Dear Madeleine, I am an EVP in a mid-sized service business. I created the role, as I was put in charge of two business units that had been quite siloed but shared some overlap. Part of my job was to create consistency in their approach to developing new business, data collection, and execution. I have…
Dear Madeleine, I have risen through the ranks of my organization very quickly. Last year I took on a lot of new responsibilities with almost no direction, did a good job, and got a raise and a promotion. My boss, the president of the company, has told me several times that he sees me as…
Dear Madeleine, I work in a company that has recently gone to a matrix environment. It is kind of a disaster because no one seems to know what that means. Trying to get anyone to make a decision so I can move forward with projects on a deadline is making work incredibly stressful. I pride…
Our collective future is unfolding right before us. It demands a new kind of leader. Consider life in this new era. An event happens on the other side of the world and its ripples nearly capsize our boats thousands of miles away. The pandemic is the latest example that we are more interconnected than we…
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,…
Several years ago I was in a season of my leadership journey where I was consumed with addressing and solving day-to-day operational issues. Each day seemed to bring another problem to solve, a challenge to work through, or a fire to fight. The days became weeks and the weeks became months. My stress level kept…
Ever get a good idea? It starts out as a feeling that you might have a solution to a problem. A few days later you’re thinking Hey, I’ve got something here. This could really help. And the cost is well within reason. I owe it to myself and the organization to get this on the…
What’s the bigger challenge—coming up with good plans or executing those plans? That’s the question I was looking to answer when I asked 700 webinar participants what they experienced most often in their organizations. I showed them a 2×2 grid with Plan along one axis and Execution along the other. I asked the participants to…
In a new column for Fast Company, Scott and Ken Blanchard recommend taking a mid-year look at how you and your company are doing against yearly goals. The purpose is to identify what’s working and what might be in need of a mid-course correction. For goals where momentum has stalled, the two authors recommend reconnecting…
One of the fastest ways to kill an innovative new idea is to move it up the chain by asking your boss, having them ask their boss, and so on. As Scott and Ken Blanchard identify in a new post for Fast Company online, “When you run an idea up the chain of command, you…