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
Chronos or Kairos—Is it Your Moment for a Career Change?
Two Views on Time I discovered recently that the ancient Greeks had two different words to explain the idea of time: Chronos and Kairos. The difference between the two is meaningful, especially if you feel the time of your life and career flying by. Chronos is the...
Chronos or Kairos—Is it Your Moment for a Career Change?
I discovered recently that the ancient Greeks had two different words to explain the idea of time: Chronos and Kairos. The difference between the two is meaningful, especially if you feel the time of your life and career flying by.
New Leader Tuesday: 10 Tips to Help You Succeed at Your First Executive Briefing
At some point it will happen. You’ll be invited to your first executive meeting to provide an update on your team’s initiatives and it’s important for you to be prepared to seize this golden reputation building opportunity. Here are 10 tips to help you prepare for and succeed in this setting:
Art of Managing: Tackle the Big Issues by Creating Time to Think Deeply
Sometimes, you just have to call a time-out. While our tendency is to respond to the gravitational pull of our devices and the unceasing demands of the urgent and urgent-unimportant in our work lives, some issues simply require deep thought. Here are 6 ideas to support your effort to find deep-thinking time on the big issues for you and your team:
New Leader Tuesday-Job One is to Strengthen Others
It’s not easy to move from a self-focused professional to someone who suddenly is measured by the success and growth of his or her team members.Here are 6 ideas to support your efforts on this long, arduous and rewarding journey:
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: