Remote Work Revolution: Mastering the Challenges and Opportunities in 2024

Understanding the Landscape of the Remote Workforce The digital transformation is significantly changing the work landscape. One of the central aspects of this transformation is the shift towards a virtual workforce, which more and more businesses are embracing. I was fortunate to work in corporate recruiting for a global technology company in 2008 when the idea of a remote workforce was…

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The Future of Work Is Flexibility

The future of work is flexibility, and for many, it was an unwelcome surprise.  In the last few years, many organizations have granted employees the ability to adjust their start and end times, work certain days from home, and "allowed" for unlimited personal time off. These are all considerable changes but for many, they long for more. The common theme amongst all these initiatives is…

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Preventing Burnout With Self-Care While Working at Home

Ironically, I volunteered to write this article on preventing burnout with self-care while working at home on a week where I felt near to, if not completely burned out. It just seemed easier to take on another project than to try and convince someone else on the team to volunteer. Thankfully, at the time of writing, I’m feeling like I’m back to my normal energy level and disposition! My goal is…

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Setting Boundaries While Working at Home

Almost everyone searches for “it” in their job. Is it gaining success? Is it money? No, I am talking about work-life balance, and setting boundaries while working from home makes this even more challenging. It does not matter where you sit on the leadership totem pole. We are all human and our needs are mostly identical. While our individual ratios of work and life vary, our needs are the same.…

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Working From Home Now? Here are Our Best Tips to Ease the Transition

Are you working from home now? Because of the Coronavirus and new social distancing guidance, many people have been directed whether voluntarily or involuntarily to work remotely until the pandemic subsides. If you or your team have never worked this way it can certainly be a challenge for anyone, whether you are an employee or a leader this can be a frustrating change. Fortunately, most of our…

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Leaders Stop Trying to Be Efficient

Let's cut right to the chase; stop focusing on being efficient - it's a waste of time. Nobody other than perhaps you really cares how efficient you are, but everyone cares how effective you are. Not only do they care how effective you are, but they also care about the effectiveness of those whom you lead. It's important to remember leadership is a people business, and people are messy. Leadership…

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The Power of Focus

I am frequently asked what it takes to become more productive. My answer is simply to become very, very focused. Focus has always been a powerful characteristic that has served me well in all leadership roles alike. Relentless focus results in aligned priorities, order, discipline, and productivity. That sounds simple enough doesn't it? Then why is this so hard for executives and entrepreneurs?…

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The Silent CEO Addiction Killing Productivity and Talent Development

Corporate America’s dependency on consulting firms is nothing short of substance abuse in the purest form. The fact is most CEOs suffer from this very dangerous addiction and they don’t even know it – they are clearly in need of an intervention. Addicts don’t often admit they have a problem. They tend to rationalize and justify their behavior as normal. Here’s the thing – normally doesn’t always…

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Leadership and White Space

In my most recent column on Forbes I briefly discussed the value of white space as it relates to "span of control" but felt the topic deserved a deeper dive. Here's something you might not want to hear, but you should definitely take to heart - If you're having difficulty ordering your world,  it's nobody's fault but yours. I don't care how busy you are, but I do care about what you accomplish -…

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Leadership and Time – 15 Time Wasters to Avoid

Time; it’s the only thing we all have in common, yet it’s how we choose to spend it that defines and differentiates us as individuals. Even though time is a key success metric, I am always amazed at how many leaders don’t manage it as such. Time is indeed a precious and finite commodity, and those executives who use it wisely are those who achieve the greatest results. Let me be very direct -…

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10 Steps to Productive Meetings

If you’ve ever watched an episode of NBC’s “The Office” you know exactly what unproductive meetings look like. The tragic news is many real-world meetings too closely resemble a fictional Michael Scott get together. Stories of "death by meeting" is a well-represented part of corporate folklore for good reason - unplanned, unnecessary, uninspired, or otherwise unproductive meetings are a colossal…

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What’s Your Time Worth? Why Pricing Matters

Are you shooting yourself in the foot with your pricing strategy? How much is your time worth? What does your pricing say about your personal or corporate brand? Do you have a pricing strategy, or do you set your prices by some ethereal or arbitrary method? Even though I believe issues surrounding pricing decisions are root level drivers to a successful business strategy, I never cease to be…

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The Lost Art of Brevity

Do you ever grow weary of listening to the verbose, or reading the work of those that have issues with clear articulation? I certainly do...but fear not; the lost art of brevity is making a comeback. Those of you that know me have come to understand that I prefer to cut to the chase. I like to get to the root of an issue as quickly as possible. While I appreciate the great oratory skills of those…

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Leveraging Down for CEOs

If you desire to become a successful leader at any level, much less a top CEO, it will be essential for you to master the art of leveraging down. The simple truth is that all great leaders are highly skilled in matters of delegation. Think of any top-performing CEO and you'll find that to the one, they possess an uncanny ability to focus on the highest and best use activities. While most…

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Increasing Productivity

“Finding The Zone” is a concept that most athletes are familiar with, but what about CEOs? We’ve all heard the sportscaster refer to an athlete as being in “the zone,” and so my question is this: “How do you find your performance zone as a CEO?” or better yet, “How do you find and remain in the leadership zone?” What respectable chief executive wouldn’t want to function at their best more often…

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Focus on Performance

I'm going old-school with today's message - it's going to be direct, and to the point...focus on performance. One of my pet peeves is the voluminous amount of management speak and self-help propaganda currently in circulation designed to codify a lack of performance. I'm an individual that believes in clear and direct communication, so I'll spare you the rhetoric and just do what I do best...cut…

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