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
How To Get More Done at Work Through Positive Persuasion
Success at Work Happens One Negotiation at a Time Here's a bold claim: every conversation in the workplace that's not about the weather or sports is a negotiation. From simple process changes to the significant issues of strategy and structure, the dialog that...
How To Get More Done at Work Through Positive Persuasion
If you’re motivated to maximize your impact in the workplace, you’re dependent upon others to support your efforts. When it comes to workplace negotiations, the principles of positive persuasion are priceless!
Values-Based Leadership: More of What I Learned at Matsushita
I reflected on the Basic Business Principles as the values are known at Matsushita, when I co-authored the Values for a future employer, and I reflect and draw upon them regularly as I teach sections on Values-Focused Leadership in workshops and classrooms. A typical session will end with a majority of participants highlighting how they never understood until now how powerful the corporate values could be in strengthening their culture, driving performance and guiding behavior. This is a valuable lesson to learn for all of us.
Three Simple, Low Cost Ideas to Help Jump-Start Leadership Development
Jump-starting a leadership development activity does not require a tremendous investment in program development, outside consultants or big company meetings. Sometimes the best results come from simple approaches, and anything that gets people talking about the right issues can serve as a starting-point. The key point is for you to do something. Any or all of these three simple ideas can get you started.
Marketers, Are Trade Shows Extinct Yet?
This post is certain to generate some controversy about a long-standing, big investment marketing tactic that I believe is increasingly irrelevant. At the worst, if you read this and at least think about scrutinizing your investment in this marketing approach, I’ve done my job.
The thoughts were prompted by a recent article in BtoB magazine entitled: “Exhibition industry sees growth slowing.” What a shocker. And while the economy is identified as the primary culprit for this slowdown, I submit that this tactic is a carryover from another era when people gathered information and insights about prospective suppliers or service providers in a very different way, and when lead generation was more about trolling and interrupting than pinpointing.
Planning to Recognize Failure-The Project Manager’s Guide to Preventing Project Calamity
Every Project Manager with a few years of experience under his or her belt can likely recall at least one example of a major project that lived on long after the plug should have been pulled and the project canceled. The best (or worst) examples are the ego-driven initiatives of top executives that can’t let go for fear of losing face by admitting defeat.
More than a few organizations have been taken to or pushed over the edge by these self-anointed visionaries bent on changing their corporate world with some grand project. Once invested, they cannot let go, and if left unchecked, the results can be nothing short of disastrous for the organization.
Staying Strong in the Middle While Your Company Is Falling Apart
There are no magic answers for taking a horrible company situation and suddenly making it better. There are also no guarantees that your heroic efforts will save the day. However, as a professional and an emerging leader, these are the situations that test your skills, that challenge you to mature and that give you the tools to succeed the rests of your career. If you plan on walking through the door in the morning, show up prepared to fight for your firm. And when you walk out the door at night, remember the wise words of a good friend: “Family and health count, all the rest of this stuff is just politics and money.” Keep it in context.
The Carnival of Human Resources-A Great Content Source
The Carnival of Human Resources, Installment #32 is live today at the Maximize Possibility blog. One click leads you to 27 great blog postings on all things people, leadership and business. Go ahead and check it out. You will be glad that you did. Thanks to Jake Flanagin for running my post on “Strategy Bursts.” It’s in some great company with thefeatured bloggers.
The Raw Marketing Power of Passionate People in the Workplace
A passionate employee is like rocket fuel for your organization. These rare and valuable people build your brand, strengthen client loyalty, stimulate repeat business and energize your workplace just by their daily participation in your business.
It Might Be Time for You to Start Acting Like The Leader You Want to Be
A blog post at on Looking and Acting Like a Success at Alan Weis’s Contrarian Consulting site triggered some thoughts on what it means to look and act like a leader. While Alan’s post emphasizes how a successful person might act to present a desired image, how does a leader portray himself or herself as competent? If this seems superficial to some, I would challenge that a leader is responsible for acting (and to an extent looking) the part.
Too Many Projects Chasing Too Few Resources in the Strategy-Starved Organization
Saying “No” to new projects and “No More” to projects in process are difficult for the best of firms and impossible for organizations without a clear strategy and the supporting processes. The participants in strategy-starved organizations have no context for decision-making and unless that context is created, are destined to founder and likely sink while the crew focuses on constantly rearranging the deck chairs.
Armed with the context of strategy, project portfolio management is still a difficult task requiring unceasing commitment from the executives and constant vigilance at the project management level. If you are currently running around with a deckchair in your hands, it’s time for you to look at the captain and officers and start asking the strategic questions.