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Leadership Caffeine™ Podcast #12: David Lapin on Lead by Greatness

David Lapin, author of: "Lead by Greatness-How Character Can Power Your Success," is not only fascinating, he's in a league of his own with a world-view that encompasses his life in South Africa, his Rabbinical studies and his active and present life as a successful strategy consultant. While he doesn't necessarily trumpet that remarkable experience, in my opinion, it is part of what makes his book unique on both a personal and a professional level.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:34-05:00December 1st, 2011|Leadership Caffeine Podcast|0 Comments
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Leadership Caffeine™: If You’re Walking on Eggshells, Something is Wrong

Too many managers spend too much time walking on eggshells. They either avoid the Attitude Bullies or, they deal with them in a manner that reinforces aberrant behaviors. You’re much better suited to sweep the eggshells out of the way and engage to either build a better relationship or establish the basis for ending the relationship.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:43-05:00January 24th, 2011|Career, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine|16 Comments
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Leadership Caffeine™: Strengthen as a Leader by Developing as a Follower

I grew up to the refrain of “be a leader, not a follower,” and the drive to lead is part of who I am. Part and parcel of that has been a natural resistance through much of my early career to the notion that, “to be a good leader, you need to be a good follower.” For me, and I know for many others, our ambition is to drive change, right wrongs and challenge the status quo and to advance. Mentally, it’s hard to connect those core professional drives with the passive and even weak sounding notion of “following.”

By |2016-10-22T17:11:47-05:00October 18th, 2010|Career, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine|10 Comments
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Want to Lead? What Skills Do I Need to Succeed? #5 of 7

The first four questions in this series challenged you to think through issues that are both philosophical and powerfully practical: Why do you want to lead? Do you understand the true role of a leader? Do you understand that the skills that made you successful as an individual contributor are not the skills that will carry you forward? Are you prepared to give up your domain expertise as your foundation for results? If you've made it through the investigation of questions 1-4, it's time for you to focus in on what it takes to be successful as a leader.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:50-05:00July 8th, 2010|Leadership, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Want to Lead? Answer These Questions! #2 of 7

The Seven Key Questions for Ambitious, Aspiring Leaders are presented in Practical Lessons in Leadership by Art Petty and Rich Petro. I'll explore each question here at Building Better Leaders through individual "Leadership Tip of the Day" posts, offering ideas for investigation. Question number one challenged you to ask and answer, "Why do you want to lead?" While the first question focused on motivation, the second question goes squarely to understanding.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:51-05:00June 24th, 2010|Leadership, Uncategorized|1 Comment
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Tripping Points and the Leader

Firms and teams run into natural Tripping Points in the form of infrastructure and know-how as they work to grow a firm from start-up to $10 million or from $10 million to $25 million and so on. Often, the only viable solution to get beyond a Tripping Point is to retool the management team with people that have experience creating the infrastructure and programs/teams/processes needed to reach the next few levels. I can easily apply Tripping Point thinking to the challenges that we as professionals face in advancing our careers and in particular, in developing as leaders. Awareness of your prospective Tripping Points is an important first step in creating your personal and professional development plan.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:51-05:00June 18th, 2010|Leadership|0 Comments
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It Takes Time and Experience to Find Your Leadership Voice

As an early career leader, you have little depth or breadth in your leadership voice. You struggle or at least strive to be relevant to your team members and your organization, and many flail in the process. Over time as you gain experience, learn and build confidence, a complex leadership personality begins to emerge. This is what those around you will take as your style, but you know that it is much more than an outward fashion statement. It’s who you are as a person that also happens to serve as a leader.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:54-05:00March 24th, 2010|Career, Leadership|9 Comments
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Leadership Caffeine™-Don’t Wait for the Title to Start Leading

The time to start leading is now, long before anyone has bestowed the title of leader on you. Much like the famous trio of Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Woodman of Oz-fame, they didn’t really need the Wizard to bestow a brain, courage or a heart, and you don’t need someone to anoint you as a leader before you can start learning and practicing. The great news is that today’s organizations are filled with opportunities for you to easily and informally develop both your leadership and your followership skills.

By |2016-10-22T17:11:59-05:00November 15th, 2009|Career, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine|7 Comments
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A Fresh Voice on a Popular Topic: “Things I Wish I Knew When I Became a Leader”

A note from Art: My recent post, "Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I Became a Leader," seemed to strike a familiar chord for many. I'm thrilled that it struck a chord for someone that I've invited to guest post for quite awhile and until now, couldn't quite convince to put pen to paper. A good colleague and friend, Joe Zurawski, joins us today with his thoughts on early leadership missteps and lessons learned the hard way.

By |2016-10-22T17:12:05-05:00August 5th, 2009|Career, Leadership|10 Comments
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