Are you capable of putting it all on the line for the right issues? Your career isn’t worth a budget or a product feature or a resource squabble. Those disagreements are part of the normal process of working together, and developing effective negotiating skills and learning to give and take are what we do to help propel movement inside organizations. Putting it on the line is however worth it when the conflict involves a legal issue, or, any issues that potentially impact life or environmental safety. It’s time for all of us to build courage into our roles as leaders and to teach and reward courage on our teams.
The Leadership Caffeine Blog
Leadership Caffeine™: 3 Ideas for Sharpening Your Skills
Fresh from a weekend of rediscovering the lawn and gardening muscles that clearly took the winter off, I found myself happy that I was able to quickly access freshly sharpened, well-oiled tools. As any good tradesman or craftsman (or weekend gardener) will tell you, there is no substitute for the right tool, properly maintained, when you need it. The same goes for leaders.
Your Search for Leadership Wisdom Starts and Ends at the Carnival!
One of the best leadership public services you will find is Dan McCarthy’s hard work to produce the monthly Leadership Development Carnivals.
Dan scours the world far and wide for compelling content designed to inspire, energize and challenge you to step up your leadership game.
Leadership Caffeine™: For a Change, Look At What’s Working
Consider these common refrains from two different leaders:Leader 1: “That’s great! Congratulations! How do we do more of that?” Leader 2: “That’s broken and we need to fix it right away.”
We have all met both of these characters. One sees opportunity and achievement and building blocks everywhere she looks and the other sees flaws and problems that need fixing. And while you are free to accuse me of making a hasty generalization here, my “blink” assessment of the two is that I want to hire or work for Leader #1
Summer Jumpstart: Must Read Management Books
A few weeks ago, I published a post on “Jumpstart Your Marketing Reading to Restart Your Brain.” Here’s my suggested summer reading list for managers looking to refresh and renew. Note…while my marketing list is relatively contemporary, the management list takes on a bit of a “classic” tone to it. That is by design.
Leadership Caffeine™-It’s Time to Frame Your Professional Positioning Strategy
What do peers and managers perceive is unique about you in the workplace? What do you do so well, so uniquely that makes people stop and take notice? What’s your personal positioning strategy that meaningfully differentiates you from others in the minds of your customers, managers and stakeholders?
You’re to be excused if you need to reach for another cup of coffee while you contemplate these “brand called me” questions that you likely only think about once every two years when you update your resume.
My New Project: Leadership Caffeine™-The Book
My long list of life-goals includes a few that are underlined and even circled to connote priority. Write one book per year is one of those that is double-underlined, circled and highlighted for emphasis. It’s high time that I quit thinking about this personal and professional Big Hairy Audacious Goal, and started executing. So, after too much thought and not enough work, I am excited to make public my next project: Leadership Caffeine-The Book. (Expect the title to evolve a bit.)
9 Tips for Nailing the Classroom Group Project Presentation
After sitting through a fair number of these presentations over the past few years, I’ve identified some common mistakes that detract from the quality of the final presentation and depress grades, not to mention instructors. The mistakes and misfires are generally a result of two issues: the very personal and irrational fear of presenting and some horrendously poor planning and coordination between group members.
Management and Career Miscellany on the Lighter Side
Management and Career Miscellany on the Lighter Side-a brief collection of anecdotes and personal perspectives on decision-making, project management, social networking. Oh, and some amusing and really bad career advice to ignore if you hear it.
Leadership Caffeine™: Learning to Adjust Your Altitude
While the phrase is most commonly referenced as attitude adjustment, I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that one of the abilities that leaders must develop to be effective is the ability to adjust their altitudes. Good leaders learn to scale institutional and intellectual heights with ease and comfort, quickly adapting to the audience and situation.
