When leading a company through a big change, sometimes it’s best to put yourself first.
The WIIFM approach — “What’s In It For Me?” — is part of our natural psychology to ensure our basic needs (like belonging, safety, and self-worth) are met.
Guest article by Dave Bushy
I remember sitting there in September of 1998 at a desk, in a windowed corner office in Atlanta, piled three feet high with file folders and an inbox with hundreds of documents requiring signatures. I had been named vice president of flight operations of Delta Air Lines the night before. Three days before that I had been a line captain, flying B-727’s out of Boston.
All employers want to fill their open positions with the best candidates. It improves productivity, drives the bottom line, and reduces costs associated with absenteeism and turnover. So how can you ensure that you are hiring the best candidates? Read More…
Early in your career, it’s the next rung of the ladder as you climb your way to CEO.
With more experience, it’s likely remembered as a pivotal time in your development as a leader.
Middle management positions have undoubtedly been a tough career milestone for many throughout the decades. These rising leaders are tasked with supervising the execution of the organizational strategy on a day-to-day basis.
Having to translate this strategy into tactical reality is a true leadership challenge, and no one knows the struggles more than those middle managers who are in the hot seat. They are forced to live with one foot on each side of the organizational dynamic, serving as the liaison between the big picture and actually getting things done. Read More…
Congratulations! You’ve earned a reputation as a highly effective leader. Now, your organization has thanked you by giving you a challenging new assignment that no one else can seem to figure out.
You’ve been assigned to lead a team that has a track record for underperforming, and it’s your mission to get things turned around.
Some may view this as being punished for a job well done. Others may take this as a true leadership challenge. An opportunity to have real impact on themselves, their team and their organization.
Whether you view it as a positive or negative, however, your job is to make it happen. So where do you start? Here are a few ideas to help design your approach to transforming this team from underperformers to superstars. Read More…
Every day, billions of people around the world wake up to a daily routine. Take a shower. Get dressed. Grab their favorite double tall latte from Starbucks on their way to work.
Humans are creatures of habit. Some more than others, of course. And while some patterns have positive impact on our lives, like scheduled sleeping times for children and adults, production of manufactured goods and weekly schedules, we also know that NOT following patterned behavior can be just as important. Read More…
According to the Corporate Learning Factbook 2015, U.S. corporations reported a 10% increase in training expenditures last year, to $1,004 per employee. Included in this expenditure number is training in team building.
Given these huge sums of money that companies sink into team building exercises every year, why do these trainings have such difficulty sustaining effective outcomes? The answer may lie in the fact that team building and team training cannot be seen as a one-size-fits-all proposition. They must be specially tailored to fit the kind of team you are a part of. Instead of simply throwing money at more training, leaders of these organizations should be asking, “how can I tell what kind of team I’m on?” and “how can I build my team accordingly?”
2006 was a memorable year for a lot of reasons. Facebook opened its doors to the general public. Zinedine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi during the World Cup Final. And for some reason, Americans paid a total of $62 million to watch Snakes on a Plane.
But the most important event for me in 2006 was founding my company, gothamCulture.
Last month marked my company’s ten-year anniversary. And as I reflect upon my journey of bootstrapping and growing a professional services firm, I came to the conclusion that what I’ve learned might benefit other entrepreneurs out there who may be growing their own businesses.
There’s a sexy word out there that comes up when we’re dealing with the stickiest organizational problems. Touted as the panacea to things like diminishing employee engagement, silo-ed communication, and organizational stress, the word falls from the lips of serious leaders and managers everywhere:
Leading a successful, rapidly growing organization can be one of the most thrilling, liberating and stressful things a person can do. Those of us who have taken the plunge into the world of entrepreneurship know, firsthand, that this life is anything but boring.
As I’ve watched my business grow over the years, I’ve often reflected on the sheer number of decisions I made each day and the priorities that had to be juggled in order to stay nimble in the face of tremendous competition. And I’m not alone.
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