Everyone has heard the phrase, "do what you love and you will never work a day in your life."  While this may be a great idea in theory, for most people it is not a reality.  Furthermore, doing what you love can turn a once enjoyable hobby into work, which then has a negative impact on quality of life from two separate angles. In his book "The Manager's Dilemma"

Imagine a staff meeting that employees eagerly attend because they know the meeting will generate stimulating discussions. People will exchange ideas, support each other and build on each other’s suggestions. Everyone feels good when they come out of that staff meeting! Hard to…

Unfortunately, leadership is not all about influence, perks, and big offices. There is a reason that leaders are paid the big bucks, and that is not simply to lunch on the corporate account and tell others what to do. Instead, leaders have significant responsibilities and are often accountable for substantial operational, technology, budget, and personnel decisions.

As you can imagine, these decisions aren’t typically easy. More likely, they are complicated and multi-faceted with both short and long term implications. Definitely not for the faint of heart. So how do strong leaders make tough decisions?

When your employees are stressed, it's impossible not to see it. They're shorter-tempered with one another, more likely to get sick or have health problems, and, as it turns out, are less productive. Stressed employees report that only about 9% of them are engaged at work, which means that the more stress you heap on your employees, the less they're going to perform for you. If you fear that your employees' performance is decreasing, make sure that you understand how stress can affect employee engagement.

Stress doesn’t have to be related to money. Certainly, the amount of money that they’re making can have a significant impact on employee stress. If they’re unable to pay their bills, they may find themselves wondering why it’s worth giving their all at their jobs at all!

New leaders earn their promotion. They are successful, they have proved their value and now they must lead. Many new leaders, typically, make one of two primary errors:-

They lead from the middle, or
They just don't lead at all

Lead From the Middle
You've just been promoted, or you have come in from outside and are new to the team. You want to prove your worth - what you know, what you can do, how much experience you have. You must 'prove it' to the people who promoted you, and you must 'prove it' to your team. So, you roll up your sleeves and dive right in. You want to show you can do it faster, better, smarter, with fewer resources and still beat the deadline. The more you are at the coalface, the more you are showing everybody just how good you are.

Change is scary.  It can make us feel uncomfortable.  But it is a necessity in the workplace if your organization is going to remain on the cutting edge and evolve over time.  How leaders manage change sets the stage for…

Leaders show the way! That is what the word means. It's a Viking word - 'show the way'. Today's leaders might not actually steer an open boat rowed by their crew to seek out and colonize new lands. But they do the modern-day equivalent - they steer a project, a department, or a whole corporation (staffed by a 'crew'), and they achieve business goals instead of getting to new geographical destinations.

Leif Erikson planned the journey that took him to Vinland. He shared his ideas, motivated his crew to keep rowing through good days and stormy days, days when they knew where they were, and days when they were literally lost at sea. And they got to Vinland - what we call North America.

Unproductive meetings are often a result of poor planning or the inability to stay on task and discuss the topics at hand. More often than not, meetings can turn into rambling chitchat, heated off topic debates and ultimately become an ineffective waste of time. The good news is that meetings don't have to be like this!

Here are 8 tips to help you run a more effective and productive meeting: