Do you read leadership books? (Or, really, any type of professional or personal development material.) How’s that working for you? I read a lot. And I’ve noticed that if I take the time to do the exercises from a book offering concepts and ideas for my business or personal improvement, two things happen. First, I often get bogged down. I read …
The problem with promotions
Promotions are great. They acknowledge the quality of your hard work, they represent progress and feel like success, and hey, who can argue with a bigger paycheck? So why am I suggesting that there’s a problem with them? In general – there isn’t. As an individual contributor diligently climbing the promotions ladder, you typically (and, let’s face it, often very frustratingly) …
Why problems don’t go away
Why don’t problems go away? One simple reason. You don’t do anything. You don’t take action. You just complain about it. “I can’t believe we’ve had that old lawn mower sitting in the garage all these years.” “Why is that lawn mower is still sitting in the garage?” “That lawn mower doesn’t work.” “Ouch! I just tripped over that stupid …
Don’t follow me, I’m lost too!
A colleague, having read my recent post “Leadership, Power, and Conflict,” shared his definition of leadership with me. “A leader is someone who has followers.” He added, “So, if you want to be a leader, you need to do two things: (1) Pick a direction and (2) Get people to follow you.” Simple, thought-provoking, and eye-opening, this demands that we ask ourselves: in …
End the tyranny of the urgent!
The tyranny of the urgent over the merely important – it’s a very real thing for many of my clients and, admittedly, often for myself as well. One of the key tools I use to keep that tyranny from running (and ruining) my schedule and my life is the weekly Reflective Review process that I write about in an Action Paper. …
The myth of the Right Answer
It’s out there somewhere. The Right Answer. The solution to whatever you’re struggling with. The Right Answer. It’s the promise of self-help books, the siren song of marketing gurus and management guides, and the seductive allure of all those online videos selling solutions. They all profess to have the Right Answer. And when you’re trying to succeed at something – …