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
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.
A Leadership Christmas Carol-Bah Humbug to These Leaders
Given the state of things in our world, perhaps for just one season, Dickens’ ghosts can shift their attention away from Scrooge and focus on a few of those truly deserving characters hiding in positions of leadership inside our organizations and governmental institutions. Here are just a few of these characters in need of a visit from the Leadership Ghosts of Past, Present and Future:
Art’s Weekly Leadership Message: Don’t Be Part of the Problem
It’s all too easy for us to get caught up in the political swirl and self-limiting behaviors that characterize the culture of many of our organizations. It’s a mistake. We have to learn to fight the gravitational pull of malaise and mediocrity that pervades our teams, or we risk being part of the problem.
December 04 Leadership Development Carnival
Our intrepid Leadership Development Carnival host, Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership fame, has for this month passed the hosting/producing baton to Kevin Eikenberry and Becky Robinson at Kevin’s Learning & Leadership blog. They are adding their own unique twist by dividing up the many submissions into several different mini-Carnival postings during the week. I encourage you to check out the posts, bookmark or subscribe to Kevin’s blog and make certain to make a return trip through the Carnival Midway this week.
Leadership Caffeine™ Podcast #12: David Lapin on Lead by Greatness
David Lapin, author of: “Lead by Greatness-How Character Can Power Your Success,” is not only fascinating, he’s in a league of his own with a world-view that encompasses his life in South Africa, his Rabbinical studies and his active and present life as a successful strategy consultant. While he doesn’t necessarily trumpet that remarkable experience, in my opinion, it is part of what makes his book unique on both a personal and a professional level.
3 Key Strategy Questions to Ask Your Teams Regularly
In my experience, the management teams that lead the best performing businesses are those that incorporate at least three key strategic questions into almost every operational and status discussion. The gross majority of the dialogue in an organization is about How, and Who and When and the important What and Why issues are left for strategy meetings and other “high-level” discussions. While understandable in the hectic pace of the workday, the shortage of these important What and Why discussions reinforces a dangerous form of operational myopia, where the underlying and unspoken assumption is: If we simply get this done, we’ll be better off as a firm
Leadership Caffeine™: The Critical Importance of Cultivating your Cultural Intelligence
Leadership Caffeine: The Critical Importance of Cultivating your Cultural Intelligence. Note from Art: this is the first of a series of Leadership Caffeine posts encouraging your development of the critical skills required for success in today’s world.
Art’s Weekly Leadership Message: Get Engaged to Help Your Project Teams Succeed
I hear from hundreds of professionals every year in workshops, via coaching assignments or in classrooms, about the challenges they have working in and on project teams. From almost every student’s worst nightmare, the classroom group project, to major strategic initiatives with high-level sponsorship, the complaints are consistent: we as leaders don’t do enough to support team development and performance.
While the list of things that can go horribly wrong on project teams is long, these 5 consistently rise to the top of the lament list.
A Black Friday Jolt of Leadership Caffeine™-Book Promotion and Helping Hand
Note from Art: It’s a great time of year to think of the people doing the heavy lifting for you. What better gift than one filled with ideas, inspiration and a call to action in pursuit of great results. Any and all of my profits from the book sale here will be donated to a local Chicago-area Food Pantry during this Holiday Season.
A Timeout to Consider “The Leader’s List for Giving Thanks”
Note from Art: I run this list every Thanksgiving…not because it’s convenient, but because the thoughts are heartfelt and unchanging. Those who serve by leading have many reasons to truly be grateful for the opportunity and for those who support them every day. Happy Thanksgiving to all.