Management skills

The burdens of subordinates always seem to end up on the manager’s back. Here’s how to get rid of them.

Much of an executive's workday is spent asking others for information--requesting status updates from a team leader, for example, or questioning a counterpart...

The would-be analyst of leadership usually studies popularity, power, showmanship, or wisdom in long-range planning. But none of these qualities is the...

In the face of rapid, disruptive change, companies are realizing that managers can't be expected to have all the answers and that command-and-control...

Leadership is different from management, but not for the reasons most people think. Leadership isn't mystical and mysterious. It has nothing to do with...

A quick no is better than a long maybe.

Be simple and to-the-point.

When executives need to persuade an audience, most try to build a case with facts, statistics, and some quotes from authorities. In other words, they...

Many people meet their partners at work - but proceed carefully.

We all think we know how to carry on our side of a two-way business conversation, but we can get much fuller and more-accurate information if we pay careful attention to strategies of effective interviewing.

Managers and leaders are two very different types of people. Managers' goals arise out of necessities rather than desires; they excel at defusing conflicts...

Sharpen these seven skills.

Extensive study of the world’s best service companies reveals the principles on which they’re built.

Judgment--the ability to combine personal qualities with relevant knowledge and experience to form opinions and make decisions--is "the core of exemplary...

At critical points things may go wrong, but here are ways of putting them right.

The storied British banker and financier Nathan Rothschild noted that great fortunes are made when cannonballs fall in the harbor, not when violins play in the ballroom. Rothschild understood that the more unpredictable the environment, the greater the opportunity—if you have the leadership skills to capitalize on it. Through research at the Wharton School and […]

Focus on behaviors, not procedures.

Successful general managers stress fundamentals. Whatever their leadership style, they invariably focus their efforts on the six tasks that lay the foundation...

A targeted plan to make things better.

Asking the question, "What makes a great COO?" is akin to asking "What makes a great candidate for U.S. vice-president?" It all depends on the first name...