ARTICLES BY DR. ANDY NEILLIE, CSP

I’m tired of it.

I’m tired of all the bad things ending up on my desk.  I’m tired of team members not being responsible enough.  I’m tired of people who give up at the first sign of difficulty, who wimp out when the going gets tough, who are fair-weather workers, but want to be coddled when things aren’t working in their favor.  Leader – I’ll bet your tired of it too.

We recently lost a subordinate leader because the schedule she was expected to follow –

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I Can’t Understand Cricket

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of doing leadership development work around the globe.  Many years ago, during one of my engagements with a team of leaders from India, I remember having a lengthy conversation about cricket.  At the end of the conversation with one of these leaders from India, I realized I had no better understanding than I did when we started. Wickets, Overs, Stumps, Bowler, Pitch, Twenty20, a game that can go on for up to five days (!) etc.

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There is a better way to learn

Recently I was at a board meeting for a network of international schools. One of the presentations was from a language teacher who is finding good success with an innovative approach to foreign language learning. This approach, called the Growing Participator Approach, does away with much of the traditional rote memory work on vocabulary, nouns and verb tenses, cognates and idioms.  

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Whew! What a week.  Day-long meetings.  Travel between cities.  Issues and conflicts.  Financial challenges and people challenges. Very few of the things on my “ToDo” list for the week got done.  Leadership accomplishments for the week?  Nill.  And a sinking feeling that next week may be the same.

Leader, do you ever have the same type of week as me?  I suspect we all do.

I want to work in a mattress store

Several of our businesses are located in centers where there is also a mattress store.  

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What kind of questions are you asking yourself?

I had a conversation recently with one of our managers. She has been recognized as a high-potential performer since her very first job. And in the past 2+ years, it has been my great pleasure to see her go from being a “Hi-Po” individual contributor to an increasingly effective manager and leader.

We recently talked about growing our leadership influence both with direct reports and with peer leaders.

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