Having spent some years working on project implementations, I’ve seen everything….the good, the bad, and the ugly. Projects which aren’t going well are the worst…everyone is exhausted, demoralized, either running or blaming. In my experience, here are the top reasons why projects fail….
This is one of the most difficult posts I’ve had to write. For the first time, I’ve experienced a personal loss with someone from work. Continue reading
Some of you checked in with me just to see how I was doing because I stopped posting. To be honest…I just didn’t know what to say. To be upbeat seemed glib, to be honest was depressing. I wrote a couple of posts but just couldn’t bring myself to post them. But today is different.
This is a really great article about performance reviews. The individual writing it talks about what not to do, and what you need to do in order to be a great manager. I’ve always said that the hardest part of my career was managing people….there is nothing harder. Difficult projects? Tough timeframes? Easy. Trying to manage groups of people without losing your mind? Not so easy.
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Everyone wants to make life easier….often, experts will tell you that developing good habits are key to making life easier. The definition of a habit according to Webster is “an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary.” Here are random things I’ve heard which I’ve adopted….I find it’s easier to embrace a good habit than try to stop a bad one.
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I had a friend’s son ping me…he wanted to get my thoughts on something he was wrestling with. He’s a talented kid: lots of interests, smart, and good at many things. He is also very disorganized, can be influenced by “friends” and consequently works himself in a tizzy about “what he should be doing”. We talked it out, and here’s what I learned about the conversation….
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The story of what’s happened to Sears is interesting, perhaps not that unusual. The recent article in Fortune caught my eye because of Jim Collins, author of “From Good to Great”, and a lesser known “How the Mighty Fall” which applies here. Lately, it seems that these huge, untouchable brands….Kraft, Wells Fargo, GE are all examples of the once mighty. Most of the time what goes wrong is outside your pay grade…but some things are within your scope, no matter what your role is….
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I believe in karma. I especially believe in corporate karma.
Unfortunately, I have heard more bad stories than good stories of how people leave companies. A big driver of this is one of my principles of Personal Profitability – you don’t control when you retire/leave. Conventional wisdom is that it happens at 65….as if that’s a rule. Whether you call it retirement, or spending more time with the family, or whatever….net net you are leaving. Sometimes the leaving is handled with respect and dignity….sometimes the leaving is as abrupt as finding the locks changed when you go home that night.
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I think about my dad a lot When you really love your parent, it doesn’t matter if it was the right time for them to leave, it doesn’t matter if they lived a long and good life. You still want more. The one thing I always think about is a conversation I had with him while he was sick with Parkinson’s disease.
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I had the responsibility of negotiating a really large contract once, even though I had no experience whatsover in negotiating a contract. While it was terrifying, it also was a really good experience and I learned a lot, especially as we started using third party vendors more and more. Surprisingly, it was also a lot of fun…..you feel like you’re part of a courtroom drama (being offsite, dealing with outside counsel, asking people to leave the room to have confidential conversations). Here’s some lessons learned:
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