Survive Your Promotion

The numbers don’t lie – women have made great progress in their representation at lower levels of management but there is still a huge gap in the number of women vs. men at the executive level.  Here’s Sheryl Sandberg’s view on why that is and what women can do to change it.

A few months ago I said in this space that I had been working on some other projects and needed to take a break from posting here.  As many of you know I divide my time between IT consulting for small businesses (primarily non-profits) and the management coaching/writing work that I talk about here.  Non-profit organizations have big challenges with IT support, and there are few resources available to help them get the job done.  So in addition to working with my own clients I have launched a blog on my consulting website to answer questions and provide resources.  Check it out, pass it on to your

As some of you have noticed, there hasn’t been much that’s new these days around here.  I’ve got several other projects going on and haven’t been focused on writing new content for this space.  Rather than dropping the occasional post, I thought I would officially take a break for a bit.  Of course if I come across something interesting that I think you all would like, I’ll drop it here and I am still happy to hear from you by email or in the comments.  Thanks for stopping by, and I hope what you find here is useful, even if it’s not new

Everyone wants to be successful right?  Or more accurately, no one wants to fail.  But how can you find success in your life, your job, or anywhere else?  The answer is simple. Love what you do. There’s nothing that will make you better than doing what you love and pursuing it with all your heart.  I was reminded of this over the weekend after I learned that George N. Parks, the longtime director of the UMass Minuteman Marching Band had passed away suddenly.  While most of you probably don’t know of him at all, those of us who attended UMass saw him every week in the fall standing in front of thousands

“I haven’t failed, I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” ~Thomas Edison What he didn’t say is how long it took him to get through those 10,000 wrong answers.  Being wrong (or finding a way that doesn’t work) isn’t a problem in and of itself.  The problem is when you’re wrong and you can’t move on to the next possible solution. Sure it’s easier to wait and see, and to hope that a problem will resolve itself on its own rather than to take action, but doing nothing is just as bad as doing the wrong thing.  In some cases its worse

Last week I was out scouring the internet looking for the exact words (and source) of the quote about a good compromise making everyone unhappy.  Not only did I find multiple versions and sources of it, but I found something else that interested me even more.  Depending on who you ask, compromise is either the key to a successful negotiation or the worst thing in the world.  There seems to be no middle ground.  Why the disparity, you ask?  I wondered the same thing.  Basically it comes down to two points of view. On one side of the fence are the people (most notable engineers and entrepreneurs

As a manager I spent a fair amount of time hiring and training entry level candidates.  In the tech world we are not as picky about college degrees as in some other industries because technical skills can be acquired through training programs and certifications.  But soft skills such as an understanding of business, communication skills, etc are harder to see on a resume.  So where do candidates acquire those skills and how do they demonstrate them to potential employers? The great higher education PR machine would like you and I to believe that the best place to acquire those skills is through

Midwest Book Review has released their review of the book – you can check it out here or on Amazon’s listing for the book itself.  Here’s what they said: A new job comes with a higher paycheck, but there’s also more stress for your buck. “Survive Your Promotion!: The 90 Day Success Plan for New Managers” is a guide for those who have attained new careers and want to succeed at them rather than be quickly used up and spit back out by the harsh difficulties of management. Time management, strategies to motivate others, Katy Tynan gives readers a fine list of

Leadership and confidence go together like coffee and doughnuts. No one lines up to follow insecure people, and those who project confidence seem to draw followers like moths to the flame. But how do you develop and project confidence when you’re brand new at something? It may seem like an odd place to draw inspiration but try taking a page out of Cher’s book. Cher? Really? Am I really telling you to emulate a pop star as a management strategy? Yup and here’s why. In an interview for Behind...

When you launch a new initiative with your team, do you use the same presentation you used when you talked to the management team? Don’t! Different levels of the organization want and need different information so be sure you are customizing your communication to your audience. Here are some focus points for each group: CEO – Focus on business benefits and competitive advantage. If you are proposing a new initiative or requesting approval for training or other tools for your team, the CEO...

This space is usually dedicated to being a better boss, but what do you do when your own boss is not so great? As you get better at being a manager, one of the first things you’ll notice is that there are LOTS of managers who seem to have missed out on their own training and development. You may be on the receiving end of some of the new manager mistakes I talked about in an earlier post. Whether your manager is too indecisive to choose a sandwich at lunch or a dominating control freak who...

There’s some profanity here and there in this, but it’s a wonderful clip about being passionate about your work. It’s a great example of the fact that leadership comes in all different packages… We just launched the Personal Focus Coaching fan page on Facebook. The first 100 fans will be entered into a contest to win 3 free coaching sessions! Stop by today!

Today I am honored to be guest posting on Dan Rockwell’s wonderful Leadership Freak blog! Go check out and enter to win a free signed copy of Survive Your Promotion! Good luck!

Join us on April 28th at 2PM Eastern for a free 1 hour webinar on retaining your best people as the job market improves. Don’t miss it! 2010 is here and the job market is improving – is your employee retention strategy up for the challenge? While the tough economy was enough to keep great employees in their chairs in 2008 and 2009, that will no longer be the case as the job market improves. So what’s your strategy to keep your best players motivated and engaged? Join us at this free information packed 1 hour webinar to find out practical strategies for retaining your key players

Sometimes as a manager you have to let people go. It’s an ugly truth and ideally it won’t be a big part of your job, but sooner or later you will encounter a situation where a team member is not working out. Knowing how to handle that situation gracefully can make a big difference. So here are a few tips and tricks on how to know when termination is the right answer, and how to approach the process. First off let’s be clear about one thing – termination (as opposed to layoffs or any other...