About Art Petty

Art Petty is a coach, speaker and workshop presenter focusing on helping professionals and organizations learn to survive and thrive in an era of change. When he is not speaking, Art serves senior executives, business owners and high potential professionals as a coach and strategy advisor. Additionally, Art’s books are widely used in leadership development programs. To learn more or discuss a challenge, contact Art.

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—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:

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