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Nine Key Professional Capabilities Required By Our Times

Jan 19, 2011

There’s no doubt we live in interesting times…a true Dickensian Best of Times, Worst of Times environment, filled with remarkable opportunities and equally remarkable personal, competitive, societal and global challenges. Over the past few years and few thousand contacts with professionals on the topic(s) of developing as a professional and developing as a leader, a number of key “capabilities needed for success in these times” have emerged as recurring themes in discussions and group settings. Importantly, these themes or as I describe them, Capabilities, Attributes & Behaviors (CABs) are essential for success at both the individual and organizational levels.

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Want to Change the World? Don’t Forget to Build Your Business Model

Jan 12, 2011

Over the past few weeks, I’ve connected with some brilliant individuals in multiple entrepreneurial organizations. In every instance, I heard some form of “We want to change the world” as these high-energy individuals described their ideas and their motivation. I love “change the world ideas” put forth by people passionate about doing something new, doing something better and helping others along the way. There’s no way I can avoid cheering for these teams. However, I can worry for them. Here’s why…

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Important Reads: Almost Isn’t Good Enough, Wayne Elsey of Soles4Souls

Jan 11, 2011

The latest Management Excellence Book Review: This is not so much a book review as it is my reaction to a powerful work from a man doing remarkable things to change the world. “Almost Isn’t Good Enough,” by Soles4Souls founder, Wayne Elsey is also a book about shoes. And about a man. And about the human condition. And about management and leadership. And about revolutionizing the management and fund-raising practices in the world of not-for-profit organizations.

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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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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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Art Guest Posts on Leadership at Tanveer Naseer’s Blog

Nov 30, 2010

My guest post at Tanveer Naseer’s blog, The Great and Perilous Leadership Journey Ahead, reflects my perspective on the rapidly and radically changing nature of leadership in our emerging environment. Perhaps my subhead says it best: “Welcome to the Leadership Blender.”

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Leadership Caffeine™: Managing Risk Without Stifling Experimentation

Nov 8, 2010

The art and science of management is much about coping with risk. There are few certain outcomes in business, and that’s particularly true when we factor in the reality that people are darned complex and don’t always act rationally. More often than not, I see managers and leaders looking at their world through the eyes of “what can go wrong?” and basing their decisions solely on attempting to minimize those identified adverse outcomes. Here are 5 ideas that leaders can use to help experimentation flourish on their teams.

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Don’t Be Naive When It Comes to Driving Change

Nov 5, 2010

There are ample reasons for organizations to change business processes and business practices in this fast moving and complex environment. The market drivers are strong, the business justification is clear and often, ideas on how and where to change are clearly visible to some inside organizations. It’s too bad that most change management initiatives fail, in spite of the best of intentions. With a bit of advance warning and some darned hard work however, you may be able to avoid the fate of so many that have come before you. Learn to ask yourself some core questions and keep asking these questions and you might just put one in the win column.

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Senior Leaders, It’s Time to Share Your Lessons Learned

Oct 19, 2010

I’ve had the great privilege this past year to work with a Fortune 50 company that is methodically conquering the retail world. Specifically, I’m working with a group of high-potential mid-level professionals all focused on increasing their contributions and growing their careers. During our recent time together, the program sponsors arranged for a good number of the senior executives of the corporation to sit down and share insights on how to develop as senior contributors; how to develop executive presence and in general, how to seize the opportunities being presented by the firm’s great growth. Over the course of 3 development days, we invested approximately 5 hours engaging with executives. The impact was priceless.

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September Leadership Development Carnival

Sep 6, 2010

It’s nearly first and ten for the 2010 NFL season, and Dan McCarthy, the venerable proprietor of the Great Leadership blog is doing his part to get the party started with his September Leadership Development Carnival.

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