I talk a lot about the need to define success. (And it is a need, not just a nice-to-have or a default to “but everyone knows what it means”; read more here and here; links open in new tabs, so you won’t lose your place.) But we also need to define failure. We do a lot to avoid failure – but – do …
Re-excitement!
Performance reviews. Ugh, right? (And probably not what you were expecting to read about under the headline Re-excitement!) Everyone pretty much dreads the annual review cycle. I know I did as an employee – and I know I did as an executive and leader. I won’t enumerate all the reasons why we dread the process. And if you’re part of …
Let’s just stop glorifying burnout
Everywhere I look, I see articles, podcast episodes, social media posts, all asking what can we do about burnout? I have one very succinct and heartfelt answer: ~ stop glorifying burnout ~ It’s part of hustle culture. It’s part of the “Oh, I’m so busy!” badge of “honor.” (In quotes because yegads, people, let’s just stop – it’s not an “honor” to …
Care to predict?
I asked senior leaders and executives what they felt their first-line and mid-level leaders most needed to learn, understand, and practice. Every one of them said the same thing. ~ strategic thinking ~ No question: understanding strategy, how to envision and plan for the future, is an essential leadership skill. These days, with so much in flux (Omicron variant, anyone?), …
Priority list – or to-do list?
Did you know that the word priority was never plural until the 1940s-ish? Think about it. It makes sense. Priority means The Most Important Thing. How can there be more than one? Yet as leaders and within organizations, we have endless lists of priorities. Too many. Research tells us that, to be effective, we should focus on at most three projects at …
The missing skill for leadership and life
Let’s talk about listening. (See what I did there?) I’ve said over and over again that we need to teach communication skills in grade school, high school, college, and postgrad – all the way through and all the way up. There are classes in writing, public speaking, presentations, negotiation, and so on, but all those classes focus on specific types …
Want better meetings?
Of course you do. We all want better meetings. We want people to be present, focused, attentive, and collaborative. I’m not going to give you all the usual advice about only scheduling meetings when absolutely necessary, only inviting the relevant people, and making sure you have an agenda – and then sticking to it. (Yes, I know you see what …
Where is the courage to lead?
I think we all know that leadership – true leadership – requires courage. Here’s something else I think we all know, either consciously or intuitively: courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is about doing the thing even in the presence of fear. Now, there are a lot of leadership experts, gurus, thought leaders, influencers (you name it) out there …
Are you (inadvertently) enabling mediocrity?
People want to do a good job. They want to contribute. It’s part of what makes going to work every day worthwhile – in some ways, a more important part than the paycheck (always assuming said paycheck is in line with roles and responsibilities). So what happens? Why do we have people under-performing or completely missing the mark? There are – …
Leadership development is disruptive
There. I said it: leadership development is disruptive. And I’m serious. It requires that you: Decide who should be trained (which can upset those who aren’t selected); Choose a process for training (which can take precious time that you don’t have); Pull those selected for training out of their regular day-to-day work (which – since they’re your best employees – means …