(excerpt from my forthcoming book Live Hard) We’ve all made fun of bureaucracy, right? Bureaucracy is an organizational reality that involves a hierarchy of authority with a defined reporting structure, rigid division of labor and control of resources, and lots of formal and informal policies and procedures for everything. People fill assigned roles and work […]
THREE STAGES OF YOU
Many people embrace personal improvement, but the process can be difficult. You see, there are only three stages of personal growth: indulging ignorance, building independence, and chasing potential. All lives begin in ignorance. Too many never escape. It’s so easy. A person is born, told what to believe as a child, and never learns to […]
THE SECRET TO ACCOUNTABILITY
THE SECRET TO ACCOUNTABILITY It’s a topic people are always talking about for a reason. Holding people accountable is difficult, but it doesn’t have to be if you know what you’re doing. There are three main solutions people typically offer for the accountability challenge. First, they say that it’s a matter of setting clear expectations. […]
SHOULD YOU JUMP?
In the past, professionals worked for a few companies over the course of a career. Today, increasingly, they work for many – easily ten or more employers in a career. Unfortunately, many of these “jump” decisions are not smart. They are well-intentioned, but not necessarily productive. There are very real costs associated with making bad […]
POLITICS ISN’T A DIRTY WORD
Engaging in random hallway chats, or proactively starting conversations about issues in the office is not bad behaviors per se. Politics at work is simply about staying in the loop, helping shape the narrative on certain issues, and understanding your peers’ agendas. In a nutshell, if you wish to be an effective decision maker, you […]
A CLOSER LOOK AT UNITED’S DECISION TO FAIL
I don’t often directly address the headlines, but this one is so intriguing. I have enjoyed flying on United for years, thus this latest snafu is comment worthy. It can certainly teach us something about decision-making and leadership. So, how did United fail so spectacularly? In terms of decision-making, the first error was blind cult-like adherence to “the […]
LEADERSHIP DISTILLED
A friend of mine, Sanjiv Karani, asked me about the essence of leadership. He wrote a great article sharing his perspective (http://bit.ly/295J2N7) and invited several others to join the conversation. The exercise was a little more difficult than I expected. I challenged myself to be concise, yet complete. What really defines an effective leader? Here […]
GOALS ARE NOT ENOUGH
They need your help. In and of themselves goals are merely a destination you’ve identified. Just because you have defined a goal does not mean you will reach the destination. Anyone can write down or otherwise articulate a goal. Witness the embarrassing charade surrounding New Year’s Resolutions every year. Goals are inert and only come […]
YOU DON’T NEED A NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
People often cope with life through the use of delusions, instead of squarely facing reality. One of the most famous delusional shortcuts is the New Year’s resolution. I don’t need to fix the issue now! No, I’ll start fixing it at that designated point in the future. Welcome to intentional personal neglect. In theory, a […]
MORE THAN CREDENTIALS
Drowning in credentials, we’ve forgotten what really matters: effectiveness on the job. Nothing scares me more than a person with six or seven credentials after their name. Hi, I’m Steve Johnson, BBA, MBA, PMP, PHR, CMPP, CFN! Really? Those letters might signal something terribly interesting. Or not. Whether we’re talking about degrees or certifications or […]
