by Michael Holland In a recent discussion with a CEO regarding her career path up through the finance function of an organization, it was revealed that she still maintained full functional responsibility for finance and accounting since she had chosen to not replace herself as CFO nor had she replaced her prior role of Controller. [...]
by Michael Holland What makes a leader great? They know why they lead. Seems simple, really, that if you truly know your purpose in leading and the value system which resonates those beliefs, then your behaviors will reveal your leadership principles. The difficulty for many leaders is that their “why” of leading is shallow. They [...]
by Michael Holland Here's Robin's list of books every leader should have on their bookshelf. First, Break all the Rules – Marcus Buckingham The Five Levels of Leadership – John Maxwell QBQ! The Question Behind the Question – John Miller The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – Patrick Lencioni Crucial Conversations – Paterson, Grenny, McMillan, [...]
By Michael Holland Team engagement and motivation can wane over time. Here are five steps you can take to awaken your team. Play a Game – At the start of a team meeting or in the middle of the day play a quick round of “minute to win it” games. Utilize the energy [...]
by Michael Holland Michael Phelps won the 200 meter butterfly in the 2008 Olympics by seven-tenths of a second – and set a world record – while swimming blind the last 100 meters as his goggles filled with water. He had practiced his race so many times in his mind seeing every action, every movement, [...]
by Michael Holland Are you investing 13 minutes a day planning your work? How about your employees? Productivity increases significantly when we make conscious decisions about what to work on and for how long. Planning allows us to be proactive rather than reactive and to work for results rather than filling time fighting fires or [...]
By Michael Holland Question to Ponder: Why have organizations invested such large sums of money to fund supervisors, team leaders, managers, project managers, regional managers, associate directors, directors, senior directors, VPs, senior VPs, CFOs, CAOs, CIOs, COOs, and CEOs? A very intriguing theme from the book The Smart Swarm: How to Work Efficiently, Communicate Effectively, and [...]
by Michael Holland The departure of a high level leader from an organization creates a vacuum of leadership. In rare circumstances a company actually has an up-to-date and implementable succession plan. But for most companies, the succession plan notebook sits right next to the dust covered copy of the strategic plan on the middle shelf [...]
by Michael Holland You’ve just finished a tough business call with a very rude, obnoxious person. Now you are off to attend your team meeting. Any guess as to the climate you’ll help create for that meeting? Well social psychologists know very well what will likely happen. A team, like an individual, will follow the [...]
by Michael Holland The interesting thing about people coming together in organizations is that they tend to create a mini-society and this society will have its own personality, rules, values and behaviors. Leaders may tend to underestimate the ingrained culture within these mini-societies and overestimate their ability to change these mini-societies with simple [...]
