Our Real World Leadership Laboratory

It’s a fascinating time to study leaders. Remember, you can learn from poor examples as well as great ones. I keep a dedicated file in my memory bank labeled, “Don’t Do That—Do This.” Recently, I’m running short on memory for storage. For me, the counter-balance to the overload of news from and about bloviating, gesticulating [...]

By |2017-02-09T08:51:32-06:00February 9th, 2017|High Performance Management Teams, Leadership|0 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—Are You Driving Your Team Bananas?

What I really wanted to call this post was, “Quit Acting Like a Hyper-Rooster.” It’s much more visual, and after all, does anyone really want to look or act like a hyper-rooster? Yet, that’s exactly what too many managers act and look like, as they simultaneously strut and flit around the office or plant, moving from activity to activity, focusing on everything and nothing and making their colleagues dizzy and disoriented in the process.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:05-05:00November 29th, 2015|Leadership, Leadership Caffeine|1 Comment

New Leader Tuesday-How to Be Viewed as a Jerk from Day One

The bookshelves and blog posts are filled with great advice on how to lead effectively, yet, mostly what I hear in workshops and classrooms are the stories of the lousy habits of Grade A Jerks. Since there are clearly many people who aspire to this lofty level in the world of Jerks, I thought I would make your job just a bit easier by offering up this starter list. Here are 14 ideas guaranteed to help you succeed in being viewed as a Grade A Jerk:

By |2016-10-22T17:11:29-05:00June 26th, 2012|Leadership|7 Comments

At Least 10 More Things to Stop Doing if You’re the Boss

A few years ago, I wrote a post entitled, “At Least 20 Things to Stop Doing as a Leader” Reader comments quickly quadrupled that number. It seems there's no shortage of Bad Boss habits. Here’s a few more "fresh" suggestions provided by clients for publication purposes since I wrote the original post. (Note to readers, this and the predecessor post with comments are ideal for printing and quietly leaving behind on the boss’s chair.)

By |2016-10-22T17:11:31-05:00March 19th, 2012|Leadership|10 Comments

A Leadership Christmas Carol-Bah Humbug to These Leaders

Given the state of things in our world, perhaps for just one season, Dickens’ ghosts can shift their attention away from Scrooge and focus on a few of those truly deserving characters hiding in positions of leadership inside our organizations and governmental institutions. Here are just a few of these characters in need of a visit from the Leadership Ghosts of Past, Present and Future:

By |2016-10-22T17:11:34-05:00December 19th, 2011|Leadership|0 Comments

Two Voices on Being Heard and Not Being Heard

Mary Jo Asmus and I are back with our third collaborative blogging effort, focusing on what it means and feels like to be heard and not to be heard. Our first efforts, "Two Voices on the Words of a Leader" and "Two Voices on Humility and the Effective Leader," remain personal and reader favorites. I like the "Words" post so much...particularly Mary Jo's portion, that with her permission, I'm including it in my forthcoming book, Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:42-05:00February 23rd, 2011|Uncategorized|8 Comments

At Least 3 Reasons We’re Still Raving About Lousy Leaders

I’ll wager a month’s worth of coffee that if you asked everyone that you know to generate a list on what makes an effective leader, the output would be nearly identical. So if this construct of an effective leader is so readily apparent, why is there a nearly endless supply of disgruntled workers capable of describing lousy leader horror stories to anyone that will listen?

By |2016-10-22T17:11:45-05:00November 16th, 2010|Leadership, Management Innovation|4 Comments
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