Why Your Team Needs You To Be Precise
If you want your team to do bold, creative work, you must take the first risk by giving them clear, precise direction. Here are a few ways to do so.
Why Your Team Needs You To Be Precise
Articles about Articles
How To Release Control Of Your Team’s Work
How To Release Control Of Your Team’s Work
Let your team do what you hired them to do.
Moving From Control To Influence
Moving From Control To Influence
Your job as a manager is to unleash the brilliance of your team, not to showcase your own.
Finding Your “Sweet Spot” Of Effectiveness
Finding Your “Sweet Spot” Of Effectiveness
Where do you add the most value?
A Framework For Choosing The Best Idea
A Framework For Choosing The Best Idea
Make the decision in a way that everyone can be onboard with.
Navigating Your Team Through Failure
Navigating Your Team Through Failure
After a failed project, don't just move on. Do this instead.
The Dangers Of Keeping Score
The Dangers Of Keeping Score
Have you ever felt anxious about your job, but you don’t know why? Maybe it's because you're keeping the wrong score.
Keep Your Leadership Fire Alive
Keep Your Leadership Fire Alive
If you lead a team of people, you have the responsibility to keep your flame burning bright and hot.
Are ‘Ghost Rules’ Holding Your Team Back?
Are ‘Ghost Rules’ Holding Your Team Back?
Don't allow invisible narratives to limit your team's engagement.
The Two Things That Creative People Need From Every Leader
The Two Things That Creative People Need From Every Leader
Why the right mix of Stability and Challenge is essential to brilliant work.
What Does It Take To Produce Brilliant Creative Work?
What Does It Take To Produce Brilliant Creative Work?
What does it take for a team to produce consistently brilliant creative work? Just talent? A fun and vibrant culture? Sheer will? Actually, in "create on demand" organizations the answer is often something else. Something surprising.
Finding Your “Sweet Spot”
Finding Your “Sweet Spot”
What could you be better at than anyone around you? It's a question worth exploring.
A Rocket Scientist’s Advice On How To Do Impossible Things
A Rocket Scientist’s Advice On How To Do Impossible Things
Have you ever been at a cocktail party, had someone ask you what you do for a living, and wished you could come up with something impressive-sounding to wow them? Adam Stelztner probably never experiences that. He's an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who has worked on flight missions including Galileo, Cassini, and Mars Pathfinder, and the Mars Exploration Rover project. He has a lot to say about innovation and leadership.
Three Tactics From Getting Things Done That Transformed My Productivity
Three Tactics From Getting Things Done That Transformed My Productivity
GTD is a system for organizing and acting on the work that matters most. There are a lot of nuances to the system, and as a result many people get lost in the weeds and intricate details and get off track and stop utilizing it altogether. That's unfortunate, because there are many principles that can be borrowed from GTD and acted upon, even if you don't use the entire system.
Discover What’s Worth Working For, Then Spend Yourself On It
Discover What’s Worth Working For, Then Spend Yourself On It
I just spent years researching and writing a book about voice. Voice? Seriously? Why would I do that? Honestly, if I offered you ten potential books to read, and a book about voice was among them, I'd guess that the voice book would probably be among the least...
Why No One Is Listening To Your Great Idea
Why No One Is Listening To Your Great Idea
The ugly truth is that great work isn’t enough. No one tells you this early in your career; It’s something you learn over time. Cream doesn’t automatically rise to the top, and we don’t live in a meritocracy. If you want your idea to be heard, you have to go the extra mile to ensure that it’s framed to resonate with the right audience.
Failure Is Inevitable. What Matters Is How You Deal With It.
Failure Is Inevitable. What Matters Is How You Deal With It.
After expending so much time, energy, and focus on something you care about, it can be devastating when it just doesn't click. What you do next is very important.
Where You Get Stuck (And What To Do About It)
Where You Get Stuck (And What To Do About It)
There are some common "sticking points" that can stall your work's impact. You must push through them to take your work to the next level.
Why Authenticity Is The Key To Making Your Work Resonate
Why Authenticity Is The Key To Making Your Work Resonate
It’s noisy. Not physically noisy, but culturally noisy.
Everyone is clamoring for attention, and clanging their gongs trying to win a few seconds of your precious time. Clickbait, shock tactics, and distractions are so commonplace that they are now used even by previously “credible” institutions. It’s tempting to follow suit and fall into these tactics with your own work. Don't do it.
No One Will Fight For Your Work Like You Will
No One Will Fight For Your Work Like You Will
You can't afford to put the fate of your work into someone else's hands. Fight for it and be tenacious. No matter how great the trainer, every boxer has to step into the ring alone.