The Language Of Great Leaders

Stop and think about those whom you consider “great leaders.” What makes them so? Are they the ones who know all of the ins and outs of an operation and could move mountains by themselves if need be? You know as well as I that the definition of a great leader is quite...

What It Takes To Be a Great Leader

Often, the vision of what it means to be in charge and the reality of it are often very different. The skewed vision is probably ingrained from childhood where, as children, we couldn’t wait to grow up and no longer be told what to do. This ideal is further...

The Difference Between Kind and Nice

Question:  I struggle to be the kind of boss my employees will respect and like.  But, I am often confronted with shoddy work, poor employee attitudes and mistakes that shouldn’t be happening.  What I am supposed to do?  Can I continue to be nice while things fall...

Management Under Review

Q:  How can you tell good managers from bad ones?  What sets them apart? A:  No one deliberately sets out to be a “bad” manager. Therefore, I would reframe the question as one that focuses on a leader’s effectiveness. Effective leaders often have concrete ideas as...

Salary Ranges, Part 1: Why Ranges?

In a recent post, compensation consultant Ann Bares questions whether salary ranges, long a staple of compensation programs among America’s companies and organizations, are still a useful tool given the relatively slow pace of salary annual growth during the...

The Power of Why

“Why?” “Because I said so.” This exchange, perhaps a staple of parent/child relationships, has no place in management. In fact, communicating to employees the why of their work — the context, value and relevance of their work — is...

The Buck Stops Where?

“Managers are commonly ill-equipped to understand the dynamics of their compensation costs, never mind monitor and control them.” I was struck by this statement by Chuck Csizmar in a recent post on the Compensation Cafe blog. Chuck was making a case for...
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