Quote of the Week - More on Idea Execution
by edavis on 22/06/10 at 8:06 pm
I’m currently reading Scott Belsky’s Making Ideas Happen. It is a fascinating read that looks at the creative mindset that focuses less on idea generation and more on idea implementation and execution.
In my line of work, ideas are constantly generated. However, idea killing and more importantly, idea execution, receive less fanfare. [...]
Leaders vs. Managers
Who are leaders? Who are managers? What are the differences? How important are these differences? These are questions I ask myself all of the time.
As I mentioned before, I love to read. And I love to read for a purpose. Currently, I’m reading F.A. Manske’s Secrets of Effective Leadership: A Practical Guide to [...]
Meetings Revisited
Meetings: The endless time suck or the path leading to greater efficiency, effectiveness, and just plain getting things done? For me, it was the former.
As I’ve stated before, I dreaded my weekly status meetings, especially the ones I ran. I wanted my meetings to serve a purpose, foster better communications, focus our strategy, and lead [...]
Unplug, Clear Out, Kick In
It’s bad. Every day seems the same. I’m at the point now that I don’t even know what day of the week it is. It’s October, right? What happened to September? 2009?
Let’s face it. I’ve been working non-stop for a year now. And I mean non-stop. Vacation? I accumulate vacation [...]
Different Paths
I have the privilege to manage a multi-year, multi-million engagement that supports one of the offices within the Department of Health and Human Services. My team makes a number of things happen such as web design and development, IT support, database development, call center operations, plain language web writing, print design, social media marketing, [...]
Full StoryDeath by Meeting: My First Take
In an earlier post about running effective meetings, I stated that I read Patrick Lencioni’s book Death by Meeting and was going to give his ideas a try. So far, my team and I have experimented with the Daily Check-ins and the Weekly Tactical meetings. Here is my take:
Daily Check-ins
When I stated that I wanted [...]
Are You Kidding Me? More Meetings?!!!
Like most people, I dread the weekly status meeting. I sit there and ask myself “Why am I here?”, “What is the purpose of this meeting?”, and “What real work could I be doing instead of this meeting?”. And to make matters worse, I am the one who runs this meeting! If I’m feeling this [...]
Full StoryThe One Thing
Movies. Is it me or do you find certain movies being more than just entertainment? Do you find yourself watching some of the same movies and scenes time and time again? Are there certain scenes that inspire you to be a better leader, to take a chance, or become a more creative thinker? For me, [...]
Full StoryIs Too Much Reading Bad For You?
Let me start off my saying that I love to read. I’ll read anything I can get my hands on. This includes books (I enjoy the business variety), newspapers, magazines (Fast Company is a must), blogs, tweets, retweets, status reports, RFPs, street signs, funny t-shirts, takeout menus, movie credits, and even those tags one finds [...]
Full Story