best practices in leadership Archives

Effective Leadership: How Do You Know When You Are Getting It Right?

If you’ve spent time in a leadership role, you know that it is remarkably difficult to get good quality feedback on how you are doing and for that matter, how everyone else is doing under your leadership. If you haven’t wondered about this, you are either naïve or you are caught up in all of the nice things that people say in your presence. Newsflash: almost no one tells the boss he stinks, when he’s in the room. Some of the worst leaders that I’ve had the displeasure to cross paths with, plied their evil practices with glee, protected by the cheering throngs around them.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:06-05:00July 10th, 2009|Leadership|5 Comments

Collaboration and the Leader

Many leaders are lousy collaborators. It doesn’t seem to matter that they spend a great deal of time encouraging, coaching and facilitating collaboration between their team members and across functional boundaries. When it comes time for Leader A to work with Leader B on something other than getting other people to do things, the dynamics get interesting and the output is often disappointing.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:06-05:00June 25th, 2009|Leadership, Leading Change, Management Innovation|13 Comments

The Struggles and Mental Toughness of a Leader

I’m particularly drawn to the quality of “mental toughness” in great leaders. Where most would have cut and run, the best stare at adversity and seem to draw strength from the enormity of the challenges in front of them. Failures are but mere setbacks and when conventional wisdom and all of the advisors preach capitulation, these leaders see and seize opportunity. I look for this quality in leaders in the business environment, but often our hiring and screening processes get in the way. We tend to focus on hiring those that package themselves as flawless.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:07-05:00June 16th, 2009|Decision-Making, Leadership|0 Comments

A Fresh Voice and Leadership and the Art of Apology

There’s an excellent post entitled, “Sorry is not the final word, just the beginning,” by guest author and Product/Project Management Consultant, Lisa Winter at one of my favorite blogs: The Art of Project Management. hosted by the UCSC-Extension in Silicon Valley. Ms. Winter describes a situation where she inadvertently upset a valuable but delicate team member on a conference call, and then went to significant lengths to apologize and regain his support. In addition to the happy ending, this fine post prompted some thoughts on a topic that I confess I’ve not spent a lot of time thinking about: the role of the apology as a leadership tool. I can’t help but feel a little guilty that I’ve not raised this topic in the past, and for that, I apologize...(OK, I had to work it in somewhere!).

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:07-05:00June 11th, 2009|Career, Leadership, Product Management, Project Management|6 Comments

Executive Behaviors, Your Boss Has No Clothes and Revolution from the Bottom

Gary Hamel offers a post well worth reading on “Why Success Often Sows the Seeds of Failure,” in his Management 2.0 blog at the Wall Street Journal. He takes some tough and well-earned shots at the narrow-minded thinking of executives that foments the eventual demise of formerly good organizations. In my opinion, the habits and traps that bedevil formerly successful companies also exist in those less-than successful organizations. Regardless of starting point, the tendencies and habits of ineffective executive leadership are not hard to see. In theory, they shouldn’t be hard to call out and change. However, we don’t. Why not?

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:07-05:00June 9th, 2009|Decision-Making, Leadership, Management Innovation|5 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™ for the Week: Coffee, Your Health and 8 Suggestions to Improve Your Team’s Problem Solving Skills

The best learning opportunities in the workplace occur when individuals or teams come face to face with a vexing problem. These situations provide outstanding growth opportunities and a great chance to generate and implement innovative and creative solutions. Of course, the manager has to play by the rules. Unfortunately, there are still a few managers and leaders out there that insist on spoiling these ripe learning opportunities by requiring you to follow a specific approach or steps in solving a problem.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:08-05:00June 8th, 2009|Career, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine|2 Comments

Why Do Evil Leaders Flourish Inside Some Organizations?

It’s always been a mystery to me why so many arguably evil managers and leaders not only last but seem to thrive inside certain organizations. You know the type. Hey, maybe you are one. If so, chime in. I’ve never actually heard from an evil leader that was willing to talk openly about why he is the way he is. Evil leaders tend to fit one or more of these profiles...

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:08-05:00June 3rd, 2009|Leadership|22 Comments

Fresh Voices: Management in the 21st Century

If you are fascinated as I am about the evolution of management and its role, form and function in our current and near future world, I strongly encourage you to check out Gary Hamel's blog post (Help Reinvent Management for the 21st Century). This is a case where the post prompts a flood of great thoughts and ideas from some sharp people from around the globe.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:09-05:00May 27th, 2009|Career, Leadership, Leading Change, Management Innovation|0 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™ for the New Week: Your Message and the Chicken Salad Sandwich Test

Much of what passes for leadership conversation in the workplace is filled with unnecessary and meaningless jargon that gets in the way of the true message. It’s time to de-clutter our conversations and choose words that are meaningful and actionable to our team members.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:09-05:00May 26th, 2009|Career, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine|3 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™ for the New Week: Bad Coffee and The Tyranny of Consensus

Like bad coffee, I’m not particularly fond of leading by consensus or even seeking consensus as a decision-making tool. I’ve long viewed managing by consensus as a “Tyranny of Mediocrity” approach to leading and making decisions. In seeking consensus, compromises are made that eliminate the more radical, revolutionary innovations and settle on solutions that make as many parties as possible happy.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:09-05:00May 18th, 2009|Career, Decision-Making, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine, Leading Change|7 Comments

Previous 123 Next