The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Professional Development is the Gift that Keeps on Giving
A Plan for Professional Development Heading Into the New Year The best managers and executives I work with are always on the lookout for opportunities to support team member growth. As a senior executive, I went into every new year with professional development on the...
Professional Development is the Gift that Keeps on Giving
The best managers and executives I work with are always on the lookout for opportunities to support team member growth. Here’s a list of great professional development opportunities for you or your team members.
Leadership Caffeine™-For a Change, Do Something Unconventionally Unorthodox
We tend to love our life and work routines. They are comfortable and comforting. And while there’s a certain amount of routine that’s inherent in successfully running any organization, the best leaders seek and create opportunities to breakaway from the mind-numbing, sense-dulling pursuit of routine. Here are 5 ideas to stimulate your own-thinking on breaking the routine with your team:
Web Construction Update
I'm erring on the side of sharing a little more rather than a little less on some of the work going on here. A few days ago, I highlighted upcoming changes. Last night, the new format for the site went live, although much work continues on content refinement and new...
Leadership Caffeine™ Podcast #14-Bob Frisch on Who’s In the Room?
Bob Frisch is one smart professional, with some great guidance for senior managers and CEO’s in his new book: “Who’s In the Room? How Great Leaders Structure and Manage the Teams Around Them.” His lifetime experience as a strategy consultant working with senior management teams comes through loud and clear as he shares some fairly blunt and important perspectives on how decisions at the top are really made.
Leadership Caffeine™-Why You Might Want to Pause Before Voicing that Decision
Teaching others to employ effective decision-making processes is one of the most important and often ignored responsibilities of those in leadership roles. Unfortunately, training your team to look to you for the calls on how to fix problems and move forward is much easier than teaching your team members to stand on their own for most issues.
Website Construction-Pardon Our Dust
Much like the orange road construction signs springing up like dandelions on a Chicago lawn in April, you’ll notice some construction challenges here at artpetty.com and the Management Excellence blog. We are in the process of updating the website and it is highly likely this will occasionally impede navigation temporarily. Blog posts will continue as usual.
Marketing Myopia Redux-Time to Recognize What Your Customers Really Need
It amazes and disappoints me all at the same time how many businesses have no clue what their customers really need from them.
This problem is epidemic in the technology world (consumer electronics and business technology) in particular, where feature, function and price wars continue to dominate the landscape in spite of the reality that most of us buy for reasons other than feature, function or price.
Leaders, Principles and the Pursuit of High Performance Teams
Every high performance team I’ve experienced as a participant, a sponsor or an outside advisor, was governed by an overarching set of principles or values that formed and framed the culture. And while good words alone don’t create success, the combination of the leaders and participants living and acting according to those words everyday made things work.
Leadership Caffeine™-6 Reasons Why You Should Pass on the Happy Hour Invite
Just say “No” to the post-work invite from the team for the beer. While you’ll feel torn because you enjoy social time as much as the next person, pay attention to that little voice in your mind trying to get your attention with, “You shouldn’t, you’re the boss.” No moralizing here. I’ve simply known too many who shut this voice out and paid with their credibility and on a few occasions, their jobs. Not convinced? Here are 6 reasons why I believe you should pass on the post-work happy hour invite:
Leadership Caffeine™ Podcast-Free the Idea Monkey with G. Michael Maddock
After a brief hiatus, the Leadership Caffeine podcast is back! I’m excited to be on the air again and I’m excited about the great line-up of experts, authors and executives ready to share their big ideas!
Speaking of big ideas, there’s no one better to kick us off for this round of podcasts than G. Michael Maddock (Mike), the leader of the innovation agency Maddock-Douglas, author of multiple books, serial entrepreneur and someone who is a one-person idea generating machine. Mike is here with his latest literary effort: “Free the Idea Monkey…to focus on what matters most,” a follow-on to his excellent book, Brand New: Solving the Innovation Paradox.