Art Kleiner

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to a show that’s a bit meatier than most, but once or twice a year I find a book that inspires that kind of conversation. It’s about heresy…. we all have our share of it in our souls but can we tell heresy from insanity? That’s why we’re dedicating this show to Tomas de Torquemada.

4:25 The quote of the week is from Henry David Thoreau, who knew a bit about heresy. What used to be some raving insanity becomes conventional wisdom given time.  If you like quotes there’s a shameless plug for my new book as well, “125 quotes for Whacking Weasels”. Check it out here.

5:20 Welcome Art Kleiner. His book, “The Age of Heretics- A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management” is one of the better books I’ve picked up this year, even if it is a second edition. What is a heretic and what do we mean by management heretics? How about someone who wants to bring the personal into work instead of just managing by the numbers?

Art gives an example from his book, “Who Really Matters” but it’s the story of the Ford Taurus and a guy named Lou Veraldi.

12:37 Heretics aren’t out to destroy the company they’re part of… but the heresy is disruptive. He talks about his role at Business + Strategy which is part of Booz and company.

14:30 Here’s a realization… all prophets are heretics but not all heretics are prophets. How does the company discern which this person is?   He tells the story of AG Lafley at Proctor and Gamble and the idea of open innovation.

19:00 Even the flipchart was heretical at the time it was introduced? It starts with Kurt Lewin and his crew who realized that you have to let people and it builds and alters group dynamics. Peter Senge talks about how every organization is the result of how its people work and interact.

24:01 Someone in the pantheon and a name we’ve heard a lot is Warren Bennis. His story- the good bad and ugly is discussed in a way that lets Art keep his job. Even gurus learn the hard way.

30:00 I subscribe to the Pelagian heresy even if I am a bit of a cynic.

32:00 What are the new heresies? It will involve neuroscience and brain chemistry to be sure. Check out www.neuroleadership.org

Art’s Resources

Make or break- how manufacturers can leap from decline to revitalization

Niall Ferguson’s book Empire (YES>>> if only he’d come on this show to discuss it but it’s a really polite rejection note)

Microserfs by Douglas Coupland

Megacommunities

Nature Wars- People Vs. Pests

Don’t let the weasels get you down!

What would Lao Tze say during his performance review?

What would Napoleon say to the weasel who took his yogurt from the breakroom fridge?

If you’ve been inspired by the quotes of the week from The Cranky Middle Manager Show, this book is for you. 125 of the best quotes from the smartest people- and lots of smart-alecky laughs from host Wayne Turmel.

Support your arguments with words from people way smarter than you are!

Read things you’ll never find on a poster!

Sound way smarter than you really are!

Support the show and purchase from The Cranky Middle Manager Store All copies purchased from the site will be autographed by the author.

Only $12.99 including postage.

Adam Larson is the man…. here’s how his quote will look on the back cover

Thanks to all the CMM Listeners who submitted kind words about the show. As you can see some very cool people have said some very nice things about the book.

To see more quotes, check out the page on my website.

Look for it to be available at The Cranky Middle Manager Store September 1, and on Amazon in about 3 weeks.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show… Today we look at managing during a downsizing and downturn brothers and sisters….. Also we dedicate this episode to Atahualpa who proves you can do everything possible and still not make the new boss happy- especially during the ultimate downturn.

2:36 The quote of the week is from my boy Epictetus… sometimes stoicism is what you need, and it’s how you make your bones. Speaking of quote of the week, my new book, “125 Quotes for Whacking Weasels- Centuries of Wisdom, Motivation and Snappy Comebacks From the Cranky Middle Manager Show” will be available September 1!

4:38 welcome Paul Sparta. He’s thrown a bit by the Hunter S Thompson reference but hey it’s my show… What’s the hardest thing for a middle manager to get their head around during a downturn? Usually it’s being blindsided when you have to let people go. We’re too busy getting the job done to see what’s going on around us.

