The Leaders Guide to Mediocrity—Less Than a Million Ways to Maintain the Status Quo
“Proceed with caution in the direction of your hopes, and live safely, the life have.” —Hank Dave Locke Mediocre is a good. Moderate quality is ok. “Average is the norm,” as Yogi Berra might say. Today’s world is complicated—every segment of society is continually changing and very little seems to be certain anymore, like it…
Top 3 Reasons Why Being a Great Leader Isn’t Easy
A few months back, I asked a group of leaders for a show of hands on who had experienced either oversupervision or undersupervision. Almost every hand went up. But then I asked how many had themselves oversupervised or undersupervised their direct reports. Only one or two hands shyly peeked out from the crowd.
So what’s going on? Well, leaders can sometimes be unaware of what they should and should not be doing. And this lack of awareness separates good leaders from great leaders. Great leaders know that leading is a never-ending journey that can be filled with treacherous obstacles.
So what do you need to know to become a great leader?
British vs. American Culture!
Top 5 Office Pet Peeves (Leadership Quote)
What Vampires Can Teach Us About Leadership
I was reading the obituary of the late and great Sir Christopher Lee this past week (The Times, Friday 12 June), who had a 70 year career on screen and made more than 300 films. One of his best known roles was Dracula, a role which he played 10 times. In doing so I was…
I Don’t Think I Really Want to Be a Manager: Ask Madeleine
Dear Madeleine, I think I have made a big mistake. I have been a manager for about five years. At first I enjoyed the challenge, and I have worked hard to become a really good manager. I get good reviews from my people and excellent performance reviews from my boss. The problem is, I have…
The 3 Secrets of The NEW One Minute Manager
On May 5, HarperCollins will release The New One Minute Manager, a new book based on the 1982 business classic co-authored by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. Recognizing that the world has changed dramatically since their best-selling The One Minute Manager was published, the authors wanted to create a book for a next generation of…
Infectious Thought Germs Will Anger You
Looking past the viral-oriented nature of this video, the main concept presented is critical for leadership. Thoughts, when attached to emotions other than sadness, generally have higher “infection” rates. Thus, it is important to generate more emotion (hopefully positive and not anger-inducing) around messages that you want your direct reports to remember or share. It…
5 Simple Leadership Lessons I Learned from Ken Blanchard
When I first entered the workforce 15 years ago, I had the great honor of working directly with best-selling business book author Ken Blanchard. At the time, I had little knowledge of his work or his reputation as one of the most influential thought leaders in the business world. I knew even less about his…