When you are a coach who works with leaders from all walks of life, you begin to notice patterns. One pattern I’ve noticed is that about one-third of the leaders I work with consider connecting and building relationships a part of their job, while the other two-thirds do not. This second group of leaders generally…
There are three groups of people you need to take care of if you are going to create a customer-focused organization—but most companies only focus on one. That’s a big mistake, say Kathy Cuff and Vicki Halsey, co-creators of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ new Legendary Service training program. “Every organization knows they need to focus…
Dear Madeleine, I am a fairly new manager for a giant tech company, with only one direct report. Over the last year our upper management has been consolidating departments and flattening things out. I am pretty sure my direct report and I are going to be either folded into another group or let go altogether.…
Think about a leader you admire. Maybe it is the CEO of your company, the principal of your local high school, or the president of your alma mater. If I asked you about the specific qualities that made them successful, you’d probably tell me about their hard skills—teachable abilities such as vision and strategic thinking.…
Dear Madeleine, I lead large teams in the field and partner with a core team at the headquarters of my organization. My boss is at HQ and largely ignores me because all of my projects come in on time and under budget. I have literally been told I am a “dream employee.” The fly in…
Dear Madeleine, I am young game designer living in LA. I know I have talent and drive, and I have had some success. But there just doesn’t seem to be any hope for me because it is so clearly who you know, not what you know, that counts. I see peers getting opportunities I should…
New research published by The Ken Blanchard Companies cites a survey of 600 Millennial-aged workers asking them to list the leadership behaviors they believe most inspire better performance. An analysis of the responses identified five behaviors managers need to put into practice not to simply manage and deal with the next generation workforce, but to…
Ken Blanchard recently posted a Thanksgiving holiday video on his YouTube and Facebook channels sharing his thoughts on being thankful along with some of the ways his family builds gratitude into their holiday traditions. As Ken shares,“Life is a very special occasion—don’t miss it. Part of that is being thankful for the blessings you have. It doesn’t mean that there…
Last week I took to social media to ask the question “What do you value most about your company and your leader?” It wasn’t a large sample, but big enough to get some diversity of thought. Take a look at some of the responses I got back. As I read through the results, I realised…
Dear Madeleine, Help. I am confused. I have a great job and I really like my boss. We have been working together for years—in fact, I followed him to our current company. The trouble is that he tends to always give me, and everyone else who reports to him, really nice presents at the holidays.…