8:01 Managers need to be aware of what’s going on in the company AND in the world around us… we’re not working in a vacuum. Business acumen is one of the 4 Disciplines, after all. Let’s face it, sometimes given what’s going on you DO have too many people…

14:00 How do managers decide what their teams need to know and what will just freak them out unnecessarily? Folks need to know the metrics

17:00 Do companies tend to cut too deeply when they do finally make cuts? He makes the point using the movie Bottle Shock- grapes have to be under stress to create good wine.

20:00 Once the decision has been made, how do you go about getting back to work? You have to suck it up, be honest and survivor guilt be damned. Remember you’ve downsized to be the right size to get back to growing the company.

26:36 Paul’s Resources

Wall Street Journal

Information Week

CIO Journal

You have to stop gazing at your navel and keep an eye on what’s going on out there.

Drop us a line… post to the blog…. let us know what you think.

Don’t let the weasels get you down!

Read the article here

Oh, and thanks to everyone who alerted me that iTunes (am I the only one who is starting to believe that Apple may be its very own Evil Empire?) erased me from its memory banks and for a week we didn’t exist on the main podcast outlet on the planet! A thousand blessings on Cam Reilly at TPN and the brains at Xminds in India for getting me back in the game.

Dr. Marty Seldman

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Business is a marathon, not a sprint so we’re talking stamina today. Not only are we talking to Dr. Marty Seldman co-author of “Executive Stamina- How to Optimize Time, Energy and Productivity To Achieve Peak Performance”. We are also taking a look at Phidippides, the first marathon runner and someone who needed to learn the fine art of delegation.

3:15 The “Quote of the Week” is from Napoleon Bonaparte- forget guts…. endurance is the greatest virtue.

4:17 Welcome Marty Seldman, who along with his son Joshua, wrote the book. Joshua is a 24-hour endurance cycling coach. Show off. Stamina is both the day to day energy to perform at a high level, but it’s also about the term of your career. The two laws at work are ‘The Law of Diminishing Returns’ and the “Law of Gradual Change”.

9:02 Our listeners are a hard-working, dedicated group, so how can working harder have diminishing returns? We are over-committed and don’t realize what the tradeoffs are.

12:05 What are some of the warning signs that we are shifting and drifting? Are you doing the minimum to sustain relationships and your health?

14:48 5 areas to pay attention to:

• Work/Life Alignment
• Health and Wellness
• Job Performance/Business Results
• Career Management
• Maintaining positive relationships

17:43 How can you maintain networking and watch out for your career while still playing nicely with the other kids?

20:50 Okay, I know I should exercise and it just doesn’t happen. Why not? What the heck is wrong with me and what’s the minimum I can do and still say I’ve done it?

26:50 What’s the one thing Marty would change for most of us? Overcommitting and not maintaining boundaries. I also do not recommend slapping people like George C Scott in Patton, but I understand the temptation.

Resources

Officepolitics.com

Robin Sharma’s blog

Don’t let the weasels get you down!!!

Joe Heuer

Show Notes

0:00 Today will be a non-stop parade of rock and roll references because sometimes you just have to lighten up. Managing can suck the fun out of you otherwise. Case in point? Antonio Salieri... Mozart had all the fun and got all the chicks…..take a lesson

3:05 The quote of the week is from Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., not exactly a party animal, but he encourages us to take a music bath… i just saw Mamma Mia and had to take a shower but I suppose that’s more of an editorial comment.

4:53 Welcome Joe Heuer, the Rock and Roll Guru. Hey, it’s the dog days of summer here in Chicago and I couldn’t take one more serious conversation so we’re going to have some fun. Let’s face it, any business conversation that starts with the Who has to be more fun than going over the financials…..

7:30 How the heck does someone start thinking about rock and roll and middle management, or worse, customer service?

11:52 How does rock and roll fit with our 4 Disciplines of Management? Joe pulls some good ones out of his hat.

14:52 How does rock and roll fit the corporate environment? Motivational speakers are apparently the professional wrestlers of the corporate world. Joe vents here…. you may agree or not but heck that’s rock and roll, right? And what is a rock and roll attitude?

