Welcome to the December 2012 edition of the Management Journey Carnival. This month’s Carnival provides tips on survival skills, sales, communication, leadership, change, retail management, employee engagement and other topics. Each Carnival consists of 21 insightful articles from the web that contributors submit or that I select for inclusion.
For our last Blog Carnival of 2012, we’ll visit some special topics beginning with survival skills.
Sometimes its a jungle out there
Survival Skills
You’re very good at what you do and instead of your boss appreciating you, your internal radar tells you that not all is well with your working relationship with him. You’re not after your boss’s job and you fear he will never believe otherwise. What should you do? As Liz Ryan of Harvard Business Review explains in her article, When Your Manager is Afraid of You, you begin by doing what you are already doing. —Survival Skills
Work long enough and you will likely find yourself reporting to a bad boss. These can be very difficult relationships and the best you can do is take a pill and call HR in the morning. Right? Not necessarily! As I explain in my article, Three Reasons Why Bad Bosses Are Your Best Friends!, with a little emotional intelligence and self awareness you can take some of the power back from your bad boss.—Survival Skills
The only constant is change!
Change
Why do we sometimes resist change even when it is best for the business enterprise? Why is there a gap between what we intend to do and what we actually do? These are some of the thought provoking questions George Altman of Mindful Matters answers in his article, Making Changes: Closing the Gap Between Intention and Action. —Change
Change agents would do well to follow the herd if they want to effect meaningful change in organizations. Follow the herd? That can’t be right, can it? It turns out that this is an important strategy (with a twist) for effecting change. Steve Chihos of The Big Rocks of Change explains further in his article, Follow the Herd. —Change
You are leading an important change effort in your organization. In your diligence to make this change happen effectively, have you put off listening to one of your most important stakeholders? Annette Franz Gleneicki of CX Journey raises this important question in her article, Listening to Customers & Employees During Times of Change. —Change
Walk with the wise and you will be wise!
Leadership Interviews
One of the best ways to learn how to do something is to speak with someone who has already been successful. Like watching a successful magician, you want to know the secrets behind their magic. Dan LeBert of CPA Now shares insider secrets in his article, The Business Behind the Magic, an Interview with Fmr. Disney EVP Lee Cockerell – Part II. —Leadership
Continuous improvement goes beyond process; it also involves the people side of the business. For those leading the organization, their continuous improvement comes when they take responsibility for their own leadership development. In his article, John Maxwell on Personal Development, Moyo Mamora shares insights from the author of the 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. —Leadership
How would you describe an entrepreneur? One person worth listening to describes them as hallucinating visionaries who are insanely driven to bring what they see to fruition. In his article, “Entrepreneurs are crazy” and that’s a good thing, Kurt Wagner of CNNMoney gets more insights like this on what it takes to be an entrepreneur from Steve Blank the author of the Startup Owner’s Manual. —Leadership
Effective communication is critical to business success
Communication
Stephen Covey’s work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is a work that will continue to inspire business learning. In her article, the 7 Habits of Highly Successful PR People, Amanda Miller Littlejohn of Ragan’s PR Daily shows how public relations professionals can apply these principles in their work.—Communication
Have you ever missed the mark in a presentation you had to make? Most managers have had this happen to them at some time in their careers. Todd Mayfield of Fearless Men provides tips to avoid this outcome in his article, Speech Preparation: First Things First. As he explains, “a lot of times when we start to prepare a presentation we haven’t first gotten clarity of what we’re aiming for.”—Communication
Ineffective communication occurs all of the time and it costs organizations real dollars. Sometimes, ineffective communication creates huge economic and social problems for business as well (remember the BP oil spill). In his article, Leadership Mumbo Jumbo: Are You Communicating Clearly to Your Followers?, Jim Taggart of Changing Winds explores these costs and explains why precision and transparency pay huge dividends in getting organizational communication right.—Communication
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About Robert Tanner
Thanks for putting together this great mix of articles on management and leadership! When it comes to personal and organizational development, I have learned that success is the degree to which purpose is fulfilled. Here’s a post on
Discovering Purpose which I believe will help many.
Thanks Moyo for commenting. I enjoyed the video interview in your article, John Maxwell on Personal Development. It was clear that John has a clear vision of what he wants to accomplish and of how he needs to work with his team to bring it about.
Regards,
Robert