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We’ve all been there, the greatest embarrassments of our careers.
The hard part is being really honest with yourself, as you probably saw the failure coming and just hoped that you’d be able to find your away around it.
Jim Collins articulated this idea well in Good to Great:
Read the rest of this entry »The word “should” is a great alarm bell for drawing attention to the decision-making process.
I should get this done for my boss. I should take more time with my kids. I should drink 8 cups of water every day.
The problem is that each describes a situation where you’re giving up control over your decisions to an external force, usually a person. The question is: do you want to give up that control? Do you choose to?
Read the rest of this entry »This time of year, it’s common to think about giving. The holiday season seems to be designed to tap our guilt and elicit generosity.
Which is fine, I suppose. But if this attitude is just limited to a custom we do once a year, then it’s really not much more important than shooting fireworks on the 4th of July.
A nice experience, but then we move back to “normal life” – whatever that is.
Read the rest of this entry »Sometimes an exciting new possibility opens up for you. But should you jump on it?
That can be a tougher question than it looks on the surface. At first, it might appear simple: If I have time, and it’s not too risky, why not?
The problem can be is that you don’t know all the factors up front, and it may distract you from other things which are more important in the long run.
Read the rest of this entry »My article last week got me reflecting more about ambiguity in general. Because it’s not just about risk analysis, but dealing in an environment which is unpredictable. Where every action – or inaction – can lead to unexpected results.
It feels more important right now, because the whole world seems more unpredictable than before. But I would argue that it’s not substantially different than before, and in fact things are stabilizing after surviving the once-in-a-lifetime pandemic experience.
Read the rest of this entry »It’s easy to freak out about all the things that can go wrong.
But, as a leader, your role is to push progress forward despite the dangers. It feels like you’re caught in a bind.
But business leaders are accustomed to making decisions in an environment of risk. It’s what we need to do.
Read the rest of this entry »At the end of the year, it’s common to work on employee evaluations. Which can be a real downer for everyone involved.
If you think about it, they’re not really doing much about what can be affected: the future. So we’re doing it to justify how we have to make management decisions about pay, promotions, job roles and such.
The employee doesn’t get much value out of the whole experience, to be honest.
Read the rest of this entry »I caught the end of a report recently which was talking about the difference between top-down organizational initiatives, and bottom-up. This is something that I’ve thought about for many years.
Back when I was in the corporate world, it bugged me that people would declare that the first step in doing something significant was to get an “executive sponsor.”
I understand the logic, but it’s also an excuse to blame inaction on someone else. You’ve disempowered yourself.
Read the rest of this entry »As a leader, you probably spend most of your day responding to stuff. There are a million little things which demand immediate attention – many of them small and quickly dispensed with.
It makes you feel important, because you’re busy all the time. We’re all busy.
But busyness is not productivity. Productivity is launched from having actual thought leading to useful activity.
Read the rest of this entry »One of the key frustrations that employees have identified with returning to the office is that they haven’t heard what the plans are.
I get that. As a leader, you want to have a plan that’s solid, one that’s been checked out and can be committed to your folks. Otherwise you might look flaky.
But you have to fight that urge. Your people deserve more respect and need to know what’s in the works before it’s totally solid. And you need their feedback.
The Values-Based Business 