Happy 2019! Hopefully, the year is off to a great start and you’re on track with your New Year’s resolutions! However, if you haven’t committed to a gym membership this week or decluttered your house while binge-watching Netflix, there’s still a trendy way to jump on the “New Year, New You” train. Grab a book. Better yet, grab 200 of them. It appears that 2019 is the year of the 200 Book Challenge. The value and long-term impact of reading consistently has been demonstrated repeatedly in both scientific research and executive case studies. From Oprah Winfrey to Steve Jobs, Bill … Read More
Leadership Challenge: Back to Basics
As part of the challenge to read 200 books this year, I committed to read a handful of leadership books that have been collecting dust on my bookshelf for years. I’m a book enthusiast of sorts. I’m not as passionate about reading them as I am in collecting them, apparently. I have the appetite to read, just not the attention span; so, I typically read a few dozen blog posts a day vs. book chapters. This weekend, I cracked open one best seller on leadership, and abandoned it after one chapter out of boredom. So, I moved on to book … Read More
Leading through Failure
As with anything in life, there are highs and lows. When you’re in a leadership position, the highs you experience in business are more rewarding because they are multi-faceted. The highs usually involve a combination of business goal achievement, rewards/recognition from above, shared success with the team and the satisfaction of knowing your vision, coaching, and strategy is what enabled the team to achieve success. Naturally, the lows can feel just as low. People who rise to the level of leadership are driven and crave achievement. Even when failure is outside of their control, they will internalize it and feel … Read More
An Attentional Control Reality Check
From time to time, most leaders feel like they’re wading through quick sand. They know they worked a full day (often longer than 8 hours) and yet, the to-do list never shortens or becomes less urgent. They blame unnecessary meetings, redundant reports, and the unpredictable nature of having to put out fires for their lack of time, but rarely are those really the root cause of the problem. I found myself in a similar position recently. While feeling that my efforts weren’t making an impact on the endless list of high priorities on my desk, I blamed the situation. It’s … Read More
Numbers Don’t Lie: Making the Case for Employee Development—Flashback Friday
Does this scenario sound familiar? You identify a common skills gap within your team and express your concerns to HR/Leadership. They agree and say they’ve seen a similar issue. You ask for support/funding to train your team. You know they need it, and HR knows they need it, but senior leadership is reluctant to allocate the necessary budget. After all, they just spent tens of thousands on an updated virtual video library for their LMS. Often, identifying the skills gap and the training/coaching solution is far easier than getting budget to fix the issue. Additionally, using a basic ROI equation … Read More
5 Reasons to Opt Out of Annual Performance Reviews
The snow on the ground and twinkling holiday lights visible during the 5pm commute home in the dark serve as reminders that December is upon us and it’s time to wrap up the year. Some may say it’s the most wonderful time of the year! ‘Tis the season for giving after all! Specifically, it’s the season for finding joy in giving with no expectation of getting anything in return. The Grinch in me finds it almost poetic that December also means it’s time for annual performance reviews—the season of giving hours of consideration to ratings, comments, and feedback with no … Read More