Leadership Forged In Fire: The Undeniable Divide

There are two types of people in leadership positions: those who have been scorched by the system and those who remain untouched.

The untouched mistake your fire for uncontrolled rage. They label your conviction as instability. This is not coincidence – it is ignorance. They cannot comprehend what they have never experienced: the punishment that comes from standing your ground when truth contradicts power.

But the battle-tested? They recognize you immediately. When the system has tried to burn you to ash and you refused to fall, you no longer speak from theoretical abstractions – you speak with the absolute authority of your scars.

This is not merely a difference of opinion. This is the fundamental divide: the system-approved versus the fire-forged.

9 Things That Make Good Employees Quit (+ 9 More)

A friend shared a great article on social media recently:

9 Things That Make Good Employees Quit

Here are 9 more:

10. They drive wedges between their subordinates, compartmentalizing information and hindering teamwork and communication among them.

11. They ignore the experience and expertise of their employees, and instead treat them like they know little or nothing about the work they actually are quite good at.

12. They place roadblocks in front of employees who strive to innovate and develop solutions.

13. They micromanage and nitpick the enthusiasm right out of their employees.

14. They overcommit themselves to the point of being largely unavailable to their employees.

15. They ignore progress reports from their employees, and then accuse those employees of not getting enough work done.

16. They take advantage of upper management's tendency to protect mid-management at all cost.

17. They don't listen to ideas offered by their own employees, and then later enthusiastically adopt those same ideas when someone outside the team brings them up.

18. They don't accept perspectives and opinions developed over years by their employees, but instead force them to work within constraints dictated by arbitrary research conducted outside the context of the local work environment.

I won't keep going…

What Is Conceptual Training?

A good friend asked me to send him my thoughts on "conceptual training," and to include three examples of effective conceptual training. Here is what I sent him:

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1: Conceptual training is that which focuses on the theory (concepts) rather than practical application of concepts. A conceptual training event must be carefully targeted to deliver the right training to the audience. You have to clearly identify and iterate your training objectives to match the audience's training needs and expectations.

2a: Lecture presentation, followed by discussion (synchronous, then asynchronous)

2b: Reading and/or video assignment, followed by discussion (synchronous, then asynchronous)

2c: Role-play scenario, followed by discussion (synchronous, then asynchronous)

As you can see, I'm a big fan of student discussion as an integral part of the learning process. Live discussions, followed by online discussions are proven to greatly enhance learning and retention.

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My friend didn't tell me this, but I bet he's angling for a new job. Good luck, George! Don't forget us little people!