The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Treat Your Career Pivot as an Agile Project to Make Progress Faster
Finding "Next" in Your Career is an Agile Project If you know exactly what you want to do for the next stage of your career, consider yourself fortunate. For many, the drive to do something new and different is blunted by the inability to answer the "What?" or...
Treat Your Career Pivot as an Agile Project to Make Progress Faster
Using a disciplined, agile project management approach might be the most important thing you can do to succeed in identifying the right “next” in your career. Here are ideas to help.
Leading Employees Who Struggle with Self Confidence
The biggest barrier to remarkable achievements in our workplaces is not a lack of resources or a shortage of great ideas. Rather, it is a distinct shortage of a very personal attribute: self-confidence. Here are six ideas to help you strengthen your support of these individuals on your team:
A Note of Encouragement to the MBA Graduates of 2016
Every year, I share my thoughts and encouragement for the latest graduates of our business schools. For this year’s graduates, take a little time to reflect on your accomplishment, recharge, and then pursue the challenges of this world with zeal.
Leadership Caffeine™—Don’t Let a Bad Employee Experience Define You
A “difficult employee” experience wreaks havoc on team morale and the manager’s psyche. For some managers, this experience is so painful, it prompts them to redirect in their careers. For others–survivors, they find different ways to turn the negative experience into improved leadership performance in the future. Here are four approaches of leaders who survived and thrived following a toxic employee situation:
Observations from a Sabbatical in the Southern Hemisphere
I never imagined taking a sabbatical from my work. It turns out, it was remarkable. Here are some observations and insights from my recent travels in Australia, New Zealand and French Polynesia.
The Best Of: 8 Lessons in Creative Talent Acquisition
Nothing is as important to your success as a leader as the talent you bring to bear in support of the work of your organization. Here are 8 ideas to stimulate your talent acquisition thinking and promote action:
Leadership Caffeine™—Rethink Your Inner Game of Leading
We spend a great deal of time reading, writing and training on the physical manifestations of leadership: the actions. In reality, success as a leader requires that we learn to manage and leverage our inner game.
The Best Of: The Difference Between Finishers and 70-Percenters
There’s a class of professionals in the world one of my former bosses labeled as “70-Percenters.” They’re the people who are great at making noise, and even getting things started, but they don’t know how to close. They’re not finishers. Here are 5 key behaviors of finishers:
Leadership Caffeine™—Successful In Spite of Yourself
What costs are your own leadership tics and aberrant behaviors imposing on your teams, your firm and on your career? While you’ve been successful, how much success have you left on the table along the way?
The Best Of: How to Thrive in High Pressure Conversations
Every professional faces important “moments of truth” as they navigate through their work days. Whether it’s the invitation to speak at the board meeting, the opportunity to connect one-on-one with the CEO or, a tough feedback conversation with a team member, you need to be ready to succeed in these High Value/High Risk (HV/HR) situations. Here are 5 steps to helping improve your effectiveness: