Just One Thing-How Hard Are You Working at Connecting?
We live and work in a transactional world, where most of us experience a large number of low engagement sound-byte interactions in our professional and even our personal lives. It's the rhythm of our age. Take a few moments and try and recall the last time you engaged in a high quality, interactive conversation with a peer, boss or direct report that led to a valued outcome, a new insight or a new direction. Here are some ideas to help you slow down and create some quality connections between you and your colleagues:
Successful, Yes. But at What Cost?
For most of us, reading “Dish Network, the Meanest Company in America,” (via Bloomberg BusinessWeek) focusing on the style and tactics of Charlie Ergen, chairman and co-founder of the firm, will leave us feeling thankful that we work somewhere else. Nonetheless, Ergen is successful with his over-the-top and in-your-face style of command and control leadership. Is this a style for you?
Leadership Development Carnival-Best of 2012
Thanks to Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership by Dan fame, there's a tremendous collection of favorite leadership blogger posts from last year at this month's "Best of 2012 Leadership Development Carnival." If you're looking for some thought-starter ideas to help you succeed with your New Year's Leadership resolutions, this is a great place to begin your search!
Leadership Caffeine™-Full Contact Leadership
The most effective leaders I know enjoy and invest time honing their skills and techniques through training and education, but mostly, they focus on getting their hands dirty on the front lines with their team members. These are Full Contact Leaders. Here are 11 behaviors of these very visible and driven professionals:
7 Simple Ideas to Build Professional Muscle this Year
Professional development like physical fitness and weight loss is oft discussed, frequently initiated and rarely completed. Make this year different. Here are 7 ideas that like push-ups, build core strength, can be practiced anywhere, and are absolutely free:
Best Of: Trying Not to Fail is Not the Same as Striving for Success
This post is excerpted from my collection: Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development. There's a definite difference between focusing on not failing versus striving for success.