The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Gain Vital Skills and Grow Your Success—Summer Professional Development Catalog
Fresh off of leading three outstanding cohorts through a live-online version of my Manager Development Program for New(er) Managers, we are setting up several new mid and late summer opportunities. We would love to help you or your team members level up their skills. ...
Gain Vital Skills and Grow Your Success—Summer Professional Development Catalog
Fresh off of leading three outstanding cohorts through a live-online version of my Manager Development Program for New(er) Managers, we are setting up several new mid and late summer opportunities. We would love to help you or your team members level up their skills. Choose your flavor for this summer’s professional development work!
At Least 20 Things to Stop Doing as a Leader
I love this quote from Peter Drucker: “We spend a lot of time teaching our leaders what to do. We don’t spend enough time teaching them what to stop.” Here’s my small contribution on what to “stop doing” immediately. Please add your suggestions to the list.
Management Excellence Book Series Podcast: Strategic Speed
I had the good fortune to connect recently with Jocelyn Davis, one of the co-authors (along with Henry Frechette, Jr., and Edwin Boswell) of Strategic Speed, for an interview, where we discussed the high failure rate of strategies, the meaning of “strategic speed,” and a number of other issues important to anyone interested in improving strategy execution. Jocelyn’s insights into the book and the world of strategy and leadership were fascinating.
Leadership Caffeine™: The Noble Pursuit of Power and Influence
Power and influence are not dirty words. Both are components of every organization’s environment and both must be carefully cultivated to succeed as a formal or informal leader. Power and influence provide the motive power behind organizations and initiatives and the lubrication that keeps the parts and people from binding and grinding and self-destructing. Here are 6 key reasons why cultivating power and influence is good for your career.
Finding Time to Focus or, Speed Kills
The lot of professionals inside many organizations can easily be characterized by a series of endless status meetings, hurried hallway conversations and messages quickly dispatched on a pda while walking, ignoring the meeting in process or consuming a protein bar on the run. Nonetheless, work gets done, customers are served and growth often created. I do however, worry and wonder about the human costs and the cost to the organization in lost-ideas, missed opportunities and a much more superficial existence.
Leadership Caffeine™-Give Your People Room to Run
Overheard: “If I don’t stay on top of my people, nothing gets done.” If lousy leadership were a crime, the owner of the quote above might just merit a short stretch of quality alone-time to reflect on the implications of his statement. There are so many things truly wrong with the style of leadership that the statement connotes, that I’m not certain where to start.
Here are 11 reminders that your job as a leader is to give people the room and tools to succeed.
Beware Context Canyon When It Comes to Leading Change
We invest a great deal of time talking and writing and preaching about change. We discuss resistance to change, fear of change, our own need for personal change and the challenges that organizations face when it comes to embracing change. We’re not very good at changing, but we sure like to talk about it.
Don’t Expect Easy-My Top 15 Suggestions for Coping as a Professional
“Easy” is not a term that should be on your mind, except when it comes to improving the experience for your customers. Outside of making life easier for your customers, there are few circumstances where “easy” shows up or where you are justified in expecting things to go that way. Here are my Top 15 Suggestions for Coping as a Professional.
Management Excellence Book Series Kicks Off Featuring Good Boss, Bad Boss
Welcome to the first post and first interview for the Management Excellence Book Series, where I feature Bob Sutton, New York Times best-selling author and author of the forthcoming book Good Boss, Bad Boss. I had the great fortune to connect with Bob recently on a phone call/interview, and our scheduled 10-15 minutes turned into 30 minutes of fascinating insights about the book, and about Bob’s work as a professor and consultant. He was a delight to interview and I sincerely believe that you will find his insights and anecdotes as fascinating as I did. Enjoy the interview and enjoy the book!
Leadership Caffeine™: 5 Ideas for Infusing Fun Into the Workplace
You heard it here first. It’s OK to Have Some Fun as a Leader. Most of the popular press on leading and leadership focuses on the challenges, strain and pains of leading, leaving one to assume that signing on for the role is akin to a vow of chastity or at least a vow of silence. Here are 5 ideas for safely infusing more fun into your workplace. The increase in performance might just surprise you.