The Brazen Leader

Musings on Leadership, Business, and Things that Make You Go Hmmmm

Archives for May 2008

Comfortable being uncomfortable

May 28, 2008 By D. Kevin Berchelmann Leave a Comment

So, I've got this client (lots of my stories start this way)...Well-run construction company, with a pretty darn solid management and executive staff. Recently, we promoted a mid-level manager to an executive level. Big shift, major change.I had … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Misc Business Topics

Micro-Managing, or Micro-Meddling??

May 8, 2008 By D. Kevin Berchelmann 4 Comments

I've recently had a couple of clients resort to "micromanagement" during some tough economic times. I know these executives; they are smart, on-the-ball, and savvy about their business and their people. My conversations with them surrounded the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Misc Business Topics

Blog Archives

  • ►2019 (12)
    • ►Oct(1)
      • The Courageous Leader
    • ►Sep(1)
      • Weaknesses aren't Kryptonite, they just aren't strengths...
    • ►Aug(1)
      • It’s Real Leadership We Need Today, Not “New” Leadership
    • ►Jul(1)
      • The times, they are a'changin’
    • ►Jun(1)
      • Performance Appraisals: Pain in the ass, or panacea??
    • ►May(1)
      • Needing Leaders… The "make" or "buy" decision...
    • ►Apr(1)
      • A physicist, a preacher and an Iman walk into this bar…
    • ►Mar(1)
      • Leading: Changing behavior or winning?
    • ►Feb(1)
      • The Missing Leader
    • ►Jan(3)
      • The Week... In A-Rears: Jan 25, 2018
      • How'd you do last year?
      • You Don't 'Create' a Culture... You CHANGE It!
  • ►2018 (7)
    • ►Sep(2)
      • 7 Ways to Deal with a Malcontent -- What’s that pain in my neck??
      • People vs. Process -- Which is really smarter??
    • ►Aug(1)
      • A Peek Behind the Curtain -- 15 things about me you didn't know
    • ►Jul(1)
      • American Airlines to Flight Attendants: Your passengers aren't pissed off enough!
    • ►Apr(1)
      • Rippin’ Good Feedback!
    • ►Feb(1)
      • Free Leadership Development -- Please, don't tell my wife I'm doing this
    • ►Jan(1)
      • The Simplicity of Leadership --quit complicating the uncomplicated
  • ►2017 (26)
    • ►Dec(2)
      • Sexual Harassment: Whack the first one, word will spread
      • Leadership & Control: Symbiotic, not mutually exclusive
    • ►Nov(1)
      • Feedback 2020 and beyond – In the future, we’ll actually communicate!
    • ►Oct(2)
      • Diversity in Tech: Dudes, you’re failing!
      • Leadership has Rules
    • ►Sep(1)
      • Offended? Who cares?
    • ►Aug(2)
      • Leadership Orientation
      • The Oldest Profession... that isn't??
    • ►Jul(7)
      • Some Coaching Advice -- Gratis
      • Leadership and Retention: Keeping top performers
      • Performance Management Simplified
      • Success According to Karl
      • "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Does Leadership Development
      • Devil's Advocate -- Saint or sinner??
      • Leadership Can Hurt!
    • ►Jun(4)
      • Storm’s a-coming… time to LEAD
      • Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...
      • Uber is Dead! Long Live Uber!
      • Onboarding: The path to productivity, engagement and employee retention
    • ►May(1)
      • Packers, Rodgers, and Leading Really Big Guys
    • ►Apr(2)
      • You’ve got a bad attitude…
      • Never wrong doesn’t necessarily mean always right
    • ►Mar(2)
      • Leading Organizational Transformation
      • Leadership and Playing Favorites
    • ►Feb(1)
      • Decision-Making, Mistakes and Leadership
