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

Want to Make a Career Change? Expect to Do Some Heavy Lifting

Want to Make a Career Change? Expect to Do Some Heavy Lifting

There are no quick fixes, magic beans, or silver bullets to get the work out of your career pivot project. While everyone's journey is different, there's a common thread: you have to think, think deeply, be creative, be willing to explore, and ultimately, be ready to...

Want to Make a Career Change? Expect to Do Some Heavy Lifting

There are no quick fixes, magic beans, or silver bullets to get the work out of your career pivot project. While everyone’s journey is different, there’s a common thread: you have to think, think deeply, be creative, be willing to explore, and ultimately, be ready to experiment before identifying the right “next” in your career. In other words, you need to do the heavy lifting required for a successful career pivot.

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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.

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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?

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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.”

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A Leader’s List for Giving Thanks

As we take a momentary time-out in America from our significant challenges as a professionals, citizens and family members and give thanks for what’s good and right in our world and lives, those of us that serve as leaders owe a few additional toasts and thoughts for the privilege that we have in working with others. The Leader’s List for Giving Thanks, includes…

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Leadership Caffeine™: Mistakes are the Raw Ingredients of Leadership Courage

’ve made a number of mistakes over the course of my leadership career that make my head spin and my stomach turn just thinking about them. No life or death or business impacting mistakes, but, definitely some people and team impacting issues that created ill will and most definitely didn’t show me off at my leadership best. Learning from those mistakes helped me evolve my thinking on the role of a leader and on my true priorities in supporting my business, my peers and my team members.

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Leadership Lessons from Sherlock Holmes: Watch and Learn

Most great leaders that I’ve encountered are astute observers of their environment. They are good at reading people and situations, and they apply the insights gained through observing to improving their performance as leaders and to navigating the ever-present corporate politics. We spend a great deal of time helping individuals develop their skills as speakers, but when was the last time that you attended a workshop on improving your observation skills?

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At Least 3 Reasons We’re Still Raving About Lousy Leaders

I’ll wager a month’s worth of coffee that if you asked everyone that you know to generate a list on what makes an effective leader, the output would be nearly identical. So if this construct of an effective leader is so readily apparent, why is there a nearly endless supply of disgruntled workers capable of describing lousy leader horror stories to anyone that will listen?

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