22:05 What do Supertramp and Jesus Christ have in common- besides Roger Hodgson’s beard?

Joe’s Rock and Roll Resources

Rock of Ages

Classic Rock

Rock Revival

Rock Town Hall

The Ripple Effect

Support Adam Larson’s love of Queensryche!

Don’t let the weasels get you down!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Ever find someone to fill a position, breathe a sigh of relief and they’re gone and you’re back to square one? Today we’re talking to Caela Farren from Masteryworks.

Today’s episode is dedicated to Lady Jane Grey, who was queen of England for all of nine days. Getting a candidate not everyone can agree on and then leaving her without mentoring is a recipe for disaster, although no HR department I know still advocates beheading as a way to address the problem.

There is one episode left for you to win a free copy of my new book: “125 Quotes for Whacking Weasels- Centuries of Wisdom, Motivation and Snappy Comebacks From the Cranky Middle Manager Show” Here’s how it works… just drop me an email or post to the blog with a short line or two about why you like the quote of the week, and why you listen to the Cranky Middle Manager Show. I’ll pick the best quote to put on the back cover of the book along with quotes from some big shots and send you a copy. You have about 2 weeks left, get on it!

3:10 The quote of the week is from Plato- who understood that the beginning is the best time to teach anyone anything.

3:50 Welcome Caela Farren. It seems like a silly question, but why is the way we bring employees on board so important? When there are more jobs than there are good people, you don’t want to give anyone a chance to bail out on you. 46% of rookies wash out in 18 months.

6:30 What is going on in that first few days that chases people out the door before they even settle in? Sometimes it’s a bad hire, a greedy recruiter or a manager that doesn’t know how to properly interview. The open-ended interview question is important as are “value questions”.

Ask about:

people- what are they all about, what do they like?

ideas- what and how do they think?

data-how do they handle information?

things- do they work with things and with their hands?

10:49 we are now talking about personality assessments such as John Holland’s Codes, Myers Briggs Type Assessments and all that good stuff. Hire for skills and fire for personality, values and fit. You can’t really train for that stuff. She tells us a cool story about how one company uses the interview to identify fit…

16:02 Once we’ve hired someone, what goes on that first day that will help ensure success? Make them feel included. It worked in grade school. Hook them up with a mentor…but choose that mentor well.

21:14 when in doubt ask the magic wand question. The most important thing you can do is hook them to a good manager or a “buddy”

Resources

It’s an election year here in the US. Check out

The Post American World- Fareed Zakariah

The New Age of Innovation- Driving Cocreated Value Through Global Networks- CK Prahalad

Don’t let the weasels get you down!

The topic will be “A Fresh Approach to the Manager As Coach”.  Nancy Smith and Elena Galbraith will be presenting and it will give you a really good look at what their Human Performance model is all about. Check it out by clicking here.

Enjoy it and let me know what you think.

Don’t forget you can get a free copy of my new book, “125 Quotes for Whacking Weasels- Centuries of Wisdom, Motivation and Snappy Comebacks From The Cranky Middle Manager Show” (due date is September 1). All you have to do is post to the blog page or drop me an email and say why you listen to the show and why you like the quote of the week. The winning quote will appear on the back cover of the book and you’ll get a free copy. Thanks to Adam, Bob, Lucy and the folks who’ve already sent in suggestions…..

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to Episode 153. Since we’re talking teamwork I thought we’d salute (literally) Captain John Paul Jones, one of the reasons the American Navy got off to such a good start. Yup be loyal to your team, set high expectations and when all else fails, quit and go work for a startup in Russia.

3:32 The quote of the week is from Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of my all time favorites. Execution is the key, and sometimes realllly tempting.

4:15 Welcome Kathleen Caldwell author of Blueprint for Success, 14 Powerhouse Professionals and all around good egg. Why is managing teams such a challenge?

7:34 Why do smart teams do stupid things? What the heck is Team Intelligence? An effective team has to talk about why they’re all together. Explicity, out loud. There are 5 components:

1. Communication
2. Trust and Spirited Conflict
3. Inspiring Goals
4. Effectiveness and Accountability
5. Mastery

11:47 Explicit communication is vital. Are all the goals stated or just assumed? We also talk about assessment tools that help you understand yourself and other people. (Marcus, i told you we’d get to this topic).

