Field notesfrom the practice.Read in sixty seconds.
Brief, practical pieces on leadership, talent, succession, and the hard parts of running a business. Read in sixty seconds. Apply on Monday.
Stop Empowering Your People.
Stop Empowering Your People. Don’t worry. They want you to stop. If the word “empower” were to disappear off the face of the Earth, I’m not sure many people would notice. In fact, many would breathe a sigh of relief. The word “empower” has a distinctly passive quality to it. As in, if you’re people…
Read the pieceDon’t Believe It. Leaders Are Afraid to Fail.
Don’t Believe It. Leaders Are Afraid to Fail. But they survive their self-criticism. Trendy leadership books and articles like to say that “The best leaders aren’t afraid to fail.” What nonsense. Successful leaders are definitely afraid to fail. They spend a notable amount of time ensuring that they don’t. In fact, for high-achieving leaders, anytime they come…
Read the pieceNow Is Not the Time to Play to Your Strengths.
Now Is Not the Time to Play to Your Strengths. Rise to the challenge. There’s a very seductive quality to wanting to play to your strengths.Many books, blogs, articles, talks, videos, and self-professed gurus have encouraged you to do so.But don’t fall for that. It’s too risky. And too costly. When you were a child,…
Read the pieceDon’t get stuck in the middle.
Do You Get Lots of Work Done? Yes? That’s Too Bad. Don’t get stuck in the middle. Today I read an article in which the author asserts there are two types of leaders: those that manage up and those that manage down.Those that manage up seek to please their manager, and those that manage down…
Read the pieceServant Leadership Gone Too Far
Servant Leadership Gone Too Far Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. It’s not uncommon to hear a leader say something like “I wouldn’t ask my people to do anything I’m not prepared to do myself.” Often it’s said in conjunction with the concept of servant leadership or something similar. Although the sentiment is…
Read the pieceRemote Work Won’t Kill Corporate Culture
Remote Work Won’t Kill Corporate Culture Just ask Meucci, Gray, and Belleed As the pandemic eases here in the United States, there’s a lot of discussion about what the new workplace will look like. 100% back to office? 100% remote? Some hybrid model?As part of that discussion, you’ll often hear people lament how virtual work, Zoom…
Read the pieceDoes Your Company Bleed Value?
Does Your Company Bleed Value? Time go beyond the tourniquet. Here’s a quick thought experiment:Imagine if each night, 100s of thousands of dollars, or even millions of dollars, were automatically withdrawn for no reason from your company’s bank account.And if your Chair or CEO came to you and asked, “Where did all that money go?”,…
Read the pieceDon’t Wait for the New Normal. Create it.
Don’t Wait for the New Normal. Create it. Here’s a quick reminder from March 20th of last year: And only 12 months later, here we are. Everyone is now talking/asking about the New Normal or the Next Normal.And you may be wondering too. What’s it going to look like? Inquiring minds want to know. But don’t…
Read the pieceWhich Type of Leader Has Outperformed During the Pandemic?
Which Type of Leader Has Outperformed During the Pandemic? And do you have what’s needed to succeed long-term? The past 12 months have been some of the most challenging of their careers for leaders. For many, if not most, it’s been learning by doing, without a playbook.So which leaders have been the most successful? My…
Read the pieceWhat Will You Take From the Pandemic?
What Will You Take From the Pandemic? Is there room for Post-Traumatic Growth? In March 2020, I published online what I termed the COVID-19 Book, which graphically depicted the impact of the virus. The emoji 😷 represented someone infected by the virus, and 😢 was for someone who had succumbed to it. It was meant…
Read the pieceCOVID-19 Book as at March 21, 2020 – 60-Second Read
COVID-19 Book as at March 21, 2020 Count for The United States as at 21:50 EDT Saturday March 21, 2020 Total Confirmed Cases, less Total Recovered As per Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center
Read the pieceStop the Pandumbic
Stop the Pandumbic Do not waste this crisis “Never let a crisis go to waste.“If you Google the author of that quote, you get several possibilities, including Winston Churchill, Rahm Emanuel, and even Myron F. Weiner, a geriatric psychiatrist.Either way, you don’t need a doctor to know that as a leader, you’ve been through the…
Read the pieceTake 60 Seconds and Save Yourself Hours
Take 60 Seconds and Save Yourself Hours Are your people on target? These days, no leader has enough time.Not enough time for work. For family. Or for oneself.Here’s today’s reality for most leaders:Take your job description from December 2019.Add 50% more work and responsibility due to COVID-19.Now try to get it all done in the…
Read the pieceTime to Look Down
Time to Look Down Do you know how things are? For many leaders, the coronavirus will be a career-defining moment.And unless your company was a master at scenario and/or strategic planning, for the most part, it’s been learning by doing. And that’s not a criticism. It just is. Focusing upward and outwardRegardless of where you are…
Read the pieceIt’s No Time to Be Wishy-Washy
It’s No Time to Be Wishy-Washy Is That Truly What You Mean? According to Merriam-Webster, “wishy-washy” means “lacking in character or determination, [as in] ‘ineffectual wishy-washy leadership’“. Google defines it as “feeble or insipid in quality or character; lacking strength or boldness“. Not sure I’d want to be known as “insipid in character”. Merriam-Webster adds…
Read the pieceWill You Stomp the Box?
Will You Stomp the Box? Time to Think Way Outside While working from home has become normal or nearly normal for some, will it continue to be part of the next normal? And what does that mean for you as a leader? In April 2020, The Conference Board surveyed 152 human capital leaders in US-based…
Read the pieceAnd Are Your People Ready?
And Are Your People Ready? Working in the Next Normal So by now your organization’s workforce:a) has returned to work;b) started to return to work;c) are planning their eventual return to work; ord) has always been at work (with a personal shoutout to my wife and all the other nurses!) No doubt, you and your team…
Read the pieceDo You Feel Like an Impostor Now?
Do You Feel Like an Impostor Now? If you do, join the crowd. Wikipedia defines Impostor Syndrome as “a psychological pattern in which one doubts one’s accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a ‘fraud’”. The term dates back to research by Clance & Imes published in 1978, in which they…
Read the pieceHave You Zoom-ed Out?
Have You Zoom-ed Out? When Work Becomes Your Screen Test At the end of 2019, Zoom had approximately 10.7 million active users. And on April 22nd of this year, 300 million people used Zoom. Not a bad growth rate. And it’s likely your usage of Zoom / Webex / Teams has increased at a similar…
Read the piece60-Second Trivia
60-Second Trivia How well do you know your leadership? With all that’s going on, time to take 5 minutes for yourself.COVID-19 will still be there when you return. So what’s 60-Second Trivia? Ten short trivia questions about leadership (or anything remotely related to it).How long? 5 minutes, max. So here goes. There are points, but none…
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60-Second Read
One idea worth carrying into the week.
Brief, practical pieces on leadership, talent, succession, and the hard parts of running a business. Read in sixty seconds.