I love movie scenes where the hero goes through a trying training period and then comes out ready for the story’s climactic challenge. Like the part in Rocky IV where Rocky goes off to the […]
Tag: Strategy
Conflict Management Summer Class
It was a summer Saturday at 8:00 a.m. and thirty-six MBA students reported to class for an accelerated two-weekend class on conflict management. For most students, the five class meetings would replace normal days off, […]
Remembering My First Leadership Lessons
I recently remembered a childhood experience from when I was nine or so. I used to ‘work’ with my grandfather during summer vacation. His name is Billy Stamboly, Gido to me, which is Arabic for […]
Disrupting Complacency Without Being A Caveman
What is the right way to create urgency in the workplace? I started reading John Kotter‘s Leading Change this week, and he discusses creating a sense urgency as the first step in meaningful organizational change. […]
Victory At All Costs
Last week, I attended a luncheon where Steve Forbes was the special guest. He spoke about the importance of having a long term focus. “We have to remember to step away from the daily demands […]
Lessons From The Mission That Killed bin Laden
I was up later than usual Sunday night, too late for a work night. I was caught up watching one of my favorite bank robber movies, Heat. Long movie. Just as I was about to […]
Hard Work and Gen Y: Friends or Enemies?
I was listening to Howard Stern the other day when a caller told him “You’re so lucky that you made it in your field.” “Luck had nothing to do with it,” Stern said. “You have […]
Management Skills: Be Trustworthy
Gravity keeps the earth rotating perfectly around the sun. If that gravitational force became any weaker, we would drift away from the sun forever. Trust is the gravity that keeps our relationships in orbit – […]
Management Skills: Trusting Others
When I first became a manager at the age of twenty, I tried to make friends instead of managing my team. That was a miserable failure. Then I tried to manage without building relationships. I […]
Ethics Series Part 3: Leadership Trust, Pay and Pipeline
The study of ethics is the study of decisions between right and wrong, and, in business, ethics is about decisions between right and wrong in the face of financial incentives. Game theory states that individuals […]
Ethics Series Part 2: Incentives and Compensation
Last week we discussed the pickle or ethical dilemma of empire building. Sales managers, like our hypothetical friend Tom Hansen from Ethics Corp, are motivated through bonuses and advancement opportunities to expand their responsibility beyond […]
Ethics Series Part 1: Empire Building
One of my favorite moments in sports is when a baseball runner gets caught in a pickle. Trapped between two bases with fielders chasing him down from both sides, the runner’s athletic talents along with […]
The Best Boss I Know
I know a lot of bosses, but there is one woman who stands out as the best. Her team is tough and her business is stressful, yet she succeeds through strong leadership values we can […]
Management Skills: Focus on Success
During tough times work can feel like a lot of effort without a lot of results to show for it. As a manager, I’ve fallen victim to a seemingly common trap –– focusing on my […]
Management Schizophrenia
Early in my career I had multiple manager personality disorder. I was respectful attentive John around my manager. John the comedian with my peers. I was authoritative with my direct reports and still someone else with […]