New leaders who are overwhelmed by their new responsibilities and fear the embarrassment of failure tend not to pursue success. Rather, they spend their first year just trying not to make a mistake. New leaders spend a considerable amount of time gathering data, seeking out historical information, checking with subject matter experts, and inevitably getting stuck in analysis paralysis mode out of fear. No one wants to make a mistake. Mistakes don’t feel good. But more importantly, we don’t want our mistakes to define us. So, to protect ourselves from any possible embarrassment we try to create mistake-free zones. There’s … Read More
The Power of Writing for Better Leadership
Early in my career, I worked with a top-selling Account Manager who was seen by many as being a bit quirky. His name was Larry and he was very organized and obsessively habitual. You could set your clock based on the time he walked in the door in the morning. It was the same every day. He ate the same snack every day and washed his car every single day. He had one daily habit that I didn’t truly appreciate until much later in my career. At the end of every day, he opened up a new Word document and … Read More
Overcome the Challenges of Leading a Baby Boomer
One of the most intimidating aspects of becoming a young leader is realizing many of your team members will be older and potentially more experienced than you. Some Baby Boomers may have a hard time imagining someone their child’s age is experienced enough for a leadership role. But from the Millennial perspective, if you’ve been selected and coached to take on leadership responsibilities, that should be reason enough to gain respect. The reality is, no matter how prepared and competent you are, you may have to prove yourself to some skeptical senior team members.
Five Signs You’re a Toxic Leader
There are so many scapegoats available these days that it’s easy to explain away any undesirable outcomes in business. We blame low sales on a flat economy and lack of marketing budget. We bemoan reduced training budgets and believe they are the reason for stalled career advancement and staggering employee disengagement. As turnover rates increase, we accuse Millennials of being entitled, arrogant and disloyal. But at what point do we stop pointing fingers and start identifying trends? Remember, people leave managers, not companies. The toughest trend to spot is the one we create. Few leaders lack the insight, self-awareness, and … Read More
The Tale of Two Millennials
Here it is…another blog post about millennials. Are you tired of hearing about them yet? Every day, some thought-leader is sharing his wisdom, perspective and complaints about this disruptive generation. And you won’t stop hearing about them anytime soon. Their 76 million member group will overtake Baby Boomers as the largest living generation this year; and they currently account for 1 in every 3 American workers. But when you read about millennials, does it ever feel like you’re reading the story of Jekyll and Hyde? One minute we’re frowning upon Gen Y’s entitlement issues and their desire to be rewarded … Read More
Strengths Aren’t Enough
You know what’s fun? Telling someone they’re amazing. They love the feedback and welcome it with open arms. The more positive the feedback, the more they want to hear. And you’re happy to oblige because their wide eyes, big smile, and nodding head encourage you to share more examples of the ways they are amazing. You know what’s not fun? Giving negative, or even constructive, feedback. It doesn’t feel good to hear that you are performing below average (or even average) compared to expectations. And if it doesn’t feel good to hear that feedback then it definitely doesn’t feel good … Read More