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
Introducing the Leadership Caffeine Jam Sessions—What Webinars Should Be
Raise your hand if you’ve experienced one too many long slogs through slides during one of the gazillion webinars you’ve attended in the past two years. OK, everyone can lower their hands. Any event that brings people together and doesn't tap into the knowledge and...
Introducing the Leadership Caffeine Jam Sessions—What Webinars Should Be
Any event that brings people together and doesn’t tap into the knowledge and ideas of the participants is an event that misses the mark. It’s time for something different! Introducing the Leadership Caffeine Jam Sessions!
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
Feedback-Performance Enhancement for Leaders Without the Pill
“No one ever told me that before.” I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard some variant of that grammatically challenged statement. It is generally uttered by someone that is a member of the “Never Receive Feedback” club right after receiving something that is eye-opening and genuinely appreciated. I’m no longer shocked to learn that yet another otherwise good individual is a charter member of this club. Shocked, no, but disappointed always.
My advice: become great at the art of delivering effective constructive and positive feedback and you improve your own effectiveness, enhance your stature as a leader and improve your own career opportunities! All that and no evil side effects. Dare I call it a Viagra-like tool for leaders?
Increase Your Team’s Global Awareness or Risk Being Run Over
Too many of our businesses, business leaders, citizens and politicians fail to understand, pay attention to or even appreciate the impact of the ever-changing global business environment. Or, if they do appreciate the impact, many are caught like the proverbial “deer in the headlights,” staring as the global competitors approach at an accelerating rate.
Links to Entertain, Inform and Inspire-And Time for Shopping
If holiday shopping and end of year activities have you a bit beaten down, here are a few reads to inspire and energize and at least one shameless plug for my forthcoming e-newsletter.
New Leader? Six Suggestions for Closing Your Context Gap
New leaders…either those that are first-time leaders or those that find themselves responsible for leading a new team, deal with extremely high degrees of ambiguity at start-up. They lack context for the people, the team culture, the issues, group and individual dynamics and so many important variables in the environment, that they find themselves acting on instinct or avoiding acting because of this knowledge gap. One of the critical challenges for the new leader is quickly closing this context gap.