Leadership Caffeine: The Critical Importance of Cultivating your Cultural Intelligence. Note from Art: this is the first of a series of Leadership Caffeine posts encouraging your development of the critical skills required for success in today's world.
I hear from hundreds of professionals every year in workshops, via coaching assignments or in classrooms, about the challenges they have working in and on project teams. From almost every student’s worst nightmare, the classroom group project, to major strategic initiatives with high-level sponsorship, the complaints are consistent: we as leaders don’t do enough to support team development and performance. While the list of things that can go horribly wrong on project teams is long, these 5 consistently rise to the top of the lament list.
Note from Art: It's a great time of year to think of the people doing the heavy lifting for you. What better gift than one filled with ideas, inspiration and a call to action in pursuit of great results. Any and all of my profits from the book sale here will be donated to a local Chicago-area Food Pantry during this Holiday Season.
Note from Art: I run this list every Thanksgiving...not because it's convenient, but because the thoughts are heartfelt and unchanging. Those who serve by leading have many reasons to truly be grateful for the opportunity and for those who support them every day. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Leading others is not an inalienable right that comes with seniority or through mastery of a technical discipline. It’s too bad that a good number of senior leaders struggle to offer a clear “No” to those unfit for the role.
Recognize that the most difficult points in our leadership lives are profound moments of truth that define us going forward. We either face them, embrace them and grow stronger from them, or we let them beat us. A half-measure in the face of a profound moral or ethical call is failure of the highest order.
There are fewer points in time in a leader's life more important than the start-up phase. Whether you are an experienced leader taking over a new team or a first-time leader getting started with your group, the early few weeks and months set the tone and tenor for your leadership and for your success. In this latest episode of The Leadership Caffeine Podcast, author and Executive On-Boarding Consultant, George Bradt shares his advice on planning for and succeeding during this important start-up period.
Strategy…the discussions…the decisions and of course, the execution, is hard work filled with ample opportunities to misstep. From revisiting and updating the underlying assumptions about your business, markets and competitors, to the vexing issues of deciding what to do and what not to do, it’s no surprise that many management teams avoid this work and focus more on incremental operations planning and improvement. However, for those who are courageous enough to go down this important path and do the heavy lifting, here are my top 10 pitfalls and speed bumps to avoid during your journey. 10 Places Where Management Teams Misstep on Strategy...
The November Leadership Development Carnival is now live at Great Leadership. Dan McCarthy, the Blogger in Chief at Great Leadership provides a wonderful public service for all of us with his hard work in pulling together and producing these events. Check out this month's bountiful harvest with 45 different writers selected for inclusion. And remember to thank Dan...on your way out!
The Leader as Critic is one of the most toxic, idea-crushing characters you’ll ever find in the workplace. This individual mistakenly assumes that title confers a License to Kill (perceived bad ideas) and he/she takes pride in shooting down ideas to protect people and teams from themselves. Here are ideas to help you recognize whether you are the critic. And if you work for one, here are some coping strategies.
