“What do we live for, if not to make the world less difficult for each other?”—George Eliot As the world struggles for certainty in this unprecedented time, many are feeling the need to serve others in every way we can. Like most leaders we know, you may be struggling to find the best way to…
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.…
During my time as a coach, I have often utilized SWOT analyses to help teams analyze their organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This is a simple, user-friendly method to help a team or a board focus on key issues affecting their business. This type of analysis often can be used as a precursor to…
Dear Madeleine, I have an employee who hates me. I have been supervising and managing people for 25 years and this has never happened to me before. I’ve been to training classes, attended webinars, read books on managing, and worked hard to hone my leadership skills over the years. I am generally a likeable person,…
How often have you heard your friends or colleagues moaning about someone or about something that has happened, but they never actually say anything to that person? It happens all the time and it’s all because people don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings or are scared of giving feedback. Giving feedback is tough, and something…
Remember the T-1000 in Terminator 2? The bad guy who was made of liquid metal and could take on the appearance of any other person he met? What made him such a formidable enemy was that he could adapt to any situation. Don’t have a weapon? He’ll just turn his entire hand into a sword.…
At the beginning of my career, desperate for experience, I took whatever job I could in my field. Fortunately, my first manager treated employees and customers like gold. Luck struck twice when I was hired by yet another wonderful manager. Regrettably, subsequent managers provided the “opportunity” to witness appalling treatment of both employees and customers.…
It has been a while since I’ve taken time off for a vacation (or “staycation” in my case, since I’m really a homebody). However, I’ll be taking some time off starting next week. I am quite giddy as I’m watching the clock counting down to the end of business today. I can’t wait to leave…
We close the pages on the first decade of this millennium, and it’s now time to open the next chapter, starting with 2011. For many Americans, we’ve been hit with a wave of issues: the worst attack on American soil, the start of 2 wars, a housing bubble collapse, a rough economy, high unemployment, a…
Is he the “hero” his followers claim him to be, or an employee that completely mishandled a problem and created a dangerous situation? If you haven’t heard the news, Steven Slater was a JetBlue flight attendant until he hit his last nerve. It was the last in a 20-year span of passenger confrontations for him. …