How to Align a Successful Team: Step 2
Posted On March 20, 2017 BY Dean Brenner
Last week, we wrote about the first step in aligning a successful team: Have a goal. Without a clear goal or mission, then the team will have no purpose, no idea where it is going. Sounds obvious, right? Sure it does. But in our experience, this seemingly obvious step gets missed all the time. There […]
How to Align a Successful Team: Step One
Posted On March 15, 2017 BY Dean Brenner
Regardless of our industry, our organization and our role within our organization, the ability to align and motivate the people who work for us or with us is a mission critical skill. Simple fact. And this is not an easy thing to do. Almost everyone shows up with their own ideas, their own agenda, and their […]
Leadership Tips: When to Debate, When to Dictate
Posted On January 30, 2017 BY Dean Brenner
I’m working with an executive right now who has an interesting and engaging leadership style. He likes to collaborate, he likes dialogue, he wants to hear what people have to say. He allows lots of input, and seems to detest strict hierarchy. I like this style, actually, because it is similar to my own. But […]
The Most Important Ability You Need in the Workplace
Posted On December 7, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
(This post written by Brett Slater, Chief Social Media Officer at The Latimer Group) I got an amazing text from Dean yesterday while he was in a break at one of The Latimer Group’s workshops: “The most important ability in the workplace is account-ability…” Whoa. Mind::blown. That phrase popped up spontaneously in that workshop, and we […]
What Is Your Superpower?
Posted On November 3, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
I have written here on many other occasions that leadership and team lessons can come from anywhere. It is always great to find some little nugget of wisdom and apply it to other facets of your life. And it is especially profound when that little nugget comes in the most innocent of ways… a passing […]
4 Keys to Leading a Successful Virtual Team
Posted On September 21, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
A virtual team is a team that is spread out over many locations, connected by the wonders of electronic communication. The hardest part of the Virtual Team is that the group rarely sees each other face to face, and in many cases, team members have never met in person. Despite an abundance of tools that […]
Remember the Lessons We Teach Our Kids
Posted On September 19, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
I have been keeping a running list of lessons and reminders my wife and I regularly share with our children. And over the last several weeks, here are some of the ones that I wrote down: Always show gratitude when someone does something nice for you. You will never go wrong saying “thank you.” If […]
Sharing Credit Builds Better Teams
Posted On August 22, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
Have you ever worked with someone who seems obsessed with taking credit for everything? I have, and it… is… awful. It is unmotivating, frustrating, and exhausting to be around someone who is constantly trying to remind you how great they are. All you ever hear from a person like that is some version of […]
Find the Joy in Your Work
Posted On August 17, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
My colleagues and I talk frequently about this blog… how we should use it, what we should write about, how much to share with our readers. And the vast majority of the time, we default to straight business topics, with real anecdotes from real experiences with our clients. This is a business blog, first and […]
Vulnerability and Strong Leadership: The Connection
Posted On August 8, 2016 BY Dean Brenner
I had a great chat this morning with a partner of The Latimer Group’s. She and I discussed a number of components of great leadership in the 21st century, and one of the ideas we kicked around was the concept of leadership “vulnerability.” I was struck by the idea enough to write a quick post […]