Author Archives: Larry Janis

The Unspoken Leadership Skill You Need to Survive

 

By Samuel B. Bacharach

No matter how large or small your organization, your political skills play a critical role in your success as a leader.

Recently, I attended the Inc. 5000 conference, where I conducted a session on skills for moving an agenda. To open, I asked the group if any of them had good ideas that they’ve successfully implemented. One colleague and entrepreneur from Texas told the story of having a great idea, but not having talked to right people, and not having gained the right support.

More often than not, entrepreneurs fail not because of a lack of good idea, or even because of a lack of resources. Leaders fail because they have not honed their political competence. For the past generation, we’ve talked all about “leadership,” but political skills are only politely whispered about, if they are mentioned at all.

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Director of Enterprise Services

 

Our Client: is a $10b North American information technology (IT) management and business process services (BPS) company with 68,000 employees in over 40 countries.  It operates delivery centers in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

 

 

Role and Responsibilities: The Director of Enterprise Services defines global infrastructure strategy covering Cloud, Servers, Storage, End User Computing and management and monitoring tools. The director works with the regional CIO teams to define strategy and drive its adoption through the established governance process. The role responsibility to:

  • Track, understand, assess the impact of the rapidly evolving enterprise services market on infrastructure strategy and enterprise architecture (more…)

Learning Is the Most Celebrated Neglected Activity in the Workplace

by Gianpiero Petriglieri

When I am invited to “teach leadership” to managers in corporations, I use the first few minutes to address the issue of where and how one learns to lead—and what gets in the way. I usually begin with a confession and a question.

My confession is always the same. That I am hoping to learn something from our encounter, brief as it may be, that I will remember and use. This is what I believe good leaders and good teachers have in common—the commitment to keep learning as they practice.

I have never met a manager who disagrees. Good leaders, they tell me, like good teachers, raise tough questions and make others feel stretched, empowered, inspired. Mediocre ones issue commands and make others feel overlooked, bored, underutilized. (more…)

Why I Connect With Strangers on LinkedIn

Bresman Blog.jpgby Henrik Bresman

In online and real-world networking, the same principle applies: You never know when you might make a crucial connection.

Social networks are like any other social environment: No two have exactly the same standards of acceptable behaviour. For good reasons, most of us would think twice before granting a Facebook friend request from a stranger. And since the workplace tends to have more rigid social standards than other areas of life, people commonly assume that their cache of connections on LinkedIn – the leading internet venue for professional networking – should be similarly exclusive, if not more so. (more…)

Take a Look at Yourself in the Leadership Mirror

By Manfred Kets de Vries

To gain a better understanding of your leadership strengths and weaknesses, take a look at yourself through the eyes of others.

How we see ourselves is often very different from how we appear to others. Actions we believe reflect decisive or confident characteristics may come across as controlling or arrogant while attempts at openness may be perceived as being indecisive or weak. Understanding how supervisors, co-workers, direct reports and clients perceive us can give valuable insights into our leadership behavior and help us become more effective leaders, better able to embrace and adapt to change. (more…)