The Leadership Caffeine Blog
The Old Model of Manager is Broken—It’s Time to Start Fresh
In his timely, relevant book, A New Way to Think, author, consultant, and former Rotman School of Management Dean, Roger L. Martin offers: "It's extremely difficult—and socially risky—to question an established model that many people believe and to start building a...
The Old Model of Manager is Broken—It’s Time to Start Fresh
It’s time to replace the tired, outdated model we have for identifying, developing, and tasking managers. Given the complexity of our environment today, we need to find new ways to harness the creative and productive power of inspired people, not send them running out the door or leave them idling in place.
Leadership Caffeine™-The Unpopular Decisions are Yours
There will be many days in your leadership life, when you will be challenged to make decisions that carry painful implications for teams, departments and individuals. Your ability to stare straight at the unpopular and difficult issues and make a decision that is contrary to popular opinion, is core to your evolution as a leader.
Leadership Caffeine™:When Playing Office Politics Leave the Playground Tactics Behind
There’s no hiding from, denying or deftly side-stepping the reality that the political game…the pursuit of resources, budgets and yes, even power, is in full swing just about all of the time in most organizations. It’s too bad that most people are playing it wrong. Here are 4 ideas to help you move beyond playground tactics in your pursuit of strengthening the organization:
Just One Thing-A Lousy Boss is No Excuse to Let the Fires Burn
Some organizations seem to perpetuate a culture that generates talk and hand wringing and teeth gnashing on issues, but little constructive action. Instead of letting the heat from 1,000 smoldering fires melt away your spirit and initiative, take action, grab a hose and form a bucket brigade. Do something…just don’t stand around and watch things burn.
Leadership Caffeine™-Is it Time to Re-examine the Leader You’ve Become?
Taking time to reflect and re-examine your role and performance as a leader offers nothing but growth opportunities for yourself and for those who look to you to lead. Here are 5 ideas to help you reboot your drive to excel as a leader:
Leadership Caffeine™—3 Situations to Quality Check Your Gut Instinct
While it’s clear our guts don’t do any heavy lifting when it comes to making decisions, that sense we describe as “gut feeling” is something most of us rely on to guide us through life’s challenges. However, there are at least 3 key situations where senior leaders should develop the discipline to quality check their gut instincts:
Leadership Caffeine™—6 Ideas to Help You Prosper During Periods of Change
Contrary to how many people view and respond to change in the workplace, it’s been my experience that periods of organizational adjustment typically represent big fat beach balls of opportunity for those willing to pitch in and help. Here are 6 ideas to help you adjust to and prosper during periods of organizational change:
5 Ideas to Keep Your Culture from Having Your Strategy for Lunch
Every leader who has grappled with a shift in strategy for their firm understands the powerful gravitational pull of organizational culture. Here are 5 ideas to help ensure you respect and leverage the culture during periods of change:
Leaders, Beware the Imposters: Triumph and Disaster
Triumph, that moment in time when we have vanquished our competitors or achieved a level of performance long desired, is the moment of our greatest vulnerability. Leading from a point of success is challenging. Disaster breeds its’ own set of leadership challenges. The best leaders follow Kipling’s advice and treat these imposters the same.
Leadership Caffeine™-It’s Not Your Leadership, It’s the Cause
Leadership by Cause invites greatness to the party. Anything less than a clear, galvanizing, shared cause, promotes compliance-type performance and typically mediocre results. Here are Six ideas to help you identify and promote a cause that inspires in your organization: