Moments
With
Marty

I talk quite a bit about strong leadership, a term that typifies the style of leadership that I advocate on the NBL podcast. It’s not arrogant, controlling, or aggressive… rather, it’s compassionate and empathetic. But, unlike many new-age leadership philosophies, it requires leaders to do the hard things that stretch themselves, and their people to […]

A great documentary was made several years ago called Back and Forth, which chronicled the formation and rise to stardom of the rock band, the Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl, the band’s founder, and the former drummer of legendary grunge band, Nirvana, had transitioned to front man. He was the Foo Fighters lead singer and guitarist. […]

Do management teams actually become stale? Absolutely. High-performance is fragile. There’s a few reasons why teams sometimes lose their lustre.  The first is personalities. If you’re hiring really good people, you’ll have a bunch of rugged individualists, and there will be disagreements. When people are consumed by a drive for excellence, it can be tricky […]

How do you, as a leader, set appropriate boundaries in your work relationships? How do you strike the balance between establishing trust-based, caring relationships with your people, and maintaining professional distance?  Call me overly-cautious, but I’ve come to the view over the years that leaders simply should not have romantic relationships in the workplace.  I […]

As a leader, if you don’t want your business to suffer the impact of poor decisions that are driven by fear, it’s useful to be able to recognize the triggers that indicate you’re in a fear response state. If you can sense, and then short-circuit your physiological reactions as they arise, you’ll be in a […]

Some people really don’t want to lead. But they don’t necessarily know that they don’t want to lead. How do you identify them? Well, they’ll tell you somehow, if you’re paying attention.  The most obvious sign is the constant bargaining. You’ll see them going through it every day. Should I do this? Can I justify […]

There are a few key things you need to do in order to maximize your promotability. The first is to know the difference between being a workhorse and being a trusted advisor.  Everyone loves a workhorse, but workhorses generally aren’t at the front of the line for promotion. They’re mired in the detail of the […]

In a hot job market, you can’t retain every one of your people, which is why it’s important to think about who you really need to keep and why: and it’s important to be deliberate in your approach. First, think about the people who are exceptional individuals. Now, be careful here: exceptional means they produce […]

I used to say that, with any team, nothing happens unless a leader makes it happen. But, to be more accurate, I now say that nothing different happens unless a leader makes it happen! A leader… that’s you, right!? To make any serious change requires a change of culture—the way we do things around here—and […]

How do you know when the right time is to let someone go? It’s a significant decision that you shouldn’t make lightly, because you know it’s going to have a major impact on their life? The time to make the decision is… as soon as you know. We all know the inevitable answer long before […]