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What LeBron James And The Miami Heat Teach Us About Teamwork

What do you get when you add LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh? A lesson in team building.READ»

What to Do When Your Team Fails

When you suffer a defeat, the tendency to want to withdraw is powerful. That is especially true when the setback occurs in public. The only trouble is that if you are a manager, the last thing you can do is withdraw. You have other responsibilities.READ»

Cirque du Soleil: A Very Different Vision of Teamwork

In this excerpt from their new book, "As One: Individual Action, Collective Power," authors Mehrdad Baghai and James Quigley examine the artistry and teamwork of Cirque du Soleil. Cirque calls auditions treasure hunting because you never know what kind of talent you'll find. READ»

The Leader Is the Chief Energy Officer

The most fundamental job of a leader is to recruit, mobilize, inspire, focus, direct, and regularly refuel the energy of those they lead.READ»

Many Heads Can Be Better Than One - Especially When They Belong to Women

Teams can be smarter and more effective than the individuals who make up the team--but only under the right circumstances.READ»

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How a Team at Apple Made the iPod Dream a Reality

In this excerpt from "The Orange Revolution: How One Great Team Can Transform an Entire Organization," authors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton look at the team that created the iPod, and how the vision of a revolutionary music player motivated them to innovate.READ»

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Quiz: Are You Hiring and Breeding Greedy and Selfish Employees?

For those managers worried they are staffing their teams with a bunch of jerks, we have this handy quiz! Answer truthfully and learn if you are a leader of obnoxious superstars.READ»

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Are You Working With Energizers or Rotten Apples?

In this excerpt from "GOOD BOSS, BAD BOSS: How to Be the Best ... and Learn from the Worst," Robert Sutton tells us about those employees that elevate an office, and those deadbeats and downers that can destroy a company.READ»

What the A-Team Can Teach Companies About Building Highly Functioning Teams

With the new A-Team movie hitting theatres this Friday, I couldn't help but repost my favorite (and only) A-Team inspired blog. "I love it when a plan comes together." A quote made famous by Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith, a character ...READ»

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Why is the glass ceiling still alive and well?

Call it a glass ceiling, glass wall or a glass floor – there is still a barrier blocking senior women leaders in organizations. High-powered executive and professional women are increasingly opting out of, being bypassed, or otherwise disappearing from the highly professional workforce. While this exists, true diversity in organizations will not happen.READ»

Fun is a business tool

The fisherman is in a band. I ventured down to listen to them play this weekend and I observed something taking place that was playful, creative and focused. What unfolded was an amazing scene of positive, productive teamwork that ...READ»

Virtual Project Management Tool Organizes Project Steps

The virtual workspace is a project management tool that allows individuals, groups and business teams to connect and collaborate on projects digitally. Teams can plan projects, update project steps, organize events and create reports ...READ»

Project Tracking Software for Project Management Communication

Broken and fragmented communication over project details between team members, contractors and project supervisors can leave a project in shambles.  Effective project management communication is a process that relies on a ...READ»

Death to Bureaucracies!

Bureaucracies are totally toxic, dysfunctional organizations. Unfortunately, they are to be found everywhere irrespective of whether they operate in a third world or a first world country. Also, my own experience has shown me that the ...READ»

Does This Sound Like Your Corporate Culture?

Something For All Involved in a Corporate Culture To Think AboutI found this quote in the draft of a book I have been writing forever.   Although the authors Cooper and Sawaf wrote this ten years ago, my perception is that ...READ»

Is Leadership Alignment Really Possible?

Would you agree with me when I suggest that leadership alignment is a great goal to aspire towards but one that is probably very difficult to attain?  Think about it.  Let’s say that the CEO is surrounded by a team of 7 ...READ»

It is Leadership Character that Will Get Us Through this Recession

Two Kinds of LeadersSo if you have been reading my blogs – firstly I thank you, and secondly you will know that I come from the platform that there are two kinds of leaders – those who lead with ego and those who lead with ...READ»

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Nonsense At Work

Business is not sport:Football season is here again and so is my pet dislike – holding up sports teams as models for business teams to copy.  It’s ridiculous for business teams to strive to be like sports teams.  And it ...READ»

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Great Leaders Use Influence and Persuasion, Not Power

What's clear is that no matter what your organizational position, or what kinds of clients and customers you deal with, part of your success depends on being able to influence people over whom you have official or assigned control. READ»

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The Truth About Successful People

We all know the secret to huge success. We read about it in books, see it in movies. Malcolm Gladwell sums it up in his new book, Outliers, "our hero is born in modest circumstances and by virtue of his own grit and talent fights his way to greatness." It's the story of pop and sports stars, wealthy entrepreneurs and CEOs. There's just one problem with seeing success this way--it's not true. It's not that talent and hard work won't help you get ahead, but rather success is a result of the product of many factors--a system if you like. Our culture, our parents, our friends, our environment, our attitudes, our values the lessons in life, all contribute to success.READ»