I attended a South Florida Business Journal event today honoring 25 of South Florida’s most influential business women.  You can visit the SFBJ page for a list of the 25 women.  I know a few of them and I can tell you, “These are some seriously influential ladies in this town.” 
Each woman was given about a minute to share a few thoughts with us and I just had to share with you four “pearls,” as they called them, I took home with me.  It’s advice anyone of us doing anything anywhere should consider …

My recent articles have focused on what CEOs and the leaders of the world are not getting or doing right.  I was called out on the fact that given the present state of (my) unemployment and the malaise that has resulted from market losses, financial instability and government debt, my tone and perspective has been less than inspiring.  I say, The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it. ~Warren Bennis
With that said, I did ponder what it is that has me on the “let’s call them out” soapbox?  …

As a Project Manager, you need to manage people, money, suppliers, equipment—the list is never ending. The trick is to be focused. Set yourself 5 personal goals to achieve. If you can meet these simple goals for each project, then you will achieve total success. So read on, to learn…
The 5 Goals of a Project Manager
These goals are generic to all industries and all types of projects. Regardless of your level of experience in project management, set these 5 goals for every project you manage.
Goal 1: To finish on time
…

I have been pleasantly surprised with the episodes of “The Undercover Boss” I’ve watched.  The well-to-do CEO shrugs off the golf clubs, chic expensive cars, cushy lifestyle, expensive suits and jewelry, even if only for a week, to mingle and, alas, work alongside their company’s employees.
Talk about timing given the bad press some other CEOs have been receiving particularly during and post senate hearings.  How can they expect sympathy when they have the audacity to show up in corporate jets, whining about how they cannot afford to not pay bonuses …

Leading a team of people on any project can be a bear.  Running a small business with differing skills, personalities, backgrounds, genders and competing interests can be just plain difficult.  It seems like piling any group of people together in hopes of getting a job done is a hopeless cause. But if you:

develop a keen understanding of how individuals behave within a team and
dearn to motivate individuals towards a common goal

you’ll develop a reputation for being a team leading genius that delivers the results your company badly needs.
To  hone these …

Before seeing the Time Travelers Wife at the theater, I got me a copy of the book. I wanted to read it before seeing the movie. It was just for fun reading, but this one scene left me with a revelation I just had to share on Career Jockey.
For the scene to make sense, I have to explain the main character’s predicament. (I promise not to ruin it for you.) Henri’s a time traveler – no technology needed. He gets plucked out of the …

No one purposely makes a bogus move hoping it will lead to a major screw up. It doesn’t happen that way. I have, however, seen myself make a string of seemingly benign choices that over time led me to a very painful destination. In the movie “The Devil Wears Prada,” Anne Hathaway’s character Andy Sach gives us a big screen lesson on how little decisions over a period time can take us to a place we would have rather not gone.
DWP begins with Andy turning down Stanford …

I’m not a Terminator movie fan, but I caught the end of Terminator 3 on cable the other day. I’ve heard #3 is not a favorite of the fans, but it did highlight to me how a person’s response to a challenge can determine their future as a leader. The right response can launch you into leadership stardom. A mediocre response can leave you well … just plain mediocre. (Warning: If you haven’t seen the movie, I give away the ending.)
In this Terminator installment, yet another robot …

Years ago I worked as a contractor at a large bank. I’d hear people say,
• “We got to the get the right people on the bus.”
• “That guy’s sitting in the wrong seat on the bus.”
• “Can we kick that guy off the bus?”
• “Let’s get this bus going in the right direction.”
“What on earth were they talking about?” I thought. I finally asked and someone pointed me at the Jim Collins’ “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t” book. Collins’ delivers on something I haven’t seen …

In “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey describes seven principles, that if established as habits, are key to leading an effective professional and personal life. In his book “The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness Covey takes the idea a step further. Becoming effective is surely something to be desired, but what would it take to achieve greatness?

The first seven habits are focused on how to run your life effectively, how to manage your relationships with others effectively and how to keep learning so you …

A few years back when I was running a 12 person IT department, I inherited what “Now, Discover Your Strengths” can bring to a team. My predecessor had purchased a copy of the book for each team member and had them take the online assessment that comes with the book. (Note: You need a new copy of the book. If you get a used copy, the key provided in the book will NOT enable you to take the online assessment.)

The book describes 34 possible strengths areas …

I read “Five Dysfunctions of a Team” the first time a few years back when I was researching leadership and team dynamics. I’ve always enjoyed building teams and understanding why some work and others fail miserably.  This book explores the topic and describes a simple formula for identifying what works, what doesn’t and what you can do about it.
The book is a written as a corporate fable with two hundred or so pages written in large print.  You can finish it in a few hours, but don’t let …

I read “Five Dysfunctions of a Team” the first time several years back when I was researching leadership and team dynamics. I’ve always enjoyed building teams and understanding why some work and some don’t. This book explores the topic and describes a simple formula for identifying what works, what doesn’t work, and what to do about it.
The book subtitle is “A Leadership Fable.” It’s two hundred or so pages are written in large print so you can get through the whole thing in a few hours. …

Change hits a small business like sudden, summer, storm cloud. It frustrates employees, leads to customer complaints and often causes us to miss a pleasant warm meal at home with the family. Small business owners deal with change all the time. They put up with it, tolerate it and do what it takes to stay afloat amidst fast and constant change.
But what if we saw change as an energy source. What if we could learn to adapt to change, thrive on it and transform change into opportunities? Our view of …

Richard Leider, an executive and career coach from Minnesota, published an article in Fast Company back in December (see article).  He makes recommendations for finding purpose in your life by aligning your career with your life’s purpose. 
The article contains a description of his 10 “laws” for making decisions on purpose with one of them proposing the two questions:

What do you want?
And how will you know when you get it?

He makes a really valid point that many of us fail to even propose these questions prefering instead to just stay busy.  We have …

Before he saw me coming around the separator for a face to face confession, Fr. Eddy started aloud with his prayers. When he saw it was me he stopped, “Jorge, how are you? How are you and your family?” He wore his usual smile and, as always, slowly articulated his words. We had known each other for years— so long he had baptized two of my daughters who were now 18 and 12.
“How is your new position?” He recited – slowly.
“It’s going really well,” I replied. “Times are tough, but …

Spring Hill College President Fr. Gregory Lucey S.J. recommended the book to me when I visited my daughter who attends the school. The book describes four tenets of Jesuit leadership. Those are:

• self-awareness,
• embracing change,
• striving to serve others, and
• heroic ambition.

The author Chris Lowney is a former Jesuit who after having left the Jesuits became an investment banker at J.P.Morgan. He describes the formula used since the time of St. Ignatius to train and sustain the men of that order. And it was critical to the order and their mission of …

In the summer of 2006, I took a director-level IT position. It was a return to management after six years of serving in software development and other technical roles. Up until then, I had depended heavily upon my technical skills and kept myself current through a lot of reading and research which had led me to several well respected certifications.
Since that approach had worked for me before, I committed myself to a reading and research project aimed at enhancing my leadership skills. My goal was to become as knowledgeable …

In the summer of 2006, I took a director-level IT position.  I was returning to management after six years in software development and other technical roles.  For a while, I there I depended on my technical skills.  I kept myself current through a lot of reading and research which had led me to several well respected certifications.
Since that approach had worked before, I figured why not do the same for my new role.  So I committed myself to a research project aimed at becoming the best leader.  I could become …