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During a recent meeting with a group of managers from COSI in Columbus, OH, one of them asked about the role of inspired understanding in getting people to do things. She was proposing that the primary difference between effective managers and less effective leaders was that effective leaders presented their ideas in a more compelling Continue reading Inspiration Is Not Enough Have you ever heard someone say, “What we need around here is more accountability”? If so, you are in good company because accountability, how to get it, and why people don’t have more of it is a popular topic in today’s workplace. I encounter this complaint from the managers in my MBA classes as well as Continue reading The Two Sides to Getting “More Accountability” Credibility is essential to being an effective leader. One of the most powerful ways to build credibility is to own up to something that didn’t work and apologize for it. When Ed Koch was mayor of New York, he was concerned about the number of accidents resulting from bikers darting in and out of traffic. Determined Continue reading Want More Credibility? Own Up and Apologize I recently got an email from – let’s call him Paul – a manager updating me on his attempts to interrupt the “high priority” manipulation that is so prevalent in organizations. Turns out he is becoming increasingly successful everywhere except with his boss. Apparently Paul’s boss doesn’t realize how he is undermining himself. Here is what Continue reading Is Demanding “Now” Undermining Leadership? While flying home from a weekend visit with my son in Houston, Texas, I got a flash of insight into why it is so difficult to train managers to be more effective. I was reading “The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making” when I realized managers make a fundamental error in their understanding of what Continue reading The Fundamental Error in Managing Others One of the frequent excuses I get from managers in my MBA classes for why things don’t get done or don’t work the way they should work is “because there are no incentives”. Why is work late? Because, I am told, there are no incentives for doing it on time. Why are projects late, overbudget, Continue reading Incentives Don’t Work? – Check out this video On September 29, I started my MBA class on Leading and Managing Change in Organizations. Unlike my prior classes, this is a mix of working professional and fulltime students. One of the questions I asked them was “What’s important to you? What do you really want out of this class?” Although there were a variety of Continue reading Motivating Others Is Easy IF You Stop Trying To Is it possible to build accountability even when you don’t have authority? The case of Myles Brand, president of the NCAA suggests the answer is yes. Myles Brand, who died September 16, 2009, was the former president of Indiana University and Oregon University. Brand left the presidency of Oregon to become president of the NCAA, a Continue reading Building Accountability without Authority No one likes to fail. Fail is a four letter work. Failing makes us look bad, and most of us will do alsmost anything to avoid looking bad. Yet, without failure, we would probably enjoy few successes. No one is a stranger to failure. We failed repeatedly before we learned how to sit, stand, walk, or Continue reading Failure is Important for Success – If You Use It Managers seem to be looking for a holy grail of management – the one tip, technique, method, or style that will finally make leadership and management easy – at least for them. But could this search be a source of dissatisfaction and unhappiness? I am in the midst of preparing my upcoming MBA class on management. Continue reading Are Managers Depressing Themselves? |
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