Continuous Feedback
Why are we still doing Annual Reviews? Their very title speaks to why they are so bad: Annual = happens once a year Review = looking backwards Do we really believe that looking backwards once a year helps people get better? My daughter, Ellie, interned this past summer at a fantastic company in Richmond called […]
Tiger's Lessons for Leaders
Tiger Woods’ “appearance” this past Friday offers some real lessons that high-performance Leaders should not miss.
To me, Tiger’s most telling statement was this one:
“My failures have made me look at myself in a way I never wanted to before.”
And this is where Tiger’s dilemma provides a learning opportunity for Leaders.
CEO as Chief Talent Officer
In my last post, I wrote that One of a CEO’s primary roles is handling difficult people. This is because . . .
The CEO is the Chief Talent Officer of the company.
Yesterday, a CEO I work with shared how he has been managing talent at his company. He had two stories.
………………….
Leaders are accountable for the caliber of people working under them.
Leaders Confronting Leaders Who Behave Badly
One of a CEO’s primary roles is handling difficult people.
I’ve heard several stories recently of CEOs dealing with one of their senior leaders whose behavior is detrimental to the organization.
At the least, senior leaders like these two are “prickly” – everybody moves gingerly around them, trying to avoid getting stung. At worst, they are “radioactive,” melting down everyone and everything they come in contact with.
Leaders Getting the Right Things Done
“I think my biggest challenge right now is time management.”
I ask this Leader, “how, exactly, are you spending your time?” “Well, I’m doing this and this and this . . .” he rattles off the list of meetings (that’s always a big culprit!), phone calls, studying of reports, returning emails, etc. that occupy every leader’s day. The “activity” list comes easily.
When I sense he’s starting to wind down, I ask “what are the most important things you need to be doing right now? What are the key results you need to achieve today . . . this week?”
This brings a pause, hesitation.
Isn’t this a great challenge for all of us? Maintaining a clear understanding of what results we need to be focused on — from our vantage point as Leader of the organization? The blizzard of ACTIVITY white’s out our perspective on RESULTS.
Leaders: Lamenting or Inventing
My colleague Chris Cavanaugh recently made the observation that people find themselves in one of two groups these days: lamenting or inventing.
Many of us are looking backwards and lamenting. We grieve what has been taken away, either from us personally, or someone we know:
* our retirement account
* our job
* our house
* our club membership
* our assumptions about the way life works
* our confidence that we know what we are doing
Leaders Staying Positive
Geoff Ramsey is a good friend and CEO of eMarketer in New York. eMarketer has become “the authority” on research and trends in online marketing, and it’s charts and data regularly appear in national newspapers, magazines and advertising industry periodicals. Geoff himself is considered a leading spokesman for his industry and is frequently invited to […]
The Leader's Place is Not in Management
“Lieutenant McKinnon, you are dead!”
I’ll never forget those words, barked at me by the Captain evaluating me on a dusty, hot morning at Fort Knox, Kentucky, early in my officer training. I was leading a six-man team of fellow officers through a series of Leadership Simulation Exercises — the Army’s version of leadership training scenarios like you might encounter in an Outward Bound-type setting. We had a problem, in this case, getting our entire team to the other side of a “room” laced with tripwires and “explosives,” that we had to solve in a limited amount of time. Rapid-fire assessment, delegation, direction-setting, monitoring and action were demanded in a pressure-filled, time-limited environment. The grade would either by Mission Accomplished or Mission Failure — no in-between.
Sound like one of your days at the office?
Preventing CEO Suicides
The recent surge in suicides seems to parallel the surge in bad news that is touching all Leaders in some way right now. While only a few choose to take their life, many other Leaders are feeling the pressures build and the options fade. And herein lies more opportunity for bad choices . . .
Leaders in the Headlines
I’ve grown weary of reading the bad news in the print and internet media over the past week (see what I did about it at the bottom of this post). So I decided to look at the Leaders I see in action around me who are writing their own headlines . . . CEO, CFO […]