Leadership Caffeine Archives

Leadership Caffeine™—In Challenging Times, Keep Fear and Failure Outside Looking In

Every organization and every team runs into challenging spots. Life and business don’t always work as planned. “Man plans and God laughs,” as my former CEO would recite. It’s the rough patches that teach you and require you to cultivate your leadership character, and part of this is keeping fear at bay and the specter of failure out of mind and out of the vocabulary of your team. Here are 6 ideas to help you fight off organizational fear and keep your team on track when the going gets rough:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:25:08-05:00September 28th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—The Struggles Really Do Make Us Stronger

The world of leadership development lost a giant at the end of July this past summer, when Warren Bennis passed away. In tribute, I'm including his classic article, "Crucibles of Leadership" (HBR, fee required) with Robert Thomas in one of my leadership courses this year. Revisiting this article is always inspirational both for myself and for the students who share their own crucible experiences including: personal loss, business and career struggles, and being on the receiving end of discrimination, sexism and racism. A few years ago in a hiring role, I encountered two very compelling candidates. The one who had navigated her own very significant challenges got the job, in spite of her underdog position on paper. Here's why:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:25:14-05:00September 7th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—Why Should Anyone Trust You to Lead?

Seriously, why is it that someone or some group should trust you to lead? From long experience and ample input from thousands of professionals, here are 5 big credibility killers and 5 big leadership credibility builders:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:25:54-05:00August 24th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—Ideas to Help You Adjust Your Attitude and Improve Performance

While Woody Allen offered, "80 percent of success is just showing up," I might politely suggest the phrase is missing a key ingredient: attitude. There's a profound difference between showing up and showing up with the right attitude. Here are five ideas to help you put your attitude in the right place before you start your work day:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:25:58-05:00August 4th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—In Praise of Mistakes Made for the Right Reasons

Show me a mistake-free leader, and I'll show you someone hiding from the real issues confronting the business: people and strategy.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:00-05:00July 20th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|6 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—3 Questions To Help You Cultivate Your Leadership Style

I can tell you with absolute certainty that I didn’t think about my own leadership style for a large part of the first decade of my career. I didn’t care at the time. It wasn’t relevant. Although in hindsight, I certainly had a style, it was more muscle than finesse. It wasn't until a wise and confident senior leader challenged me to think through and then apply the answers to three powerful questions, that I began to form an effective leadership style.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:01-05:00July 13th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|3 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—Beware Becoming Part of the Drama

Let’s face it, some people thrive on bringing their personal challenges into the workplace and baring them all for the world to see. These drama kings and queens seem to revel in sharing their own misery with us in a seemingly never-ending series of scenes from the worst tragic Broadway or faux-Shakesperian play ever. Here are 4 ideas to help you avoid becoming part of the drama:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:06-05:00June 9th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—Your Job is to Clear the Path

The best gift you can provide to your team members is the gift of time. If you’ve got the right team members (with the right values), they’ll respond to your willingness to clear the path with enthusiasm, creativity and commitment. Here are 5 diagnostic questions to help remind you of your need to clear the path ahead for your team members:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:10-05:00May 27th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

Leadership Caffeine™—What to Do When the Mistakes Don’t Go Away

Mistakes in the workplace are inevitable. After all, we’re human, and try as we might to operate error free, our own software is far from perfect and we occasionally let one slip through the filters. In some circumstances, mistakes are a healthy part of the learning process. In others, they're a sign that is something wrong on the personal front and you need to step in and offer help. And in other circumstances, they're a sign that you're not doing your job as a manager to maintain appropriate quality and accountability standards.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:13-05:00May 12th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Eliminate “I never heard that before” from Your Workplace Conversations

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “I never heard that before,” or, its slightly more grammar challenged equivalent, “No one ever told me that before,” in response to performance feedback. It’s sad and annoying all at the same time to hear those words.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:21-05:00March 30th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments