The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Leadership Caffeine™—The Imperative to Think Differently About Managing and Leading
Now is not the time for the dominant logic surrounding managing and leading to prevail. That's how we got here, and "here" isn't so great. It's time to break and replace the old rules of managing and leading. It's essential we find better ways to inspire, motivate,...
Leadership Caffeine™—The Imperative to Think Differently About Managing and Leading
Now is not the time for the dominant logic surrounding managing and leading to prevail. That’s how we got here, and “here” isn’t so great. It’s essential we find better ways to inspire, motivate, and engage great people who want to make a difference in our organizations. Here are twelve places to start:
Develop the Courage to Lead by Pushing Out of Your Silo
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in my career shuttling between departments and scaling silo walls, and now I find myself working with and mentoring individuals that do much the same. Hey executives, haven’t we advanced at least a few steps beyond the work style and structure invented somewhere around the industrial revolution? Or is organizing in and hanging out in self-referencing professional or vocational groups a distinctly human issue?
Leadership Caffeine™-Develop a Big Picture View or Risk Becoming a Carp
Far too many leaders that I work with lack awareness of the broader forces swirling around their firms, their customers and those shape-shifting clusters that we describe as industries.
Given the hurricane like market and societal forces buffeting our globe today, a strategy of boarding up the windows and hunkering down is tantamount to committing corporate suicide. Yet, mostly by the sin of omission, this is exactly what I’m observing inside too many organizations.
The January Leadership Development Carnival-Best of 2009
Dan McCarthy, the proprietor of the well-named and always excellent Great Leadership Blog, is out with The January Leadership Development Carnival-The Best of 2009 Edition. I am honored to be in some great company with Dan and many, many of my absolute favorite thinkers and writers, and I encourage you to click over and spend some quality time soaking up the energy and great ideas.
The Leader's Daily Reminder List
I expressed my opinion on the ineffectiveness of making annual resolutions in January in a recent Leadership Caffeine post entitled, “An Effective Leader’s Resolutions are Calendar Blind.” Translation: good leaders work on improving their blocking and tackling every single day. My suggestion is for you to create a “Leader’s Reminder List” and reference it every morning over breakfast, or keep it in your car and briefcase and review it before you walk through the door into the office.
Peace On Earth, Good Will To All
Peace On Earth, Good Will To All
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
Peace on Earth, Good Will To All
Want to Make A Difference? Treat Leadership as a Calling
The most effective leaders that I’ve observed, worked for, mentored and studied all have one thing in common. They have a deep regard for the impact of their role on others and they treat this responsibility like a precious gift, holding it in trust and preparing to pass it along to the next generation. These leaders view their profession as a calling, not a job.
Leadership Caffeine™-An Effective Leader’s Resolutions are Calendar Blind
As a leader, you cannot afford to fall victim to the boom and bust cycle of annual resolutions. Rather, your challenge is a daily one, requiring you to manage your practices and habits in a program of perpetual self-improvement. Of course, identifying the right improvements requires you to have a real-time feedback system and the ability to keep your ego in check while as objectively as possible processing the daily evidence on your own performance.
An Irreverent but Pointed Look at Feedback & An Update on the Newsletter Promotion
Today’s post is at my Building Better Leaders site/blog and features a slightly irreverent look at the value and need for feedback. It is entirely possible that in the course of making a point on why feedback is such a critical skill to master, I compared it to Viagra, dissed the Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler and encouraged incompetent leaders to volunteer to stand next to a wall with a blindfold on and smoke a cigarette. And yes, there is a message and at least a few ideas for you once you get beyond my slightly off-center suggestions