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January Leadership Development Carnival!

Jan 2, 2011

One of my favorite moments every month is strolling through the latest Leadership Development Carnival, hosted by the generous, popular and might I add, remarkably intelligent , Dan McCarthy, proprietor of the aptly named, Great Leadership blog. Dan was kind enough to include my post on, “How to Appropriately Respond to Positive Praise,” and we’ll see how he handles my flowery (but heartfelt) words above! Take a stroll, see how Dan handles the praise, and marvel at the collection of new and classic bloggers contributing their best to help spread excitement and warmth to kick off the new year!

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Best of Leadership Caffeine™: A Leader’s Resolutions are Calendar Blind

Dec 28, 2010

While it is natural for us to focus on resolutions as we approach the new year, the best leaders understand that improved performance requires an unrelenting, year-long focus on personal and professional development. Instead of joining the masses in pursuit of a ridiculous list of soon-to-be forgotten resolutions (along with those fitness goals), consider this approach to continuous leadership improvement:

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Two Great Blogs and a Best of Leadership Caffeine™ post

Dec 27, 2010

Note from Art: I’m taking a few days off over the holidays to focus on family and recharge my writing batteries. I plan on completing the second round edits of my next book, aptly titled, Leadership Caffeine, and I’m preparing a few other blogging surprises for the new year. However, if you happen to be hungry for stimulating content, here are a few suggestions to help you through this typically quiet week. Enjoy!

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Smiles, Sales and Leadership

Dec 20, 2010

I enjoy observing how the help in stores engage with their customers. What you see and hear speaks volumes about the leaders they work for. Want to know how people feel about their jobs and their bosses? It’s on their faces. Employees mirror the treatment they receive from their leaders.

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Art Guest Posts at Lead Change, My Next Book & Other Updates

Dec 16, 2010

I confess to focusing a great deal recently on the future of leadership. This was evident in my guest post, “The Great and Perilous Leadership Journey Ahead,”at Tanveer Naseer’s site, and in today’s essay, “Leadership Guidance for Our Children.” at the Lead Change site. And while you’re visiting Lead Change, be certain to check out the many great blog posts from some truly outstanding leadership writers and thinkers.

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Leadership Caffeine™: How to Appropriately Respond to Positive Praise

Dec 13, 2010

It’s easy to start believing the praise you hear in the hallways about your leadership approach. Easy and dangerous. I’ve always been leery of the unfounded and saccharine-sweet praise that is bestowed upon leaders. While you may call me cynical, I prefer to think of myself as pragmatic. Here are five ideas for appropriately responding to positive praise:

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Management Excellence Book Review: Management? It’s Not What You Think

Dec 11, 2010

I confess to having a proclivity for essay collections when it comes to reading about management. Essays move along quickly and they offer the reader the opportunity to capture quick sound bites over breakfast, on the train or in other ideal reading rooms. Also, there’s the reality that many management books struggle to adequately fill the space between the book-covers, offering up their best in the introduction, the first chapter and the wrap-up chapter. Here are my thoughts on: Management? It’s Not What You Think! by Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel.

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Management Excellence Book Series: Six Disciplines Execution Revolution with Gary Harpst

Dec 8, 2010

I started this book series to share the insights and approaches of some truly sharp people on solving vexing business problems. This particular interview with Gary Harpst, author of, Six Disciplines Execution Revolution and the earlier Six Disciplines for Excellence, taps into Gary’s hard won, practical experience and his great ideas on helping small and mid-sized businesses deal with strategy execution. Enjoy the thoughtful, actionable and experience-tested guidance from Gary in our podcast interview!

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10 of My Favorite Dumb Ass Management Mistakes

Dec 7, 2010

In the spirit of my post, “At Least 20 Things to Stop Doing as a Leader,” which has grown well north of 50 thanks to a deluge of reader comments, I’m back with a list of some insanely stupid and all-too-common management mistakes. These focus more on the decisions, actions or inactions that contribute to creating even bigger problems. While I’ve remained on the positive side of the law here (felons, you’ve had your day!), some of these mistakes are truly criminal. Please feel free to chime in with your additions.

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