Art Petty, Author at Management Excellence by Art Petty

The Recurring Labors of a Leader or, “It’s Deja Vu All Over Again”

It seems that Yogi Berra was right (that’s the former Yankee player and manager, not the Jellystone Park character on the lookout for a quick meal). One of the reasons that so much business writing and advice sounds familiar is that we conveniently keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again, allowing new generations of pundits to dispense similar advice in new packaging. In a short piece entitled Learning from Heroes found in the March, 2009 Harvard Business Review, Jack Covert and Todd Satterson suggest that this recurring pattern in business actually mirrors the hero’s journey found in mythology.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:46:33-05:00March 4th, 2009|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

Too Many Projects Chasing Too Few People-It’s Time to Learn to Say No!

One of the themes that I hear consistently in workshops and in discussions with the professionals in my MBA classes is frustration over the propensity of a firm’s leaders to never say “No” to a project. Lacking a viable mechanism to compare, evaluate and select and reject projects, decisions are made based on politics, gut feel and the squeaky customer wheel. The net result of this lack of discipline is that the people doing the work end up overloaded and overwhelmed. They operate in compliance mode, focusing on surviving until the next deadline and adding little creative value or innovation to their activities. You can end this chaos and rebuild your team's morale and effectiveness by building in new systems and proper rigor to project evaluation and selection.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:46:34-05:00March 3rd, 2009|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments

Celebrating a Leadership Milestone at the Three Star Leadership Blog

Today is an opportunity to celebrate post number 1,000 by Wally Bock at the Three Star Leadership blog. Many of you are readers and subscribers of Three Star Leadership, but on the off chance that you have not benefited from Wally's consistently outstanding and practical content for this profession, his blog is a must on your professional development to-do list. Click through to the Three Star Leadership blog to share in the celebration and gain some tips and resource suggestions for this most difficult of professions. I'm honored to have been invited to contribute to this great milestone in leadership content! Looking forward to the next 1,000, Wally!

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:46:36-05:00March 2nd, 2009|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

Leadership Lessons from the Road

One of the great things about leading workshops with talented professionals is how much I learn about the very real challenges that people face in trying to get work done inside their organizations. After spending a day together working with a group technical professionals at The Data Warehouse Institute's World Conference, I gained some insights into the challenges and barriers that are slowing down progress and inhibiting performance improvements inside organizations.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:46:37-05:00February 27th, 2009|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™ for the Last Week of February 2009

Last week we focused on team performance and the week prior on relationships. This week’s Leadership Caffeine offers some personal development suggestions for anyone interested in growing their influence by improving their skills in dealing with executive audiences.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:46:39-05:00February 22nd, 2009|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|5 Comments

The Right Stuff: Sprinting Towards the Future

It’s easy to focus on the bad news. Everyone’s talking about it. We’re bombarded with news flashes and human disaster stories as the layoffs mount and the foreclosures climb. And make no doubt about it, these are tough times, but let’s start giving some coverage to the firms, leaders and entrepreneurs that have turned off the news channels and are too busy building or rebuilding to worry about the dire forecasts. For a good dose of “can do” spirit, get out of your office and go talk with some smart people working to strengthen, build or start businesses. I’m doing just that, and here's why I continue to be optimistic:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:46:40-05:00February 20th, 2009|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

The Challenge and Opportunity of the Product Manager

Product Managers face significant organizational challenges in their quest to expand their roles and increase their value-creating contributions to their firms. Through a recent and on-going series of interviews with senior executives as well as product managers across a variety of technology and manufacturing organizations, it is becoming clear that more and more organizations recognize the potential for product management to create tremendous value. It is also clear that enlightened executives increasingly recognize that the professionals that wok in product management roles are a ready-made source of high potential contributors and emerging leaders. Senior executives are looking for their emerging senior contributors in product management to bring more advanced skills to the party, in the areas of: Leadership, Strategic Thinking, Executive Presence and Process Optimization.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:46:41-05:00February 17th, 2009|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™ for the Week of February 16, 2009

Note to RSS and e-mail subscribers: thanks to readers for pointing out that my weekly Leadership Caffeine posts were not publishing to e-mail subscribers. It appears that the name must change otherwise the system thinks that it is redundant. I will include the date in the headline from this point. I apologize for any inconvenience in republishing this post. -Art The focus this week is on strengthening team performance by improving your own leadership practices. You as leader directly control the quality of your team’s working environment. The health of this environment is a critical indicator of your leadership effectiveness. Here are three ideas to help jump-start your program to improve your team's working environment.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:46:42-05:00February 15th, 2009|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

“Why Did We Fire You?” Talent Gaffes of the Big and Clueless

If it wasn’t so sad, it would be laughable. The question, "Why did we fire you?" expressed with surprise and genuine confusion was asked by a senior HR exec to a talented and fired sales rep at MegaFirm. This sales rep was the “last one standing” that actually understood how to sell the products that MegaFirm had inherited with one of its many acquisitions. The products are still there, but the people aren’t. MegaFirm unleashed the neutron bomb from its powerful HR arsenal.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:46:44-05:00February 12th, 2009|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments

Seven Survival Tips for the Newly Independent

I suspect that we are all engaging with former colleagues, friends and family members that have recently been furloughed from the corporate world. A few that I have spoken with are struggling to adapt to the new reality and are finding themselves floundering as they struggle to replace the comfortable routine of getting up and going somewhere with wandering around the house wondering what to do and where to start. Here are some ideas that I’ve either learned myself over time or have gained from others that have mastered the around of working and managing themselves without the services and security of a mother ship. I would love to hear your suggestions as well

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:46:45-05:00February 11th, 2009|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

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