The Recovering Leader

DIY Career Design Pro Tools

Face it; your career is not in the hands of anyone else but you. Even though some jobs come with potential for promotions, this is the design your own career era. Why? Loyalty between employers and employees is way looser than in days of yore, due to workforce management (e.g., using headcount for cost control), frequent organizational change, shorter employee... Read more →

Infographic: 4 "DEFT" Steps to Goal Attainment

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Awesome Questions Leaders Should Ask Regularly

Asking better questions makes better leaders. There are questions we could ask the people who work for us that we simply don’t think to ask: the ones that can help us clean out our own blind spots, and know what we need to lead, even if it's hard to hear. For example, when was the last time you asked someone... Read more →

How Bully Bosses Can Change Their Stripes

Bullying is trending—in schools, on social media, and across the political landscape, and more recently, it's common to hear accusations that certain managers create hostile workplaces by acting like bullies, too. When can these mean managers change? Read more →

Workplace Conflict? Here's What to Do About It

The American hive mind has rarely, if ever, seemed so cranky and conflicted. It's no surprise we are tracking that emotional crud into the office with us every day. Perhaps the lies, mudslinging, and bully-behavior in Washington have never been so in our faces, as they are amplified and served up to us 24/7 in the social and professional media.... Read more →

How Relatable Are You as a Leader? Upgrade Your Interface!

The more aware you are of how your way of interacting impacts others, the more you can lead them in a positive, inspiring, sustainable way. It’s that simple. The reverse is also true. Read more →

How Good Are You At Feedback? Here Are 10 Power Tips on Giving Feedback

The way you (and your organization) handle feedback can have a profoundly critical impact on its success. So it’s worth spending the time to get it right. Here are 10 ways to do that! Read more →

Maturing from Me-leader to We-leader: Get Comfortable in Third Position

Far too many "leaders" are overly invested in their own ideas, opinions, and directives; they are me-managers and me-leaders: "me think this, so you do that." It's often just a bad habit, or self-styled way to manage. Specifically, they're partially to totally blind about how things look from others' points of view, and how they come across to them. It's fixable, and worthwhile to fix. Read more →

Infographic: Here's How to Target Work that Works for You

I posted this several years ago and use it often for clients who get into career transition. I just added a sixth circle -- the one on "Fit with character / personality" as the more I use this with my clients, the more I find it valuable to call out the need for a good fit with personality/character and values. Read more →

Four Secrets to Read the Room & Build Your Executive Presence

Failing to read the room and adjust our communication to others is a rampant problem in many if not most workplaces--whether we're too distracted or hurried, or too "busy." Even if you're the smartest most capable person in the world, if you can't read the room, you're going to fall down, time after time, because you lose the people around you. Read more →

3 Great Ways to Do More Better

If you run anything from a two-person team to a large organization, "doing more with less" isn't just an annoying cliché; it's reality. Until AI's and robots are running the world, we humans are called upon to be ever more scalable. Read more →

Physical Leadership 101: You're Larger Than Life

If you are an executive or emerging leader, you are indeed larger than life because your physicality is watched and read in a highly magnified manner by others. Here’s background and a “larger than life” exercise to help build consciousness and selectivity about your physicality. Read more →

8 Ways to Enjoy Your Work Most Days (a.k.a., "Success")

Most people settle for jobs that fall far short of “happy at work” for too many years. In fact, to some, the notion that we can enjoy our work most days, and have both rewarding and fulfilling (and even fun) careers seems absurd. Yet when you enjoy your work you’re going to do a great job—the best work of your career. Here are 8 tips for helping make that happen. Read more →

A Simple Formula for Distraction Subtraction

Whether you’re running a Fortune 500 corporation, a pre-IPO start up, or a government agency, the simple formula of choose, transmit, and filter can make the difference between success and failure. In fact, many leaders who under-deliver on their goals or fail in their roles, do one or two of these things well, but not all three. Read more →

One Formula to Lead and Live Better: 75+/25-

When you strike the right balance between a positive and negative outlook you lead more skillfully and live a better life, and help others do the same. It’s not magic: By resetting to 75+/25- each day, you enable engagement, creativity, good health, and reduce stress. Read more →