It’s lonely at the top, but it’s not boring. You get bombarded with information from all directions. Everybody is trying to influence you. As a strategic advisor, a big part of my job is to help CEOs get rid of the background noise, look at the critical issues in bright light and make actionable decisions.…
In our study of language, we learn about the different tenses such as present, past, future, subjunctive and conditional. The “negative pregnant” is not on this list. Yet, it is a frequently used tense that your people hate to hear. What is the negative pregnant and how can you avoid it? There are two forms…
Over the last several months, several middle market companies have asked us to facilitate the process of considering their business strategies. We’ve suggested combining a senior leadership team strategy workshop with getting input from the workforce through surveys and focus groups. This two-step approach has led to robust discussions and significant changes in business direction:…
Welcome to the StangerCarlson Talent Minute. I’m Carolyn Carlon. I recently read a HBR blog by Monique Valcour (July 17th, 2014) titled “You Can’t be a Great Manager if You’re Not a Good Coach”. I totally agreed with her comments; developing highly effective managers has been hobby of mine for many years. I understand why…
On Thursday, April 24, our CEO, Richard Stanger, will be delivering a guest lecture on the Use of Assessments with Leaders and Teams at the NYU HR Management Masters Program. He will discuss how using specific personality, relationship, behavioral and thinking style assessments can improve leader and team selection & performance. Richard Stanger (@RichardStanger) is a leading thought leader and…
On Thursday, April 10, our CEO, Richard Stanger, will be delivering a guest lecture on the Use of Assessments with Leaders and Teams at the NYU HR Management Masters Program. He will discuss how using specific personality, relationship, behavioral and thinking style assessments can improve leader and team selection & performance. Richard Stanger (@RichardStanger) is a leading thought leader and…
What keeps Millennials engaged and productive? The opportunity to develop capabilities that employers will value in the future. The requirements of this new generation of knowledge workers are clear: develop me or lose me. A recent HBR blog piece, If You’re Not Helping People Develop, You’re Not Management Material, makes this point most persuasively without…
Sometimes reading blogs can be fun. A recent HBR blog piece, Employees Who Feel Love Perform Better, is a great example of this. It talks about how much better employees perform if they feel loved or cared for. And, I must admit, all other things being equal, a loving workplace will make employees happier than…
Existing practices for managing, evaluating and rewarding employees are coming under attack, and for good reason. For the most part, they do not work. Just yesterday, I wrote a blog piece, Team-Based Performance Management, urging that team performance replace individual performance as the leading barometer of achievement and discussed how such an approach could work.…
Lately, it’s become fashionable for leaders to talk about healthy turnover. I hear things like “we’re not losing our best people, just those who aren’t really engaged.” As I listen to these conversations, it sounds like healthy rationalization — a way to avoid feeling bad about the consequences of a disengaged workforce. These statements could…