Let’s start with a short thinking exercise . . . Think of every new leader speech you have ever heard.  They will all include “I have an open door policy.”  Does every leader truly practice that policy? If you made a list of leadership clichés, the “open door policy” would likely make the top ten.

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Every leader has, in a formal setting or not, needed to provide feedback on performance. In workshops around the world I have asked people to give me their best tips for providing effective feedback. To a person, leaders create great lists of techniques and approaches. Yet one thing, perhaps the most powerful piece of advice,

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One of the questions I get asked regularly – and more frequently now – is “how do I lead when most (or all) of my team is older than me?” I must admit that I have personally dealt with this situation, but it was some time ago. Now, I suppose I look at this situation

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Joan received an opportunity to lead a large organization in a new industry. Her background prepared her for many of the expectations of the new role, but she didn’t have industry specific knowledge and she didn’t know the company or the people. While she is hardly the first person to be in this situation, she

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Think about your perfect supervisor/manager/leader for a minute. Build a mental list of the attributes that perfect person would possess and think about the words you would use to describe that person. Done? I don’t know what is on your list, but I’d bet the farm on what isn’t. Micro manager. I’ve never met anyone

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As an author you go through several stages of the process of writing a book. You determine a book idea, you plan the writing, you do the writing and then, after some quiet time, you get feedback. Yes, in the case of my newest book, From Bud to Boss – Secrets to a Successful Transition

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Groundhog Day is a strange tradition.  It know the basics about the day, aided in part by the Bill Murray classic movie Groundhog Day.  I’m guessing you know the basics too – Punxsutawney Phil comes up out of his hole looking for a shadow, and that tells the people observing him how much longer winter

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Today I read a post called The Planes of Tomorrow on the Think Like a Beginner blog.  The post talks about NASA inviting major aircraft manufacturers to submit designs for the future.  According to the post NASA asked that  “[E]ach design has to fly up to 85 percent of the speed of sound; cover a range

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Everyone collects something – and most of collect a lot of things.   Daytime talk shows often have people on with bizarre collections:  they collect animals, or toys, or they save everything – to the point where their houses can’t hold it all. I’m not talking about those extreme cases, I’m talking about people like you

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