Life hacks. Career hacks. Fitness hacks. Health hacks. Maybe weirdest and creepiest of all: brain hacks. We’re exhorted by influencers to #hackyourlife. Supposedly, this is about quick tips and tricks to make life (career, fitness, health, … brains? why am I now thinking of zombies?) more efficient, faster, productive. And it sounds great. It seems like a good thing, right? Who …
Whose advice?
Whose advice do you trust? A common interview question for leaders and entrepreneurs is, “What’s the worst career advice you’ve ever gotten?” The followup question, of course, is, “What’s the best?” I’m not here to weigh in on what’s good advice and what’s not. What I do want you to think about is – how do you decide? Whether you’ve …
Why lead?
To lead or not to lead – is that the question? (With apologies to the Bard, Will Shakespeare.) And, yes, that is, or should be, the question. Because too many people accept a promotion to leadership who don’t really want it. Too many people accept that promotion not really wanting the responsibility and, yes, burden, of true leadership. They take …
Change is a choice
We often feel like change is inflicted upon us. To some extent, that’s true. We certainly didn’t choose the pandemic – but we all chose how we responded to it, how we led ourselves and others through it. We don’t choose the weather – but we choose how we adapt to it, changing plans as needed. We don’t choose to get laid off – but …
But what can one manager do?
During a recent podcast interview (which I’ll post when it’s released), I was asked a tough question: If you’re working for a company that has, let’s say, a somewhat questionable culture, where it’s not as safe as it might be to raise questions or make mistakes, it’s easy to think that you’re stuck: your options are to either accept the …
The loneliness of the first-line manager
They (whoever “they” are) say that “it’s lonely at the top.” Referring, of course, to CEOs and company founders. The thinking is that these people at the top of the company hierarchy have no one to talk with about their challenges. That may – or may not – be true. But what I’ve heard, over and over again, from my …
Tis the season for …
Goals. Plans. Intentions. Let’s hit the ground running – it’s a New Year, New You, New Opportunity! Right? Not so fast. Let’s rethink this whole new year thing. I’m fond of saying that the only New Year’s Resolution I ever kept was … wait for it … to never make another New Year’s Resolution. And I recently heard someone comment …
A tale of a dumped dog
“Have you seen that dog?” A fellow dog-walker asked me about her. A neighbor started feeding her. Another fellow dog-walker and I agreed that there’s a special hell reserved for people who mistreat animals. A very sweet-looking dog was roaming the area, crisscrossing the golf course, trotting down the street outside my office window, sleeping on another neighbor’s outdoor furniture. …
Do you know where you’re going?
I’ve often said that my career path wasn’t exactly a path, but more like, well, a meandering wander. It turned out well; it turned out that what I meandered into over the years was something I had a talent for: systems analysis and software development, to the point where I was able to observe, analyze, design, and develop a business …
How to learn leadership
I posted a question this morning on LinkedIn: “What’s the most successful thing you’ve done to develop your leadership?” The common denominator among all the answers? Choosing to own their leadership skill development. Whether that was accepting a reeeaaally stretchy promotion, taking a volunteer leadership role, or simply deciding to learn leadership skills, it was all about personal ownership and …