FieldNotes
Our daily Field Notes email is just the kind of jumpstart you need. A fast read. Maybe less than a minute. Because sometimes it just takes one insight to change the trajectory of the day.
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Avoid Torturing Your Underperformers
Caring about people and how they develop is what good leaders do, but sometimes caring too much can be cruel. Leaders care too much when they know team members are not up to the job but keep them in the role anyway. They often do this because they care. They want to do the right
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Tracking Potential Must Be Continuous
Matching talent to exactly the right roles is never easy. Nor does this task ever end. Not because there are always new people, but because people and their skills, talents, and aspirations change quickly. To excel, organizations and leaders need to evolve with changes in people, too. Keeping pace with those changes is what it means to
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There’s a Wrong Way to Share Wisdom
Coaching others to success often requires leaders to let go, allowing people to make their own mistakes and learn from their own experiences. Team members learn best when they get to navigate new situations without a leader nearby. Operating from their own experience and judgment, they find a path that works for them. This requires
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The Laziest People Can Be the Hardest Working People
It’s almost humorous the lengths people go to in order to prove to others they aren’t what we know them to be. A case in point is laziness. No one likes to be seen or thought of as lazy, but the reality is some people exude that quality. Because they don’t want to be judged
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Intense But Not Tense
Two letters can make a big difference. Consider leaders who create an intense work climate versus those who produce a tense environment. The best leaders strive for intensity to challenge people to excel; however, they eschew the kind of tension that undermines performance. Walking the fine line between creating intense or tense is not always obvious. Intensity creates the
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Am I the Smartest Person in the Room?
Most leaders never consider what it’s like to be in a meeting with them. In many instances, it’s not easy. This is especially true for those leaders who insist on being the smartest person in the room. The problem, of course, is not that a leader is the most intelligent person in a room. The
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How Many Direct Reports Can I Have?
A question many new leaders ask, and more experienced leaders should reconsider, regards how many direct reports a leader can manage successfully. When we examine leaders across many industries, it is not uncommon to see direct report numbers ranging from a handful to as many as 15 to 20. So, exactly how many direct reports
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Lead Yourself First
Dee Hock, the founder of the credit card company Visa, suggested this about those preparing to lead others: “If you look to lead, invest at least 40 percent of your time managing yourself.” It doesn’t occur to many leaders that before you are capable of leading others, you must first lead yourself. Leading yourself
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Praise Requires a Tricky Balance
Most leaders don’t give enough of it. Most team members want a lot more of it. Add to those facts that most leaders don’t know how to offer it, and we have ourselves a world-class leadership dilemma. We’re talking about praise, of course. How much praise you desire as a leader is a good indicator of how
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Amplify Your Strengths
When reviewing a colleague on video who has a reputation for being an outstanding speaker, several qualities jump out. The speaker is not very articulate, often stumbling on words and phrases. Moreover, the use of empty expressions like “you know” and “right” is so common it is painful. In fact, non-fluencies and stammers are so