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
Five big mistakes to avoid when changing careers
Over the years, I’ve helped many experienced professionals successfully navigate to the next stage of their careers. These weren’t people making a job change; they wanted something different—something that leveraged their accumulated wisdom while aligning with their...
Five big mistakes to avoid when changing careers
An important part of any career shift process is minimizing risk. Here are some lessons learned about key traps, including one big one that I encountered on my own career re-mix project.
Our Big Goals Create Impact and Offer Priceless Journeys
I love the idea of fewer, larger goals that are not constrained to a fiscal period. These types of goals, particularly when blended with coaching, exploration, experimentation, and feedback, bring big ideas to life.
Why you need to start treating your words like Lego Blocks
Words are what we have to inspire, motivate, clarify, empower, and enable. Yet, too often, our words work against us and create problems. Why you need to start treating your words like Legos.
Three Options to Help You Strengthen Your Feedback Skills
It turns out, a great number of us stress over giving feedback—particularly the constructive kind. Earlier in my career, this was me and it took a great mentor to help me solve this problem. I work with professionals of all types and at all levels to strengthen their skills with feedback. Here are three options to support your growth (two free, one a great value workshop).
How to tame your “I’m the smartest person in the room’ problem
A leader’s compulsion to always be the smartest person in every room not only stifles creativity but also undermines the potential of a high-performance environment. Here are ideas to help tame this destructive syndrome.
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.
Introduction to The Manager’s Journey
Joseph W. Campbell’s description of The Hero’s Journey has 17 distinct stages, starting with The Call to Adventure, navigating The Road of Trials, and ending with the Freedom to Live. Of course, the action occurs between those stages, with untold challenges, exhilarating highs, and soul-crushing lows. Campbell might have been writing the story of The Manager’s Journey.
Feeling Invisible at Work? It’s Time for Action
If you’ve been passed over for promotion opportunities or you find yourself relegated to less-than-strategic initiatives in your organization, that creeping sense of irrelevance you are feeling might be real. As the late Andy Grove offered, “Only the paranoid survive.” Let’s channel this paranoia into some focused actions to regain your relevance.
Bad Day as a Leader? Smile and Keep Marching
Not every day in your life as a leader is a party complete with cake and ice cream. When you encounter one of those days where everything seems to be working against you, it’s time to force a smile and keep marching.
Four Steps to Harness the Power of Quality Feedback
In every healthy working environment, quality feedback flows in three directions: up, down, and sideways. Here are four steps for managers to take to bring the power of quality feedback to life on their teams.