So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work. – Peter Drucker A story is told of a man flying in a hot air balloon who realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon and shouts, “Excuse me, can…
There have been several times when I was swamped with hundreds of resumes for a single job posting – how does one screen down to the best applicants without taking days and days of effort? 1) Define your most unique, critical requirements in the job Do you require certain unique characteristics that are essential for…
JFK, Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa. You probably think the only thing they have in common is that they are all now deceased. Guess again. When they were alive, each of them seemed to have some sort of aura to them, which many considered to be the gift of charisma. In fact,…
Have you ever worked for a manager who was extra fussy about policies, procedures and doing things in a very specific way? One of the exercises in our Front Line Leadership program involves having participants act out different leadership styles to see how they impact results and employee satisfaction. One of the styles is called…
When I hear somebody sigh that life is hard, I am always tempted to ask, compared to what? – Sydney Harris What are the top challenges you face as a leader in your business or organization? In a list generated by Sheryl Nance-Nash at dailyfinance.com she provides the Top 10 Challenges for CEO’s in 2011.…
Do you have a marginally performing employee? Not sure exactly what to do? Should you keep supporting them? When (in what circumstances) should you terminate their employment? A friend of mine, a certified executive coach, gave a great example of how to simplify decisions when dealing with low-performing staff: Determine if your employee has the…
At a gut level we know that leadership is important and necessary. As I think back over the many bosses I worked for, only a small fraction exhibited good leadership skills. And those good bosses… I still think back fondly on how they helped me along my career path. Even the good ones were far…
Actors on stage and screen are not genuine. They are fakes. They are playing a part, not themselves. Of course, we expect them to do this and, furthermore, we expect them to do it really well, to convince us that they are the character they are playing. But what about a managers who has to…
On Monday mornings I am dedicated to the proposition that all men are created jerks. – H. Allen Smith In The 360° Leader, John Maxwell shares a humorous story about a turkey chatting with a bull. “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, “but I…
I have a couple questions for you – How are your driving skills? How smart are you? How are your people skills? Most likely you answered something to the effect of ‘above average’. And you’re not alone. 93% of Americans believe they have above average driving skills.* 87% of MBA students at Stanford University rated…
Do you have a complex, large project that simply must not fail? How do you set up the right team to ensure success? 1) Choose your BEST people to participate on the team. A recent system implementation in my company proved to be one of the more complex projects I have worked on — the key…
Do you have some employees or co-workers who think of themselves as extra special, indispensible and untouchable? Their superior attitude often ticks off the people who work with them. So today we look at the right and wrong way to deal with prima donnas in the workplace. Dealing With Prima Donnas at Work Employees and…
I recently attended a presentation by Shannon Deegan, Google’s Director of People. Now, a lot has been written about this company and how it is up there in the stratosphere of “best places to work,” as decreed by Fortune magazine and others. Not surprisingly, Google received around 2 million resumés last year and filled 5000…
I want to give him a big hug. It’s an absolute wonderful accomplishment. – Yankees great Yogi Berra In case you missed it, Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees reached a milestone this past weekend by becoming only the 28th player in Major League Baseball to have 3,000 hits. He is the first player…
A collection of 7 leadership quotes for motivating and inspiring. Please feel free to share the video and embed on your own website. Comment below and let us know what you think.
A collection of 7 leadership quotes for motivating and inspiring. Please feel free to share the video and embed on your own website. Comment below and let us know what you think.
Have you ever watched a highly functioning department accomplish a goal or objective? The secret ingredient I have noticed is that “natural leadership” is encouraged from every team member or participant. Within groups, each participant brings a unique combination of skills, talent or style to the discussion. Great groups take advantage of this uniqueness.…
I recently had the great pleasure of interviewing established business author Dan Pink. One of the questions I asked him was how important Empathy is to Leadership….to which he replied: It’s hugely important. It’s very hard to lead without being able to see the world through the eyes of those your leading. That’s especially true…
An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success. – Stephen Covey In his book, Harvest of Humanity, John Seamands tells a story of a German soldier who was wounded and ordered to go to a military…
For at least 40 years we have had the idea of “lattice” organization as an alternative design to the traditional hierarchy which assumes employees all want to climb up the ladder. In lattice organizations (and, beyond W.L. Gore & Associates, there weren’t many of them out there back then), you could go in any direction–up,…