Have you ever led a high-visibility project that has crashed and burned? I have and it taught me a powerful lesson about how a leader can turn a failed project into redemption for an employee hesitant to “play big” again. Read on . . . The Back Story Many years ago, shortly after I joined…
Personal Effectiveness
Boundaries of Fearlessness
In his book Linchpin Seth Godin draws a distinction between the words fearless and reckless. Fearless people, he says, are “unafraid of things one shouldn’t be afraid of.” They push through any imagined “threat” to make a presentation to a difficult customer or conduct a challenging conversation with an underperforming employee. On the other hand,…
It’s Only “No”
When I was a kid, struggling about going for a new opportunity my mom would say, “What’s it hurt to ask? The worst they can say is ‘no’.” Same message by Dan McCarthy of Great Leadership in his post Career Advice Part 4: You Have to Ask for It. . . . . ….
Office Politics: It’s Personal
Our 5-part series on positive office politics, (The P Quotient) is drawing to a close. In this final installment, Jane Perdue looks at personal influence, one of four key behaviors needed for a person to be considered politically savvy in a productive way. Just tuning in to this fascinating topic? Start here for the…
Do You Trust Your Agenda?
As part of an ongoing blog series on Positive Office Politics (follow #OPQ on Twitter), Susan Mazza asks “What’s Your Agenda?” In this blog post, she explores personal motivations and how they show up in the workplace. She says: We ALL have agendas. You could say our ambitions, no matter how altruistic or noble they may…