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
A Focus on Bringing Your Purpose to Life (and work)—Insights from the Jam Session
Ideas and Energy Every Month with the Leadership Caffeine Jam Session On the second Friday of every month, I get together with a fabulous group of professionals, and for 50 or so minutes, we share ideas on the significant issues in leading, managing, and careers....
A Focus on Bringing Your Purpose to Life (and work)—Insights from the Jam Session
In the latest Leadership Caffeine Jam Session, we explored the issue of purpose in the workplace. Here are some key insights from the group:
Leadership Caffeine™-Finding Right is Different than Having to Be Right
I want to know what you know.” One of my early career managers used this line regularly when engaging with her team members. She was genuine in her interest in our take on problems and opportunities, and you could almost hear her mind working as she processed the information and compared and contrasted it with her own views. Her employees genuinely appreciated her effort to see a situation from multiple vantage points. Here are 6 approaches that effective leaders use to guide their teams towards right, without having to dictate direction:
14 Ideas to Strengthen Workplace Group Discussion Quality Today
We spend a great deal of our working lives engaging with others in pursuit of ideas and solutions. Unfortunately, most of our workplace discussions tend to resemble a swirl of emotions, ideas and opinions, with little structure to help navigate these very human issues. To help strengthen discussion quality today, and to set the stage for continuous improvement with your discussions, consider applying these 14 suggestions:
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: