The downing of an enemy aircraft is a special moment of triumph for the solitary warrior who travels at supersonic speeds and engages in split second battles. "Life in the fast lane" takes on a very literal meaning. Much like the super salesman or the President of a business, the success of the pilot's mission is dependent on years of training...
"What do you do?" How often have you been asked that question? If you travel by air, before your flight is over the person next to you is probably going to ask, "What do you do?" When you're standing in the corner sipping champagne at your wife's second cousin's wedding, some stranger is certain to approach and ask, "What do you do?" What they...
Sometimes it seems that business owners are caught in an impossible squeeze. Employees want more pay, higher benefits, and shorter hours while customers want lower prices and better service. Despite all the talk about creating a better environment for employees and satisfying customer needs, more than one employer has dreamed about how few...
The experienced business owner was explaining his management philosophy to the representative from the management consulting firm. Work should be fun, he said, life is too short not to be enjoyed. The young engineer from the management consulting firm insisted that it was fine to have fun, but that the work needed to get done first. The owner...
The classroom has been invaded by the computer and other new methods, but the fundamentals of a good education still rest with mastering the three R's, reading, writing, and arithmetic. Most companies have been similarly invaded, but the basics of a sound management system still rest on three R's. When it comes to managing people however, the...
We and they. I and you. Them and us. When and how you use these pronouns can have a major impact on your effectiveness as a manager. Former Alabama football coach, the late Paul "Bear" Bryant understood the significance of choosing the right pronoun to motivate his team. The "Bear" established himself as a legend while building winning football...
The landscape of the job market changes rapidly. Many of today's jobs didn't exist ten years ago and ten years from now, the change will be greater yet. There is one thing, however, that we share in common with the generations that preceded us and those that will follow. We all began our careers young and inexperienced. Everybody had to start...
Leading and developing people are important tasks for all managers. Inspiring people to rise to new peaks of performance, levels they didn't realize they would be capable of attaining, is a key to becoming a management wizard. If you want to excel at developing people, learn to empower them with knowledge, caring, and confidence. Developing...
Most managers are familiar with the "alphabet" theories of management. It started with Theory X and Theory Y, soon there was Theory Z and the Theory of the Rising Sun. Now, hardly a year goes by without another letter of the alphabet being canonized as the theory of the year. Each of the theories is an attempt to explain human behavior. Once...
It was Private #1's first day in his new unit. His sergeant lead him to an area on the perimeter of the camp and ordered him to dig a foxhole. Private #1, as he had many times in training, dutifully, but grudgingly, begun the task of digging the foxhole. On Private #2's first day with the same unit, his sergeant lead him to a similar area and...