The Leadership Caffeine Blog
The Six Core Programs of Your Personal Manager Operating System
Managing is hard work for so many reasons. From the challenges of dealing with people and personalities to the never-ending, ever-growing lists of things to do, often with conflicting priorities, it’s a tough job. Yet, when I explore the stress points with struggling...
The Six Core Programs of Your Personal Manager Operating System
From the challenges of dealing with people and personalities to the never-ending, ever-growing lists of things to do, often with conflicting priorities, managing is a tough job. Yet, when I explore the stress points with struggling managers and ask some questions, I often discover they are attempting to execute their role without the benefit of what I describe as a Manager Operating System. Here are six critical components of every manager’s effective operating system:
Marketing Yourself Part II: Defining Your Professional Value Proposition
Job search is a hot topic right now, and I received a number of notes from individuals who read my Irreverent Opinions of a Resume Hobbyist post the other day, asking for input about how to craft a Personal/Professional Value Proposition to support their job-hunting activities. I said in the post that I view this as the hardest task in developing an effective resume (and self-marketing strategy), and is the area where you will likely spend the most time creating content and agonizing over wording.
Marketing Yourself: The Irreverent Opinions of a Resume Hobbyist
Marketing yourself is a tough job and one of the most important jobs that you will ever undertake. And then undertake again. And again. I have no claims on “expert” status when it comes to personal marketing materials, but I do have claims on hiring expert talent to grow businesses. Somewhere out there is a hiring executive hoping that the next superstar is in that pile of paper or e-mail messages. A little common-sense advice might just help you stand out and show this executive why you are the answer.
Redefining Your Industry Landscape in an Economic Hurricane
As companies teeter or plunge over the brink, you will be faced with a host of remarkable opportunities and complex decisions. One of the greatest opportunities is for you to develop programs to capture the nervous customers of your competitors, who are most concerned about continuity in their supply/service chains.
Planning Ahead for Success: Your Personal Quality Program
Take some time this week to think about areas that you would like to improve in your personal and professional lives. There’s no reason to not put the well-established quality and process improvement practices that you use everyday in your job, to work on improving your own personal and professional performance.
Your Weekend Reading Suggestions from Management Excellence
The first article is Finding and Grooming Breakthrough Innovators by Jeffrey Cohn, Jon Katzenbach and Gus Vlak. Article number two ratchets up the innovation theme with Reinventing Your Business Model by some true heavy hitters.
A Remarkable Display of Lousy Leadership in the Land of Lincoln
Lousy leaders are great teachers. Grab a front row seat here in Illinois and get ready to feel outraged at how low a leader can go. Remember to file this chapter under “leadership approaches almost certain to earn a new orange suit.”
Leader, What’s Your Questions to Comments Ratio?
Effective leaders understand that the respectful use of questioning is a powerful performance enhancement tool in the workplace. A leader’s questions challenge individuals and teams to look at issues from all angles and they help uncover ideas or suggestions that require a bit more baking.
The Pain and Promise of Collaborative Management on Display at Cisco
It’s an exciting time to be leading as the pendulum seems to be swinging away from a style of leading and working that minimized the value of the individual to one that emphasizes empowerment, creativity and the freedom for groups and individuals to think and act. It’s hard to imagine a future where this formula does not produce winners.
Planning Ahead for the Week: Three Items for Your Management Excellence “To Do” List
Every week represents an opportunity to improve your performance as a manager and leader. In spite of the setbacks of the prior week, the fire drills that caught you by surprise and your own lack of follow-through on your goals, every Monday offers a clean slate for you to fill. My very positive intent here is to offer you a few suggestions each week that will inspire your pursuit of continuous improvement. Enjoy and Prosper!