In my last blog I shared with you a true story of two employees in conflict and the actual intervention made by their supervisor. In a nutshell, that intervention consisted of the supervisor bringing the two employees together and saying to them, "Okay ladies, go kick and scratch each other's eyes out and get this over with." First, I want to thank all of you who submitted … [Read more...]
Supervisor Debacle (Part 1)
A government employee (A) wrote me recently stating that she has been in a conflict with her coworker (B) for about a month now. I say “conflict,” but according to (A), it was nothing more than a minor misunderstanding…at least at first. Once the problem emerged, (A) noticed that (B) was upset and immediately apologized, explaining the good intentions that were behind her … [Read more...]
How to Be a Great Leader
It's not always easy to be a great leader. While some personality traits naturally bring strong people to the forefront of organizations, leadership skills are a learned quality that must be developed over time and through an abundance of practice. Title or job description does not automatically indicate a person’s leadership abilities. A true leader moves people … [Read more...]
Reading to Learn
Lately, I've been hearing the same message from a lot of smart people. It's a simple one, one you've likely heard before (of course you have.) It's about reading to learn.John Spence, who we featured here as a guest blogger, credits much of his success to the knowledge he gains from reading a couple of hundred business books each year.In his book, Love is the Killer App, Tim … [Read more...]
Leaders – Inspiring Others to Act
With the economic turmoil that started a little over two years ago, coupled with the Madoff scheme, it made me wonder why it happened in the first place and how it could have been avoided. I often wonder how the C level executives and leaders across those enterprises that caused these problems can sleep at night.Having an accounting background, I cannot understand how the … [Read more...]
The Leader’s Primary Contribution: Discretionary Energy
I believe strongly that leaders and leaders-of-leaders (and quite a few of us consultants) are not clear enough with leaders about what we expect of them! We too often confuse leaders by asking them to do MANY THINGS: set the vision, clarify strategy, define valued behaviors, set goals, meet one-on-one, listen, embrace followers’ great ideas, redirect when required, hold … [Read more...]
Develop Yourself
Last week, I met Kevin for an event with Authentic Leadership Cincinnati. I came home with a box of books, all related to topics that I want to learn about to be more effective in my work. We can seek to develop others in many ways, even simple ways, the way Kevin is seeking to develop me by sharing his books with me. Last week, when we talked in the Bud to Boss Community … [Read more...]
What Happens When You’re Not Ready?
When Susan left graduate school, clutching her MBA, she set her sights on one big company to work for. She got there on her second job. That's the way Susan is. Susan is very bright, very focused, and very hard working. Her bonuses and promotions among the individual contributor ranks reflected that. When her boss asked if should wanted to be team leader, Susan jumped at … [Read more...]
Courageous Communications
If you had asked me five years ago what the number one issue most of my clients were struggling with, I would've told you that it was lack of clear, vivid and extremely well-communicated vision. Today however, the number one challenge is helping leaders to be more courageous in their communication. To me, there are four major things that a great leader must do to be a … [Read more...]
Leaders Develop Others
Occasionally, in this space, we will recommend products, services, and books that we know will add value to you. Sometimes, they will be the books, products, and services of our friends and partners. And sometimes, we will share with you about our own books, products, and services. Today I want to recommend the Remarkable Leadership Learning System, one of the many services … [Read more...]