Dear Madeleine, A couple of months ago I received a promotion I was really hoping for. Now I have fifteen direct reports where I used to have seven. Everything I am reading says I should be doing regular one-on-one meetings with each person, but my own workload has doubled and I have no idea how…
Dear Madeleine, I lead a business for a global company. I am very bright and hardworking, have risen fast, and continue to rise. I will probably end up being a senior leader for the company someday—if not here, then in another area. My problem: I am a jerk. I have heard others describe me as…
Dear Madeleine, I am smart, I work hard, and I am a pleaser. These qualities have made me very successful. I am now a senior manager in a fast-paced, high-pressure service business. My problem is that I have created a monster in my boss. She is so used to my pleasing perfection that she pretty…
Dear Madeleine, My boss is amazing. She has been a mentor for me and I admire her and learn from her every day. She has freakish stamina, is extremely bright and creative, and has a ton of experience and a huge grasp of strategy, management, and execution. There is nothing I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking…
Power. The word itself evokes a reaction. What thoughts or feelings do you have when you think of power? Perhaps you picture an organizational chart where the boxes at the top are imbued with more power than those below. Maybe you imagine an iron fist, representative of a person who rules over others with absolute authority.…
Dear Madeleine, I really messed up—and I’m so embarrassed I’m thinking of quitting my job. I yelled at one of my direct reports during a team meeting. I was very tired because I had been up all night with a sick kid, and I was super stressed because several of my own deadlines were looming.…
“I don’t have enough hours in the day to get my work done.” It’s a common complaint I hear from my coaching clients—especially those who are newer to a management role. Very often when we are talking about their workload I notice that they are taking on “monkeys” that aren’t theirs. Monkeys? you might be…
Dear Madeleine, I am at my limit and hope you can help. I am a senior team leader with a very high performing intact team. We have a new, very inexperienced board who is wreaking havoc with the way I run my business. They are putting nonrealistic pressures on me to generate numbers that are…
Dear Madeleine, I have just started a job at a well regarded local firm. I have many years of office experience, but this is the largest firm I have ever worked for. My job is as an admin to a senior employee—he is not quite a VP, but that is his general level of authority.…
Scott Blanchard, bestselling business author and executive vice president with The Ken Blanchard Companies, will be sharing an insider’s look at the latest research on hiring, training, and developing leaders in an online event co-sponsored by Training magazine. In the July issue of his company’s Ignite newsletter, Blanchard highlighted some of the key pieces of…
Hi Madeleine, I work in a membership organization with a very old-fashioned outlook and a hierarchical structure. I am not a manager, but I did have one direct report at a previous employer. I am very interested in management and leadership and intend to have other management roles in the future. Management practices here, although…
Let’s imagine for a moment that you are a scientist running a grand experiment on leadership. Your laboratory is an organization with hundreds of leaders at varying levels, and with technology, you can watch and listen to them 24-hours a day over an extend period of time. Sort of like the TV show Big Brother, except…
Dear Madeleine, I am a regional VP for a global services company. I get excellent performance reviews, have been promoted regularly, and have had some employees tell me I’m the best boss they’ve ever had. I am ambitious and on track to be a senior leader in the company. Five directors report to me. Our…
Drawing a page from his newly released third edition of Leading at a Higher Level, bestselling business author Ken Blanchard asks senior leaders, “Have you set up your organization to be high performing?” Blanchard identifies seven focus areas to make sure that a company is positioned to be the employer of choice, provider of choice,…
Dear Madeleine, I started a new job as a senior leader for a large manufacturing firm about four months ago—and I still haven’t gotten to the bottom of the disaster I’ve walked into. All I heard about when I first came on was how much everyone loved my predecessor, how smart he was, how much…
