AskTheManager.com

For Young Managers, it’s not Just About Gaining the Respect of Subordinates

One of the most common questions from our readers concerns how they as younger managers can lead older subordinates – all while maintaining respect and sanity. Where we felt we could help, we’ve provided these youthful leaders advice and guidance as recently [...]

Tags: business situations, Leadership Advice, Leadership Situations, managing people

Quick, Read This Email… Now!
Today I received another in a long line of email messages from a certain vendor touting their newest and greatest product improvement. This email, like all of its predecessors, arrived in my Outlook inbox as a message of High Importance. Because I receive just one in five hundred messages marked [...]

Tags: business situations, Digression, management 101, sales training

You’re Not Ready for Social Networking
A colleague who operates a retail franchise asked me my thoughts about incorporating social networking into his Internet sales efforts. Currently, he tracks about 35% of his sales directly to customers who first contacted his store via the Internet.
As I explained to my colleague (without trying to sound like [...]

Tags: business situations, Digression, Leadership Weblog

The Future of Entrepreneurship in America
I noticed something strange while sitting on my front porch today: A professional landscaping crew of seven had descended on my cul-de-sac to industriously cut the lawns and trim the bushes at my home and the homes of my neighbors on either side.
While this same event happens twice [...]

Tags: business situations, Digression, leadership news and views, Management Training

 
If You Want the Swindlers, Get Their Accountants

“If you want the Mafia, get their lawyers,” explains Mitchell McDeere, formerly of Bendini, Lambert and Locke.

I think we’re missing the real villains in the Bernard Madoff affair. Madoff, in case you’ve been under a rock for the last few months, is the 70-year old investment fund [...]

Tags: bad decisions, business situations, Digression

 
Skynet is Here, and the Nerds are at the Controls
(Terminator fans can probably skip the next two paragraphs, as they’re just an explanation of the havoc we can expect in our not-too-distant future.)
Skynet, for the uninformed, is a computer-based defense system, created by nerds working for the U.S. military in the 1990s. Long story short, [...]

Tags: business situations, Digression, Leadership, Leadership Situations

More Leadership Lessons from Delta Airlines
In a recent post, we admonished Delta Airlines for the ill-conceived, confusing Delta Breezeway enacted in late 2007. It seemed that even months after its introduction, most Delta gate agents and Delta frequent fliers still had no idea how to use them.
We are proud to say that between Thanksgiving [...]

Tags: business situations, leadership news and views, leadership observations, management 101

 
Phil Savage, Cleveland Browns GM, Responds too Quickly
While email etiquette in business has long been an important topic to the editors of AskTheManager.com, we’ve never pontificated on the importance of responding expeditiously. We’ve posted articles and opinions about email typos, email signatures, and we even ranked the worst email etiquette mistakes of all time in [...]

Tags: business situations, Leadership Advice, management mistakes