Never mind what’s in your wallet, what’s in your mirror? Do others see you as you see yourself? Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the greatest manager of all? And thus we adapt the wicked old witches adage for self admiration, but it has another adaptation as well. When we teach sales people how to […]
As I write this, Michigan State Basketball coach Tom Izzo is preparing his team for tomorrow’s Final Four appearance. As a head coach of a top NCAA program his record, consistency and known behavior allows him to block out the sometimes silly criticism he received for aggressively yelling at, and getting in the face of, […]
“It’s not you, it’s me,” may have crossed your lips once upon a time to help you end a relationship. Of course, what you were really thinking was likely the opposite but this seemed like a let-down-easy strategy to shield you from having to detail blame. When, however, was the last time you heard that […]
Substance and Style are not mutually exclusive. The majority of us, however, like with most binary characteristics, want a healthy blend as ideal. Our drives tend to push us to a natural side one more than the other but both sides and many blends can be successful. Depending on your role it may be that […]
Clichés generally arise from repeated validation. Take hiring; “You’re most important decision is who you hire.” Or, “The biggest mistake a business can make is a bad hire.” Those truisms acknowledge few hiring managers have the skill to get to the real core of their candidate and have confidence in how a job will be […]
Let’s dismiss the PC yielding right up front. We’re going to talk about mental health and your work and how disguised and undiagnosed and unrecognized problems can be. So what is crazy? For this purpose it is not a poor euphemism for mentally ill but rather a synonym to take seriously. As two highly successful […]
Any business person with a client to cater to has more than likely fantasized about firing their client on occasion. Damning the money and charging away from the aggravation with a one-finger salute. Usually those fantasies come when you are being yelled out on the phone or by biting email or maybe being shamed publicly. […]
Apologies in advance if that old Kenny Rodgers tune is now swirling in your head, albeit with the edit–if you are folding your hand then you need to read a different article! To be a great manager is truly very hard. By almost everyone’s evidence however, there’s plenty of lousy ones out there. Managing people […]
As one who has written many business plans and created or helped craft hundreds of goals it might seem antithetical to suggest that your best chances for success are not for your people to simply meet those goals or hit their plans but rather, when extraordinary things occur to propel accomplishment above and beyond “normal” […]