    • ►Jan(1)
      • How to be a new leader?
  • ►2016 (12)
    • ►Nov(2)
      • Leaders--Dance with who brung ya...
      • Timeless Leadership Marches On
    • ►Sep(1)
      • Wells Fargo: Bull$h!t and the impact of crooked leadership
    • ►Aug(5)
      • Where Is Everybody? The war for talent rages on…
      • Why do Leaders make this so HARD??
      • They Let Me Do My Job
      • 3 Key Strategies for Effective Training (of any kind)
      • Executive Teamwork--Playing well together in the C-suite
    • ►Apr(1)
      • It’s NOT The Economy, Stupid!
    • ►Feb(1)
      • Just thinkin' out loud here...
    • ►Jan(2)
      • A novel idea--let's ASK!
      • Executive Teamwork: Why senior staffs must play well together
  • ►2015 (18)
    • ►Dec(1)
      • Leaders: Home-grown or hatched?
    • ►Oct(2)
      • How can I motivate without a budget?
      • In The Beginning, There Were... DOGS!
    • ►Sep(5)
      • Leadership and The Book of Marlin
      • That's not FAIR!
      • Leadership & Snakes--A recipe for getting bit
      • Leadership & Automatic Crap
      • Leaders can be Right... and Wrong... at the Same Time
    • ►Aug(3)
      • Leadership Can Hurt — Wear a helmet…
      • Do Balanced Scorecards Work? What a stupid question...
      • Leading by Example—Nobody asked you
    • ►Jun(1)
      • Engagement isn’t about money, it’s about leadership
    • ►May(1)
      • Leadership Slumber--"Sleep & Learn" is alive & well...
    • ►Apr(1)
      • Leadership Laws: #3 -- Stop answering questions!
    • ►Mar(2)
      • Leadership Laws--#2
      • Leaders--Born or Made??
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      • The Five Leadership Laws: Law #1
    • ►Jan(1)
      • Rewards for Doing Your Job--Why would I do that??
  • ►2014 (15)
    • ►Oct(3)
      • I Want to Develop Somebody... but Who??
      • Leadership & Control: Symbiotic, not mutually exclusive
      • The Leadership Apology--Satya Nadella Gets it Right
    • ►Sep(1)
      • Productivity and Time Management--NOT the same thing
    • ►Aug(3)
      • So, are you micro-managing??
      • Does Turnover Really Matter?
      • Resolving Conflict--this isn't post-doctoral study, folks...
    • ►Jul(1)
      • Soccer, Leadership and the Pony Express
    • ►Jun(1)
      • Egalitarian folly
    • ►May(1)
      • Adam Silver… Good decision, mediocre leadership
    • ►Apr(1)
      • The Troops Eat First
    • ►Mar(1)
      • Hey, Where'd Everybody Go?? Poaching back in vogue...
    • ►Feb(1)
      • Those Who Can't Do... TEACH!
    • ►Jan(2)
      • Training--Avoiding a Train-Wreck
      • Talent Management Strategy MUST Match Business Goals...
  • ►2013 (4)
    • ►Dec(1)
      • How to Pay... and to WHOM??
    • ►Nov(1)
      • I Want to Develop Somebody... but Who??
    • ►Jan(2)
      • Leadership in 2013--Different than 2012??
      • High Performance Leadership
  • ►2012 (23)
    • ►Dec(2)
      • The Myth of Leadership by Birth
      • Leadership and the Art of Leader-making
    • ►Nov(4)
      • Leadership and the Direct Lie
      • Twinkies: Leadership sophistry with a cream filling
      • Leadership: Drive Employee Happiness or Engagement??
      • The Trilogy: Responsibility, Accountability, and Leadership
    • ►Oct(4)
      • Employee Engagement--Measure it or Forget it!
      • Recession Proof Leadership--5 Keys
      • Leadership Shake-up--5 ways to make things happen”
      • Public Hangings in America--Real Leadership
    • ►Sep(1)
      • The Leadership Myth
    • ►Jul(1)
      • Change Leadership, Rackspace, and Automatic Crap
    • ►Jun(4)
      • Motivation without Money: Leadership, leadership, leadership
