The Leadership Caffeine Blog
For Strategy Work, It Pays to Learn and Use the Right Tools
Strategy Work is Mostly Messy in Our Organizations Imagine you have the opportunity to serve as the proverbial fly-on-the-wall for various organizations across different sectors to observe the process of strategy creation. When asked to share what you observed, I'm...
For Strategy Work, It Pays to Learn and Use the Right Tools
While we live and work in interesting times where traditional elongated planning processes no longer fit, leaders still have the responsibility to define a coherent strategy. Choosing the right tools for strategy work in today’s environment is critical for a successful process.
Guest Post: Success in Collaboration-From an Unlikely Source
Why is collaboration so difficult? Like that intersection, effective collaboration is governed by rules that may not be clear to the inexperienced. Players come and go, challenges and obstacles can appear from any direction, and no one seems to be in charge – or everyone is. It’s no wonder that many managers approach collaborative assignments with apprehension, fear and a white-knuckled grip on the wheel. Here are 5 ideas for improving your ability to collaborate.
Leadership Caffeine™: Respectfully Speaking, Let’s Cure Respect Deficit Disorder
Newsflash: The Center for Leadership Diseases (CLD) has just announced an addition to their growing list of maladies and afflictions running rampant through the leadership and customer service communities. Respect Deficit Disorder (RDD) has officially been added to a list of maladies that includes Two-Dimensional Leader Disease (2DLD) and Tired Leader Syndrome (TLS). In this era of runaway deficits, it seems that the need to treat others…especially those who work for and with us well..it has run away.
Marketing Hall of Shame-Bludgeoning Your Customers is a Bad Idea
Imagine my surprise when in a fit of insanity, I picked up the phone the other night….right after dinner (well, I answered because the caller i.d. indicated the Hotel Chain’s name, and because the troops had the dishes will in hand), and I ended up on the receiving end of an old-fashioned marketing bludgeoning. Seriously, Hotel Chain! You think so highly of the relationships with your clients that you’re engaging in tactics like this to reward them for years of business.
Leadership Caffeine™: Frame Carefully to Improve Discussion Quality
Decisions propel people, teams and organizations forward. Get more right than wrong…especially the big ones, and the only thing standing in the way of success is the critical issue of execution. And of course, most decisions start with a discussion. One of your...
Leadership, Unrealized Potential and the Sad Passing of Amy Winehouse
As a leader, you have a choice to search for greatness in your people. Your actions, your word….your efforts to nudge or push or help people develop, is what you are supposed to be about. In your own small or big way, you’re supposed to be a contributor to greatness.
Have Space Ship Will Travel-In Celebration and In Memoriam
The last Space Shuttle of this era has returned and the program is officially grounded for good. There are a remarkable number of leadership and management lessons as well as a fierce debate about importance and economics that all swirl around the space program. Just for today, let’s put those aside and remember and wonder and give thanks to those who served and to remember those who perished. The debates can continue another day.
The Votes Have Been Counted-July Leadership Challenge
Although the case lives on and discussion is always “in-session,” the voting for the July Leadership Development Round Table Challenge is now closed. Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership, was the leading vote earner, in a closely contested and well debated case. Congratulations to Dan!
Podcast: Helping Cancer Patients by Running 100 Miles for Life
A few weeks ago, I shared a guest post from a good friend, Ted Friedman, who started: 100 Miles for Life, an ultra-marathon event and charitable campaign in support of The Gathering Place, in Cleveland, Ohio. This podcast is a follow-on, and offers you a chance to hear personally from Ted about this great cause and about this ultra-marathon race. While we’re here for the fundraiser, those of you interested in running…especially crazy distances like 100 miles at a time, will enjoy Ted’s commentary on training his body and mind for the event.
Leadership Caffeine™: Assessing the View on You
Understanding how big your “perception gap” is and working to close this gap is an important part of your professional development program, regardless of your role. And like everything else in life worth pursuing, measuring and managing your “perception gap” takes time, effort and the willingness to do something about the problem-areas. Here are 11 Actions that will help you measure and manage your perception gap.