Stuck between mediocrity and excellence

Many of you may have had the privilege of working for a bully at work.  I say "privilege" because working for one is an opportunity to learn how not to be as a manager or leader.  My definition of a bully is one that has a title which sounds important - say, Director of something. He talks loudly, doesn't listen, and makes it a point to make you feel about 1" tall whenever he is trying to make a point -- without listen to your point of view. Yet put the bully in front of someone of equal or superior status, and you would not even think that the same person existed in the same body.  He caters to a customer or superior. He conducts himself in a Rated G-like manner. It's like you have to work for Bizzarro and everyone else sees Clark Kent.  The best advice that I have when dealing with a bully at work is to leave.  Even though we teach our kids to avoid bullies or stand up, we know that avoiding a bully makes him more agitated and standing up to a bul...

The problem with bad bosses is that they spawn more bad bosses.  Just as Dr. Evil created a Mini-Me -- a bad boss will create many  protégés.  They will then go on to create more bad spawn and the compound effect begins to take over.  Or does it?  The only reason bad bosses end up procreating is because they are in an environment that allows it.  Just as mold grows and thrives in dark, damp places -- bad bosses will grow and thrive in environments that promote bullies, narcissists, and political animals .  The simple reason is that all of the people trying to move UP the ladder think that that's the way that they need to be.  The worst part of the story is that bad bosses don't even know they are bad and companies don't even realize that this is the type of environment they foster.  It's why there are so many books on organizational health and leadership.  The gap between what it really is and what it should be is enorm...

At some point in your life, you are going to be told not to compare yourself to other people.  However, if you have a competitive bone in your body or have ANY Type A tendencies, heeding this advice is basically impossible. We are part of system where comparing ourselves to others is not the exception, but the norm.  Class rankings. Performance ratings. Age, position, and title on an org chart.  The opportunities to compare yourself to others are constantly in your face.  It's the way we've been taught to measure ourselves.  At some point, you may feel like you are either stuck, in the same place, or being left behind.  The Analyst you mentored is now your boss.  Your peer in your business school class is now a CEO and you are still in Sr. Manager purgatory.  Where you are is not where you thought you should be and it's because for your entire life, you've used other people's experiences as your basis for comparison. Here is the ...

There are people that are experts on a topic and people that can police a specific area.  To be the police, you don't have to be an expert. All you need is a big stick, a checklist, and an operator's mentality. To be the police, you don't have to have any credibility. All you need is to have standard out of the box answers for any question directed your way.  Sometimes all that matters is proclaiming your title. After all, who is going to argue with you if you believe in your legend?  However, if you want to be an effective policeman, it helps to have some expertise or mastery in the topic at hand. It's how quality work gets done.  And quality work doesn't get done when you have a bunch of policemen that don't know anything. 

More times than not, when you start a project or new job in a management capacity you don't get to pick your team members.  Depending on what level you are, you may actually get team members assigned to you without your say.  It can be frustrating. Deep down, you know that you need to play with the cards that you've been dealt.  It becomes even more frustrating because you can't follow Jim Collins' rule of getting the wrong people off the bus to become great .  In my experience, you'll know within a few seconds whether you've inherited a good team member or bad one.  Part of my problem - if you want to call it that - is that I am quick to judge. The other reason is that I ask myself two questions about the person during a 10 second assessment.  (I guess that's really one reason).  Question 1: Is this person open to a different way of thinking?  Many times, you inherit people that already think they know everything about everyt...

When good people either leave or are asked to leave the company, one of the things you'll commonly hear is,  "Well... he (or she) was one of the good ones..." It's like people just heard that a colleague didn't pull through after an accident or didn't survive a war.  When you start to hear the quote more often than not, you begin to wonder what's really going on.  Good people join and leave companies all of the time and you would hope that they leave to move on to bigger and better things.  But maybe that's not really the case.  If all an organization does is churn and burn out good people, you have to wonder if it's the people or if it's the culture of the organization.  If it's the culture, you're eventually going to run out of good people, right?   When you start hearing people talking of employee departures like the opening to a memorial service, take a hard look at the culture of the organization.  For the ones tha...

The work world has steadily become a world of free agents.  I haven't read Dan Pink's Free Agent Nation yet-- but I think I get the gist. More people are becoming independents because of the autonomy and control they have over their lives. Everyone is now "John Doe Consulting."  Everyone is now a consultant, adviser, partner.  What does that mean if you are trying to build an effective team to deliver a quality product?  Unless you are of the mindset that you are, in fact, building a team, you'll end up with a band of misfits that don't function well together. The reason is that you believe  that everyone is a professional.  That's all well and good when you are talking about the top 10-15% of consulting professionals, or any profession for that matter. But as you get into the bottom 50%, things get a bit squirrely and definitely more diluted.  Your vision of the '92 Dream Team can quickly turn into  a reality of the Bad News Bears...