There’s more to delegation than, “Here, do this thing.” A lot more. But we typically don’t think of it beyond, well, “Here, do this thing.” But what about delegating decisions? Yikes. Scary, right? What if they decide wrongly, and it comes back on you? Two reasons to delegate decisions – despite the risks The obvious reason: you’re developing and growing …
The Hyde Effect in leadership
Remember Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? The mad scientist and his evil alter ego? A long time ago, I wrote an article on the “Jekyll & Hyde” effect of being promoted into leadership. It was mostly about how a leadership perspective on everything from strategy to budget is different – and rightly so – from the perspective of the individual …
Microaggressions, gaslighting, and other toxicities
I wrote this article for my LinkedIn newsletter The Leadership Leap. I don’t typically cross-post LinkedIn articles here on my blog, but this is an important topic, so I felt it deserved to be here as well as there. See the end of the article for links to subscribe to the Leap. There’s nothing “micro” about an endless stream of …
Is there room for Captain Obvious?
So much of what I see written about leadership, management, and corporate life in publications such as Harvard Business Review, FORTUNE magazine, Fast Company, and others, seems startlingly obvious to me. “Aye, aye, Captain Obvious”-level obvious. Yet these are well-respected, even venerated, publications. Which makes me wonder: maybe I’m missing something. (Who, me?!) It seems some things require repetition for us …
The problem with psychological safety
Problem?! How could psychological safety be a problem?! In the same way any tool can be used incorrectly, or even harmfully: when it’s misunderstood and mis-applied. Three examples. Is it a check-box / eye-roll item? Your employees know when a term is being used without substance behind it. And they’ll roll their eyes at any statement not backed up with action …
Where’s your “whole self”?
When I hear people talk about bringing the “whole self” to work, it raises some problematic questions. First off, where are we leaving the parts that don’t come with us? I mean, this is Halloween week, so I’m already primed to have some strange thoughts about ghosts and zombies (in fact, my LinkedIn Halloween post featured a zombie…). Okay. I …
Anyone remember martini lunches?
Remember the martini lunch? Or have I just dated myself? Mind you, I don’t actually like martinis. But back in the very, very early days of my career, I did participate in lunches at which everyone ordered a drink. Up until the pandemic, employees connected with each other in the office. They went to lunch together (generally without a martini), they …
Do you belong?
An in-depth study, primarily done through extensive analysis of Glassdoor reviews, indicates that a toxic culture is the main driver of the Great Resignation. (You can find the MIT Sloan Management Review article here, and an interview of Dr. Donald Sull and Charlie Sull, two of the article’s three authors, the study researchers, and co-founders of the company CultureX, on …
Five facts about organizational culture
Let’s just jump right in, shall we? Culture is a company asset Yet so many organizations treat it as an afterthought, at best. Here’s another fact for you: Culture is either by intent – or by default If you’re not intentional about what you want your culture to be, you’ll end up with whatever takes shape around the personalities of …