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
Stuff happens. Where you look matters. How your Locus of Control affects your success.
Stuff happens. Where you look matters. You don't control everything that happens to you, but you have far more control over what happens next than you might imagine. My coaching and consulting endeavors put me in front of a wide variety of managers and executives,...
Stuff happens. Where you look matters. How your Locus of Control affects your success.
If something goes wrong, how do you respond? Do you look primarily outward at the external factors that created that outcome…circumstances, other people, luck, management or others? Or, do you focus your attention on what you can influence moving forward? Your locus of control counts in your success.
A plant closing unleashes a flood of family memories
It’s rare that a story headline in my morning reads jolts me awake. This one in the WSJ did. “Storied Toolmaker Closes Its Last Hometown Plant — and Blames Its Tape Measures.”
Building Blocks and High Performance Processes of True Teams
We overuse the word ‘team’ in the workplace. While I usually don’t get hung up on semantics, I encourage leaders at all levels to reserve the ‘team’ concept for those occasions when a loose confederation of functional experts won’t cut it. Building a true team takes deliberate effort in the right areas.
The case for investing heavily in strengthening as a communicator
You have an amazing array of tools at your disposal to succeed as a communicator. Your technical command of a topic is important, but not enough. Your ability to articulate in terms they value and to do so with authentic passion, ensuring your body meets your message, and your message meets their needs, are all critical.
Want to have an outsized impact? Strengthen your Core Four Accelerators
Some skills are more equal than others in large organizations when it comes to your career growth and success. Looking to make a big impact? Focus on strengthening the Core Four Accelerators
Don’t reinvent your career — Remix it.
For several years, I’ve experienced an increasing demand for career coaching from long-time clients. They reach out with something that sounds like “Art, I’m done with this work. I need something else that’s not just a job change. I don’t know where to start.” I help people find that place to start and frequently guide them through to their ‘next’ role. It’s never a full-scale reinvention, but rather a deliberate process that ultimately remixes their skills, wisdom, and interests to find a role that meets their needs at this stage of their lives and careers.
The Evolving and Dissolving Career Ladder
The career ladder still exists in some form—organizations maintain levels and pathways. What’s changed is how we approach them: by investing in core skills and mindsets, you control your progression and open new opportunities. Despite greater complexity than decades ago, you must own your career. Assert control, do the work, and drive growth and progress that fits your goals.
Effort is necessary. Results count.
The leader should recognize and reward results, celebrate successes, advance those who demonstrate the acumen to get things done within the boundaries, and remember to adjust the pace to reflect the human need to recharge before tackling the next big thing
Five big mistakes to avoid when changing careers
An important part of any career shift process is minimizing risk. Here are some lessons learned about key traps, including one big one that I encountered on my own career re-mix project.
The Mind-Deadening Gravitational Pull of a Leadership Singularity
There’s a force at work in too many organizations imposed by senior leaders that gives the appearance of action but reflects cognitive and productive paralysis. In these cultures, leadership becomes a kind of gravitational singularity, sucking the life, creativity, and productivity out of the culture.