The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Just Announced! What You Need to Know Day One as a First Time Manager
Are You an Aspiring Manager? Are You Responsible for New Manager Development? If you are thinking of making the move to managing (or, if you have a team member considering this move), What You Need to Know Before Day One as a New Manager is a must-attend! I'm running...
Just Announced! What You Need to Know Day One as a First Time Manager
If you are thinking of making the move to managing (or, if you have a team member considering this move), What You Need to Know Before Day One as a New Manager is a must-attend!
Weak Leadership at the Top Derails The Pursuit of Performance Excellence
While some top executives err on the side of asserting a dictatorial style of leadership that poisons the working environment and stifles independent action, in my experience, many more struggle with just the opposite. Instead of overwhelming their associates with strict orders in pursuit of rigid targets, they default on their responsibility to set direction in a poorly constructed attempt to create an environment of empowerment. The results of this approach include endless discussions without resultant actions and massive frustration of well-intended personnel that want to move projects and ideas forward.
Leadership Development: “This is Squishy Feely” Stuff
It’s not uncommon to run into resistance from the senior members of an organization that has just recognized that it might be good to professionalize and improve talent development and acquisition processes. I can even understand the “Squishy Feely” comment coming from a grizzled functional veteran that grew up in a world where the topic of talent identification, development and retention was not as front and center as it increasingly is today. However the statement: “We’re not going to do this,” is impossible to fathom. It’s a lot like saying, “It’s good to be ignorant.” Or, “It’s OK not to breathe.”
Has Your Management Team Decided to Be Successful Yet?
It is always great fun to work with management groups interested in growing their businesses, pursuing a new and bold vision or embarking upon new strategic directions. More often than not, these groups have enjoyed success, established themselves and their firm in a favorable position and have a common excitement about what the future might hold. They also talk about the fact that change will be necessary for growth, and it is usually about this point that the wheels start wobbling.
Leadership Development Carnival #4: A One-Stop Shop for Great Ideas
I am pleased to be included in some great company again this month at the latest Leadership Development Carnival hosted at Great Leadership. Dan McCarthy brings together the perspectives of some exciting Carnival newcomers and some industry stalwarts. Dan’s monthly Carnivals may be the best leadership deal going…great content, ideas that you can use immediately and the price is definitely right. Grab a cup of coffee or favorite beverage and take a stroll through the Carnival. You will be glad that you did.
“If I had asked customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
The notion of not asking customers what they want and responding directly to their needs may seem like heresy to those individuals and organizations consumed with improving customer satisfaction and creating customer loyalty. In fact, you should always listen and importantly, observe. The real art in this process is understanding what customers really need, what problems they really would like to solve and what approaches and experiences that you can create that can surprise and delight them.
Is it Time to Panic?
It is a time to adopt a philosophy that seeks to find opportunity in chaos. It is a time to carefully evaluate your strategies and check your assumptions. It is also a time to consider making some hard calls on your future.
Career Growth and the Product Manager
wear my respect on my shirt-sleeve for the many dedicated Product Management professionals that hold down what I believe is one of the most difficult and one of the most critical roles in today’s fast moving technology and B2B organizations. I firmly believe that these talented and well-rounded business professionals are potentially some of the most valuable assets in an organization’s talent pool.
The Hubris of Leaders
t takes a strong reserve of self-confidence to be an effective leader. It’s also remarkably easy to get comfortable crossing the fine but dangerous line between self-confidence and arrogance. The best leaders are conscious of that boundary and walk along it but resist the lure to cross into this self-gratifying but credibility destroying country.
The Dollar Auction and a Failure of Rational Judgment
The common outcome of The Dollar Auction offers an interesting perspective on human behavior. We are seeing similar manifestations of this behavior at work in what we are slowly learning about the events leading up to this historic (not in a good sense) financial crisis. For some reason, common sense, prudence and good, old-fashioned principles of risk management fly out the window when it appears that the magical money-making machine has been turned on. Whatever happened to making money by developing goods and delivering services that meet and exceed customer needs?