The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Provocative Perspective—The Leadership Failure of Mass Layoffs
I’ve long believed layoffs are a lagging indicator of poor leadership engaged in misguided management practices. The headlines at the time of this writing are filled with announcements of mass layoffs—mostly from Big Tech—backed with apologies from CEOs. From META CEO...
Provocative Perspective—The Leadership Failure of Mass Layoffs
I’ve long believed layoffs are a lagging indicator of poor leadership engaged in misguided management practices. The CEO apologies for these misfires ring hollow. You cannot apologize your way out of a leadership failure at scale.
Integrator Leaders-People Who Get Stuff Done
Regular readers know my perspective on those who lead without authority. I’m a huge fan. These are the people who turn good businesses great and who power teams with the kinetic energy created by their constant motion.
A Great Product Manager
Someone asked me about the importance of product management in my prior tech businesses. My answer was blunt. Great product managers see beyond customer requirements to the often unspoken needs, and they move organizational mountains to fill those needs.
New Leader Tuesday-Beware Under or Over Managing
The first year of your first job responsible for others (supervisor, lead, manager) is the early-awkward phase. Your technical or functional expertise and someone’s perception of your potential for leadership got you here. Your as of yet undeveloped or at least under-developed communication and coordination skills are what will carry you forward. Here are 5 suggestions to help you get this right.
Just One Thing: Services ARE Performances
Few things evoke as much negative emotion in otherwise kind and gentle souls as a bad experience as a customer. Focus in your mind on your last really bad customer service experience and you can sense the tension in your neck growing along with the rise in blood pressure. That bad experience becomes “the company” for us. What do your team’s performances say about you as a leader and about your firm?
Leadership Caffeine™ Podcast-Executive Coach Mary Jo Asmus
There’s a secret to why I have so much fun producing this podcast. I only interview people who fascinate and inspire with their ideas. The subject of this interview, , Executive Coach, business owner at Aspire CS and popular leadership blogger, Mary Jo Asmus, hits the bullseye on all criteria.
New Leader Tuesday-Gaining Critical Context for Your Team’s Mission
Many first-time leaders are given the equivalent of “battlefield” promotions with no more context than, “You’ve done a great job, you’re in charge.” If you end up on the receiving side of this “Go get ‘em Tiger,” philosophy of leadership development, it’s important for you to quickly gain context for your team’s role and accountabilities.
Just One Thing-Vary Your Routine For A Change
Routines are comfortable..and at the risk of being redundant, habit forming. Eventually, routines become mind numbing. Here are five ideas to help jump-start your thoughts on breaking the routine:
Leadership Caffeine™-7 Suggestions to Strengthen Your Group’s Performance
Performance counts. Efforts are nice, but ultimately, you are evaluated on the results of your team, not the amount of work you put into achieving your results. Here are 7 ideas to promote high performance with your team:
Leadership Caffeine™ Podcast-Getting Ahead with Joel Garfinkle
Unfortunately, good work alone is not always enough to stand-out from the crowd. In a noisy, competitive workplace, where others choose us for big projects and new opportunities, finding a way to stand-out…while not becoming one of those aforementioned obnoxious characters, is a fact of life. Joel Garfinkle, a leading executive coach, speaker and author, offers some excellent and practical guidance on this important but awkward topic in his latest book, Getting Ahead-Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level.