Leader's Beacon | The Leadership Experts

Imagine jumping into a complex, high stakes game without knowing the rules—that’s what thousands do daily as they enter the business world without an introduction to basic professionalism.

How does one learn to be professional? Most employees have never been trained on what it means. Sadly, many business problems and failures can be attributed, directly and indirectly, to lack of professionalism. This systemic business issue impacts everything from customer service and employee morale to team productivity and business results. Continue Reading

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One of the most challenging aspects of a manager’s job, the part that is most messy and unpredictable, is giving corrective feedback. Whether it’s delivering a less than stellar review, coaching a challenging employee, or laying someone off, for those of us who are wired to avoid conflict, this can be excruciating. We often walk away from these encounters feeling inadequate and ineffective. Some managers are born mentors, for the rest of us there are steps we can take to shift this from a dreaded management chore to a welcome opportunity to coach our employees toward greater success. Continue Reading

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We’ve read about it, we’ve seen it on 60 Minutes and maybe we’ve even directly experienced it. Generation Y workers have a sense of entitlement, they lack respect for authority and they have the nerve to demand evenings and weekends off. They are shaking things up and we aren’t sure we like it.

The implications for our economy and global competitiveness are dire. Except when you remember that we head for hell in a handbasket about every twenty years, each time a new generation reaches maturity and starts exerting its influence on the world as we know it. Generation after generation laments the rise of the youth and the youth absolutely delight in providing something to lament about. Continue Reading

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