In 2015, Netflix announced an unlimited maternity and paternity leave policy within twelve months of a baby’s birth. And yet there were detractors (there always will be). “What about the people in the dvd distribution centers?” “What about the customer service representatives?” Yes, of course those parents deserve to be treated well too. Of course […]
The Parent Wars
Intentional parenting leads to more well-adjusted children and more fulfilled parents. The biggest obstacle to intentional parenting, in many cases, is the conflict between work life and home life. If you provide for a family, and your family depends on your income from your job, your incentive is to generate as much value from that […]
Fitness is Leadership
Plenty of leaders lead teams and organizations effectively while also maintaining poor personal habits… And yet there is a growing interest in the research world on the effect of physical fitness on leadership potential. In a recent article in the journal The Academy of Management Perspectives, Taking the Leadership High Road Charles Manz reviews the […]
The Work You Can’t Not Do
Somewhere deep inside of you is a wealth of talent, just waiting to be developed. With a strong set of values, a few core beliefs about the world, skills to pay the bills, and the right people to surround yourself with… you could do work you love, day in and day out. It’s not as […]
The Organizational Stack
Individual contributors are the people in your organization (you?) on the front lines. They’re the ones doing the heavy lifting, the direct customer interaction, and running the day to day operations. Most importantly, a great individual contributor has a sense of purpose, seeks mastery of her craft, and delivers results autonomously. Managers are the people […]
Where do great managers come from?
Finding an answer to the question, “Where have all the great managers gone?” starts with another question. Where do great managers come from to begin with? How, exactly, does one become a leader who is capable of developing people into high performing professionals? Presumably, before you can coach a person on the path to becoming […]
Where have all the great managers gone?
For so long, we’ve thought of managers being the people who simply keep track of the tasks to be done. They sit over your shoulder, making sure you’re getting the tasks done fast enough and with just enough quality. There’s a difference between a leader and a manager, though they’re certainly not exclusive. A leader […]
The Difference Between You and Elon Musk
Elon Musk is the real-life Tony Stark. He runs or is actively involved in three businesses: Tesla – Transforming the automobile industry by creating well-designed, attractive electric vehicles and the technology to power them (all while open-sourcing their patents) SpaceX – Transforming the space travel, including the possibility of colonizing Mars Solar City – Transforming […]
Jobs to Be Done
Every person who works has a job to be done, day in and day out (or, they should have a job to do, but we won’t get into organizational inefficiencies today). Similarly, every team has a job to be done. The difference between teams and individuals is mostly a matter of resources. A team clearly […]
I’m For It
The desire to change often comes from the desire for something to stop. We experience something that makes us realize we’re against that thing. We want to quit the job we hate because we’re against the mission and culture and management style. We want to stop eating poorly because we’re against feeling crappy and being […]