Field Notes

A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.

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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Colleagues Who Take Everything Personally

The more consistent the leader is, the more likely the evidence will demonstrate that they are engaging and operating in good faith and without a desire to harm, harshly judge, or offend the easily slighted colleague. This requires real patience and can test even the best of leaders. Some tests a leader faces are bigger than others. This is one of them.

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The Ingredients of an Effective Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)

Sometimes, team members need a highly structured approach to perform more effectively. Leaders often require team members who are underperforming in a critical area to agree to such a personalized map for self-improvement. For those in Human Resources, such a structured plan is typically called a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan).

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The Map Is Not the Territory 

The strategic plan requires in-depth analysis and a plethora of details to support its soundness. But only the most senior leaders need to know and understand the strategy at that level. Everyone else does not. What team members want is a simple explanation of the big picture, the initiatives involved in execution, and what it means for them. Everything else is just noise.

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When a Colleague Clearly Doesn’t Like You

Making the colleague feel valued and important will often turn the tide. In the words of Dale Carnegie, “applause is a receipt, not a bill.” Perhaps a little applause is all that’s needed to dissolve the dislike. If not, take the high road and engage professionally. You will never regret it.

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Enter your email for instant access to our Admired Leadership Field Notes special guide: Fanness™—An Idea That Will Change the Way You Motivate and Inspire Others.

Inspiring others is among the highest callings of great leaders. But could there be anything you don’t know, you haven’t heard, about how to motivate and inspire?

Could there really be a universal principle that the best leaders follow? A framework that you could follow too?

There is.

Everyone who signs up for Admired Leadership Field Notes will get instant access to our special guide that describes a powerful idea we call Fanness™ (including a special 20-minute video that really brings this idea to life).

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