Ask any manager if she or he strives to be fair and equitable in her or his dealings with subordinates and you will rarely get a negative response. By the time we reach adulthood, these two concepts are well ingrained… Read More ›
Self-Management
YOUR HALLWAY FILE
If you work for an organization of some size, chances are you have an official personnel file housed in HR. Management reviews these files periodically and they may play an important role in some of your career decisions, especially when… Read More ›
THE PERSON THAT GETS UNDER YOUR SKIN
At some point in everyone’s work life we encounter that person — boss, peer, senior manager, or subordinate that simply “gets under our skin”. There is something about them — their style, voice, mannerisms, daily behavior, attitude, routine commentary, or… Read More ›
THE CARDINAL SINS OF MANAGEMENT: 5. BANKRUPTING YOUR WORD
“You have my word”. Throughout written history — Western history at least — the phrase “you have my word” has carried significant symbolic meaning. It is often paired with the concept of honor and invariably communicates an important contract between he… Read More ›
THE CARDINAL SINS OF MANAGEMENT: 3. TAKING CREDIT FOR THE WORK OF OTHERS
As I write this series of articles I entitled the Cardinal Sins of Management, I find myself unable to decide which of them is more irritating, infuriating, frustrating, or just plain unacceptable from the standpoint of a subordinate. Suffice to… Read More ›
THE CARDINAL SINS OF MANAGEMENT: 2. ABANDONING SHIP
Cardinal Sin number two — Abandoning Ship — is a close relative of rejecting blame but is, in my experience, sufficiently different in its dynamics and insidiousness to warrant a separate discussion. Picture a lively meeting between a manager and his… Read More ›
THE CARDINAL SINS OF MANAGEMENT: 1. REJECTING BLAME
Mistakes come with the job of management. You make a lot of them and most are minor, easily correctable, acknowledged without much embarrassment, and do little harm to you, your subordinates, or the organization. But there are a few mistakes… Read More ›
DEMEANING SUBORDINATES IS NEVER OK
If you have ever received a highly personal verbal attack from a boss, you know how embarrassing, demoralizing, emotionally traumatic, and infuriating that can be. It’s even worse if it was done in public If you have spent any time… Read More ›
SURVIVING A REGIME CHANGE
During a recent cross-country flight, I struck up a conversation with a fellow frequent flier about our professions and the various challenges we faced. An architect who appreciates client stability from start to finish on his various projects, he told… Read More ›
YOUR COMMITMENTS MUST MEAN SOMETHING
I am often asked how one recognizes a really great manager. Well, in almost all of the articles I have included in the site, I have addressed some form of behavior that tends to separate certain managers from the pack…. Read More ›
What Best Mnagers Know & Do 