      • Middle managers: we didn’t miss ‘em until they were gone...
      • Workforce Planning -- Leadership & Strategy
      • Train 'em, Danno -- Training Employees
    • ►Mar(3)
      • The Leadership Myth--Actually, just one of many...
      • How to Succeed in Human Resources
      • Leadership Succession: The future of every organization
    • ►Feb(2)
      • Strategic Leadership -- Year in review
      • Leadership is Easy -- Why do we make it so hard?
    • ►Jan(2)
      • "Across the Board" just doesn't cut it
      • Leadership: Motivation without money...
  • ►2011 (29)
    • ►Oct(3)
      • When the candidate pool is too shallow to swim...
      • Talent Management Strategy Must Match Business Goals
      • It's called Leadership, not Jerkship
    • ►Aug(5)
      • Leadership and Automatic Crap
      • Leadership is About the People... Whodathunkit??
      • Leadership Expertise Takes Work -- PERSONAL work
      • Leadership Can Hurt -- Wear a helmet...
      • Leadership and Retention: Keeping top performers
    • ►Jul(13)
      • C-Level Leadership, by definition, is STRATEGIC; Get outta the weeds...
      • Leaders, Step Up & Motivate... And no, you can't use your wallet!
      • Leadership: You're doing it wrong...
      • Leadership and the Devil's Advocate: Saint or Sinner?
      • Succession Planning -- Hey Exec! You've got to do YOUR part!
      • Impact of Employee Engagement: Leadership Myth or Misnomer?
      • Leadership: Size Matters... doesn't it??
      • Leadership & HR Compliance -- 5 easy steps
      • Staples Crappy Customer Service -- Let's Pay Money to Piss 'em Off !
      • Successful Leadership vs. Really Stupid Policies
      • Succession Done Stupidly: Negligent planning at the highest level
      • Go Ugly Early -- Or, "How to get things done when you're bat-shit busy"
      • My Leaders Aren't Leading... What's up with that??
    • ►Jun(2)
      • 2011 Survey of Senior Leadership
      • Stars -- Leadership and the Key Employee
    • ►May(1)
      • Course Evaluations: Function or Flattery?
    • ►Apr(1)
      • It's NOT The Economy, Stupid!
    • ►Feb(1)
      • Forced Rankings -- Are we still beating this horse??
    • ►Jan(3)
      • Self-Confidence: Birthright or "Good Learning??"
      • Incentive Compensation Tidbits and Thinking
      • Human Resources and the Ethical Dilemma
  • ►2010 (21)
    • ►Dec(2)
      • Employees, Employers, and Changin' Times...
      • I 'Heart' Boobies...
    • ►Oct(2)
      • Change and Morale... does it matter??
      • Change of Control & Severance... For What???
    • ►Aug(7)
      • Flight Attendants -- unaccountable nazis in the sky...
      • Talent Management Strategy MUST Match business Goals...
      • Obama, Hayward & Limbaugh -- strange bedfellows...
      • When the Talent Pool is too Shallow to Swim...
      • Can I Motivate Without a Budget?
      • Leadership Training on the Rise
      • Some Coaching Advice -- Gratis
    • ►Jul(1)
      • Be Real -- Stupid Should Hurt!
    • ►Jun(1)
      • Gut-Check: Is that intuition, or just gas...?
    • ►May(2)
      • The Oldest Profession... that isn't??
      • Are We Working Smarter or Harder? Tomato - Tomahto...
    • ►Apr(1)
      • Visions, Plans, and Hallucinations
    • ►Mar(2)
      • The TSA... Is anyone in charge there at all??
      • Manufacturing Matters... Really!
    • ►Feb(1)
      • Reading CAN make you dumber...
    • ►Jan(2)
      • Hmmm, You look Like a 4.87 to me...
      • Meetings, Cell Phones, and Managers
  • ►2009 (40)
    • ►Dec(5)
      • More Consulant Crockery...
      • Nevermind Thunder -- Beware of Talent Bolts!
