The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Final Thoughts — Lessons on Leading from Growing Up Around Dad
This article is the third and final in my series paying tribute to my Dad, who passed away late this summer. The earlier articles in this trilogy include: Leadership and Management Lessons from Losing Dad and Life and Leadership Lessons from Dad's Amazing Early Life....
Final Thoughts — Lessons on Leading from Growing Up Around Dad
Dad conducted a master class in overcoming adversity as a child. From an early age placement in an orphanage to navigating poverty, suffering from severe crossed eyes until a radical surgery in his teens, he personified tenacity. We called it “sticktoitiveness,” and to Dad, this was a key to success. He carried this forward through his life.
Life and Leadership Lessons from My Dad’s Early Life
I wrote recently about the journey and travails we navigated this past Summer as my Dad struggled and eventually passed. In this article, I share some of the many life and leadership lessons I learned from this remarkable man.
Leadership and Management Lessons from Losing Dad
In the past four months, I spent most of my time and energy advocating for my elderly father across a variety of healthcare facilities. He passed away during August, and while it was merciful for him, we’re left with a gigantic hole in our family and hearts.
There’s also a mix of guilt, frustration, and anger at much of the healthcare management, leadership, and delivery we encountered along the way.
Leadership Caffeine: A quiet period to support family
At points in life, we are all called to care for family members. This has been my role for the past five weeks and will be a part of my focus for the near future.
Let’s Rethink Summer School—A Program for Motivated Managers
The Summer School for Managers program offers a low-stress opportunity to sharpen your skills, network with some great people, and do it from wherever your travels take you.
Summer and Fall 2024 Professional Development Catalog from Art Petty
As we enter the always busy summer season, here’s the latest in leader and manager development programming from Art Petty. These are not just training programs. I blend coaching + multi-month cohort work, and for several programs, outside guest experts to create sustained learning and development experiences.
Our Big Goals Create Impact and Offer Priceless Journeys
I love the idea of fewer, larger goals that are not constrained to a fiscal period. These types of goals, particularly when blended with coaching, exploration, experimentation, and feedback, bring big ideas to life.
Why you need to start treating your words like Lego Blocks
Words are what we have to inspire, motivate, clarify, empower, and enable. Yet, too often, our words work against us and create problems. Why you need to start treating your words like Legos.
Three Options to Help You Strengthen Your Feedback Skills
It turns out, a great number of us stress over giving feedback—particularly the constructive kind. Earlier in my career, this was me and it took a great mentor to help me solve this problem. I work with professionals of all types and at all levels to strengthen their skills with feedback. Here are three options to support your growth (two free, one a great value workshop).
How to tame your “I’m the smartest person in the room’ problem
A leader’s compulsion to always be the smartest person in every room not only stifles creativity but also undermines the potential of a high-performance environment. Here are ideas to help tame this destructive syndrome.









