For a long time in my career, business travel was punctuated every morning by the hotel wake-up call. (Newsflash: we didn’t always have phones with alarms!)
At the better hotels, a person greeted you and welcomed you to the day. Backed by (hopefully) a good night’s sleep, the wake-up call signaled the start of the day’s adventures. A big sales call. An important customer meeting. The visit to renew relationships at the industry trade show. Whatever your mission, the wake-up call marked a fresh start filled with potential.
I’ve always loved that sense of a fresh start, a new adventure, and the potential of the day ahead. That’s precisely the spirit I wanted to capture in my latest book, Wake-Up Calls for Managers: Insights to Sharpen Focus and Elevate Results, and my new series of short videos with the same name.
- Fresh ideas!
- A new start!
- Big potential!
The video series is particularly fun for me.
First, it’s a challenge for me to distill ideas into two minutes or less.
Second, I find video work challenging. Sometimes a few colorful words fly around the room when I whiff on my delivery and end up creating 8 takes of my ninety-second video.
And finally, the most important challenge: making certain every Wake-Up Call offers a fresh perspective, a practical idea, or an action you can put to work immediately.
If you’re ready for fresh ideas, a different perspective on familiar challenges, and a little encouragement to put them to work, I invite you to check out my Wake-Up Calls video series.
Seven Wake-Up Calls to Get You Started
- Becoming your best leader
- Design better feedback discussions
- How to gain the ground truth with 3Ws
- Eliminating the drama storm
- How to get better at receiving feedback
- Navigating uncertainty
- Strengthen your influence fitness
No lengthy lectures. No complicated frameworks. Just a minute or so of straight talk, practical ideas, and the occasional nudge to rethink how you’re approaching your work as a leader.
I’m having a blast creating these. I hope you find something that gives you a fresh start on a big new adventure or vexing challenge.
p.s. If you find them useful, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, share a favorite with a colleague, and let me know what leadership challenges deserve a future Wake-Up Call. After all, we can all use a wake-up call now and then. Including me!