      • Performance Appraisals Made Easy...
      • Last one out, turn out the lights...
      • When hiring, just as in poker, trust your gut... and always cut the cards.
    • ►Nov(1)
      • Everybody's doing it -- are you??
    • ►Oct(1)
      • Leadership & Multitasking... Stop It!
    • ►Sep(4)
      • Leaders Communicate, and skim-listening is not the same thing...
      • Employee Layoffs -- Cause and Effect... and Results
      • All Senior Leaders Need a Shirt
      • Leadership is Harder Than it Looks, eh Stanford??
    • ►Aug(1)
      • Strategy -- When Egos and Logic Collide...
    • ►Jul(6)
      • You Aren't Paranoid -- they really don't like you!
      • Loyalty in Employment -- Where the hell did it go??
      • My Civic Duty...
      • California: Stupid is as stupid does...
      • Leading is Easy -- Until it isn't
      • California or Bust -- Fitting choice of words...
    • ►Jun(3)
      • Saving Your Way To Prosperity
      • Memo to Harvard: Physician, Heal Thyself.
      • Because I Don't Have To
    • ►May(6)
      • Home Depot's Marvin Ellison: Leadership -- The Human Buffer
      • They Let Me Do My Job
      • Women in Leadership -- Is There a Mapquest Link?
      • Generations, Sasquatch, and Other Mythical Monsters
      • Sometimes leadership and policies are mutually exclusive
      • Can Nardelli Lead Chrysler -- Successfully -- Through Bankruptcy?
    • ►Apr(5)
      • Leadership sometimes requires Leaders. Whouldathunkit??
      • Why do Leaders make this so HARD??
      • Frequent Decisions Usually Make Successful Decisions
      • So, is HR Really Important?
      • Who Best to Develop Leaders?
    • ►Mar(1)
      • Leaders can be right, and wrong, at the same time
    • ►Feb(4)
      • Challenging times require real, no-kidding leadership
      • GM's Problems... Whouldathunkit??
      • "NUTS!!" Decisive Leadership Matters
      • Leadership, Innovation, and Old Age
    • ►Jan(3)
      • Hottie Rating... You're a 10!!
      • Creating and Maintaining Culture
      • You've got a bad attitude...
  • ►2008 (36)
    • ►Dec(2)
      • How to pay... and whom??
      • Pick of the Litter
    • ►Nov(3)
      • Leaders Lead, Manipulators Manipulate
      • Leading during layoffs...
      • Brother, have you got a dime?
    • ►Oct(2)
      • Slow Learner...
      • Those Who Can't Do... TEACH!
    • ►Sep(2)
      • Change is good... To WHOM???
      • Well, it's getting better...
    • ►Aug(2)
      • Just be nice...
      • Egalitarian Folly
    • ►Jul(1)
      • Strategic, yes, Planning, no.
    • ►Jun(1)
      • "Stupid should hurt..."
    • ►May(2)
      • Comfortable being uncomfortable
      • Micro-Managing, or Micro-Meddling??
    • ►Apr(4)
      • Airline CEO = Rocket Scientist
      • Continental Idiots Refuse to be Left Out
      • Stupidity in the Skies
      • The Missing Leader
    • ►Mar(7)
      • Entitlement tips
      • Did I mention that I HATE traveling?
      • Forced Ranking -- Good or Bad?
      • Someone Turn out the Lights...
      • Coffe Break
      • Show me da money!
      • Out with the old, In with the new...
    • ►Feb(8)
      • COLI is bad for you... and no, I don't mean E-coli
      • Smart Coffee
      • Just wanna have FUN!
      • Do what we do...
      • How much do we have to pay??
      • Customers DO Matter...!
      • SHERM's got bucks...
      • What's this "empowerment" stuff?
    • ►Jan(2)
      • Give it to me STRAIGHT!
      • Yooo-hoooo... Here I am!!
  • ►2007 (43)
    • ►Nov(1)
      • Automatic Crap
    • ►Oct(3)
      • Checkin' up on you...
      • I'm just sayin'...
