leader Archives

Leadership Development Conversations-Still Free and Always Will Be

I recently gave a talk at a gathering of managers and executives from different organizations, entitled: "Creating a Leadership Development Culture In Your Organization." The gist of the talk was that leadership development does not have to cost a lot of money and in fact can be jump-started with some basic activities. Also, I came down hard on the age-old excuse of "I don't have time" that so many leaders use to explain their lack of attention to leadership and talent development. Just today, I received a note back from one of the participants that renewed my faith in the fact that when presented with practical approaches, many leaders want to do the right things to support the development of their people.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:51:28-05:00February 7th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Will Software Improve Our Talent Management Performance?

t's fairly well established in my mind through our firm's research and from working for large and small firms as an employee and as a consultant, that most organizations and most leaders stink at talent development. I've cited a number of studies and surveys in my various posts that report findings that are in violent agreement with this conclusion. However, now that there is software to help us manage talent, are our problems over?

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:51:49-05:00February 6th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Are You a Strategy-Fueled Leader? (Part Two)

he Strategy-Fueled Leader is someone you want to work for and someone that you want to become. Working for one of these individuals is like existing in an alternate professional universe. If you are fortunate enough to connect with this type of leader early in your career, you are in for a remarkable education that will shape you for the rest of your professional (and even personal) life. Catch one later in life, and expect to find yourself reborn professionally, with a renewed sense of focus and purpose. If you are not fortunate enough to find one as a mentor, its up to you to make a difference in your organization by developing the habits, approaches and thinking of this powerful leader.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:51:52-05:00February 3rd, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments

Leader-Are You Willing to Admit and Showcase a Mistake?

The question of the moment is how do you deal with your own mistakes? Are you a leader that works hard to distance yourself from your mistakes or those of your team members, or do you embrace mistakes as learning experiences and place them in full view? How you deal with mistakes says a lot about your character as a leader.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:51:55-05:00January 30th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Leader-It’s Time to Act on That Poor Performer

ne of the most common mistakes of leaders of all experience levels is failing to act in a timely manner on poor performers. This is certainly consistent with our firm's findings in interviews and surveys over the past two years, where the winner for number one self-described weakness was delivering constructive feedback. (Choose your label: constructive feedback=the tough performance discussion, robust dialog or candid conversation.) Apparently, many of us are wired with a naive sense of optimism and a willingness to continue throwing good time and money after bad in the never-ending hope that the poor performer will see the light, make adjustments and turn things around. And it does happen. Rarely. In fact, so infrequently, that in my opinion, the leader is better served operating with the parable of the scorpion and the frog in mind. In case you don't recall, the scorpion convinces the frog that he has changed and should the frog kindly agree to transporting the scorpion across the pond, the scorpion promises not to sting him. Needless to say, they don't make it across the pond. With their last gasps, the frog asks why and the scorpion responds with, "It's my nature."

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:51:56-05:00January 29th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments

Leadership Decision-Making: Learn to Be Like Mike

Timely decision-making on the part of a leader is an essential ingredient for success. A leader's decision-making speed sets the pace for a team and influences the working environment in a number of positive ways. Rapid decision-making enables action and encourages team members to experiment in pursuit of innovation. It has been my experience that this style of leader tends to actually make fewer direct decisions and instead encourages and enables team members to make the call themselves. The added benefit of this style is the development of trust between all parties and the creation and strengthening of a sense of empowerment for the manager's team members.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:51:57-05:00January 28th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

Leader: The Company Might Be Virtual, But the People Are Real

One of the wonderful benefits of modern technology is the ability of organizations to scale without investing in bricks and mortar. It is commonplace in a number of industries for people to work together for years and never set eyes on each other. It’s also common for the leaders in these virtual organizations to lose track of the fact that there are real people behind the e-mail and text messages. Over time, they reduce to faceless names behind occasional e-mails or text messages. Clearly, people choose a virtual professional lifestyle because they like the freedom and flexibility that it provides. However, when a virtual organization is faced with the need (or desire) to shift gears into a new growth mode or to change its strategy, it is essential that the leaders of this firm rethink their communication and engagement with their remote knowledge workers. For many technical leaders used to not communicating frequently with these invisible associates, this can mean a significant change in behavior.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:52:00-05:00January 24th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

How Good Leaders Approach a Recession

While I don’t know too many business leaders that look forward to a recession, I know a few strong leaders that do a remarkable job of working through them from a “glass is half-full” perspective. It’s not yet clear whether we are in or heading for a recession, but the topic is on the collective mind of people in the U.S. and around the world. If we are heading for recession, the right attitude and the right actions on your part will help your firm weather the storm and even prosper during or shortly after any period of business contraction.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:52:04-05:00January 15th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

More Challenges for the Technical Leader-Choosing a Successor

In my posting: Leadership Development and Technical Professionals, I talked at length about the challenges of moving from an individual contributor role in a technical environment to that of leader. The combination of lack of support/mentoring afforded these early career leaders and the personal growth that it takes to recognize that the skills that got you here are not the skills you need for success going forward, make this one of the toughest and most mismanaged transitions in business. Over coffee with a valued associate and accomplished technical professional who has moved beyond the early-awkward phase of being a new leader, we talked about a new leadership challenge that she was facing—finding her replacement.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:52:07-05:00January 11th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

In support of the Product Manager as MVP

Few roles in B2B and technology organizations carry loftier expectations or face more challenging tasks than that of the Product Manager. This position tends to be backed by a job description with responsibilities that makes many executive roles look tame by comparison. The right person in this important role can mean the difference between wild success and mediocre performance for the business. And while organizations commonly under-staff (both in number and in power/experience) and over-describe (expectations are excessive), it is a thing of beauty when you latch onto a professional Product Manager that understands how to build value through this role. This super-employee operating in this tough role consistently gets my vote for MVP.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:52:10-05:00January 7th, 2008|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|11 Comments