-
“You don’t trust me, and it’s frustrating to work like that.” That’s what I heard from one of my team leads. I was still inexperienced enough in leadership that I became defensive instead of listening. I said I needed to understand what was going on in enough detail that I could answer for them in…
-
A recent social media post about leadership had me wrinkle my forehead in disagreement. “Great leaders don’t tell you what to do; they show you how it’s done,” it read. At some point in my career, I noticed that showing people how to do their work started to become insulting. Here are a few variations…
-
Heavier-than-air flight. Breaking the sound barrier. The four-minute mile. Self-driving cars. People close to those challenges often held scientific “proof” that they were impossible to achieve. And the more people studied, the more firmly they held those beliefs. They stayed too close to the problem. But inspiration often comes from unexpected places. ✅ I’ve seen…
-
“DON’T TELL ME. I don’t want to know!” I can’t recall whether I’ve actually said those words out loud, but I have physically placed my hands over my ears and said, “La la la, I can’t hear you!” Sometimes, I really don’t want to learn something. I’ve made my decision. If I had known then…
-
This is NOT about monitoring your direct reports. It’s about you and your peers. Maybe they’re full-time remote, or maybe you are. Or maybe you’re in different time zones with work schedules that rarely overlap. Or maybe you time your work by the team you manage on the other side of the world. For whatever…
-
A friend asked me this week, “Steve, I think I understand generally what you do, but what is it that you really do? What is the problem that you solve for people?” Oddly, much of what I do is to help people *figure out* what problem they’re really trying to solve. And then I help…
-
“Should we keep overworking our staff to rescue other departments or let the others fail and bring the company down with them?” That’s the essence of the question that was posed to me last week. A leader felt stuck with no good plan to move forward. Leaders of all levels fall into this trap —…
-
Here’s a quick trick I learned last week. I wish I had thought of it. I wish I had heard about it sooner. When I read to learn, I highlight profusely, and I add a little sticky tag hanging just off the page where the highlight is. I end up with so many highlights and…
-
Has your hustle focus blinded you to the restoring value of life’s joys? A napA walkA novelA movieA vacationA TV episodeA board gameA scented candleA bar of chocolateA cup of tea/coffeeA bowl of ice cream Sure, it’s super easy to go overboard on any of these. They can become indulgences that take our attention away…
-
My wife and I often see a young lady running in our neighborhood. She wears loose-fitting jeans and a t-shirt. Not exactly the optimal clothing for performance or comfort. But a couple of days ago, I came home from a dentist appointment in pouring rain. And there was our neighborhood runner. Running. In the rain.…
-
I thought we were about to drive through a giant airport in the middle of nowhere. After holiday visits with family, we had started our 16-hour drive home long before sunup. A line of red lights pulsed in the darkness of the vacant Kansas plains ahead of us. My first thought was, “What’s a huge…
-
On what’s probably your first day back to “real work” after the holidays, the year’s new start just may be calling you to a bit of self-defeat. You’re ready for new habits, new challenges, greater accomplishments. But where will the resources come from? Where will you find the time and energy for what’s new? As…