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
Unlocking Excellence: Mastering Performance Feedback Strategies (Workshop)
No topic in my Manager Development Program generates more energy than performance feedback. Everyone knows feedback is essential. Almost everyone admits wanting help with strategies for the difficult (constructive) feedback discussions. Good People—Your People Want...
Unlocking Excellence: Mastering Performance Feedback Strategies (Workshop)
No topic in my Manager Development Program generates more energy than performance feedback. Everyone knows feedback is essential. Almost everyone admits wanting help with strategies for the difficult (constructive) feedback discussions. Here’s a program to help:
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!
Leveling Up in the Face of Change is THE Issue
In a recent discussion with a potential literary agent for my book proposal for, “Level-Up—The Career Guide to Surviving and Thriving in an Era of Change,” the agent suggested that books built around the theme of “change” were unlikely to sell. That perspective is preposterous. Learning to help our organizations navigate change while constantly leveling up in our own careers is a core challenge that all of us face in our professional lives. We need more help on this, not less, regardless of the views of publishers. Here’s why…
Leadership Caffeine—Teaching Your Firm to Survive a Crisis
Crises happen and the right top leadership and organizational response is essential for survival. Unfortunately, too many of these events catch our firms and top leaders unprepared. A starting point is to adopt a standard of required behaviors in the face of a crisis. Consider these “10 Commandments for Acceptable Corporate Crisis Behaviors” as a starting point.
Project Management for the Rest of Us—Getting Started
Congratulations, you’ve been named to lead an important project initiative! Now what? While the growth in formally trained and certified project managers is accelerating, in most organizations, many of the important initiatives are led by functional managers and technical experts. If you find yourself in charge of one of these programs without a background or training in project management, this new series is intended for you. This article identifies some of the critical front-end work necessary for success and offers suggested “getting started” resources.
Why Some Lead and Others Choose Not To
We criticize our leaders easily, yet few are willing to raise their hands and pay the price that comes with a leadership role. The most effective leaders understand the costs that come with the role and are driven by a higher purpose to help others.
Leadership Caffeine—Start Coloring Outside the Lines
From our earliest days in school, we are taught to “color inside the lines.” In a world where everything is changing, this advice might just contribute to the demise of your firm or career. It’s time to push beyond the boundaries of those lines that constrain so much creativity.
Today’s Interactions are Tomorrow’s Backstories
We all have a backstory. Somewhere, at some point in time, a comment, a gesture or an action by a person in a leadership role prompted an action that would ripple through our lives. How are your behaviors helping those around you create their own backstories?
Surviving and Thriving with Your Executive Sponsor (podcast)
In this podcast, I share ideas to help the project manager frame, form and manage an effective working relationship with the executive sponsor.
Leadership Lessons from the Classroom
If you choose to pay attention to your audience in the classroom (instead of preaching at them), you gain some powerful insights for leadership practices that support growth. Here are 4 leadership lessons gained from the classroom: