The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Career Reinvention Journal™—Don’t Let Fear Keep You Locked in Misery
We ran our latest career-focused event the other day: How to Get Unstuck & Take Control of Your Career, and as always, the commentary from the attendees was priceless. With over 300 registered and a great group in attendance, the chat stream was in full...
Career Reinvention Journal™—Don’t Let Fear Keep You Locked in Misery
As Frank Herbert offers in the classic science fiction book, Dune, “Fear is the mind-killer.” Don’t let your instinctual reactions to the idea of making a career change keep you locked into something that no longer works for you.
Leadership Caffeine™: How to Appropriately Respond to Positive Praise
It’s easy to start believing the praise you hear in the hallways about your leadership approach. Easy and dangerous. I’ve always been leery of the unfounded and saccharine-sweet praise that is bestowed upon leaders. While you may call me cynical, I prefer to think of myself as pragmatic. Here are five ideas for appropriately responding to positive praise:
Management Excellence Book Review: Management? It’s Not What You Think
I confess to having a proclivity for essay collections when it comes to reading about management. Essays move along quickly and they offer the reader the opportunity to capture quick sound bites over breakfast, on the train or in other ideal reading rooms. Also, there’s the reality that many management books struggle to adequately fill the space between the book-covers, offering up their best in the introduction, the first chapter and the wrap-up chapter. Here are my thoughts on: Management? It’s Not What You Think! by Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel.
Management Excellence Book Series: Six Disciplines Execution Revolution with Gary Harpst
I started this book series to share the insights and approaches of some truly sharp people on solving vexing business problems. This particular interview with Gary Harpst, author of, Six Disciplines Execution Revolution and the earlier Six Disciplines for Excellence, taps into Gary’s hard won, practical experience and his great ideas on helping small and mid-sized businesses deal with strategy execution. Enjoy the thoughtful, actionable and experience-tested guidance from Gary in our podcast interview!
10 of My Favorite Dumb Ass Management Mistakes
In the spirit of my post, “At Least 20 Things to Stop Doing as a Leader,” which has grown well north of 50 thanks to a deluge of reader comments, I’m back with a list of some insanely stupid and all-too-common management mistakes. These focus more on the decisions, actions or inactions that contribute to creating even bigger problems. While I’ve remained on the positive side of the law here (felons, you’ve had your day!), some of these mistakes are truly criminal. Please feel free to chime in with your additions.
Leadership Caffeine™: What to Do If You Find Yourself Irrelevant at Work
Wondering whether you are still relevant in your workplace is one of those topics that many think about but few discuss. The “R” word after all is at the heart of our self-worth and self-esteem as professionals. If you find your relevance slipping away, here are some ideas for assessing your situation and taking action to rebuild your professional reputation at work.
Lessons Learned and Joy Gained While Writing 500 Posts on Leadership and Management
My lessons learned and my sincere thanks for your support during my journey towards 500 posts on leadership and management.
Dealing with Active Resisters and Apathetic Loafers at Work, School or in Workshops
There are those that are eager to learn, inquisitive, participative and genuinely excited to hear something that challenges their pre-conceived ideas or that expands their thinking. These Active Learners bring energy to the situation and they raise the quality of the engagement for everyone involved. Unfortunately, it’s common in many settings to meet the alter egos of the Active Learner. They come in several shapes and sizes, ranging from Aggressive Resisters to Apathetic Loafers. What’s a manager, educator or facilitator to do?
Art Guest Posts on Leadership at Tanveer Naseer’s Blog
My guest post at Tanveer Naseer’s blog, The Great and Perilous Leadership Journey Ahead, reflects my perspective on the rapidly and radically changing nature of leadership in our emerging environment. Perhaps my subhead says it best: “Welcome to the Leadership Blender.”
Leadership Caffeine™: How to Grow Your Leadership Credibility in 15 Easy Lessons
Like good health, you cannot have too much credibility as a leader. You build credibility as a leader one interaction and one decision at a time over a long period of time. Here are 15 suggestions to help build your leadership credibility.