Moments
With
Marty

According to the Urban Dictionary, a Captain’s Call is a decision made unilaterally by a team leader without consulting colleagues, often resulting in a massive CF, which, to be clear, is an acronym representing two words – first word, “cluster” In the majority of cases, these Captain’s Calls are seen by team members as being […]

You’ve probably heard me say that, for all the complexities and nuances of human interaction, people’s needs are pretty simple. They want to know three things when they come into work each day: What are your expectations of me? How am I performing against those expectations? and What does my future hold? As a leader, […]

Communication is an incredibly important element of leadership. How you talk to your team, how you deliver a presentation when you’re in a room full of important people, and how well you connect one-on-one with your direct reports can all have a huge bearing on your performance, and your personal credibility. Knowing how to convey […]

It is common in most larger organizations to restructure from time to time. These restructures are generally carried out for the right reasons, but are too often ill-conceived in terms of how much value they will generate, when weighed against the disruption, cost, and uncertainty that come as a by-product of the restructure. Most often, […]

Many of you probably wouldn’t know that I cut my leadership teeth on large software development projects as a project manager. And throughout my career, I’ve had executive or sponsorship accountability for large projects in construction, procurement, major asset overhaul, and capital efficiency. So, when I get to talk about projects, it’s like putting on […]

Collaboration is one of the big buzz words of 21st century leadership. It’s almost as if we’ve had a huge awakening about the need for people to exchange ideas, and work together to achieve a common outcome. I hate to be a Scrooge, but this is one of the core principles that underpins the theory […]

As humans, our power of rationalization is nothing sort of masterful. Whenever we avoid something we don’t want to do, we convince ourselves subconsciously that it didn’t really need to be done in the first place! And when we look at the results we achieve at work, it’s incredibly easy to believe our own bullsh!t. […]

Blaming others when something doesn’t go to plan is one of the most insidious (and unfortunately, most common) leadership behaviors. It’s a cancer in your culture that has to be eradicated.  When a leader tolerates the blame game, excuses become the norm, and organizational politics thrives.  I came to believe over time that excuses are […]

Is leading from the front a good thing? Well, the short answer is yes, but it comes with one major caveat. I’ve seen many leaders doing the work of people below them and then painting this as a virtue by saying, “I’m leading from the front.” This concept is completely flawed, and it’s a dangerous […]

I’ve seen the devastating effects of laissez-faire leaders. They seem to think that if you keep people happy, they’ll naturally give you their best work. In my experience, this is almost never the case. You’ll recognize a permissive or weak leader because they’ll verbalize it in some pretty standard ways. Just make a little note […]