The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Seven Ideas to Help Harness the Power of One-on-Ones
Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) One-on-ones are the most valuable engagements on your calendar. By applying the seven strategies outlined here, you can ensure these sessions are productive and transformative, fostering a culture of growth, trust, and innovation. Seven Key...
Seven Ideas to Help Harness the Power of One-on-Ones
One-on-ones are not just meetings; they are the most valuable engagements on your calendar. By applying the seven strategies outlined here, you can ensure these sessions are productive and transformative, fostering a culture of growth, trust, and innovation.
Leader: It’s Time to Develop Your Listening Muscle
One of the root causes of communication failure in the workplace is our inability to listen effectively. We’re typically distracted by our own thoughts, striving to multi-task, or, we annoyingly step all over the messages of others. However, we can improve our listening skills, and in the process, solve more problems and build performance. This article offers nine ideas to help strengthen your listening muscle.
A Framework to Help Managers Develop Emerging Leaders
There are few activities in our organizations more important than developing emerging leaders. A healthy, full pipeline of leadership talent is essential to sustain success and navigate a complex world. The Foundation + 4 Pillars framework helps guide managers in pursuit of this critical work.
Why You Need to Find Work that is Exhilarating
No job is perfect, however, when you manage to align your sense of purpose with a cause that brings this purpose to life, the work can be exhilarating at times and enjoyable all of the time. If time is running at a snail’s pace and there’s no joy in the work, it’s time to pursue a reset.
Q: How Long Will This Strategy Work Take?
In reality, the work of strategy is some of the most challenging thinking work a firm’s members will do. And truth be told, it’s never really finished. Strategy is a process, not an event, and the work of evaluating, diagnosing, and choosing are never-ending activities.
Maintaining Control When Feedback Discussions Take a Wrong Turn
Regardless of your best planning, careful observation, and deft delivery sometimes feedback discussions blow up in your face. Here are three common reactions and how to steer the feedback discussion back on track if you encounter them.
Leadership Caffeine—Strive for Your Best Leadership Self Daily
It’s easy to spend your working days in perpetual hair-on-fire mode. However, learning to lead effectively is a long-term continuous improvement project. Here are 10 ideas you can apply daily to strive to be your best leadership self.
Why Many Leaders Feel Like Misfits and What They Do About It
When you sign-on to lead, you turn in your “one of the gang” membership card. This can lead to feelings of disconnectedness and what I term: leadership misfit syndrome. Here are four ideas to help you move beyond this syndrome and strengthen your engagement and enjoyment of your role.
Of Leaders and Men: Goodbye to Eric J. Lieberman
The world became a little less creative, a little less gentle, and just a bit less interesting last week when Eric Lieberman passed away unexpectedly. Eric was a friend for twenty years. He also happened to be my boss for part of that time. Here are some reflections on life and leadership lessons I learned from him along the way.
Guest Post: What You Buy Reveals Your Heart’s Purpose
We personally love the idea that we can live our purpose every day, not only in our lives and career, but can extend that purpose through the choices of who we buy from and those we don’t buy from. We’re optimistic that if we follow our purpose, we’ll support a growing number of companies which are creating social good.