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
Fresh Lessons from the Latest Feedback Boot Camp
I run the 3-hour Feedback Skills Boot Camp program six times per year, and in every session, I’m reminded how motivated good managers are to find ways to both praise and encourage growth with their team members. This recent group was filled with energy, embraced the...
Fresh Lessons from the Latest Feedback Boot Camp
I run the 3-hour Feedback Skills Boot Camp program six times per year, and in every session, I’m reminded how motivated good managers are to find ways to both praise and encourage growth with their team members. Here are some of the key insights shared by the most recent cohort:
Leadership Caffeine™-The Leader as Explorer
Something funny happens as we age and gain experience. Many of us expect the world to continue conforming to our view of things, which of course, it rarely does. For those that stubbornly stick to the perspective that I’m right and everyone else is wrong, the world quickly spins away and they become leadership and management relics from a bygone era. For those that have the courage to recognize that they are the ones that need to change and keep pace, everyday is a true adventure.
Boost Your Effectiveness at Work by Creating Time to Think
As challenging as it sounds, it’s important for you to find 10-minutes in your workday to block out or step away from phones and e-mail and all of the other activities that keep your brain completely occupied, and just think.
A Fresh Start, a Format Change and a New Daily Feature
Something funny happened on the way to producing and writing two blogs. I discovered that I am only capable of managing one competently. Oh, and I’m certain there are at least a few management lessons here in my blogging misfire.
In Memoriam
To those that served and to those that served and sacrificed, we honor and thank you.
The Problem(s) with Teams
It’s increasingly likely that you will spend a good deal of your professional time working on temporary teams. It’s also likely that you will experience a fair amount of frustration and even team failure along the way. Most organizations have yet to meet a problem (or opportunity) that they won’t throw a team at to solve. Let’s face it, it’s tempting to assume that a group of motivated, diverse individuals will trump the lone soldier when it comes to creativity, problem-solving and planning.
Or, at least it’s comfortable to think so.
Help Wanted: Leaders with Moral Courage
It’s nice to think that most people and most organizations if given the choice between clear right and wrong would opt for right, but reality and a solid decade of scandals, horrendous decisions and now, environmental disasters, suggests that we’re not ready to declare victory on this issue.
Leadership Caffeine™-5 Ideas for Improving Your Ability to Engage as a Leader
Some leaders move through their days like a flat rock skipping over the surface of a pond. They are focused on personal efficiency and speed, and the faster they move and the more decisions that they make, the better they believe they are doing as leaders. They are transactional leaders. Their days are blurs of decisions, quick meetings, hurried hallway exchanges and even more hurried text and e-mail messages, often created while they are present but not engaged in the event or conversation of the moment. If improving performance, fostering a culture of learning and innovation and developing the confidence to tackle the tough topics are all important for your firm, it’s time to engage more and transact less.
Apply Distance and Anonymity to Improve Idea Generation
The default approach in most organizations and on most teams for idea generation is to conduct a brainstorming meeting. You know the drill. A meeting notice is sent out, and everyone assembles at the appointed time, prepared to “ideate.” The moderator reminds...
Creativity and the Leader
A Fast Company article entitled, “The Most Important Leadership Quality for CEOs? Creativity” (referenced by SmartBrief on Leadership), indicates, “For CEOs, creativity is now the most important leadership quality for success in business, outweighing even integrity and global thinking, according to a new study by IBM.” As you might imagine, creativity as a quality supplanting integrity and honesty is generating a fair amount of controversy.