Awareness of Actual Circumstances Versus Impervious Optimism

Why is an awareness of actual circumstances so hard – and what makes it so important – for leaders to see the world as it really is? Let’s look as some examples of leaders who have addressed this question.

When we think of all the responsibility, setbacks, and other difficulties that a leader must face in today’s work environment, the need for an underlying optimism is hardly surprising. But that optimism, something that is widely viewed as a valuable personality trait, can be an Achilles’ heel for leaders.

Optimism is a much more complicated concept than we often realize. Consider the following illustration involving a former employee of mine.


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About the Author

Justin Menkes is an acclaimed author and leading expert in executive assessment. A consultant for the influential executive search firm Spencer Stuart, he and his colleagues advise the boards of the world’s leading companies on their choice of CEO. He authored The Wall Street Journal bestseller Executive Intelligence: What All Great Leaders Have and has written articles for Chief Executive and the Harvard Business Review. To read Justin Menkes’ complete biography, click here.

Corporate Cultures – Leader Initiated, Documented Processes Controlled Environment

The Leader Initiated, Documented Processes Controlled Environment is one of two anchor points on the Culture-based Work Performance Model. Subsequently, organizations aligned with this culture set represent the highest level of work consistency and efficiency while incurring the greatest degree of risk in job satisfaction and creativity.


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Debriefing as Continuous Improvement

If there was one trend in the last decade of the twentieth century that anyone would recognize as important, it would be continuous improvement. Whether it was branded the Deming Method or Six
Sigma or a host of other models, ‘continuous improvement processes’ found their way into organizations large and small and have made a major contribution to improving quality worldwide.

In an environment of instant and unpredictable change, most of these models are statistically based and unwieldy. They can bog down a company and delay actions and reactions so much that they become ends instead of means. To survive, thrive, and remain on the cutting edge, organizations must learn to adapt rapidly, which means they need feedback loops that are nearly instantaneous and a process for feeding lessons learned back into the company in near-real time. They must close the gap between what was true about the market yesterday and what the new truth is today.


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About the Authors

James MurphyJames D. ‘Murph’ Murphy, the Founder & CEO of Afterburner, Inc., has a unique and powerful mix of leadership skills in both the military and business worlds. Murph joined the U.S. Air Force where he learned to fly the F-15. He logged over 1,200 hours as an instructor pilot in the F-15 and accumulated over 3,200 hours of flight time in other high-performance aircraft. As the 116th Fighter Wing’s Chief of Training for the Georgia Air National Guard, Murph’s job was to keep 42 combat-trained fighter pilots ready to deploy worldwide within 72 hours. As a flight leader, he flew missions to Central America, Asia, Central Europe and the Middle East.

Will DukeWill Duke is Afterburner’s Director of Learning and Development. His duties include coordination of the development of intellectual property, training programs, and educational materials. He also serves as a consultant to process and continuous improvement management programs. With Co-Author James ‘Murph’ Murphy, he wrote the 2010 release The Flawless Execution Field Manual.

My First Date Was A Phone Interview

Looking for a new career? Your phone interviewing skills could be the deciding factor in getting a live interview. The phone interview is KEY to your job campaign success.

Think of the phone interview as a first date. Going out for an ice cream is a great first date: cheap, easy and noncommittal.

If the ‘ice cream’ date goes well, then you may want to spend more time and money on the person so you move on to a dinner or a movie date.

A phone interview is an easy, cost effective way for a company to say, I’m interested in talking with you – similar to an ice cream date. If a company really loves you, the organization would schedule a formal ‘face to face’ interview in the office, spend more time and money on you… similar to a movie or dinner date. Only if you make a great ‘phone interview’ impression will you get a second date.

Here are tips to improve your phone interviewing skills:


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About the Authors

Paul Bailo, MBA, MSW, Ph.D. (candidate) is the founder and CEO of Phone Interview Pro – a service for job seekers who want to perfect their telephone job interviewing skills. Paul recognized that while resume, interview preparation, and target company research assistance are commonly offered by outplacement and career counseling organizations, the importance of the telephone interview is often overlooked. In response to this, Phone Interview Pro has created a 250+ point phone evaluation not seen in the career services industry… until now! This is not only a new company, but also a whole new industry; it’s exciting for us, of course, but the real excitement generated by Phone Interview Pro will come from those who hone their skills using the service. To read Paul’s complete biography, click here.

StrategyDriven Podcast Video Edition 1 – What is Diversity and Inclusion?

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the principle, best practice, and warning flag articles found on the StrategyDriven website.

Episode 1 – What is Diversity and Inclusion? examines the definition of diversity and inclusion by…

  • providing a conceptual definition of diversity and inclusion
  • illustrating what diversity and inclusion looks like in action
  • highlighting what diversity and inclusion is not
  • describing some of the many benefits diverse and inclusive organizations realize over those not sharing these values


Learn more about what it means to be diverse and inclusive by reading: What is Diversity and Inclusion?.

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