Team Leadership

By Camille Smith • May 17th, 2013

We complain.  Oh, not you, of course, just those other knuckleheads. At work, our complaints sound like … “Bill’s cluttered workspace drives me nuts!”, “I wish Mary would stand up for herself, she makes all us women look bad.”, “The boss never says anything to the Sales guy when he’s late to meetings, but he [...]

“Most success springs from an obstacle or failure. I became a cartoonist largely because I failed in my goal of becoming a successful executive.” Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill “Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, [...]

Dumping-off.  We ask others to do stuff for us all the time – stuff we don’t want to do, don’t have the time to do, and couldn’t do even if we had the time.  We drop our suits off for pressing (a task we can’t do), our car for an oil change (a task we [...]

Hi, I’m Camille and I’m an extrovert. (Hi, Camille.) I confess that from time to time I’ve overlooked the talents that introverts have to offer. I’m reforming. On a recent flight, I read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. I picked it up because in my [...]

Managing Projects Overseas – Part III – Simplify the Process We just spoke of global perspective of managing projects overseas, followed with how PMs can minimize culture gaps in these situations. We now conclude with a value-based sequel relating to simplifying the process as we successfully manage our project (s) overseas. Meeting Your Timeline Objective: [...]

Managing Overseas Projects – Part I – A Global Perspective All of us have had a fair share of success in managing projects either in our own cities and/or across our country. While some of us on a few occasions have had the fortune of also engaging in projects that are overseas (the meaning of [...]

“Reason has not come to repeat the universe but to fulfill it.” -Santayana One of the great joys in life is when I get to work with clients around organizational, cultural, and community issues, sometimes we work in the woods, sometimes in the field, sometimes in a classroom, and sometime in an office environment. No [...]

(This article is part of a series originally published in Japan by ALC Press English Journal, and is written in “Global English”. CLICK HERE to see the accompanying video, spoken in “Global English”.) QUESTION:  “My subordinates are younger than me, but they seem much more global-minded. I know I need to change, but I’ve never worked abroad, and I’m [...]

(This article is part of a series originally published in Japan by ALC Press English Journal, and is written in “Global English”. CLICK HERE to see the accompanying video, spoken in “Global English”.) QUESTION:  “My whole day is an endless string of attending meaningless meetings, which are a complete waste of time. Help!” ANSWER: Unfortunately every day millions [...]

It’s impossible not to judge. Telling someone else “not to judge” — shows you have made the judgment that they are judging. Most opinions, descriptions, decisions, views, rulings, and critiques are judgments.

I know this sounds strange, but I used a diet tip that I read from Micheal Thurmond’s “6 Day Body Makeover” – to accomplish career critical tasks.

I received the below great question a few days after my Art of War for Product Managers and High-Performing Professionals.  I thought you might be interested in the answer as well. Q: Many senior employees work under my lead. In this case, many other senior employees think that what a lucky me. Jealousy is coming [...]

If you know how to drive, you already understand project management. You may still not want to be a project manager, but at least you understand better their function and value. In fact, project management and defensive driving have much in common.

Most everyone is familiar with Pro and Con lists to help make a decision. Often times the Pro and Con List does very little to clarify the decision – because – well – the reason you are creating the Pro/Con list is because it was a ‘close call’ to begin with. We don’t go to the trouble of making a Pro and Con list on ‘no-brainers’. Often times the pro and cons are pretty equal – making the decision still difficult. Our mistake is that we stop at this point. We don’t take the next step to reduce the impact of the “Cons”.

Delivering Your 4th Dimension – Value Based Reporting By Dr. Shree Nanguneri on March 20th, 2013 “Guys, our reports are due this Friday to our client!” This rings a loud bell in our ears as project managers. While you compile those reports, you might find some that are excessively detailed; others that are not written [...]

Delighting Your Customers! By Dr. Shree Nanguneri Ever thought about a time when a salesman, provider or a vendor asked you if you were delighted with their product and/or services?  Probably, much less often than you wished.  By the same token, do you recall your customer or manager complaining about a Defective product or a [...]

Can you recall a time when you and another person shared an experience, but at the end you both had completely different stories about what happened? Maybe you saw a movie with a friend and when talking about it afterward you realize they came away with a totally different take on it. If you’re like [...]

The topic of leadership is on the forefront of most, if not all, organizations these days. It’s one of the most talked about and yet least understood topics in the business world. Today I entered the generic term “leadership” in a Google search and it came back with more than 462,000 results. When I changed [...]

One of my core beliefs is that we are most happy when we feel we’re making progress in our lives. It’s painful for us to remain stagnant in life. In fact, growth is not an option; it’s a necessity. Grow or die. That is the biological imperative that all living organisms experience. “Without continual growth [...]

Today, it’s all about doing things differently and doing different things. Did you know Google runs 50 to 200 search experiments at any given time? Innovation and creativity is the lifeblood of growth – organizations who think differently and act quickly are the ones who will break from the pack.

A discussion forum in an online management, leadership, and team building course asks: Knowing that teams need to go through each stage from forming to performing, how do you accelerate the process? Consider what role personal, team, and organizational values and vision play in team development and how incentives and rewards affect the process. It [...]