The Leadership Caffeine Blog
4 Ideas to Help Improve First Time Manager Selection and Success
If you are either considering the move from contributor to a manager or you are responsible for developing new managers on your team, here are four actions you can take to improve the odds of success. 1. Promoting Managers Must Have “The Talk” with the Aspiring...
4 Ideas to Help Improve First Time Manager Selection and Success
If you are either considering the move from contributor to a manager or you are responsible for developing new managers on your team, here are four actions you can take to improve your odds of success.
Sixty Years of Deming and American Managers Forgot to Pay Attention
Dr. Deming indicated that he hoped one of his life’s accomplishments was to keep American companies from committing suicide. The public spectacle of Detroit and Wall Street committing suicide in the same quarter would indicate that he failed in his mission. Deming’s Theory of Profound Knowledge and 14 points offered (and still do) keys to many of the answers. They are not prescriptive, but rather they combine to create a philosophical approach to running a business, that if adhered to, will stand a chance of succeeding for customers, workers and partners on a global stage.
Podcasts, Hamel, Dickens, Time Off and a Holiday Week of Reading
For those of you seeking seasonal reading or looking for some cutting-edge thinking, I’ve got two very different suggestions for you. The first comes from author and consultant Gary Hamel on his management reading recommendations that push the envelope on conventional thinking. The second is a bit more seasonal as author Les Standiford takes a look at how Charles Dickens reinvented his career and changed the way we celebrate Christmas all at the same time.
A Snow Day, Oprah and Finding Your Strengths
My parting observation is that it is absolutely essential for us to explore and develop our skills and talents in our professional lives. Life is precious and preciously short, and it’s a good idea to quit wasting time and start sorting out how to leverage our strengths and talents in our work.
Marketing Yourself Part II: Defining Your Professional Value Proposition
Job search is a hot topic right now, and I received a number of notes from individuals who read my Irreverent Opinions of a Resume Hobbyist post the other day, asking for input about how to craft a Personal/Professional Value Proposition to support their job-hunting activities. I said in the post that I view this as the hardest task in developing an effective resume (and self-marketing strategy), and is the area where you will likely spend the most time creating content and agonizing over wording.
Marketing Yourself: The Irreverent Opinions of a Resume Hobbyist
Marketing yourself is a tough job and one of the most important jobs that you will ever undertake. And then undertake again. And again. I have no claims on “expert” status when it comes to personal marketing materials, but I do have claims on hiring expert talent to grow businesses. Somewhere out there is a hiring executive hoping that the next superstar is in that pile of paper or e-mail messages. A little common-sense advice might just help you stand out and show this executive why you are the answer.
Redefining Your Industry Landscape in an Economic Hurricane
As companies teeter or plunge over the brink, you will be faced with a host of remarkable opportunities and complex decisions. One of the greatest opportunities is for you to develop programs to capture the nervous customers of your competitors, who are most concerned about continuity in their supply/service chains.
Planning Ahead for Success: Your Personal Quality Program
Take some time this week to think about areas that you would like to improve in your personal and professional lives. There’s no reason to not put the well-established quality and process improvement practices that you use everyday in your job, to work on improving your own personal and professional performance.
Your Weekend Reading Suggestions from Management Excellence
The first article is Finding and Grooming Breakthrough Innovators by Jeffrey Cohn, Jon Katzenbach and Gus Vlak. Article number two ratchets up the innovation theme with Reinventing Your Business Model by some true heavy hitters.
A Remarkable Display of Lousy Leadership in the Land of Lincoln
Lousy leaders are great teachers. Grab a front row seat here in Illinois and get ready to feel outraged at how low a leader can go. Remember to file this chapter under “leadership approaches almost certain to earn a new orange suit.”