      • Investment in Leadership
    • ►Sep(1)
      • All you need to know about incentives...
    • ►Aug(5)
      • Back 'em First -- Kill 'em Later...
      • Outsource or Die...!
      • I Want to Develop Somebody... but Who??
      • A Monster of a lesson...
      • Tip BIG for the deserving, and drop coal in the tip jars!
    • ►Jul(6)
      • Leadership Laws: #5
      • Leadership Laws: #4
      • Leadership Laws: #3
      • Fees, Fees, Everywhere, Fees!
      • I Don't DO Mediation...
      • Leadership Laws: #2
    • ►Jun(8)
      • You can't quit -- You're FIRED!!
      • Leadership Laws: #1
      • A Pig in a Dress... is Still a Pig!
      • Who's on First?
      • Stars that, well... Aren't
      • It's in the Stars...
      • HR 2.0 -- Logical connection to Web 2.0??
      • I can't do what I don't know...
    • ►May(7)
      • What's my motivation??
      • Mas Dinero...
      • Process makes perfect...
      • Pay for departure??
      • Advancing in HR -- it takes effort
      • Just Pay the Man...
      • Sign, sign, everywhere a sign...
    • ►Apr(1)
      • HR & Ethics -- Marriage or Mismatch?
    • ►Mar(6)
      • Talent Management -- Dogs!!
      • Where have all the people gone...?
      • Talent Management -- Snakes!
      • Leadership Orientation
      • Let's Benchmark!
      • Different Thinkin'
    • ►Feb(3)
      • You make how much??
      • Forest for the trees...
      • Never wrong doesn't necessarily mean always right
    • ►Jan(2)
      • Executive Life... How Hard Can it be??
      • 2006 is gone... So What??
  • ►2006 (49)
    • ►Dec(10)
      • Change, change, change...
      • 2007 -- is that a light or a train??
      • Outsourcing Management
      • More Manna on Mediocrity
      • Stop Mediocrity -- A 12-Step Program??
      • So, I Built it, They Came... Now They're Leaving... What Gives??
      • HR Leadership -- Alchemy or Oxymoron??
      • Turnover...?
      • Mediocrity Kills...
      • Incentive Compensation -- Make it Work!
    • ►Nov(3)
      • CEOs and Talent Management
      • "How to Succeed in Human Resources"
      • Shut up, sit down, and color...
    • ►Oct(4)
      • Take us to your Leader... Beam me up, Scotty!
      • Fish or fowl?
      • Across the Board isn't enough...
      • Leadership Squared
    • ►Sep(11)
      • Talent Management -- Keep it Simple...
      • Ivory towers are everywhere...
      • Some clarification for my sensitive readers...
      • Minimum Wage... Get real, but get ready
      • Process beats promise any day...
      • Wherefore art thou, CEO??
      • Real leaders “Lead.” That’s right, folks, and you read it here first…
      • That's not fair
      • Make wrong decisions
      • Just say "no" to "yes"
      • Pay them, they will come...
    • ►Aug(2)
      • The Book of Marlin
      • Why Retention Plans?
    • ►Jul(2)
      • Ken Lay
      • The Troops Eat First
    • ►Jun(4)
      • "Personnel" -- The good old days??
      • Are Leaders Made or Born?
      • Increasing Employee Benefits Contributions
      • Marketing HR
    • ►May(11)
      • Unions -- Wherefore Art Thou??
      • Manager Evaluations -- 360 & Subordinate
      • Organizational Design
      • Compensation -- Executive Comp in Smaller Companies
      • More HR Budgeting
      • Compensation -- Gainsharing
      • Span of Control
      • I Believe...
      • Exceptions vs. Precedents
      • Top HR Issues for 2006
      • Budgeting That Matters for Human Resources
    • ►Apr(2)
      • Executive Teamwork Depends on the Executive First
      • Leadership Stengths, Weaknesses & Skills

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