The Thoughtful Leaders Blog
Posted by Robyn McLeod on July 30, 2010
Over many years of work in the corporate arena, most of us can recount in detail the pain and suffering of working for a terrible boss – outbursts, taking credit for others’ work, micromanaging, playing favorites… the list goes on. But what about your favorite boss? How was it to work for someone who made it pleasant to wake up in the morning and head to work? My favorite boss was one of the first people I worked for not long after college, and here’s five things I learned from him about being a great boss:
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Posted by Ben Dattner on July 28, 2010
Henry Ford reportedly once complained that all he wanted from a worker was a pair of hands, but that he had to deal with the whole person instead. Each of us brings our whole self to work each day, whether or not we realize it.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on July 26, 2010
“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi
A neighbor stopped me the other day to complain about construction vehicles traveling through the area. She was concerned about the noise and safety of such large trucks going past her house. “Someone should get a neighborhood association started so that we can have a stronger voice,” she said. I agreed. We talked about the weather and then continued on our ways.
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Posted by Lisa Kohn on July 23, 2010
My brother and I almost broke up over email. Well, instant messenger and then email.
We IM all the time. We joke. We play. We tease. It’s what we do. Only I joked with him one day, while we were discussing a tough family issue, and he misconstrued it and it went outrageously, quickly downhill from there. The IMs got tenser. The emails got curter…and meaner.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on July 19, 2010
“Time has a wonderful way of weeding out the trivial.” Richard Ben Sapir
A colleague caught my ear the other day and recanted his horror story of a mishap at work. Everything had gone wrong; tempers had flared; fingers were pointed…at him. I listened attentively as he clearly needed to share what happened and to be heard. As he finished his account of what occurred, I then did my best to ask questions to pull him in a different direction.
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Posted by Robyn McLeod on July 16, 2010
I learned a new acronym today – WAIT. It stands for “Why Am I Talking?” I have it up on the bulletin board in my office to remind me to talk less and listen more during my coaching and other important conversations. I am naturally more of a thinker than a talker, but there are times when I get so excited, passionate or incensed about something that I talk way more than I listen. I may even talk over or interrupt the other person as I look to get my point across or share my Very Important Bit of Knowledge.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on July 15, 2010
Time seems to be an ongoing challenge for so many people. We hear it all the time – “I don’t have time for this.” “There’s just not enough time in the day.”
As the number of hours in the day simply does not increase (in fact, sometimes it feels like there are fewer and fewer), we thought we’d share with you a brief article that offers tips and suggestions for getting more out of the time you actually do have, “Ten Steps to Doing More with the Time You Have.”
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Posted by Cathy Alfandre on July 14, 2010
You made an appointment with your boss yesterday, and the meeting’s coming up in a few minutes. There’s a major problem with the project you’ve been working on for 3 months, and you need her guidance and feedback. After multiple weeks of everything going according to plan, you’ve discovered a critical quality flaw with one of the key components of the product. You already approached the supplier, but their quality tests haven’t turned up any issues. They believe that the problem lies in the interface with your system. Laura needs to hear about this.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on July 12, 2010
“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Michelangelo
One of my clients has a symbol of inspiration on his desk – a paperweight with a simple yet mighty question – “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” He said this question opens his mind and helps him to see new directions. The paperweight, and question, sit on my desk as well – as a reminder that I need to reach for the things that really matter to me and not limit myself through fear or doubt.
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Posted by Lisa Kohn on July 9, 2010
“We need to drink the Kool-Aid.” I heard a client say this again last week and I finally have to speak out. This is one business saying of the moment that truly, truly annoys me. Makes my skin crawl in fact. Each time I hear it I want to scream to whomever has uttered the words, “Do you know what that really means????”
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When I worked for Carmen Stellato, we did more in 2 years to move the organization ahead, than has ever been accomplished since. Your 5 points embodied this experience. We were a bunch of misfits that he brought together and nurtured into a strong team. We would move heaven or earth for him, and going to work was never a question, nor was staying late into the we hours to get something that had a short deadline accomplished. I loved working with that team. Thanks for reminding me of that great experience.
Yes, it is amazing how much traction and progress a team can make when led by an inspiring boss. Glad the blog post brought back great memories!