Shifting Sands Archives -

Where Craft Masters Are Key To Winning In Business

BRAVE Leadership, Business Management, Communication, Leadership, Leadership Skills, Shifting Sands, Strategy

There’s something almost magical about being in the presence of a true craft master. Their level of caring and sensibilities goes so far beyond unconscious competence that it makes all around them feel different. Most of the time, you don’t need them. But they can...

The Critical Differences Between Strategic, Tactical And Crisis Leadership

BRAVE Leadership, Business Management, Communication, Leadership, Leadership Skills, Shifting Sands, Strategy

Strategic leadership is about creating and allocating resources ahead of the action. Tactical leadership is about managing resources during the action. Crisis leadership requires both at the same time. The concept is simple – if you’re viewing things dispassionately...

The Most Important Lessons From Disney And GE’s Botched CEO Handovers

Business Management, Executive Onboarding, Leadership Skills, New Leader's Playbook, Onboarding, Shifting Sands, Strategy

Experienced leaders’ #1 regret is not moving fast enough on people. Both Disney and GE botched CEO handovers. The difference is that Disney moved relatively quickly to right the wrong while GE did not. There are all sorts of lessons about picking the right CEO,...

How Possible House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Twitter’s New CEO, And You Must Get The Balance Of Consequences Right

Business Management, Executive Onboarding, Leadership Skills, New Leader's Playbook, Onboarding, Shifting Sands, Strategy

Kevin McCarthy is facing one of the classic new leader dilemmas: aligning expectations on his way to potentially taking over as Speaker of the House. Promising too little risks not getting the job in the first place. Promising too much risks negative consequences down...

Heed The Warning Signs Of Your Team Being Choked For Time

Business Management, Executive Onboarding, Leadership Skills, New Leader's Playbook, Onboarding, Shifting Sands, Strategy

We’ve all seen it: more and more internal meetings and calls each getting less productive; people multi-tasking in those meetings and calls; people taking longer and longer to reply to emails or notes; decisions taking longer and longer. Just like shortness of breath,...

Relooking At The Value Of Large In-Person Meetings In Culture-Building

Business Management, Executive Onboarding, Leadership Skills, New Leader's Playbook, Onboarding, Shifting Sands, Strategy

Two of my early articles for Forbes were on QlikTech CEO Galvanizes Team, Delivers 50% Growth, and on Five Steps To Turn Wasteful Meetings Into Drivers Of Success. The main point was on the value of large in-person meetings in terms of building and strengthening...