Leadership Caffeine Archives

Leadership Caffeine™: Use Daily Conversations to Promote Development

Too many bosses leave discussions about professional development to one or two occasions during the year, usually syncing them with the annual performance evaluations. Follow this formula and you're doing your team members and your firm a tremendous disservice. Rather than keeping professional development talk locked to the calendar, I’m a big fan of frequent “on the fly” conversations that directly support an individual’s developmental needs and goals. Here are 6 ideas to help you jump-start more effective and more timely development discussions with your team members:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:26-05:00March 23rd, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—Managing and Developing the Extraordinary

Let's face it, some people are graced with an extra gear that the rest of us don’t have. Whether it’s remarkable creativity or ingenuity, or incredible technical skills, it’s exciting to manage and support extraordinary individuals. It’s also very challenging. Here are 4 suggestions for managing and developing the gifted individuals on your team:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:29-05:00March 3rd, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—Exploring Breakaway Leadership, Part 1

If you’ve lived through a successful migration of a business from a legacy market to a new world, you know that it’s a sometimes messy, often emotionally turbo-charged experience. Here are 8 leadership behaviors that are guaranteed to create "tripping points" for any organization or team striving to breakaway from the past:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:32-05:00February 10th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|2 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™: Nine Key Skills Demanded By Our Times

In our world of constant change, there are (at least) nine critical skills that leaders and professionals at all levels must cultivate to succeed:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:35-05:00January 27th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

Leadership Caffeine™: Cultivating the Confidence to Act

For leaders at all levels, there’s much to gain from James D. Murphy’s excellent book, Courage to Execute: What Elite U.S. Military Units Can Teach Business About Leadership and Team Performance. Of the many quotable and thought-provoking items in the book, one that jumps out at me is Mr. Murphy’s perspective on courage. His words: “…but remember, courage is not bravado. Courage is the confidence to act that comes from preparation.” It's the lack of confidence to act that I observe as a derailment factor for so many teams from senior levels to functional or project groups. Here are 5 ideas to help cultivate the confidence to act on your team:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:39-05:00January 20th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™: The Leader and Constancy of Purpose

Deming's idea of Constancy of Purpose strikes me as perhaps the best way I’ve heard to describe that intangible but palpable drive that propels the most effective individuals and the most successful organizations. From long observation, this unyielding focus is often missing in our workplaces and in the behaviors of those in roles of leadership. Here are 4 ideas to promote focus and cultivate constancy of purpose on your team or in your organization:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:26:43-05:00January 9th, 2014|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

Leadership Caffeine™: 6 Key Decision Areas that Shape You as a Leader

There are a number of decisions in every leader’s life that stand head and shoulders above all others. These are the decisions that change the trajectory of people, teams and organizations and on a bigger stage, nations. As you navigate your career and your growth as a leader, be prepared to stand up and be counted on these challenging issues:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:27:12-05:00December 1st, 2013|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment

Leadership Caffeine™—The Trust Building Power of Second Chances

If humans are in the picture, mistakes will occur. Whether the mistake is an error in judgment, a result of incomplete planning or, due to inexperience with the task at hand, your team members will make mistakes. Your response to a mistake sets the tone for the next stage of your relationship. Here are 5 ideas to help you move in the right direction in these emotionally charged situations:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:27:18-05:00November 18th, 2013|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|0 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—Too Much Time with the Wrong People

If I could have all of the time back working with poor performers, people in dire need of an attitude adjustment or, people who momentarily fooled naive, noble me into believing they wanted to change their ways, I would gladly reinvest it with those seeking to grow and strengthen as professionals. Early in my career, I believed that I could by sheer force of will turn poor performers into stars and help those with poor attitudes emerge as model citizens. I believed I possessed the leader's equivalent of the Philosopher's Stone and could turn lead into gold.

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:27:21-05:00November 10th, 2013|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|5 Comments

Leadership Caffeine™—Navigating a Truly Bad Day at the Office

A good friend and leadership mentor once offered: “you know it’s a bad day at the office when your deodorant fails by 10:30 in the morning.” Here are some thoughts on keeping it together during the really bad leadership and management days you'll inevitably encounter:

By Art Petty|2024-08-08T13:27:24-05:00October 28th, 2013|1,770 Legacy Leadership Caffeine and Management Articles|1 Comment