This is a companion to my previous blog, Describe a Great Leader. It is my experience that leaders do not arrive fully developed, even people we might think of as “natural leaders” are still somewhat grown. In my professional career, I have had the good fortune to witness, and at times, participate in the evolution … More Describe an Emerging Leader
Joe just sat down to start working on compiling a financial report. He was good at explaining numbers, they told a story and they did not talk back. A few minutes later, Joe’s supervisor stopped by and handed him a post-it note with a room number, and told to be there in ten minutes. No … More The Conversation
This month I achieve 20 years of service at my job. Twenty years at the same place. I am quite shocked, actually. I have had several different careers, although somewhat related, but I have moved around a bit over the years. Staying at one place for an entire career is less likely in these times, … More 20 Years
A month ago, my organization started reintegrating our working-remote employees, back into the work environment. It was a phased-in approach. Only certain employees, who had work that could be done remotely, were cut loose from the office tether to work from home. For employees working in the field or part of a crew, changes in … More Return to Work
After being a supervisor for a few years, I began to learn what leading was really about. My first couple of jobs with supervisor responsibilities came with no formal training, I just used what I knew and observed, and gained as I went along. Later on, I had the good luck to get involved in … More The Expectations Gap
For a long time, I believed that if the message was good, and you communicated it clearly, people would hear it. So why is that not always true? There might be many reasons why good information is tuned-out or entirely missed. First, it could be the way we communicate. Of course it could be the … More When People Stop Listening
Some basic leadership concepts are rock solid, others are like rubber, adapting to the form and the conditions. Leadership in normal times can be challenging. Leadership under stress or prolonged crisis can cause teams to break apart. Events of this year are testing leadership strategies and strengths of good leaders. Leadership under pressure require flexibility … More Leadership in 2020
We are generation-centric. We are a society of demographics and labels. Marketing, politics, entertainment; we are categorized, studied, targeted, sold and even hated based on our attributes. We all belong to a generation. We are surrounded by other generations, but do we notice it? Of course, but how conscious are we of the generational differences? … More My Generation
There’s a line between employees needing to ask permission and allowing them to make decisions. The line varies depending on what the issue or circumstance, but a recent example made me think about my own employees. Empowerment builds trust, confidence and ownership. It also builds loyalty. Sometimes employees ask because they don’t know, other times … More You’re Empowered
Warning: This message has very little nutritional value. Many, many years ago when I was a college student, a professor asked us to draw an organization. Mostly, the results looked like this: a series of boxes in a pyramid with connecting lines. There was a boss at the top (The Man), several layers increasing in … More Organizational Structure: Cake or Pudding?
Ticket 2 Ride 
You must be logged in to post a comment.