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
It’s Time to Get Rid of S.M.A.R.T. Goals. Here’s Why & How
Sorry, S.M.A.R.T. Goals, But Your Day is Over OK, a confession: I wanted to title this article something like "Why Your S.M.A.R.T. Goals are Dumb, but my topic is a bit more expansive than just my disdain for that all-too-present and limiting corporate approach to...
It’s Time to Get Rid of S.M.A.R.T. Goals. Here’s Why & How
Goals are critically important in our personal and professional growth. They push us to learn, grow, and strive. We change our lives by aspiring for big goals. We motivate ourselves and our team members with properly developed, challenging goals. And we change the vector and fate of organizations through the proper use of goals. The operative phrase is “the proper use of goals.”
Level-Up—Career: A New Feature at Management Excellence
With this post, I’m excited to introduce the new Level-Up Career feature here at Management Excellence. The theme is based on my third book (in process): Level-Up—Surviving and Thriving on the Road to Senior Management. The series is focused on helping professionals entering the power-curve of their career learn to succeed and to navigate the challenges during the journey from middle to executive management. Some the planned topics include:
Leadership Caffeine™—In Challenging Times, Keep Fear and Failure Outside Looking In
Every organization and every team runs into challenging spots. Life and business don’t always work as planned. “Man plans and God laughs,” as my former CEO would recite. It’s the rough patches that teach you and require you to cultivate your leadership character, and part of this is keeping fear at bay and the specter of failure out of mind and out of the vocabulary of your team. Here are 6 ideas to help you fight off organizational fear and keep your team on track when the going gets rough:
Art of Managing—The Pursuit of Excellence is a Choice
Too few managers and management teams talk about what it means to promote a culture of business performance excellence in and across their organizations. Even fewer work on it.
1,000 Blog Posts and the Lessons Learned without the Cheering Crowds or Champagne
Imagine my surprise a few months ago when I noticed the blog counter here at Management Excellence ticking closer to the number 1,000. Here are at least 8 lessons I’ve learned while writing 1,000 blog posts on management and leadership:
Art of Managing—Don’t Set Artificial Limits on Employee Involvement
A firm’s senior leaders and managers are supposed to feel the weight of responsibility for the health of their organization. It comes with the job. However, no one suggested they bear the weight of the worries or the burden of finding the solutions in silence and without ample support from the broader employee population. Here are 6 ideas to help you jump-start improved employee involvement in strengthening your business:
Art of Managing—It’s Your Job to Bring Your Firm’s Values to Life
I’ve long been a student of the values that organizations espouse. They are after all an attempt to encapsulate the accepted and aspirational behaviors of the firm’s employees and officers. And while words on the wall or in the placard are typically interesting, noble and even somewhat predictable, what’s truly fascinating is to compare and contrast the behaviors of people in an organization to the values statements hanging on the wall. Sadly, in too many organizations, the values statements are corporate furniture. Here are some thoughts on how you can help bring your firm’s values to life and strengthen performance in the process:
Leadership Caffeine™—The Struggles Really Do Make Us Stronger
The world of leadership development lost a giant at the end of July this past summer, when Warren Bennis passed away. In tribute, I’m including his classic article, “Crucibles of Leadership” (HBR, fee required) with Robert Thomas in one of my leadership courses this year. Revisiting this article is always inspirational both for myself and for the students who share their own crucible experiences including: personal loss, business and career struggles, and being on the receiving end of discrimination, sexism and racism. A few years ago in a hiring role, I encountered two very compelling candidates. The one who had navigated her own very significant challenges got the job, in spite of her underdog position on paper. Here’s why:
It’s Your Career—When the Words, “Enjoy the Journey” Suddenly Make Sense
Almost all of us have heard some variation of Remember to Enjoy the Journey at some point in our lives. Whether it was our parents or grandparents offering hard won advice to our younger selves or, an experienced manager sharing perspective on a tumultuous period at work, these words likely bounced around and then exited our brains at the time, with little thought to their truth and significance. Here are 5 ideas to help you keep the days and challenges of your career in perspective:
New Leader Tuesday—The Hard Work of Leading Effectively
If you’re new to the role of guiding others, here’s the preface to your real job description. Use it in good health and in pursuit of greatness!