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
Leadership Development is Indeed Failing Us—Time for a New Approach
A thoughtful and thought-provoking article in the Winter 2024 MIT Sloan Review (tiered paywall) echoes the themes I've outlined here on this blog about organizational failings when selecting a leadership development program. The article, Leadership Development is...
Leadership Development is Indeed Failing Us—Time for a New Approach
When it came to leadership development investments, as an executive, it grew frustrating to send people to name-brand organizations and have them return with a “nice experience,” a big bill, and no visible strengthened abilities or sustained changes.
Reorganization B.S.
Structure is a powerful management tool when developed carefully and focused on aligning your team’s superpowers with the big opportunities.
The Checklist App for Living and Leading
It seems like everyone I meet is in search of tools to help improve performance and find time for the things that matter. Perhaps we are looking too hard at our technology and our apps to solve what is a distinctly analog problem. Consider the example of my pilot friend and his preflight checklist. Perhaps we need a checklist for living and leading.
We All Make the Choice to Transact or Transform
All of us have the option to engage with others from a transactional or a transformational mindset. The transactional manager or coworker offers the bare minimum necessary for the situation. The individual with the transformational mindset strives to add value to every encounter. The cost difference between the two styles is negligible but the return from those who opt for the transformational style potentially remarkable.
Why We All Need to Get Good at “Next”
When faced with a world of constant change, “getting good at dealing with next” is essential for survival as well as success. Part of the process involves rewiring our brains to view change as opportunity and adventure.
What Story are You Telling About Your Value?
Success is much easier to attain when we tune in to our true purpose and the real impact we have on others. Once we discover that purpose and impact, we must articulate it through our personal narrative. Most of us are telling the wrong story.
Give Yourself Permission
Too often, we hesitate to make a decision or take action because we are insecure and uncomfortable over the possibility that we might be wrong. Instead of waiting indefinitely for a perfect certainty that will never arrive, give yourself permission to take action. Life is lived one moment and one action at a time.
When it Pays to Invest in Yourself
Working professionals who choose to not invest in their own skills development and knowledge expansion are effectively saying, “I know enough.” They are defaulting on their futures.”
Why Unilever Buying Dollar Shave Club is Relevant for Your Firm
The acquisition of Dollar Shave Club by Unilever highlights the need for all of us in our businesses to look beyond our traditional approaches. We focus intensely on what we do and how we do it and we fail to see simple alternatives that upstarts can easily exploit at our expense.
Leadership Caffeine™—Can One Person (You) Make a Difference?
I hear the same doubt expressed over and over again by good people upset over conditions in their workplace. It sounds something like: “Can I really make a difference? I’m just one person.” The often unspoken trailer is: “…and I am not the CEO or a senior executive,...