Leaders & Managers

U.S. Army veteran Mike Figliuolo, in his book, One Piece of Paper, talks about what makes maxims so important, how they change and how you can communicate them.

There’s nothing new about a marketing or ad campaign “going viral.” Back in the 1930s and 1940s, a woman named Josephine Mentzer built a beauty empire through viral tactics. You know her as Estée Lauder ...

A leader's kickstarter: Ask these questions: What’s the next action we need to get this moving? What do you need to make that happen? What will you do next? Then what? What’s the priority right now? What is the next step?

In need of an “aha!” moment? If you’re a night owl, you’ll likely experience it in the morning. If you’re an early bird, inspiration might strike at day’s end. That’s because innovation and creativity are at their peak when we’re not at our best, with respect to our circadian rhythms.

Persevering when you’re struggling through a problem sometimes requires knowing that it can be done. Otherwise, you’re likely to throw up your hands with an exasperated, “It can’t be done.”

Sooner or later, a manager must be the bearer of bad news. If it’s a termination or disciplinary notice, employees may react with anger. To help keep an irate employee under control, you must keep yourself under control. Here are six tips:

By definition, a leader has to be out front. That’s why in hindsight it’s so easy to see how Peter Drucker, the foremost management guru of the 20th century, got off to an early lead: He was ahead of his time.

Employees who lose their jobs have an incentive to sue—and they’ll often look for evidence of discrimination to form the basis of their lawsuits. But to win in court, employees have to show they were meeting their employer’s legitimate expectations. That’s hard to do if the employer can show the employee admitted her shortcomings.

To avoid being a casualty of your own flaws, examine your blind spot. Don’t turn a blind eye to your faults. Seek out frank and frequent feed­­back from work allies who know you well, suggests David Brookmire, president of Corporate Performance Strategies Inc.

When you feel like you’ve hit a wall, consider that you may have landed on an excuse that’s merely disguised as an immovable barrier.