Matt Schlegel - UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley

I was speaking with a project manager the other day who complained that his boss was always telling him to just get to the point. Translating complex issues down to a single point proved difficult for this person and the situation frustrated both the boss and the project manager. What makes one person comfortable focusing [...]

How might we apply the observations Richard Nisbett made in his book Geography of Thought to the project-driven workplace? Is there a Workplace of Thought? And, if so, can our understanding of the Workplace of Thought help us manage our project stakeholders more effectively? During my career, I made the transition from engineer to project [...]

Recently one of my clients sent a team of engineers to Japan. For most of the team this was their first visit to that country. Before going, they asked me to brief them on some of the cultural issues they might encounter. There is a long list of things to watch out for, from beer [...]

Extraordinary leaders can, at times, exhibit bully-like behavior.  Sometimes they can slip into and out of that behavioral mode unknowingly, unaware of the effects their behavior has on others.  I have interviewed such leaders and their staff members and will share some insights. I have asked self-aware leaders – who have a sense of when [...]

Bullies both scare and fascinate me.  Observing both the child bully and the adult bully, it is interesting to see how their techniques become more sophisticated as the bully matures. Also, it is interesting to see how later sophistication is still based fundamentally on playground behavior.  I will describe two hauntingly similar scenarios, one involving [...]

There seems to be a certain type of person inclined to bully-like behavior by nature.  Bully-like behavior is generally not revealed until the potential bully is under stress and his or her security is threatened in some way.  The workplace, like the schoolyard, can be conducive to such threatening situations. What is the nature of [...]

When I was young, my family moved around a lot.  Not until high school did I attend the same school two years in a row.  When you are the new kid, you inevitably meet the welcoming committee:  the class bully and his minions. Having to deal with these encounters year after year, I found I [...]

One of my clients is a small-sized, innovative technology company that has been in business for over 20 years. It is a self-funded, privately-held company with no venture backing. The company is like a family; it is not uncommon for an employee to say they have been with the company over 15 years. At no [...]

One of my clients is a strong leader. She is a strategic thinker and as smart as they come. She guides herself and her team to the delivery of consistently great results. Yet, she complains to me that her team fails to think for themselves. As such, she has to maintain a hands-on approach and [...]

Are you emotional? If you are reading this you probably are. Are you *too* emotional? That depends. This statement infers that a judgment is being made. The person who would make that statement would be responding to an emoting person. I have been in situations where one person tells another that they are being “too [...]

I am a professional worrier.  Yes, at times I actually feel like I get paid to worry.  What could go wrong with this, what could go wrong with that, what are the mitigation plans?  This was true when I was a project manager and an engineering manager. But, with those positions I was also responsible [...]

In the previous blog I described how the numbers of the Enneagram are the sequence in which humans would naturally solve problems.  As an engineering manager, when I was challenged to address some large structural problems like the type I described in the first blog of this series, I looked to the Enneagram to provide [...]

In the previous blog, I provided you with a link to a blog about a problem-solving tool that I am describing in detail on the SD Forum Engineering Leadership SIG (ELSIG) blog site: http://sdforumelsig.blogspot.com/search?q=matt+schlegel And, while you will find the steps of that problem-solving approach in the ELSIG blog, I include them here for your [...]

I am writing a book. I plan to finish writing this book by the end of March 2010, and  plan to publish it by the end of March 2011. Those are my big goals.  The book is about solving problems, and not just any problem, but solving a specific class of problems. It is the [...]