Imagine this interesting scenario: You just began your new supervisory role and your boss announces that it’s time for you to find your replacement. No, you haven’t done anything wrong and you’re not getting fired. Your boss believes in preparing for the future by succession planning, which means you train your replacement in conjunction with doing your job. Surprisingly, this … [Read more...]
Should You Ever Be Silly?
As leaders, we're often convinced that we need to be serious and put together all the time, but is that realistic or even recommended? I believe a certain amount of silliness and playfulness belongs in leadership. In part because being a great leader requires you to be transparent and real. All real human beings laugh, are playful and have fun sometimes, don’t they? Have … [Read more...]
7 Old School Workplace Strengths that Are Now Weaknesses
Ed Hess, author of Hyper-Learning: How to Adapt to the Speed of Change, says that many of the skills and mindsets that were once prized and sought after have actually become liabilities. Here he identifies seven skills and attitudes that not long ago might have gotten you a corner office—but may now get you fired: Command-and-control leadership style Expecting people to … [Read more...]
The Leadership Secret to Getting More Done
One of the things I notice as I work with new leaders is a tendency to accept work practices and processes as fixed entities. In some cases, company procedures, processes and work practices are mandated from a level far removed from the front-line supervisor, and they are relatively fixed. However, in most cases, front-line supervisors have more flexibility and … [Read more...]
3 of the Smartest Words You’ll Ever Say
In her new book Heartfelt Leadership: How to Capture the Top Spot and Keep on Soaring, Deb Boelkes lays out the path to leading with the heart. Full of real stories and lessons from top heartfelt executives, the book will help you learn to transform from a person people follow because they have to, to one they want to follow. One lesson that really stood out to us comes from … [Read more...]