lead develops slowly over time and with much strain. Here are 10 lessons learned in search of success as a leader:
Best of Leadership Caffeine™-How to Deal with Positive Praise
It’s easy to start believing the praise you hear in the hallways about your leadership approach. Easy and dangerous. I’ve always been leery of the unfounded and saccharine-sweet praise that is bestowed upon leaders. While you may call me cynical, I prefer to think of myself as pragmatic. Here are 5 ideas for delicately and appropriately coping with positive praise:
Leadership Caffeine™: Learning to Ask for Help
I’ve not met a person yet that doesn’t need help from time to time, and this goes double for anyone in a leadership role. Leadership is frequently lonely and those that take their role seriously truly fret over decisions surrounded by ambiguity. The pressure to “figure it out” is tremendous, partially imposed by our fast moving and politically charged working environments, and partially imposed by our own misguided sense that to show that we need help is to show weakness. Here are seven ideas for properly and professionally asking for help.
Beware Contracting “I’m Right, You’re Wrong” Disease?
It’s time to add another malady to the long list of things that bedevil the many lousy leaders walking unencumbered through our workplaces. It’s called, “I’m Right and You’re Wrong” (IRYW) disease, and while it’s not fatal, it’s clearly annoying to people and debilitating to performance.
Leadership Caffeine™-Create Success by Managing Your Response to Failure
No one wants to fail. It’s not something that we typically seek out as part of our personal and organizational character building experience. However, from a distance, we tend to mythologize failure, especially in the context of achieving future success. Certainly, the stories are right and the lessons instructional. They inspire us to persevere, but the failure-leading to-success legends don’t guide us how to respond and cope in the moment.
