The Eraser Test: How to Know When It’s Time for a Change
How do we know when to change the plan? A casual remark by a friend last week got me thinking about the idea of flexibility and change. As leaders, we choose the objectives and set the course. But once we’re underway, how do we know if we should keep on keeping on, or if we […]
Change the Game: 7 Ways to Build Teammates Who Can Do More
How do we increase the odds of “winning” with the team we have? At the beginning of any game, everyone starts with the same number of players on the board. And in the rush to get things done, we focus on moving those players around the best we can. If we’re good, we might win. […]
Reintroducing Quibbling: The Kryptonite of Leadership
What is quibbling and why does it matter to leaders? Do you remember watching Superman, and seeing what happens to him when he comes in contact with Kryptonite? How weak and ineffective he becomes? I think that there’s something just as powerful that we are all exposed to every day, and it can have a similar […]
Kings, Cannibals, and Cultural Bias: Overcoming the Limitations of Convention
A strange encounter between a French king and several cannibals from South America sheds light on cultural bias, and what it takes for leaders to see past the limits of our own experience.
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?
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 leaders in the simplest terms possible. What should we be doing right now? What should […]
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.” The good news? As leaders, we can use the power of bad for good. Here’s […]
Leading When Things Go Wrong: Playing Soccer on the Ice
What do you do when things go wrong? Leading can seem fun and easy when things are going our way, but it’s when things go wrong that true leaders emerge. In this example from an Antarctic expedition gone disastrously wrong, one leader achieved great feats of endurance and survival to bring his men safely home. […]
Who’s in Your Canoe? 5 Things to Consider When Building a New Team
I’m building a new team; who should be on it? Often we just inherit the teams we lead, but occasionally we have the opportunity to build a new team from scratch. How do you know who to pick? Here are five action steps you can take when building a new team that will give […]
15 Pretty Good Virtual Team Building Ideas
What kind of virtual team building can I do with my distributed team? We all know that teamwork is critical to getting things done through people. Building cohesive teams is already a challenge when everybody is face to face. But developing trust, communicating well, collaborating readily, and problem-solving effectively become all the more difficult when […]
Optimization: Surprising Lessons in Efficiency from the Ant World
“How can you optimize a system that’s error-prone?” As humans, we are fallable. In our efforts to achieve, produce, and progress, we make mistakes, we misjudge, we stumble. Any enterprise that involves humans will, by definition, be imperfect. But is that really such a bad thing? When it comes to optimization and effiency, there are […]
Micromanagement: 7 Signs You’re a Micromanager and What to Do About It
Could you be guilty of micromanagement? The micromanager has been called the bully of the business world, and micromanagement is responsible for killing motivation, eroding trust, and leading to waste and inefficiency. Yet the last person to recognize that they are a micromanager is the micromanager themselves. Could you be one of them and not […]