(Warning – this post might get a little snarky. Well, okay, a lot snarky.) In my last post, I hammered on the idea that a metric is not a goal. I got a little bit of pushback on that, so let me briefly reiterate my point. If I wasn’t clear enough (which is entirely possible)Continue reading “Good Metrics vs Worthless Ones, Part Two”
Category Archives: Leadership
Good Metrics vs Worthless Ones, Part One
Maybe it’s just that time of year, but I am somehow getting into a lot of discussions about metrics. Sales metrics. Compliance metrics. Safety metrics. Evaluation metrics. And on and on… What is grabbing my attention is how I often I am seeing worthless metrics. And by worthless, I mean devoid of worth/value/utility. Sure theyContinue reading “Good Metrics vs Worthless Ones, Part One”
Management vs Leadership, Part Two
As I continue my rant thoughts about the difference between management and leadership, let me recap the core difference between the two concepts. Management is about optimization and leadership is about transformation. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to stop using the terms manage/management and lead/leadership for now. I get too many reactions from peopleContinue reading “Management vs Leadership, Part Two”
Management vs Leadership, Part One
For this post, I’d like to take a shot at a very sacred cow (at least for some folks) – management vs leadership. Frankly, I can already tell this is going to take more than one post, so let’s call this part one. Personally, I’ve been talking about the topic of management vs. leadership forContinue reading “Management vs Leadership, Part One”
Killing High-Performance Teams, Part Two (AKA the priority problem)
In my last blog post, I tackled the effect that a lack of clarity has on high-performing teaming. The short summary of it is this: take away clear goals and clear roles and you will only get broken processes, poor performance, and a ton of unnecessary stress. In this follow-up to that post, I wantContinue reading “Killing High-Performance Teams, Part Two (AKA the priority problem)”
The 4 EASIEST Ways to De-Motivate People
I just spent a couple of weeks with some great sales folks and their managers. And, as is often the case, I got into a side conversation about one of THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS of driving high performance: motivation. It’s classic, right? If you are the leader of a group of people – especially inContinue reading “The 4 EASIEST Ways to De-Motivate People”
When Leaders Resist Change
I recently saw this quote from Laszlo Bock, the head of HR at Google (@LaszloBock2718): “Most organizations are designed to resist change and enfeeble employees.” Wow. That comment just struck me. I mean, seriously? MOST organizations? I have worked with a bunch of organizations, from profit to non-profit, from tiny to Fortune #1. And IContinue reading “When Leaders Resist Change”
How to Drive Purpose Into Your Team
(Leaders – this one is for you) Let me begin by saying the workplace is no place for therapy. If you’ve got issues, if you didn’t get hugged enough as a kid, if you still need to work through whatever happened to you in jr. high… there are boundaries to what is appropriate and whatContinue reading “How to Drive Purpose Into Your Team”
4 Keys for Developing Yourself as a Leader
Occasionally, I get access to top quality leaders who share their wisdom. Today was one of those days. And I just HAD to share this… Here are my notes from a powerful presentation on developing yourself as a leader. The speaker was Dr. John Agwunobi, four-star admiral, former Asst. Secretary of Health in the U.S., andContinue reading “4 Keys for Developing Yourself as a Leader”
Uh, Houston? We have a problem.
Uh, Houston? We have a problem. Those immortal words have been used as a punch line to many situations, but their original utterance was of the most serious matter. Made famous by a Hollywood movie, the astronauts aboard Apollo 13 were definitely not laughing when they contacted their support team a trillion miles away. (Okay,Continue reading “Uh, Houston? We have a problem.”
Tim Ohai 