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
Here’s Why You Should Change Jobs, Not Careers
Helping individuals reinvent in their careers is an integral part of my professional life. It’s some of the most fascinating, rewarding work of my career. Yet, you would be shocked how many individuals I talk out of signing up for my reinvent boot camp and coaching...
Here’s Why You Should Change Jobs, Not Careers
Before embarking on your journey to reinvent your career, spend time assessing your motivations. For many, a like-kind job change to a new environment is the right move. Here’s why:
Back to School: Teachers are Our Early Leaders-Have You Thanked The Ones that Made a Difference?
With school starting back up in most parts of the country during the next few weeks, now would be a good time to reach out to that teacher from 20 or 30 years ago and let them know that they made a difference. Catch them before they move off into retirement. I believe my former favorite teach just recently retired, and now I’m stuck trying to look him up, when I had almost 30 years to drop him a note at school. Talk about procrastination!
Want a Great Primer in Leadership? Work for a Bastard and Take Notes
While I wouldn’t counsel you to seek out and work for a b@st@rd as part of your formal mentoring experience, given the ratio of these characters to good leaders in the workplace, chances are you’ll trip across one or more in your career. When you do, take in the experience as a powerful education in how not to lead.
Leadership Caffeine™: Respect and the Leader-Would Your Team Save Your Leadership Hide?
Imagine a corporate world where those being led had a strong vote on whether their leaders lived to lead or were shown the door. This happened recently at the newly combined Fiat-Chrysler, and the question that was asked of low and mid level staffers was:
“What do you think of your boss?”
Friday Leadership Shorts
Note from Art: It’s Friday again, and the weather looks great here in Chicago…high 80’s and blue skies. I’m breaking out the Friday Leadership Shorts to share some quick thoughts on the power of words, the political leader and leading under adversity. And then I’ll let you get on with your day and weekend. I’ve got another son to help pack for college, and maybe, just maybe he’ll play me in tennis one last time this season and not run me around too much.
Twitter and Social Networking: Job Search Power Tools or Time Killers?
One of the best lessons that I’ve learned from working on about two million fix-it and improvement projects with my Dad is to match the right tool to the job at hand. This is particularly true in searching for a job, which can be one of the more vexing projects for many people.
Fortunately, there are a number of interesting new power tools available in the form of social networking platforms, to help today’s job seeker. However, unlike the tools in the picture, there are few guidelines on how and where to to use these tools to good effect.
Sales & Strategy Playbook: Competitor Acquired? It May Be a Gold-Plated, Gift-Wrapped Opportunity
In talking with a CEO friend running a smaller tech firm, he indicated that there is increasing buzz about various potential combinations and roll-ups that will impact his specific sector. He said this with a smile, and an interesting observation that “when my competitors are acquired, our business spikes and new opportunities are uncovered.”
That’s an Interesting way to look at the situation. I know a lot of people who fear the outcome of Competitor X merging with Firm Y.
Leadership Caffeine™: Taking Chances on the Talent Around You
It’s time to take some chances on the people around you. Too many leaders constrain and contain, but the very best leaders provide opportunities for their team members to achieve things that these individuals might never have believed they were capable of achieving.
Friday Fare and Summer Shorts
Fresh off of the coldest July since AD 85 here in the Chicago-area, the weather is finally warming a bit and I’m breaking out the Summer Shorts for this Friday Fare post here at Management Excellence. (Since my wife didn’t get it either, this means that today’s post is going to include brief snippets instead of my usual lengthy essays. Get it…summer shorts! Hey, I thought it was a cute play on words.)
A Fresh Voice on a Popular Topic: “Things I Wish I Knew When I Became a Leader”
A note from Art: My recent post, “Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I Became a Leader,” seemed to strike a familiar chord for many. I’m thrilled that it struck a chord for someone that I’ve invited to guest post for quite awhile and until now, couldn’t quite convince to put pen to paper. A good colleague and friend, Joe Zurawski, joins us today with his thoughts on early leadership missteps and lessons learned the hard way.