I love how Amazon talks about ownership: Leaders are owners. They think long term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond just their own team. They never say “that’s not my job”. We’ve all worked with folks who said, “that’s not my job,” and hated …
Every high performing team values ownership CONTINUE READING
Today I was on a phone call with a peer of mine at work, the VP of Engineering at Liquid Web. Within 20 minutes anyone listening to our call would have known I was speaking to a leader, not just a manager. Here are the differences that are easy to spot when you know what …
Four differences between a leader and a manager CONTINUE READING
If you didn’t catch the news, Bruno Mars won in all 6 categories that he was nominated for at this year’s Grammys. That’s a huge win – regardless of whether you love his music or not. This was the first time that the winner of the best R&B album also won the top (pop) award …
Every day I’m presented with a common choice in the software development space – I can either have it done correctly or I can have it done quickly. I’m asked, which do I want? Another common challenge is that I’m told there are finite resources (staff) with a fixed amount of time. So given all …
Today I read a financial article about Netflix. While it’s interesting, one statement in it, as an aside, caught my eye: the year that Netflix started working on original programming. The original model for Netflix was them functioning as a distributor. They helped customers get access to movies that others had made. But at some …
Leaders engage others with original stories CONTINUE READING
It’s a well known fact that magazines use Photoshop to touch up the photos of people to make them look more like they want them to. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m just saying it is what happens. The most recent situation with Vanity Fair was a set of photos that gave Reese Witherspoon three …
Vanity Fair Photoshop Mistakes – will leaders fall into the same trap? CONTINUE READING
I don’t know if there’s a magic number for the books and articles you should read each year. I don’t know if people who read more are liked more. Or if they get more done. There’s a lot I don’t know about reading. But I know one thing – people who read a lot are …
I’m sitting here working on a proposal for a friend. Why? It’s not making me money. I don’t owe this friend a favor. It’s late and I’ve already worked all day. But here’s why. Every single thing I’ve learned – about leadership, team management, or technology – has come from someone else sharing their time …
How you define a leader will change your expectations of a leader. It will also change how you think about your own leadership.
The other day I said that leaders need to make sure their staff never stop learning. But the reality is that it goes further than that. Leaders need to be teachers. I know you know this already but it is worth repeating. You’ll never know something as well as when you have to teach it …