A Lighthouse reader emailed recently asking the important question, “How can I set up expectations each way without sounding like a child when I say, “I’d like weekly one-on-ones!” First of all, it’s a very mature decision to ask for 1 on 1s; you are telling your manager you want to have strong, effective, structured […]
“Business books are all the same. A few good ideas and 100 pages of fluff.” If you or a friend reads regularly, you may be plagued by this unfortunate fact of life for many of the most common books for leaders. Andy Grove, legendary CEO of Intel, even went so far as to write about […]
Are you a skeptic of 1:1 meetings? Or are you a fan and advocate? Whether you need convincing yourself, or are looking to make a case for others to have one on ones, this is the post for you. It’s historically been difficult to put a real value on soft skills. Yet, any good leader […]
What could make you a great manager without major changes? How could just a couple words have that kind of impact? Believe it or not, I already used both words in this post. And if you start using them more, you can be a great manager, too. Today, we tackle why these words matter, and […]
A few years ago, having a flat organizational structure was all the rage. Well-known companies like Zappos, Medium, and Buffer were singing its praises and writing detailed posts explaining their reasoning. Tired of bad bosses, and corporate politics, the internet rejoiced. On paper it sounded so great. Why do we need managers? Who needs structure? […]
“I apologize for the length of this letter; I didn’t have time to make it shorter.” – Mark Twain Mark Twain was right. It takes effort to make a good point in just a few words. That’s part of the beauty of Twitter; the character limit forces those sharing thoughts to be concise. Today, we’re […]
“(Sigh…) Why didn’t you tell me about this issue sooner?!?” If you’ve ever received a surprise in your performance review, you’ve said (or thought) exactly that. Few things are as frustrating as feeling you didn’t receive constructive feedback when you needed it, and instead are punished by it at review time. Knowing this, as a […]
“Uh oh…sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays!” If you’ve ever had a job you hated coming to work for each day, you know the feeling behind that statement from the iconic workplace comedy, Office Space. Fittingly, Boss’s Day is Monday, October 16th. Who wouldn’t want to celebrate the boss that ruins their […]
At many companies, low morale is a fact of life. Any number of problems can stifle people, leaving them unmotivated and struggling to do their job. As a manager, you may feel low morale yourself; no one is immune to the harsh realities of the modern workplace. Gallup’s engagement stats show us year after year […]
“Management isn’t some skill like drawing where you can just practice in isolation for hours and hours on end. You need to have the opportunity to be stretched in certain situations in order to learn and grow.“ – Julie Zhuo, Product Design VP at Facebook Learning leadership skills can be a steep challenge. Much of […]
