As managers we are responsible for seeing to it that the right things go well. That involves keeping extraneous things off our team’s plate, putting more W’s than L’s on…
Category: Leadership
Making No Decision is a Decision, and Usually the Wrong One
Last week I spoke for a group of college students in a management course. Corresponding with a chapter of the text currently being studied in class, the subject of my remarks was, “You…
Three Things Leaders Can Do To Earn the Benefit of the Doubt
When I begin a new executive coaching engagement, my due-diligence process usually involves conducting focused interviews with a representative sample of my client’s peers, direct and indirect reports, other close…
Three Ways You Might be Undermining Employee Engagement
We won’t bore you with yet another recitation of Employee Engagement stats. They’re ugly. And it’s costing businesses worldwide more than anyone can afford. Way too few people are excited…
Recognizing and Dealing with Gross Leadership Failure
Often there comes a time in the history of an enterprise when a designated leader has lost the followership of those they are responsible for leading. Followers don’t believe what…
Keeping Some of your Powder Dry
When coaching those who are new to a leadership role, one of the top five items we deal with pertains to the advisability of keeping some of your “powder” dry.…
Preventing the Next Uber Dumpster Fire
Nobody in their right mind flies an aircraft, rewires their home, performs surgery, goes skydiving, or engages in many other activities without the benefit of training and/or certification. And if…
Be Quicker and More Courageous in Dealing with New Hires
Whether one works in the public eye or not, somewhere in the 50 to 100 day window after a person has started a new job, people around them are forming…
When Someone's Trying to Apologize, Get Off Their Back
I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but it has become all too rare for someone, anyone, upon making a mistake to step up, acknowledge their error, meaningfully apologize,…
On Baseball, Long Hair, Married Priests, HR, and the "Department of No"
The sports press was abuzz this week about something that didn’t involve balls, strikes, birdies, or 3-pointers. Rather, it was about hair, specifically the prolific red locks belonging to NY Yankees rookie…