The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Strengthen Your Effectiveness as a Manager with a 12-Item Daily Checklist
Checklists are a Universal Quality and Safety Tool I love checklists. Airline pilots use them. Surgeons, nurses, safety professionals, quality engineers, and individuals in every high-stakes profession use them. Thank goodness. What checklists do managers employ to...
Strengthen Your Effectiveness as a Manager with a 12-Item Daily Checklist
I love checklists. Airline pilots use them. Surgeons, nurses, safety professionals, quality engineers, and individuals in every high-stakes profession use them. Thank goodness. But what about managers? What’s on your checklist?
Leadership Caffeine™—Turning Ambiguity into Advantage
The world is filled with uncertainty and ambiguity, yet we teach our children, students and team members to work according to the rules and to color within the lines. Instead, we should teach our teams to leverage ambiguity by writing their own rules in pursuit of a shared goal. And effective leaders understand that action begets action and ultimately insight, even in the most uncertain circumstances. Sometimes, you just have to “paint the wall” while searching for the next step.
Running on Empty? First, Eliminate the Energy Sinks
Energy always flows from the source to the sink. In your hot water heater, the water is the sink. Eventually, the consumption of hot water is capable of exceeding the capacity of the source. The same applies in our professional and leadership lives. It’s essential to identify and eliminate the heat sinks in our daily lives to free capacity to focus on the work that matters. Here are 12 ideas to help you with this important mission:
For Younger Professionals: Grow Your Career by Succeeding Wildly Today
I admire people who are hungry for success and willing to work hard to get it. However, for all of us, the road ahead to success as we envision it is often murky. Sometimes it is good to suspend looking to far ahead and to focus on succeeding in the here and now and simply put one foot in front of the other. The future has a way of creating opportunities for those who succeed wildly now.
Leadership Caffeine™—Aim for the Heart
Leading by the numbers isn’t leading. Numbers are outcomes of nearly countless workplace and customer encounters. The real goal of the leader is to make certain those encounters create value. Do a great job building energy for the mission and good results will follow.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Coaching Experience
The opportunity to work with a professional coach is a game-changer for many in their careers. Those who derive the most out of their firm’s investment in their development tend to display these 10 important behaviors:
The Discipline of High Performers
I love former Navy Seal, Jocko Willink’s personal mantra: “Discipline equals freedom.” The development of and rigorous attention to discipline in every area of our lives is the difference-maker when it comes to succeeding or failing. Through out the resolutions and instead, start by developing discipline around one small activity. It’s contagious.
Leadership Caffeine—The 7 Tools of Great Leaders
For now and forevermore, vow to be a leader that serves as a source of growth. To do that, employe these seven powerful tools…
Life and Career Lessons from Tony Bennett
From his early life family struggles to serving as an infantryman in World War II to marching for civil rights in Selma, Tony Bennett personifies what it means to be a model citizen. And as impressive as his civic contributions are, his career and life lessons in remaining relevant across the decades are priceless for all of us.
Quit Waiting for Somebody or Anybody to Show Up
It’s time to break thru the status quo of inaction around problem-solving, improving, and innovating in our organizations. Change is a personal issue played out in group settings. It’s time for you to start the revolution of action!









