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
Leadership Caffeine—Mine (and Mind) Your Mistakes for Growth
Our mistakes in pursuit of learning are the burpees, extra gym time, and leg days of our mental fitness for most of us. For those where mistakes are measured in cost or time (not life impact or safety), your mistakes measure how hard you are pushing yourself to grow....
Leadership Caffeine—Mine (and Mind) Your Mistakes for Growth
Our mistakes in pursuit of learning are the burpees, extra gym time, and leg days of our mental fitness for most of us. For those where mistakes are measured in cost or time (not life impact or safety), your mistakes measure how hard you are pushing yourself to grow. Here are ideas to turn your misfires into gold.
Nine Key Professional Capabilities Required By Our Times
There’s no doubt we live in interesting times…a true Dickensian Best of Times, Worst of Times environment, filled with remarkable opportunities and equally remarkable personal, competitive, societal and global challenges. Over the past few years and few thousand contacts with professionals on the topic(s) of developing as a professional and developing as a leader, a number of key “capabilities needed for success in these times” have emerged as recurring themes in discussions and group settings. Importantly, these themes or as I describe them, Capabilities, Attributes & Behaviors (CABs) are essential for success at both the individual and organizational levels.
Leadership Caffeine™: When Good Isn’t Good Enough
For most of us, the answer to the question, “Are you pushing yourself hard enough?” is “No.” If we’re honest with ourselves, there are parts of our lives, including our careers, our relationships and our own personal development, where we are leaving progress, achievement and satisfaction on the table.
Management Week In Review-January 14, 2011
Every Friday, I share three thought-provoking management posts for the week. This week, I’m including content on assessing your status and progress as a boss, simplifying complex problems to spur innovation and gain feedback, and overcoming that ever-present “resistance” as we pursue personal and professional development. Enjoy!
Want to Change the World? Don’t Forget to Build Your Business Model
Over the past few weeks, I’ve connected with some brilliant individuals in multiple entrepreneurial organizations. In every instance, I heard some form of “We want to change the world” as these high-energy individuals described their ideas and their motivation. I love “change the world ideas” put forth by people passionate about doing something new, doing something better and helping others along the way. There’s no way I can avoid cheering for these teams. However, I can worry for them. Here’s why…
Important Reads: Almost Isn’t Good Enough, Wayne Elsey of Soles4Souls
The latest Management Excellence Book Review: This is not so much a book review as it is my reaction to a powerful work from a man doing remarkable things to change the world. “Almost Isn’t Good Enough,” by Soles4Souls founder, Wayne Elsey is also a book about shoes. And about a man. And about the human condition. And about management and leadership. And about revolutionizing the management and fund-raising practices in the world of not-for-profit organizations.
Leadership Caffeine™: Prepare Your Attitude Daily to Lead Effectively
If as Woody Allen indicated, “80-percent of success is just showing up,” the gross majority of the rest of success must be attributable to adopting the right attitude. I’ll leave a little wiggle room in there for the propensity to act and our good friend, luck. Here are six ideas to help you prepare your positive attitude daily.
Management Week in Review-January 7, 2011
One of my professional goals this year is to do a better job sharing insights and perspectives from a broad range of great leadership and management writers and thinkers. Every Friday, I will share my three favorites for the week. This week, I’m including content on transforming yourself, testing your strategy and turning some of the disasters of 2010 into great lessons for 2011. Enjoy!
Rethinking Idea Generation
Idea generation is core to everything we do in our organizations. It’s too bad that we’ve been going about it all wrong!
Updates: The Latest e-Newsletter & My Bookstore
Management Excellence Updates for January 5, 2011:My latest e-Newsletter with subscriber-only content is out, and I’ve constructed a new bookstore (without harming any bricks or mortar), featuring my recommendations in leadership & management, strategy, innovation, marketing, history and biography. Back Thursday with my regularly scheduled blog content!