Wake-Up Calls for Managers
For the hard parts no one prepares you for
When the path isn’t clear, the stakes are high, and the answers aren’t obvious—this is where managers struggle most.
Wake-Up Calls for Managers delivers practical, real-world guidance for navigating:
- Tough conversations
- Leading through uncertainty
- Building influence without authority
- Driving results through others
The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Six Big Insights from the Global Challenging Conversations Workshops
We Grow Smarter Together If you’ve followed my work for any length, you know how excited I am about the insights generated via discussions in my various workshop programs. Every individual comes to a program with a unique perspective and experiences, and together, we...
Six Big Insights from the Global Challenging Conversations Workshops
In a recent global workshop series, two groups of individuals added their international flavor to the challenging conversations, topics, and guidance. I share the highlights below.
Leadership Caffeine™-Coping with Critics in the Workplace
It takes courage of conviction and a strong dose of self-confidence to absorb the flak from the naysayers. Here are 7 ideas to help you better cope with your workplace critics:
It’s Your Career-7 Key Do’s and Don’ts for the Newly Minted MBA
It’s graduation season again in the U.S. and for most newly minted MBA graduates, it’s time for a reality check. Here are some hard-won words of wisdom on how to navigate the steps immediately following your graduation.
How to Defuse Difficult Workplace Discussions
Almost all of us get this wrong in the professional environment at some time or another. Myself included. We find ourselves in a tense situation with someone or some group who is attempting to assert a direction or insert themselves into the area we perceive as our domain, and we react by aggressively defending our position and by challenging or attacking their position. Here are five ideas to help you defuse and improve these difficult discussions:
Leadership Caffeine™: 5 Ideas to Bring Strategy to Life on Your Team
Regardless of your level in the organization, you have a responsibility to find ways to create a direct link between your team’s priorities and your firm’s ability to make money, create and satisfy customers and beat competitors. Here are five ideas to help you span this gap:
New Leader Tuesday-10 Things I Learned the Hard Way About Leading
Experience is the best teacher when it comes to learning to lead, however, there are a few items that I wish someone would have pointed out before I tripped all over myself earlier in my career. Forewarned is forearmed!
Art of Managing-Kick Mediocrity to the Curb in Pursuit of Extraordinary
Mediocre is on display daily in too many areas of our society and in too many of our businesses. From the boss who just doesn’t care to our government seemingly barely functioning to the miserable help-lines of too many firms to the slow gait…the shuffle of retail workers at organizations that definitely don’t care, ordinary and average are epidemic. Here are 8 ideas to help you kick mediocrity to the curb in pursuit of extraordinary on your team:
New Leader Tuesday: Dealing with the Personal Problems of Your Team Members
One of the occupational challenges of your role as a manager or supervisor is learning how to navigate the personal issues of your team members that seep (or rush) into the workplace. Here are 5 ideas to help you navigate this sticky situation:
Leadership Caffeine™: A Note for the Boss Who Talks Too Much
If you happen to work for someone who clearly consumes verbal diuretics and suffers an excessive outflow of spoken waste, consider “sharing” the guidance below.
Leadership Caffeine™: The Difference Between Finishers and 70-Percenters
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: