“I don’t trust my boss.” “I think he’s out to get me.” “She’s such a hypocrite.” “I’m afraid of what he might say.” “She’s going to think I’m dumb.” “I hate when my boss comes to meetings.” “He doesn’t care about my success, just his.” Like almost everyone else, I’m sure you’ve seen a boss… [Continue Reading]
This is part three of a three-part series entitled “The Real Job of a Manager and Why it’s Easy to be Bad at It”. Part 1 focuses on The Fundamentals of Management, part 2 focuses on Managing the Work and part 3 focuses on Managing the People. We’ve covered how to Manage the Work with… [Continue Reading]
Everything was on fire when Jacob joined Horizon Engineering as a new manager. Deadlines were missed, team morale was low, and no one really knew what was going on. Jacob knew what to do though, and over the next couple years, he transformed his group. The fires slowly began to disappear and the team began to… [Continue Reading]
Emanuel imagined walking into the meeting, shoulders straight and determined. He’d lay down his terms with the most convincing of arguments. The others in the room would nod their heads, approving his request. He’d walk out like a boss, a sly smile on his face, knowing he’d won that negotiation. Hands down, one of the most… [Continue Reading]
He daydreamed about his moment in the spotlight. The next big thing. That’s what he wanted to achieve. He grew up envying visionary titans and hoping one day that he’d be like them. Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, those were his role models. He imagined standing on the big stage, spotlight on him, saying… [Continue Reading]
I’ve written previously about how assumptions can ruin your career, but I realize that it’s important to know how to handle squashing your assumptions too. It’s not a very difficult process, but it does require knowing how to do it and plenty of practice. This post is dedicated to giving you the framework to get started,… [Continue Reading]
Omar’s boss had been hounding him for the past few weeks. Omar had been on top of their new project, but it didn’t seem enough. With the sudden seemingly negative attention on him, he began to wonder if he had lost his boss’ confidence. Why else would he be micromanaging the project now? He began… [Continue Reading]
As a manager, lead, or engineer, a lot of your time is spent trying to figure out how to do your job. You can get bogged down in the details, and sometimes, it comes at the expenses of the broader vision. In my own journey of exploring leadership styles, the one thing in common between… [Continue Reading]
Allison just finished getting chewed out by her boss. It was a grueling 30 minutes of hearing about how she didn’t take initiative and dropped the ball. She felt totally deflated and just wanted to take the rest of the day—if not week—off. She had a plenty of legitimate excuses, but because she was the… [Continue Reading]
It’s not always easy to stay positive. Everyone is entitled to feeling the emotions they feel. Anyone who tells you otherwise isn’t doing justice to the fact that people have complex needs. When we look at others, we shouldn’t be so quick to judge if they don’t always seem positive or in a good mood. For yourself, however, you should set… [Continue Reading]
