The “are leaders born or made?” debate. Said I wasn’t going to go there, but it’s just too irresistible. A couple of weeks ago on the HR Happy Hour, we had a discussion on this very issue. The Twitter backchannel was ablaze with people debating the topic. Personally, I grow weary of the debate because [...]
In January I wrote a post for National Thank Your Mentor Day in which I publicly thanked several of the people who had mentored me over the years. Not surprisingly, they all reached out to thank me for the recognition. Here’s what was surprising: not a single one of them remembered the advice that I [...]
As part of my gig as a guest on the HR Happy Hour’s Leadership Show , I agreed to pull together some leadership resources for the Happy Hour listeners. When I talk with clients about leadership development, they often say one or both of the following:
a) We don’t have the time to develop something
b) We [...]
A few weeks ago, Kristina Evey of Centric Strategies asked me to provide a guest post on her blog, which I happily supplied. You can see that post, The Customer-Centric Leader, here. In follow up conversations, Kristina and I wondered, “What would front-line customer service employees say to their leaders if they had a sort of [...]
It’s great when a fellow blogger inspires me to get revved up on a topic. And so it is with Mary Jo Asmus’ series on the role that employees should play in helping their leaders improve. Last week, in response to her post “Bad Manager or Flawed Human?” the discussion on her blog was lively. [...]
As part of an ongoing series on Positive Office Politics, Mike Henry from the Lead Change Group writes a thought-provoking essay on the ties that sincerity and authenticity have to building trust. Need to get caught up on the series? Start at the beginning with Jane Perdue’s blog Life, Love and Leadership. From there, check out my [...]
With a clumsy nod to the Rolling Stones’ classic tune, it appears to be true: since 1987, workers have become steadily less satisfied with their work. This is according to research results released last week by The Conference Board. What’s more, it’s not a generational thing: satisfaction is decreasing amongst all ages groups. While the [...]
I was out in the stores early this morning snapping up some after-Christmas sale items. In what appears to be a developing theme with me, I overheard another conversation with Human Resources implications in the store this morning. (Blog series, perhaps? See my other HR eavesdropping observation here.)
Overheard:
Employee: “Do I really need to take two [...]
Now, here’s something you don’t see every day: a company CEO sitting in the firm’s break room playing cards with his frontline employees.
Or do you?
This is the question I’ve been pondering for awhile after I witnessed this exact scenario at a client’s headquarters a few weeks ago. After making a few discreet inquiries with other [...]
For those of us who live in the Snowbelt, this time of year brings mixed feelings. Yes, it was fun for the kids to have a snow day last Friday. Yes, it was truly beautiful to decorate the Christmas tree whilst fluffy snowflakes drifted all around outside our cozy warm home on Saturday. No, it [...]
