The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Free Mini-Course on How to Set Your New Managers Up for Success
Regular readers know my passion for supporting the development of new managers. I invest a good percentage of my time coaching, training, and working with new managers and bosses responsible for developing new managers. New manager development is important work. After...
Free Mini-Course on How to Set Your New Managers Up for Success
It’s vital to get the transition from contributor to manager right, and frankly, it’s often left to chance—never a good plan. Sadly, there’s still too much sink-or-swim going on when it comes to new manager development. On August 11 at noon central, I’m running my latest mini-class: How to Help Your New Managers Survive & Thrive from the Start.
Leadership Caffeine™: When Leading is an Unnatural Act
One of the interesting outcomes I’ve observed when engaging truly thoughtful people in the process of understanding the role of a leader and the commitment required for success, is that some people decide it’s not a good fit. However, we don’t make it easy for them to reach this conclusion.
Flim-Flam Man, If You Were a Motorboat, and Other Moronic Interview Adventures
I manage to be a frequent recipient of horrific boss and interview stories from blog readers, twitter followers and colleagues around the globe. The level of what I describe as “moronocity” in the hiring community is off-the-charts, at a time when securing great talent has never been more important. Here are a few of the most recent examples:
Management Week in Review for March 4, 2011
Every week, I share three thought-provoking management posts for the week. Fair warning: I take a broad view of management, so my selections will range from leadership to innovation to finance and personal development and beyond. This week’s selections feature content on reinventing management, the strategic and practical implications of upgrade plans for consumer electronics products and some guidance on improving our decision-making by better utilizing outside advisors. Enjoy!
Introducing: The Millennial View
Today’s guest author, Eric Rodriguez, is a former student of mine and someone passionate about management, leadership and developing as a professional in his career. Eric recently approached me about writing some guest posts here at Management Excellence to build his on-line brand (a great idea on his part), and we sat down to discuss ideas. After talking over potential topics, we both zeroed in on a Millennials in the Workplace theme…but with a twist versus a lot of the other content found on this issue.
Our twist is to change the perspective, and instead of an endless stream of “experienced” authors writing about what it’s like to deal with the merging of the generations in the workforce, Eric will offer his perspective on navigating early career steps from the eyes of a twenty-something.
In the Battle for Change, Attacking the Culture Usually Proves Fatal
Jody Weis relinquished his role as “Top Cop” here in Chicago, after what was a tumultuous and a productive three-year run in this thankless job. Weis was a controversial appointment by Mayor Daley. He was an outsider…a product of the FBI, and someone who hadn’t earned any street cred with the powerful cultural force that is the rank and file of the Chicago Police Department. He drove change, improved key measures and alienated himself from the entire organization in the process. His situation offers a number of valuable lessons for all of us.
4 Key Skills Leaders Must Develop to Succeed in Today’s Workplace
With the clear disclaimer that there are no magic formulas, silver bullets or guaranteed fast-track approaches to success in the workplace, there are a number of critical steps you can take to accelerate progress and improve your odds. Here are 4 key skills you must develop to succeed in today’s workplace:
Leadership Caffeine™-The Importance of Cultivating Your Influence
While your own level of influence might not be something that crosses your mind on a daily basis, your relative level of influence in your organization is at least one reasonable proxy for measuring your effectiveness as a leader.
Management Week in Review for February 26, 2011
Every week, I share three thought-provoking management posts for the week. Fair warning: I take a broad view of management, so my selections will range from leadership to innovation to finance and personal development and beyond. This week’s selections feature content on dealing with a firm’s culture during periods of change, building great businesses the right way, and deliberately crushing your competitors through effective management and leadership. Enjoy!
Two Voices on Being Heard and Not Being Heard
Mary Jo Asmus and I are back with our third collaborative blogging effort, focusing on what it means and feels like to be heard and not to be heard. Our first efforts, “Two Voices on the Words of a Leader” and “Two Voices on Humility and the Effective Leader,” remain personal and reader favorites. I like the “Words” post so much…particularly Mary Jo’s portion, that with her permission, I’m including it in my forthcoming book, Leadership Caffeine-Ideas to Energize Your Professional Development.