All aboard the metrics-go-round! Ready, managers? Here’s how it works: You set goals and create measurements (“metrics”) for your people’s behavior. Of course you tie their pay, performance evaluations; indeed their continued employment to hitting your numbers. Of course! Some of your people dive into hitting these goals with gusto. Some figure out the metrics […] Read more… Read More»
Is it a sign of weakness when a leader apologizes? It’s a question that’s come up quite a bit lately in conversations I’ve had with managers. Certainly enough has happened in all business sizes since 2008 that would warrant a thoughtful consideration to the question. In my conversations with managers, the question is met with […] Read more… Read More»
Recently our friend Chris released his new book, The NEW Elevator Pitch. Leadership is about influence. Chris shows us how to use his wisdom in inspiring creativity and getting things done as a result. An excerpt from “The NEW Elevator Pitch” Creativity In a leadership survey called, “Capitalizing on Complexity”, (take a look right here) […] Read more… Read More»
I was speaking this week with a friend who said something interesting. “My company cracks me up – they just refuse to get it!” she said. “I’ve been here for 10 years. I do my job very well, as you know – and I don’t want to move up in the organization! I just want […] Read more… Read More»
“There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” – Benjamin Disraeli (anticipating Nassim Taleb’s book by over a century.) Leaders are readers. Ever hear that one?* Beware, though: what you read is just as important as the fact that you’re reading at all. I’m often asked what I read, probably because I make no secret […] Read more… Read More»
The dominant way leaders and employees work together is outdated, divisive. It alienates employees and managers from one another. The familiar way is that employees accept a paycheck in exchange for work. Keep personal interests outside of work. Stay within your defined box. Imbued in this relationship is a command-and-control hierarchy. Charlene Li’s work has […] Read more… Read More»
I’m not a fan-boy by nature – leaders are real people, and they’re all imperfect. I just don’t have it in me to fawn over another person’s brilliance, at least not more than a little. Respect? Absolutely. Even admire. But the very concept of celebrity seems a silly conceit to me. Having said that, I’ve […] Read more… Read More»
The faint buzzing sound accompanied by employees arriving to work is from rote behavior of “plugging” in and re-running the daily activities dominating corporate life. Too many of our workplaces have become a place where employees plug in, do their work, unplug and go home. The monotony has sucked out joy from work. And we’ve […] Read more… Read More»
In his book Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, as in the must see-video below, author Dan Pink doesn’t address the time-honored doctrine of the money-motivated sales hero. That doctrine goes thus: Sure, maybe the rest of us would prefer to work for its own sake as long as it’s stimulating and we’re paying […] Read more… Read More»
Don’t be so naive to think that what you stand for as a leader can be verbally communicated. When it comes to your stand, your words mean less. Let your actions speak volumes for what you believe. When your actions speak volumes, people will hear your words. Graphic by Shawn Murphy […] Read more… Read More»
→