Management Resources

There is a bigger difference between management and leadership than most people realize. Not all leaders make good managers and vice versa. Whereas leadership is about providing clear direction through strategic thinking, decision making, and planning. It is about the macro. Management is about executing leadership initiatives through directing, organizing, coaching, and holding people tactically accountable. It is about the micro. A good manager knows his/her people well and is committed to their success individually and collectively.

Blog Posts

Leadership Thought #400 – 25 Ways Leaders Get Themselves in Trouble

July 16, 2022

Leadership isn’t easy or everyone could do it. Some talented people make it look easy, but we often don’t see all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make it look this way. Most leaders struggle at some point and have to learn some difficult lessons along the way. Experience can be the best teacher if you are open to learning. I’ve observed the following 25 ways (in no particular order) that leaders tend to get themselves in trouble:

Focus Your Time Well and Fulfill Your Commitments

July 17, 2020

High impact leaders focus on doing the right things well and consistently live up to their commitments especially when it is hard. You don’t ever have to worry about their personal behavior or professional discipline.

Book Excerpts from The Elephant and The Flea by Charles Handy

June 2, 2020

I have been a Charles Handy fan for many years and find that his work only becomes more prescient and meaningful with time. It’s amazing how he could envision the world we would be doing business in before it happened. His thoughts on life, business, and leadership are timeless. I had my son revisit his

Recommended Reading

The Four Disciplines of Execution

Chris McChesney
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For fans of Good to Great and The First 90 Days, The Four Disciplines of Execution is the book “every leader should read” (Clayton Christensen, Professor, Harvard Business School, and author of The Innovator’s Dilemma) for creating lasting organizational change. A #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller with more than 500,000 copies sold, The Four Disciplines of Execution will radically change your business. 4DX® is not […]
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Myself and Other More Important Matters

Charles Handy
Read Ed's Excerpts View the Book
One of the world’s most influential living management thinkers, Charles Handy has year-after-year been listed alongside business gurus including Peter Drucker and Tom Peters in the prestigious Thinkers 50 list. His views on management — and life — have inspired and enlightened others for decades. Now, in Myself and Other More Important Matters, the bestselling author […]
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The Manager’s Handbook: 104 Solutions to Your Everyday Workplace Problems

Business Management Daily

The editors of Business Management Daily have compiled dozens upon dozens of hints and tricks for those tasked with leading employees to greatness. If you’re in management, you’ll consult this handbook weekly, perhaps even daily. Whenever a problem crops up, your handbook will be at your fingertips. And as you become a better problem-solver—and a […]
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Favorite Articles

Middle Managers Should Drive Your Business Transformation

Successful transformations harness the collective wisdom of middle managers and teams. To increase your company’s chances, you need to: 1) Enlist your very best middle managers. Transforming a business demands a blend of creativity and ingenuity. By setting this challenge you can also test and nurture the next generation of leaders. 2) Empower the middle to […]
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4 Reasons Why Managers Fail

Gartner research has found that managers today are accountable for 51% more responsibilities than they can effectively manage — and they’re starting to buckle under the pressure: 54% are suffering from work-induced stress and fatigue, and 44% are struggling to provide personalized support to their direct reports. Ultimately, one in five managers said they would […]
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Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model

Motivating employees begins with recognizing that to do their best work, people must be in an environment that meets their basic emotional drives to acquire, bond, comprehend, and defend. So say Nohria and Groysberg, of Harvard Business School, and Lee, of the Center for Research on Corporate Performance. Using the results of surveys they conducted […]
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Helpful Websites

Growth Institute

Professional development resource/community for leaders looking to scale their business.
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Leadership-Tools

The purpose of this page is simply to share some insights into how and why our website was started. Back in September of 2002, the vision for Leadership-Tools.com was born out of a strong desire to share the many benefits of high quality leadership tools and resources; tools that have helped me in so many […]
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The Easy Guide to Employee Performance Planning

Performance planning is a great way to give a sense of direction to the employees and create a space for them to grow in their career. In this guide, we will discuss what is performance planning and the process. Some useful templates are also provided. You can edit these online; simply click on the template to […]
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Video Favourites

Five Tips for Better One-on-One Meetings

One-on-one meetings are among the best opportunities for relationship-building that we’re afforded at work. But when run badly, they can feel like an unproductive use of people’s time. Mistake No. 1: viewing these check-ins as another task list item to check off. With planning and forethought, you can take your one-on-one meetings to the next […]
The Four Disciplines of Execution

Great summary of the book: The Four Disciplines of Execution. 4DX® is not theory. It is a proven set of practices that represents a new way of thinking essential to thriving in today’s competitive climate, making this 2nd Edition a book that no business leader can afford to miss. The 2nd Edition provides more than 30 percent […]
The Puzzle of Motivation

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories — and maybe, a way forward.

Reading Excerpts

The Effective Manager

The Effective Manager By: Mark Horstman Book Summary and Excerpts CHAPTER 1 – Who Is an Effective Manager? Everyone has experienced both good and bad managers. What makes them that way? Is it what they do? How they think? Their personality? What they feel? Where they went to school? Think about this for a […]
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Myself and Other More Important Matters by Charles Handy

Click for hard copy Chapter One – Are You Sure? The two zones of work and friendship operate best when they don’t overlap, because the perceptions of who we are do not become confused. The truth is that we all behave differently, in a way are different people, in different circumstances. Those who claim that […]
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HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across

Managing Up and Across Excerpts SECTION ONE – MANAGING UP Managing Your Boss: This relationship can be problematic for two reasons. First, a boss plays conflicting roles: supporter and evaluator, which can create confusion. Second, people often bring their past experiences with authority into the relationship, which can create unnecessary complications. Don’t presume […]
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