What do you do when someone in a key position in your company tells you they’re dissatisfied and thinking about leaving? (Maybe even asks for your help?) Do you do everything to hold onto your people, especially in a close-knit environment, or do you support the idea of employees moving on, knowing that your company […]
Tag Archives | Leadership
Covert Answers: Helping a Defensive Worker be a Team Player
[Note: We’re starting a new feature called Covert Answers where Covert Leadership Agents will answer reader questions. Submit yours here.] Dear Agents: One of the people I manage is very defensive and because of this she can’t work well with the rest of the team. What can I do to help her become more of […]
Tip of the Day Issue 3…Practice Emotional Intelligence
Although a buzzword in the corporate world, Emotional Intelligence is such a rare skill when it’s exercised wholly. Here’s something to think about when you are in a situation of managing or “giving advice”. In this case, don’t offer to fix something. Best to just listen. “Those who are most competent (and there are few […]
Greg Smith’s Not-So-Unplugged Letter
Greg Smith quit his job very publicly yesterday by writing an op-ed in the New York Times, titled Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs. In the article, he describes the current culture as “toxic” and shares his views about how the firm went from being a great place to work to a place he could […]
A Guru Always Has the Answers
I just returned from a networking event where a group of Marketing professionals meet for drinks, dinner and a presentation. Fortunately, and as a new member, I run into former clients or current peers with whom we (as a firm) have collaborated. It’s actually a lot of fun (and I say the “actually” part only […]
Just Say No
Remember the First Lady Nancy Reagan and her campaign to combat drugs? Just say no? Well, I had another epiphany this evening. I was checking out this blog article from HBR about the importance of appreciation. And, if you’ve read my Power of 3 blog, you’ll understand that I’ve generally had a bad day. So […]
What are you doing over there?
When your boss asks you, “So, what are you working on?” or “What are you doing over there?” – implying that he or she sits close by, how does it make you feel? This is something that is such a sore subject for me. It’s right up there on the ingredient list of my Recipe […]
A Journey of Leadership – What does it mean?
When I took a course on Leadership at Harvard, I was like most of my student peers. THRILLED to be going to Boston. ELATED about having the Harvard experience (and on our resumes). EXCITED about the journey of leadership. But many of us were wondering what it really meant to spend a full week with […]
Management Feedback for the Worst Job Ever
When I was 25 or so, I had my worst job ever. I was a corporate trainer (not bad) — it was my job to train people how to use their voicemail. Yeah, really. (’nuff said) As inane as it sounds, training people how to use voicemail systems (“Press 3 to delete your message, then […]
Fierce or Chicken?
How often do you have extremely polite conversations with someone at work about a controversial topic, that then turns into email-war? There are two words that come to mind: chicken shit. I realize that this falls under the “emotional honesty” category of trends in 2011 and 2012. So here I am, calling a spade a […]
