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 plant closing unleashes a flood of family memories
When the headline is personal It’s rare that a story headline in my morning reads jolts me awake. This one in the WSJ did. "Storied Toolmaker Closes Its Last Hometown Plant — and Blames Its Tape Measures." (Tiered paywall) The news that Stanley (now Stanley Black...
A plant closing unleashes a flood of family memories
It’s rare that a story headline in my morning reads jolts me awake. This one in the WSJ did. “Storied Toolmaker Closes Its Last Hometown Plant — and Blames Its Tape Measures.”
Where Too Many Managers Hit the Wall on Their Level-Up Journeys
Developing as a manager is a perpetual exercise in leveling up. Just when you think you’ve developed some competence at the role and are asked to take on more responsibilities, WHAM, you hit the wall of new, ambiguous challenges. Here are the six big level up challenges I see for rising managers:
My Summer 2023 Professional Reading List
Here are my top choices for my personal Summer 2023 Professional Reading list.
How to Get Unstuck with Your Career Pivot
I talk with many good people motivated to change their career vectors but unsure of what to do or even how to get started. As a result, they do nothing. They’re stuck. Maybe you’re stuck as well. Here are some tips to help you get beyond this uncomfortable state and into action:
Heartfelt Encouragement for the M.B.A. Graduates of 2023
Here’s some hard-won and heartfelt guidance for MBA graduates as I strive not to sound like every other commencement address out there. Use the ideas in great life and career health.
The Death of The Manager Role: What’s Really Needed
As Layoffs Climb and AI Emerges, the Predictions are Flowing Like clockwork, bad news in the economy coupled with some scary new technology brings out the pundits offering exaggerated predictions for something or another. This time, the mass layoffs in techdom and a...
How to Create a Quality Feedback Culture that Supports Learning and Growth
While many managers work hard to construct and deliver timely behavioral feedback, few spend time working on their feedback culture. As a result, performance feedback is transactional—given on a one-off basis, but it doesn’t propel growth and learning across the entire group. Here are some tips to strengthen your team’s feedback culture.
Career Focus—When You Change, But Your View of You Doesn’t
One of the significant career mistakes I see otherwise talented professionals make is identifying with and lingering in the wrong role or vocation long after the expiration date. Here’s a list of questions to help you run a career self-check.
A Unique (free) Manager Development Event—Friday, May 12 at Noon Central
Join me and a cast of your peers from across industries and organizations on Friday, 5/12, at noon central for the latest Leadership Caffeine Jam Session, when we come together for an hour to identify and develop solutions for some of the most vexing challenges all managers face
Feeling Increasingly Irrelevant at Work? Assess and Take Action
In our unsettled era, wondering whether you are still relevant in your workplace is the stuff of sleepless nights. It’s essential to gauge whether your uneasy feeling is real or just a product of our odd times. If your suspicions are confirmed, it’s time to take action.