The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Career Reinvention Journal—5 Reasons Why Self-Discovery is Critical for a Career Makeover
In my work helping individuals uncover and move to their "next" in their careers, there's one stage in the process that is both important and easy to rationalize away as unnecessary. This step—Self-Discovery—is the one where I encourage people to spend some structured...
Career Reinvention Journal—5 Reasons Why Self-Discovery is Critical for a Career Makeover
It turns out, the first place to start looking for “next” in your career is staring back at you in the mirror. Here are five reasons why the work of self-discovery is critical for a successful career pivot:
Leadership Caffeine™ for the Week: Too Much Time with the Wrong People
My biggest mistakes as a leader occurred as a result of spending way too much time attempting to change two people. I was young, new to the formal leadership scene and convinced that with my help and guidance, these two talented individuals would certainly shed their dysfunctional and toxic behaviors.
Wow, was I wrong!
Effective Leadership: How Do You Know When You Are Getting It Right?
If you’ve spent time in a leadership role, you know that it is remarkably difficult to get good quality feedback on how you are doing and for that matter, how everyone else is doing under your leadership.
If you haven’t wondered about this, you are either naïve or you are caught up in all of the nice things that people say in your presence. Newsflash: almost no one tells the boss he stinks, when he’s in the room.
Some of the worst leaders that I’ve had the displeasure to cross paths with, plied their evil practices with glee, protected by the cheering throngs around them.
Strategic Awareness: The Second Leg of the Emerging Leader’s Three Legged Stool
One of the things that I truly love about this time we are living and working through is the front-row seats that we all have to some fascinating experiments in strategy. Things happen so quickly and with such widespread coverage in today’s world, that it often looks and feels like a strategist’s living laboratory on Miracle Gro.
Leadership Lessons Learned on Vacation-Leading by Letting Go
Fresh off of a family getaway “Up North” that involved boating, swimming, family camp fires and maybe a firework or two (all fingers still attached!), I find myself reflecting on receiving a dose of my own leadership medicine. For one who dispenses a lot of thoughts on leaders and leading, it is appropriate and just a bit humbling to be on the receiving end, especially when you are learning the lesson from your young adult children.
The Fourth of July in America
…And after you’ve marveled a bit at what our founding ancestors managed to pull-off, you might just want to pop a copy of The Sandlot into the VCR (my copy is still on VHS) and marvel at a nation that can produce baseball and hot dogs and Ray Charles and the sheer joy of freedom in spite of our many and recently very visible imperfections. The movie goes best with a cold lemonade next to you.
Leadership Caffeine™: Strengthen Your Leadership Foundation
The best leaders in my opinion are guided by a strong sense of duty and responsibility. The individuals that succeed in motivating, inspiring and even changing the lives and careers of others operate with an underlying philosophical foundation that they draw upon to remain focused and steadfast in pursuing their daily activities.
Everyone else sort of wanders through the leadership woods, reacting more on instinct than acting as if they are being guided by a stronger sense of purpose and duty.
Collaboration and the Leader
Many leaders are lousy collaborators.
It doesn’t seem to matter that they spend a great deal of time encouraging, coaching and facilitating collaboration between their team members and across functional boundaries. When it comes time for Leader A to work with Leader B on something other than getting other people to do things, the dynamics get interesting and the output is often disappointing.
The Seven Critical Conversations of Great Firms and Great Leaders
You learn a great deal about an organization’s current state, near-term prospects and about the health and effectiveness of a firm’s leaders by looking for and listening to the quality of the conversations in the working environment.
There are at least Seven Critical Conversations that I observe taking place over and over again in organizations that that are either successful or improving. These same conversations are often nowhere to be found except perhaps behind the closed doors of a firm’s leaders in less successful firms or organizations that are struggling and sinking.
Leadership Caffeine™ for the New Week: Power-Washed! Guest Post
One of the challenge that many leaders face in their seemingly endless string of days of teaching, leading, motivating, supporting, challenging and guiding their colleagues is how to refresh and recharge. It’s an important topic and one that is under-represented (in my opinion) in the leadership literature, including my own.
It’s difficult to be “on” all of the time, and for leaders, the stress fractures show through usually in the form of snapping or growling at someone. While never good form, the momentary break from behavior is indicative of the need to take a few deep breaths or to even look towards tomorrow as a chance to start over and get things right.
Sometimes what’s needed is a good Power-Washing for the leader’s attitude and soul.