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
For Managers: Stop the Drama Storms by Bringing the Rules for Success to Life
The Bottom Line Up Front Culture in a group is too important to be left to chance. Managers must work together with group members to define what it means to collaborate, communicate, problem-solve, and innovate in pursuit of their function's charter. While focused on...
For Managers: Stop the Drama Storms by Bringing the Rules for Success to Life
Culture in a group is too important to be left to chance. Managers must work together with group members to define what it means to collaborate, communicate, problem-solve, and innovate in pursuit of their function’s charter.
Using Your Communication Superpowers to Overcome Workplace Blockers
Great workplace communicators are tuned-in to the power of their communication superpowers and they deliberately deploy them in pursuit of individual, team, and organizational success. In this article, I share four powerful communication tactics you can use to melt the resistance of workplace blockers and gain support for your initiatives.
Three Communication Styles That Can Derail Your Career Progress
In any given workplace, there are a wide variety of communication styles on display. While the variation creates a rich environment for engaging and sharing ideas, there are a few styles and behaviors that get in the way of your communication and career success. If you or someone you know resemble one of the three styles: watchmaker, interruptor, or arguer, it’s time to get help and adapt your communication style.
Leadership Caffeine™—Seven Symptoms that Suggest You Have a Leadership Brain Clog
The clogged thinking of leaders translates into strategy and execution misfires and abysmal levels of employee engagement and job satisfaction. Ultimately, the best defense against developing a brain clog is your vigilance. Here are some ideas to help you root out any developing clogs:
Leadership Opportunity—The Leader as Composer and Conductor
The view of the leader as symphony conductor is appealing on multiple levels. One helps create beautiful music and the other enables high performance. However, there is one big difference between the leader and conductor—the leader must compose and conduct at the same time.
Why You Should Obsess Over Challenging Conversations (and what to do about them)
The road to career success runs through a nearly endless string of challenging conversations. Learn to survive and thrive in the most difficult of communication circumstances and watch your career grow. This article offers three big ideas to help you navigate challenging conversations and come out a winner.
Leadership Caffeine™—Navigating a Leadership Slump
Organizational life is wearing on us, and for those charged with leading and guiding others, it’s natural for fatigue to set in on occasion. However, if the fatigue lingers, you might find yourself facing a leadership slump. Here are four big ideas to help you navigate a leadership slump.
The Leadership Opportunity—Incredible Adventures in Creation Ahead
There’s the practical dimension of leading where we focus on the grind-it-out, get-things-done-through-others heavy lifting. However, there’s a higher-order opportunity with this work. The leadership opportunity is truly about the potential to create by working with the ultimate medium: the ideas and efforts of others.
Why Vague Feedback is So Destructive and What to Do About It
Vague feedback is incredibly destructive to morale and performance. This article includes guidance to strengthen your delivery of quality feedback as well as suggestions if you are on the receiving end of vague feedback.
Difficult Decisions and Challenging Conversations—The Stuff of Leadership (and Organization) Success
Difficult decisions and challenging conversations are inextricably linked. You don’t get to the big decisions on strategy, structure, or talent without some tough discussions. Yet often, we as leaders fail to model the right behaviors. Here are eight ideas to help you and your team strengthen discussion and decision-making processes.