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
I always want it to rain on 9/11—personal reflections on the day the world changed
I always hope for rain on 9/11. Of the images and emotions seared into my mind from this day in 2001, the backdrop of that perfectly blue sky where we saw evil up close and felt the burn of tragedy and loss is something I can't shake. Clear blue skies amplify my...
I always want it to rain on 9/11—personal reflections on the day the world changed
I always hope for rain on 9/11. Of the images and emotions seared into my mind from this day, the backdrop of that perfectly blue sky where we saw evil up close and felt the burn of tragedy and loss is something I can’t shake. Clear blue skies amplify my emotions on subsequent anniversaries of that awful day.
Three Questions to Help New Managers Start Strong
The work of new manager development in our organizations is mostly messy. If you’re the new manager, that’s a problem. Ditto for the promoting manager. Here are three questions to help new managers gain critical context for their challenging new roles:
Three Discussions Most Managers Don’t Have with Their Teams (But Should)
People do their best work when they have context for their labors. Here are three discussions managers should be having with their team members to promote performance and stimulate career growth.
What D-Day and Other Big Decisions in History Teach Us About Decision-Making as Leaders
History is filled with examples where a decision at a moment-in-time changed the outcome. As we commemorate the courage of those who participated in the D-Day Invasion in World War II, I look at Eisenhower’s decision that day and another fateful decision 80-years earlier that changed the course of a nation. Our workplace decisions aren’t on the same scale, yet, the big decisions at a moment in time do change the fate of organizations. What can we learn from history here?
One Communication Superpower We Should All Strive to Cultivate
Seeing situations through the eyes of others may be the most crucial skill you’re not working very hard on in your professional or personal lives. It turns out when you do this—when you truly actually strive to understand how others view situations—the world takes on a decidedly different complexion.
Two Questions Every Leader Should Ask Repeatedly
As part of your leadership improvement program, it’s important to ask for input. The answers and perhaps even more so people’s reactions and responses to your questions offer valuable clues to where you need to strengthen your performance.
Nine Ideas to Help You Lead Effectively in Pressure Environments
It’s a fact of life as managers and leaders that we must generate results or we lose the opportunity to lead. While some environments are transactional, where the pressure for results at all costs breeds short-term behaviors, you always have the option to choose “How” you will lead. Here are nine ideas you can apply on the run to strengthen your team and promote great performance:
Career Reinvention Journal—Moving Beyond Daydreams to Your “Next”
Finding a new job and finding a new career are two very different activities. For the former, it often pays to be opportunistic. However, for career reinventors, waiting or hoping for someone else to show up with your idea for your next professional move is mostly an exercise in futility. Career reinvention is a full contact, immersive, and deliberate activity.
7 Management Lessons from a Home Renovation Project
Anyone who has invested time in renovating an older home understands surprises and conundrums emerge every time a wall or ceiling is breached. There are parallels in the world of management where the twists and turns of the marketplace demand change. Great tradespeople and great managers find a way through wicked problems using creativity and critical thinking. Here are seven lessons I was reminded of during a recent renovation project.
The Secret to Leadership and Career Success is Hiding in Plain Sight
One of the key success factors for leaders and for all of us is hiding in plain sight ready for all of us to use. Here are six key ingredients essential for ensuring respect is present in every encounter.