Coaching News
Mediocrity Kills…
In my upcoming (tomorrow) newsletter, “At C-Level,” I address this topic in some detail. I’d like to cover some additional points, and since this is my forum, I figured I’d just use this… From leadership and performance perspectives, mediocre performance —...
Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing: No Bite to a Leader’s Evaluation
By Kevin D. Ross I’ve never seen an annual performance evaluation that was worth half the time it took to fill it out. That’s especially true when it comes to evaluating the leaders in our organizations. Have you ever wondered why we even do them? When we don’t assess...
Leadership and Healthy Conflict
Leadership and Healthy Conflict Healthy conflict: Good. Unhealthy conflict: Bad. There endeth the first lesson… The key, of course, is knowing the difference between the two. I frequently say that when reasonably intelligent, well-intentioned people disagree, the...
The Emperor Has No Clothes! Except for His Socks
Disclaimer: The identities of the characters in the story below have been changed to protect the innocent from possible repercussions by her moronic boss(es). The military has an acronym for almost everything… and for the rest, it has initialisms. Today’s acronym is...
Navigating the NOW Normal
Being normal is an overrated concept. No one actually fits the definition, since we all have our own, so no one is really normal. We’re all just somewhere on the continuum of abnormality. Some of you are much higher on the spectrum than others (you know who you are),...
The Problem with Accountability — Or, hey, it’s not my fault!
I didn’t have enough time. If only I had more… That’s not my job. Someone else will do it. I don’t know how. I don’t think the boss said/meant that. The list is endless. The bottom line… It’s not my fault! And therein lies the crux of the problem:...
Indecision Kills
–And you’re holding the murder weapon. Leaders need to engage periodically in some serious introspection and decide whether or not their decision-making style or the culture they’ve created is mortally wounding organizational performance. I learned that lesson as a...
That’s a messed up Org Chart!
Though leadership is always my preferred topic, sometimes we need to get into the management weeds. The blocking and tackling that is so necessary for success in leadership is sometimes overlooked for more of the sexy, fun stuff. It’s important, though. And likely no...
Bad News Bearers
…do we kill the messenger? We’ve all heard – and probably used – the idiom no news is good news, meaning that if we haven’t been told something bad has happened, then nothing bad has happened… and that’s good news. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never worked in an...
You Don’t Have to be a Jerk; Really, You Don’t
-- Grace and accountability can coexist Lots of you have asked why I say “Grace and accountability can coexist” so frequently, particularly since (a) I tend to be exceedingly direct in my approach, (b) I have a blog named “The Brazen Leader,” and (c) I coach and...
Don’t Be a Leadership Dummy
--stop making this so hard I wanted to call this Leadership for Dummies, but that title was already taken. Looking through some of the other leadership improvement offerings, it boggles the mind how we’ve managed to take a subject whose basics haven’t changed in a few...
Faker! – Leadership & The Imposter Syndrome
You still wrestling with the memory of that bully giving you a wedgie on the crowded playground at recess in the 4th grade*? I’m probably not your guy. I’m not a psychologist, I didn’t play one on TV, and I didn’t sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night. And though...
Congrats on the promotion, LOSER!
So, just got that big promotion, eh? Now, you’re “It.” Big Shot. Grand Poobah. Boss Hog. El Jefe. Shiznit. The Big Cheese. Uppity-Muckety-Muck. She who must be obeyed. Kahuna. Sounds great, right? Finally, you’re a CXO, with all the rights, privileges, honors and...
