Publications
Articles
Can Anything Good Come From a Bad Boss?
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We’ve all seen them. Many of us have worked for them. The incompetent boss. The corrupt boss. The incompetent and corrupt boss.
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Create a Positive First Impression In-Person
“Do a superior impersonation of yourself. Forget about ‘looking good’, being ‘impressive’, or ‘saying the right thing.’”
Good News Regarding the Future
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The May 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review discussed the potential influence of “generations” on business leadership. The message: We need Generation X people to lead now (pp. 63-66) and The Millennials can be easily mentored (pp. 68-72).
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How Long Does It Take To Change A Business-Culture?
“The culture of a business will change at the rate the behaviors of business leaders change.”
How to Attract High-Performance Employees
“Your sterling reputation is far more likely to give you a steady supply of high-performance people than a best-deal salary and benefit package or the concerted efforts of an expensive recruiter.”
How to “Get Stuff Done” A Guide for Leaders-of-Leaders
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Businesses that survive –and especially businesses that thrive—get stuff done.
The “stuff” that needs to “get done” is making deadlines, winning customers, eliminating errors, achieving EBIT, winning market share, et cetera. It is, also, showing up to meetings on time, making sure everyone knows when there is a customer or a regulator “in the house,” making an extra effort to build bridges with “enemies” internal to the company, et cetera.
Sure, it is more complicated than that: “What needs to get done?” “How do you plan for surprises?” “How do you manage the politics?” The list of “yeah-buts” is endless. Nevertheless, every leader-of-leaders eats “yeah-buts” for breakfast and then presents the leadership team with “stuff we need to get done this year.”
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How to Be Discovered and Rewarded by a High-Performance Leader
“Your reputation or ‘brand’ is to your career what location is to real estate.”
How To Develop Your Coaching/Mentoring Plan
“If you want to get lots of value out of your coach/mentor, then put lots of thought into the content and the quality of that relationship.”
How To Spot A Potential Leader
“Leader is as leader does. Look for leadership behaviors today to predict who will succeed in a leadership position tomorrow.”
Innovation… It’s All About the Customer’s Experience
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The customer’s experience is the secret to successful business innovation.
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Specifically, a business innovation is a new process, machine, or environment that categorically changes the experience of the customer in positive ways and which is profitable for both customer and vendor. Therefore, innovation requires the vendor switch from focusing on profitability and market share first, to first focusing on what the customer experiences today and can experience in the future and then focusing on how to do that profitably.
For example, Netflix innovated the process (i.e., open the mail or click on a computer icon versus get in the car and go to the mall) and the machine (i.e., use the computer instead of the car or the theater’s projector). The customer’s experience was changed from the inconvenience and expense of going to the mall and then standing in line at a theater or pawing through endless rows of difficult-to-see little boxes while running the risk of not finding what you want from Blockbuster store.
Leaders are Neither Born nor Made. Leaders Develop Themselves.
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First, high performance people who lead are not developed… they develop themselves. Second, they cannot be retained by a firm… they stay or go as they please. Third, they are not assets… they are people.
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Leading Doesn't Mean Being "Liked"
“"Popular" leaders didn't get to be that way because people like them.”
Manage-Up… Carefully
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The way you manage-up will make or break your career… regardless of how well you perform.
There is no one way to manage-up. First, you manage-up differently if your boss is ethical and competent as opposed to being incompetent and corrupt. Second, you manage-up differently based on the specific situation you are facing.
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New-Kid to New VP in Three Years
“You can advance your career by building authentic, dignified relationships with people at work.”
So, What Do I Do When My Personal “Brand” Goes Bad?
“At one time Enron had a very well known and very positive brand. Something happened (and many things didn’t happen) that caused that brand to ‘go bad.’ The same thing happens to people at work.”
So, You’re the “New” Manager
“Being a manager is tough. Being the ‘new’ manager is tougher.”
So, You’ve Got a New Boss
“The fact that you have a new boss may have nothing to do with you… except that it is going to change your life.”
The Informational Interview Exposed
“If you want to keep pace—let alone get ahead—at work, then you need to expand your people-network and your knowledge base. The ‘informational interview’ is one way—albeit, rarely an honest way—of doing that.”
You and Your Mentor
“Successful people deliberately select their mentors and are careful to take very good care of them.”
Books
Magnetic Leadership
“Are you a good enough leader to be hired by the best employees?”
Surveys
Straight Talk From Exceptional Performers, Detailed Report
“The results are powerful and clear and actionable.”
Straight Talk From Exceptional Performers, Quick-View Report
“Eighty-six Exceptional Performance Individuals (EPIs) responded to the individual questionnaire, and fifty Exceptional Performance Managers (EPMs) responded to the manager questionnaire.”