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
Four Ideas to Improve Workplace Communication
In approximately 800 hours of executive and manager coaching each year, the one issue that arises in almost every call is a communication challenge. CEOs are struggling with tough conversations with board members. Vice-Presidents don’t seem to have the ear of the CEO...
Four Ideas to Improve Workplace Communication
In approximately 800 hours of executive and manager coaching each year, the one issue that arises in almost every call is a communication challenge. Here are four sets of ideas you can implement yourself or with your team to strengthen communication effectiveness.
Leadership Caffeine™—We Are All Emerging Leaders
Here’s a little secret. When I use the phrase “emerging leader,” I’m talking about all of us. You’re never done learning to lead. Some of us are a bit more experienced, and others are more effective than others, yet even at retirement, the job of learning to lead is incomplete.
Seven Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Coaching Experience
The opportunity to work with a coach in support of your development can be a game-changer for you in your career. Or not. The outcome, in large part, is up to you. Here are seven tips to help you get the most out of your coaching arrangement:
Leadership and Management Book Talk #6: Words Matter—Great Books for Developing as a Communicator
Words matter! We all know this, yet for many, there’s room to strengthen how we present and project ourselves in our daily exchanges with colleagues, team members, and bosses. In this episode of the Leadership and Management Book Talk Podcast, Wally Bock and I share our favorite resources for strengthening communication skills.
Leadership Caffeine™—Beware When Relationships Cloud the Mission
It’s great to have a positive working relationship with your team members, but as soon as it endangers your ability to succeed with the mission, it’s time to rein things in and operate within the guardrails.
Reframing Your Relationship with Influence, Power, and Office Politics
It turns out, ignoring or avoiding the political environment in your workplace is naïve and career limiting. Instead, you need to rethink and reframe your relationship with office politics and focus on building clean-power. Here are seven ideas to help:
Leadership Caffeine Podcast #34—Dave Brock
Dave Brock joins Art Petty on the Leadership Caffeine podcast to talk about the state of sales management and selling in this turbulent, technology-driven world.
Feeling Powerless at Work? Five Ideas to Help You Regain Control
In my professional travels, I encounter a large number of individuals who express extreme frustration with their working lives. Many of them admit this state of unsettledness creeps into their personal lives, sowing stress and strain along the way. While some situations are generally rotten, in many instances, it is possible to counteract a sense of powerlessness by reframing your situation and acting differently. Here are five ideas to help you regain control:
Leadership and Management Book Podcast #5—Great Books for Developing Others
In this episode of the Leadership and Management Book Talk with Wally Bock and Art Petty, we share our favorite reads on developing others.
Leadership and Management Book Podcast #4—Great Books We Re-Read
Our focus for this episode turns to business books we read over and over again. Wally Bock and I each share two different books and make a case for why they are important parts of our libraries and of our thinking.