At some point in your career, either as an individual looking at your career path, or as a manager supporting the development of his/her team members, you will be faced with a decision on whether a leadership role is a good next step. As an individual responsible for your own career or as a manager responsible for the development of individuals on your team, why take the chance with such lousy odds, when you easily improve your success ratio by asking and answering seven simple questions?

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in my career shuttling between departments and scaling silo walls, and now I find myself working with and mentoring individuals that do much the same. Hey executives, haven’t we advanced at least a few steps beyond the work style and structure invented somewhere around the industrial revolution? Or is organizing in and hanging out in self-referencing professional or vocational groups a distinctly human issue?

I expressed my opinion on the ineffectiveness of making annual resolutions in January in a recent Leadership Caffeine post entitled, “An Effective Leader’s Resolutions are Calendar Blind.” Translation: good leaders work on improving their blocking and tackling every single day. My suggestion is for you to create a “Leader’s Reminder List” and reference it every morning over breakfast, or keep it in your car and briefcase and review it before you walk through the door into the office.