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
Fixing the Fatal Flaw in New Manager Development
There's a great deal we don't get right in our organization when developing our first-time managers. We under-appreciate the complexity of the transition from contributor to manager. In many environments, "sink or swim" is still the predominant development approach...
Fixing the Fatal Flaw in New Manager Development
There’s a great deal we don’t get right in our organization when developing our first-time managers. Peel the layers of the onion and ultimately, you find a fatal flaw in the nature of the promoting manager to new manager relationship. Here are some ideas to fix that flaw:
Sales and Marketing-It’s time to improve your performance on the trade show floor
Hey, sales and marketing manager(s), have you evaluated your team’s trade show performance recently? If not, it’s time to get out and walk the floor, work the booth and listen and learn. In my own B2B experience, trade shows were important components of an overall program to build thought-leadership, strengthen industry and influencer relations, and […]
Is it time to rethink your strategy chessboard through lateral thinking?
"You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper." Edward De Bono I was preparing for a strategy program with a client recently and came across some notes on one of the more invigorating topics on creativity: lateral thinking. The term and concept of "lateral thinking" was coined and […]
Marketing Leadership-An Oxymoron?
This is a return to one of my favorite rants-marketers giving marketing a bad name. In my 2007 article, Marketing Misunderstood, I described the struggle that many top B2B executives have in trying to understand the value that marketing contributes to their business. While there is ample blame to go around for why the nature, […]
First-time leaders and the wonderful world of ambiguity
I had just finished reading a great article in the December 4, 2007 Wall Street Journal, entitled: Welcome the Millennials, when I sat down to check e-mail and was excited to see a note from a long-time associate (and great person) describing her latest career step. After a number of years as a superstar soloist […]
Extreme Career Development
Warning-Extreme Career Development is not for everyone! If you enjoy the consistency of your day job and the warmth of your familiar cubicle walls, then run, don’t walk away from this posting. On the other hand, if you are uncomfortable being comfortable and you have experienced the surge of adrenaline that comes from pushing yourself […]
Are your managers talking candidly with each other?
I’ve been out on the road for a few days, so the postings slowed down a bit. Back in the office part of this week and a lot of thoughts and ideas to offer on a variety of topics. Full disclosure for today’s posting on communications…I market and deliver workshops that address team communication issues. […]
In support of (the people that have to complete) performance appraisals
This is the time of year when it is popular in the business press to criticize performance appraisals and everything about the performance appraisal process. Consultants and critics roll out their long lists of everything that is wrong with sitting down once or twice a year and telling someone what’s wrong with them and what […]
Trust and Team Performance
Earlier in my career, I remember rankling at a comment from an outside adviser that suggested that our management team did not trust each other enough to deal with the tough issues. I disagreed. We were all motivated, experienced professionals, committed to doing what was right for the business. Surely we could hunt down and […]
Keeping it In Perspective
No thoughts on compelling business issues today, other than the reminder to everyone about the importance of keeping the activities of your life in proper perspective. Family, food and football have become the staples of the American Thanksgiving, but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded that we are all on a similar journey of unknown […]