Sweet Reason with a dose of Common Sense
I’VE WORKED with a lot of leaders over the years, and I could go on all day about the various qualities that separated the good from the bad, the great from the awful. But as a story in the Harvard Business Review recently reminded me, there is one critical question that all good leaders get around to asking,
IT’S LATE SUMMER, everybody out here in the People’s Republic of California seem to be on vacation, and Labor Day is still a couple of weeks away. So, it’s time for some old school clueless management from the good people over at Tronc. Don’t know what “Tronc” is? I’d be surprised if you did, but
ALTHOUGH IT PAINS ME to say this I’m somewhat of an expert on passive-aggressive behavior. The good people at Wikipedia describe passive-aggressive behavior as follows: The indirect expression of hostility, such as through procrastination, stubbornness, sullen behavior, or deliberate or repeated failure to accomplish requested tasks for which one is (often explicitly) responsible. That’s a pretty
HOW DO LEADERS truly earn the trust of their teams? It’s an interesting question that gets debated over and over, but the formula is not all that hard for any leader embrace. All it takes is a basic focus on treating people the way people want to be treated — and doing the right thing.
I’M SURPRISED this didn’t happen sooner, but IBM, an early and vocal champion of a remote workforce, finally discovered what any remote worker could have told you years ago. The problem with remote work is that you work remotely. I know, I know — that sounds like double-talk. But as someone who worked in a
WHY DO SO MANY people think that companies only focus on building strong, positive workplace cultures? The fact is, organizations are ALWAYS building their culture — whether they mean to or not. You know what I’m talking about: Those kinds of businesses where workers spend more time yakking about all the bad management and terrible decision making going on
I SUBSCRIBE TO THE OLD ADAGE that there’s nothing new under the sun. But once in awhile even I get gobsmacked (as the British like to say) by a new insight that’s so thoughtful and incisive that it makes up for all the crap that normally passes for management wisdom these days. The insight that grabbed me comes from
A FEW YEARS AGO, I was working as Editor of a fairly well-known talent management magazine and found myself engaged in one of my frequent discussions with the publisher over something. I don’t remember what the subject was, but at some point I said something that seemed to startle my publisher. His face contorted, turned red, and
I’VE SAID THIS BEFORE, but it bears repeating: Good management — smart, savvy, people-focused management — is at a premium and getting harder and harder to find. And if you think I’m wrong about that, here’s the latest evidence to prove my point. Two of the bibles of the business world — The Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine magazine — recently
HERE’S A CONFESSION: I hate online job ads because they’re a crappy way to find the best candidates. On the one hand, my recruiter side loves the fact that a smart, well-focused Internet job post can pull in a boatload of candidates for a position. It’s a great way to get a bunch of resumes in short order.
