Leadership Caffeine™-Beware the People Versus Performance Trap

Too many leaders get caught in a people versus performance trap that neither helps the people nor the team’s performance. These leaders give themselves too much credit for being able to change others, and they over-invest in the wrong people at the expense of the rest of the individuals in an organization. This pitfall of what most would describe as a thoughtful, creative and people-focused leader is all too common and left unchecked, can debilitate teams, destroy a performance culture and derail an otherwise promising leadership career.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:25-05:00November 11th, 2012|Leadership, Leadership Caffeine|1 Comment

Want to Lead? #4 of 7. It's Time to Ask and Answer a Difficult Question

The first three questions in this series challenged you to think through issues that are both philosophical and powerfully practical. Why do you want to lead? Do you understand the true role of a leader? Do you understand that the the skills that made you successful as an individual contributor are not the skills that will carry you forward? The next question in the series builds on #3 by asking you to consider whether you are truly willing to let go of some of that expertise as part of your transformation as a leader.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:51-05:00June 30th, 2010|Leadership, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Want to Lead? Answer These Questions! #2 of 7

The Seven Key Questions for Ambitious, Aspiring Leaders are presented in Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro. I'll explore each question here at Building Better Leaders through individual "Leadership Tip of the Day" posts, offering ideas for investigation. Question number one challenged you to ask and answer, "Why do you want to lead?" While the first question focused on motivation, the second question goes squarely to understanding.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:51-05:00June 24th, 2010|Leadership, Uncategorized|1 Comment

Leader, What Are You Doing to Improve Your Value Creation?

Leadership should be one of the principal value creation components of the management system, yet poor leadership practices often result in increased complexity, added waste and blocked attempts to streamline processes and make improvements that would otherwise benefit the organization and its customers. One of the key reasons that leaders and leadership practices often fail to create value (or to create more value) is the lack of a common operational and actionable definition for the role of a leader.

By |2016-10-22T17:12:17-05:00December 26th, 2008|Leadership, Leading Change, Management Innovation|1 Comment
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