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
The Death of The Manager Role: What’s Really Needed
As Layoffs Climb and AI Emerges, the Predictions are Flowing Like clockwork, bad news in the economy coupled with some scary new technology brings out the pundits offering exaggerated predictions for something or another. This time, the mass layoffs in techdom and a...
The Death of The Manager Role: What’s Really Needed
As Layoffs Climb and AI Emerges, the Predictions are Flowing Like clockwork, bad news in the economy coupled with some scary new technology brings out the pundits offering exaggerated predictions for something or another. This time, the mass layoffs in techdom and a...
5 Radical and Irreverent Ideas to Help You Find Focus at Work
A typical day in most workplaces is one unending series of large and small distractions that combine to keep most of us from making much forward progress on our one or two real priorities that matter. Here are 5 radical and slightly irreverent ideas to help you find more time and focus on issues that matter:
5 Common Sense Ideas for Growing Your Power at Work
While we often associate the concept of “power” in the workplace as something bestowed by title or gained and maintained through political gamesmanship, you neither require a promotion, nor do you need to plot and claw your way to the next level to grow your power. Here are 5 common sense and above board ideas to help you quickly grow your power in your workplace:
Leadership Caffeine™—Managing and Developing the Extraordinary
Let’s face it, some people are graced with an extra gear that the rest of us don’t have. Whether it’s remarkable creativity or ingenuity, or incredible technical skills, it’s exciting to manage and support extraordinary individuals. It’s also very challenging. Here are 4 suggestions for managing and developing the gifted individuals on your team:
New Leader Tuesday—4 Big Benefits of Coaching Your Teams
Too often and with the best of intentions, we assemble a team of our best and brightest to tackle an important issue and then assuming our job is done and the task is in the hands of these capable people, we step away and wait for the results. And all too often, instead of something magical, what we get back looks and feels a lot like flailing heading towards failing.
Here are 4 big reasons why assigning a coach to your project team might be the difference between success and failure:
Leadership Caffeine™—Breakaway Leadership Part 2
Post number 1 in this series focused on the behaviors that often stifle the pursuit of moving into a new area while sustaining the legacy business. In this post, we look at 8 behaviors and approaches that YOU and your management counterparts directly control that contribute to success with this challenging endeavor:
Leadership Caffeine™—Exploring Breakaway Leadership, Part 1
If you’ve lived through a successful migration of a business from a legacy market to a new world, you know that it’s a sometimes messy, often emotionally turbo-charged experience. Here are 8 leadership behaviors that are guaranteed to create “tripping points” for any organization or team striving to breakaway from the past:
Strategy and Category—In Pursuit of Growth
Chances are your organization has plans to “change” and as part of your strategy, you have the challenge to identify and capitalize on new sources of growth. Those concepts make for pretty slides and create head-nodding executive and boardroom presentations. Actually doing the work is as I’m sure you know, far from simple. Here are some thoughts on the challenges to move into new growth categories while fighting the gravitational pull of the past:
What the Boss Learns About You in Every Conversation
While you may not know this, that idea you bounced off of your manager the other day and your response to her questions on one of your projects both play a critical role in your near future success and the speed of growth in your paycheck! Here’s what the boss is looking and listening for when she’s talking with you:
Leadership Caffeine™: Nine Key Skills Demanded By Our Times
In our world of constant change, there are (at least) nine critical skills that leaders and professionals at all levels must cultivate to succeed: