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
Seizing the Big Moments that Define Your Leadership Career
We work for decades, yet for most of us, there are a handful of moments in time that define the course of our careers. Unfortunately, these moments—opportunities or crises—don't come with a caption suggesting, "Hey, pay attention and embrace this mess because it's...
Seizing the Big Moments that Define Your Leadership Career
For individuals who choose to lead, it pays to see the signposts. Here are several significant moments in the career of everyone who leads that merit your complete engagement.
Leaders, Tattoo this Causal Relationship on Your Forearms
I’ve been mildly surprised that the book, Beyond Performance-How Great Organizations Build Competitive Advantage by Scott Keller and Colin Price, hasn’t commanded more attention in mainstream business circles. Perhaps we’ve grown numb to the almost endless number of books purporting to show us the way to sustained success. However, don’t let the existence of 25,000 or so books published on managing change during the past two decades, blind you to some of the important and data-backed conclusions of Beyond Performance. Here are some reasons why this may be one of the more important books you will read this decade:
Leadership Caffeine™-What Do You Do with a Team that has Failed?
We’re often too quick as leaders to throw in the towel on teams that have whiffed. That’s a mistake that may be more costly to performance and morale than the initial and temporary failure. Here are 5 signs that your failed team merits more time:
Friday Leadership and Management Sound-Bites
Though-provoking quotes from my current management and leadership reading stack. If you are looking for some thought-provoking leadership and management reading, here are a few great choices:
Beware Professional Performance Drift
The concept of performance drift (for professionals) is wonderfully outlined by John Hamm, writing in his recently published book, Unusually Excellent: The Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership. Here are my added thoughts on helping you recognize and slow your own professional performance drift:
Leadership Caffeine™-Get Invested in Developing Your New Leaders
I’ve yet to run a workshop or program on leadership where anything approaching a majority of the participants describe their initial days of their initial role as a team leader, supervisor or manager as a period when they received much if any support and coaching from their own direct manager. Most describe this particularly precarious professional time as more like a “hit and run.” That’s unfortunate, because the flame-out rate for first-time leaders is high and the fallout on those around them heavy. Here are 8 ideas for you to strengthen your support of your first-time leaders:
Newsletter #2 Next Week & Art’s Writings Last Week
Look for the latest issue of the Leadership Caffeine Newsletter (subscriber only content) next week. And in case you missed it, here are links to Art’s posts on decision-making, strategy and career survival from last week. Enjoy your weekend!
Weekend Career Focus-Invest in Your Professional Survival Skills
Too many people are caught seemingly by surprise (for some odd reason) that all bets are off on promises of on-going employment
Lessons in Management Innovation from Main Street
During the past few years, I’ve marveled at the start-ups and small to mid-sized businesses in my community who didn’t need an army of consultants or MBAs to teach them the very relevant and important lessons that Reeves and Deimler share in their recent Harvard Business Review article, “Adaptability-The New Competitive Advantage.”
Leadership Caffeine™: Teach Your Team Smart(er) Decision Processes
Nothing happens without a decision. Nothing good happens without the right decision. And, in case you doubt the need to focus on making better decisions, spend some time skimming the news. If you’ve kept up with your health and fitness resolutions thus far this year, you know that even minor adjustments in diet and exercise pay big dividends. The same goes for our individual and group decision-making approaches. Here are 5 key questions and suggestions for strengthening your team’s decision-making processes.