AskTheManager.com

Leadership Lessons from the NBA – The Surprisingly Aware Richard Jefferson

Weeks after being acquired by the San Antonio Spurs, star NBA forward Richard Jefferson was scheduled to marry his redundantly named fiancé, Kesha Ni’Cole Nichols, last Saturday. As you’ve likely heard, Jefferson, late of the New Jersey Nets, got cold feet and called [...]

Tags: leadership observations, Leadership Situations, Lessons from Pro Sports, management 101

The Short Term or the Long Term

I’m often asked by young managers whether a given decision should be made for the short-term or the long-term well-being of a company; and I always give the same answer: both. No matter what the issue is, the ultimate decision should weigh the pros, cons and consequences [...]

Tags: Leadership Advice, leadership observations, management 101

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

Too Much Technology…
When working to help an underperforming business unit (in my real job) grow their revenues, I always discover instances where the unit has purchased some widget, gadget or other magic bullet designed to help them sell more.
Although well-meaning, the manager who made this purchase generally believed against all his or her own [...]

Tags: Leadership Advice, management 101, sales management

 
Questions… we get Questions
One of our readers, Anant, posted the following after reading our article from August 2008 titled The First Time Manager Dilemma, How Do You Gain Respect?:

hi, i am facing a similar problem as mentioned above with one of my older employees, the only difference is that i am the owner of my [...]

Tags: Leadership Advice, management 101, Management Development, Management Training

 
Leadership Lessons from Google – When a Giant Makes a Giant Mistake
Google announced last week that they would close three offices and lay off 100 full-time recruiters. Even though these are the first Google-hired employees ever to lose their jobs in a workforce reduction, it’s not news… not in this economy. In fact, 100 employees [...]

Tags: Digression, leadership observations, management 101, typical manager

Circuit City – We Told You So…
In what was probably the easiest call in the last ten years, we told you Circuit City was going to go all the way (read our November 12, 2008 post if you don’t believe us). Back then we said you shouldn’t “be fooled by their reorganization plans; Circuit City [...]

Tags: Digression, leadership development, management 101

 
Delta-a-GoGo: Wi-Fi in the Sky – Good, Bad, Right, Wrong? It’s Here
When I first read about Delta’s plans to add wi-fi networking on some flights I was appalled. Under no circumstances did I want this one last bastion of freedom from emails to escape my personal dead zone. I truly enjoyed my twice-weekly vacation from [...]

Tags: Digression, Links to Leadership Resources, management 101