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Once More On the SoapBox: Strategy and the Leader

Nov 4, 2009

There is no more mystical and in some cases mythical concept in all of business than the word, “Strategy.” Perhaps because it has been long claimed by academics and expensive consultants and bandied about exclusively by executives in boardrooms, while everyone else waits for the CEO to come down from on high with the clay tablets and of course, clarity, firmly in hand. Here are some suggestions for beginning to take the myth out of strategy in your organization:

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Leadership Caffeine™-Bringing Confidence Back

Nov 2, 2009

Confidence is a powerful force in the workplace for individuals and for teams. It’s that extra-added something that allows us to look at the world through eyes that see opportunities to pursue, challenges that exist to be met and new heights within easy reach. Unfortunately, given the beat-down that most of the world has been taking for the past year or two, confidence is in short supply in the workplace. It’s time to bring confidence back.

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Leadership Caffeine™-Be the Example

Oct 11, 2009

I recently found myself as a guest speaker in a good-natured discussion with my audience about the challenges that mid-level managers face in trying to facilitate positive culture change while working in a toxic or at least a less than ideal work environment. I opt for the affirmative in this debate, and often find myself arguing the minority opinion. I absolutely have strong convictions about the ability of one individual or a small group of individuals to catalyze positive environmental change in the most challenging of environments.

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October Edition of Leadership Development Carnival at Leader Talk

Oct 4, 2009

Becky Robinson, the articulate and highly engaging author of one of my favorite blogs, Leader Talk, has posted the October edition of the always exciting and thought-provoking Leadership Development Carnival. She appropriately names this one the Endurance Edition, in part, because she received a record number of posts from the leading leadership bloggers on the planet and brought them together in one place for your reading convenience. Plan on a rousing workout as you digest some fantastic content. Oh, and she was kind enough to include one of my posts as well!

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Leading in the Trenches: How Well Do You Know Your Customers?

Sep 30, 2009

If you don’t know your customers at a sufficient level of detail, including their hopes, dreams and emotions, everything you are doing includes a high degree of guesswork and randomness. Your messaging likely includes a great deal of blah blah about your firm. Promotional activities are fired from a shotgun, and while they occasionally hit something, there is no viable, sustainable marketing system in place.

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Building Better Leaders-One At A Time

Sep 22, 2009

I had an interesting kitchen table discussion recently with a friend who questioned my belief in the ability to change the world by helping support the development of effective leaders. His point: for every one person that actually “gets it” and develops into an effective, values-driven and people-focused leader, dozens of “incompetent idiots” will end up in positions of responsibility and the cycle of horrible leadership and lousy leaders will continue.

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Leadership Caffeine™-The Times Choose the Leaders. Is it your time?

Sep 20, 2009

If you’ve been around the block for a few decades as a leader, your current To-Do list doesn’t feel as good as the one you had for most of the 90’s and the middle of this decade. However, the benefit of your experience is that you know that we’ll find our way through this fog of uncertainty and fear and doubt. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know the absolute path.

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Two Voices on: The Words of a Leader

Sep 10, 2009

This dual post was the outcome of a casual exchange of thoughts via Twitter that quickly evolved into a must-write piece and fun collaboration on an important topic: the words of a leader. My partner in crime here is Mary Jo Asmus, the author of the outstanding Intentional Leadership blog…one that I turn to regularly for inspiration and insight.

Good leaders are builders and they form and shape their words into phrases and questions that encourage learning and improvement and risk-taking and more learning. Good leaders are master craftsmen in many ways, and words are some of their most important tools. Less effective leaders use words like tools as well, but in this case they crassly apply the words of brute force in settings where precision is called for

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Looking for A Framework to Rebuild Your Business? Think Baldrige

Aug 25, 2009

My own personal observation is that the Baldrige National Quality Program is one of the most misunderstood, unknown and poorly marketed great programs for organizations seeking a framework for business performance improvement. You owe it to yourself and your organization to become familiar with the program and the many great low and no-cost tools available to help you improve your business.

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