ALL POSTS
New Manager Nightmares: 11 Creepy Leaders and How to Avoid Morphing Into One
“Have you experienced New Manager Nightmares?” You are going about your business when suddenly a new manager walks in. A dark cloud seems to blot out the sun, reality distorts, work grinds to a halt, and nothing seems normal anymore.
Finding the Right Direction: How do You Know Which Way to Go?
Life is full of choices; how do you know the right direction to take? The choice one woman makes while walking alone out in the American southwest can serve as a good example for the rest of us in how
Leadership Exercises: 7 Ways to Build Your Influencing Muscles
Are there any leadership exercises I can do? Someone asked this question recently, and I thought it was a good one. Learning leadership is tricky business. It’s not like practicing musical scales or pumping iron at the gym. But I
Who’s Your Second? Are We Really Leading, or Just in Charge?
Are you indispensable? Should you be? We make the plans, give the orders, follow-up on everybody and everything. Nothing happens without our say-so. The machine is humming and we are at the controls. It feels like leadership. But is it?
Comfortably Uncomfortable: 7 Ways Seeking Discomfort Makes You Better
“How can seeking discomfort be a good thing for leaders?” Hey, I’m here at a local park in Minnesota, getting ready to do my weekly tempo run. Believe it or not, I think that there is a very close parallel
Are You a Potential Leader? 7 Ways to Get Noticed
Are you a potential leader who’s just looking for an opportunity? Do you think you have what it takes, and just need others to notice your leadership ability? If so, this video is for you. Today we’ll talk about seven
Guaranteed Bull’s-Eye: How to Put Goal Achievement on Automatic
How can we be sure our efforts will lead to goal achievement? Here’s a unique way one person answered this question, and what we can learn about how to make sure our own efforts result in the goal achievement we
How to Build Influence: Go From Gofer to Go-To with These 3 Simple Steps
“How do you build influence if you are the low person on the totem pole?” We all have to start somewhere, and usually that somewhere is at the bottom of the heap. So how is it that some people seem
Leadership Interview: 7 Ways to Talk About Leadership Experience When You Don’t Have Any
“In any leadership interview, they are going to ask about your experience. What if you don’t have any?” Everyone has to start somewhere. Moving up in the organizational hierarchy often involves taking on a formal leadership role. But if you
Team Leadership: 4 Simple Steps to Getting Stuff Done
“Can Team Leadership really be boiled down into four steps?” Leaders are always busy, and whatever we are involved with, things only seem to grow more complicated over time. As complexity grows, it can help to view our roles as
Leading Experienced People: How to Overcome 3 Dilemmas That Make it Hard
What is it about leading experienced people that makes it so challenging? They know more than we do. They have been there longer. They already have their ways of doing things. Then we walk in and we’re expected to tell
Bad vs. Good: Why Does the Bad Seem to Outweigh the Good?
“When it comes to Bad vs. Good, why do bad things get all the attention?” There’s a struggle between good and bad and it’s happening on our teams. The bad news? The “bad” is far more powerful than the “good.”
What’s the Difference Between Manager and Leader, and Why Does It Matter?
Why should we care about the difference between manager and leader? I was having coffee with a new friend last week. He had been recently promoted to his first supervisory position. As we talked about the challenges he would face,
Seeking Discomfort: 7 Ways to Embrace Uncomfortable Feedback
No one likes to hear that they are not doing well, have weaknesses, or are not measuring up in some way. As leaders it often falls to us to give this kind of feedback to others, and those can be
The Power of Asking Questions: 7 Ways Questions are More Powerful Than Answers
How can asking questions be more powerful than answering them? In the effort to demonstrate our worthiness to lead, often we find ourselves in a hurry to provide answers. People want guidance, direction, and need to understand priorities. But if
