Trust is a popular buzzword in the workplace today. Organizational management gurus are quick to tell us that workplace trust is an essential ingredient for improving profitability and building an engaged employee culture. How can you inspire trust among your employees? It starts with the leadership. Here are three tips to help you inspire trust at work: 1. Model respect … [Read more...]
Tips to be an Effective Team Leader: Lessons from West Point
In today’s work force, being an effective team leader is essential, but making certain that teams produce high quality results can be tricky. There is no one recipe for creating highly productive teams, but I have advice to offer based on what I have learned from my two sons who attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. At this institution, the corps of … [Read more...]
4 Critical Management Techniques for Difficult Employees
While most CEOs build their careers in an area of tactical expertise such as finance, engineering, development or sales/marketing, very few CEOs build their careers on human resource skills. Yet, with every promotion, they get deeper and deeper into management, and their management and leadership skills become critically important to their companies' ongoing success. It is a … [Read more...]
Are Staff Meetings a Waste of Time?
With more and more high-tech ways in which to communicate, some business owners are wondering whether face-to-face staff meetings are worth their time and energy. After all, can’t a text, e-chat or email accomplish the same thing in less time? The Value of Face-to-Face Meetings The fact is that many specific actions can be accomplished through digital interactions, but at the … [Read more...]
What is Bossy?
A couple of weeks ago, I attended a networking luncheon titled, “I’m not bossy. I’m the boss.” Each panelist talked about the challenges they have had to overcome as women by being called “bossy.” As I sat there, it made me think about the way we perceive things. You can think negatively about any phrase or you can turn it around and become more powerful because of … [Read more...]
Recruiting a Director for Strategic Board Challenges – 3 Key Considerations
Creating a 21st century board means making significant transitions towards more future-focused leadership behaviors and practices. Rethinking both how new directors are recruited and successfully retained can provide a progressive focus to a director search. Candidates whose backgrounds speak to these areas will ultimately bring a honed perspective for competitive … [Read more...]
Hear from 20 of the World’s Top Leadership Experts in a Free Webinar Summit
Today, I will be leading a webinar called Leading in a Social World as part of a free 4-day virtual event, The Leadership Summit, hosted by MACRO Recruitment. In my lecture, which is schedule for 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time on March 10, 2014, I'll discuss how the leadership role in business has changed at the hands of the social web and how to develop a company culture that turns … [Read more...]
When is a Lead Director Really Independent?
In a recent conversation with a director who has held the lead director position in a number of public companies, the question arose---when is a lead director really independent? The director I was speaking with said a major problem on many boards is that a director is often reluctant to raise an issue, or make a strong comment, if he/she knows the chairman will not be … [Read more...]
3 Steps to Get a Board Seat in 2014
If you want to get a board seat in 2014, then there are three key areas of focus that you need to prioritize in order to make it happen. Take these steps to position yourself as a viable director candidate: 1. Pay Attention to Your Self-signals Do you have a negative or positive voice that speaks to you as you progress toward your goal this year? Are you overstated or … [Read more...]
10 Hot Topics that Mattered to Women in Business in 2013
What were the hot topics of 2013 for women in business? Looking back at the Women on Business archives from the past 12 months, a few topics take the lead: leadership, the business gender gap (including equal pay, the glass ceiling, and so on), and entrepreneurship. Following are some of the most popular articles published on Women on Business by both contributors and … [Read more...]