18:34 How does “Spirited Conflict” match up with all this bonding and communication? it’s not rocket science, I think rocket science is easier.

23:09 How do you actually measure team cohesion and accountability?

26:39 How does an outside consultant establish credibility with a team? How do you avoid malicious compliance?

29:00 Kathleen’s Resources

Beyond Booked Solid by Michael Port

The Speed of Trust by Stephen M R Covey

Don’t let the weasels get you down!

That’s the idea behind my latest Management Issues Article- World Peace Through Middle Management. Sometimes i write something that even makes me laugh….

If you have the time, check out the Working Week podcast as well. Shorter conversations about the worldwide workplace…. it’s good stuff.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to The Cranky Middle Manager. Today we’re talking ethics with no “yeah buts…”. Life is complicated but the rules are pretty simple. so simple, in fact we’ve known them for thousands of years. We dedicate the show to Tao Zhu Gong, business guru and still relevant 2500 years later.

2:43 Our quote of the week is from Tao Zhu Gong as well…. good advice is good advice. By the way, here’s an exciting opportunity to get a free copy of my new book “125 Quotes for Whacking Weasels- Wisdom, Motivation and Snappy Comeback from the Cranky Middle Manager Show”. Simply write and say why you listen to the Cranky Middle Manager, and what you like about the Quote of the Week. One answer will be chosen to go on the back cover of the book… and if it’s yours you’ll get a free copy. Just drop a line to wayne@crankymiddlemanager.com or post to the blog site.

4:00 Welcome Clint Korver, one of the authors of Ethics for the Real World- Creating a Personal Code to Guide Decisions in Work and Life. Ethics is a word that gets thrown around -and out- a lot. What is it and how is it different from morality? Ethics are your personal standards of right and wrong. Morality is the social code.

6:30 it’s the little things that try your soul…and your ethics. What harm can come from little white lies? Rationalization is the enemy, which is tough cause it’s also my best friend. How good are YOU at telling the truth?

15:00 There are three reasons we test our ethics: Prudentia (your self interest)l, Legal (letter of the law) and Ethical (spirit of the law).

17:50 What happens when your ethics and the situation don’t seem to coincide? You have to talk to your boss and lay it out. He gives us a good example from the consulting world….interesting choice. I have a horror story of my own.

22:50 Clint and Ronald suggest setting up a very explicit personal code.. how do we do that? Can you make ethical decisions with a matrix? Listen up. It’s one thing to have a rule like “tell the truth at all times” but then what are the exceptions?

29:30 Clint’s resources

7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey

Don’t let the weasels get you down!

Read the interview here

Hear my conversation with Raj here. (Yes, another one is long overdue)

Thank you, as always, Rajesh for the support and the great advice!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. One of the reasons training doesn’t work as well as it should is who is in charge. Human Resources and Organizational Development are horrible names. Why are Humans to be used and Organizations developed? Human Capital is not a better term either. We dedicate the show to Hunayn Ibn Ishaq. Context has everything to do with successful training, gang.

3:15 The quote of the week is from Edward Bulwer Lytton, known as one of the worst writers ever, but even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while…..

4:32 Welcome Josh Bersin from Bersin and Associates. He has just put out a High Impact Learning Organization Study of best practices from the corporate world. What are the high performing companies focusing on? It’s not just skills it’s how they operate. It’s about learning as much as training….. there’s a difference

8:54 The difference between training and learning- performance-driven learning (how to do your job- good training) and talent-driven learning programs which is where the biggest impact is if the culture is there. A learning culture is critical and Josh gives us some examples

13:25 What part does the budgeting process play in this… if it’s up to line managers, training won’t happen voluntarily as a rule

20:30 How does a manager work with her team to help them learn and grow? It’s a coaching job, not a management job per se.

23:30 How would Josh organize training and development in a perfect world? It’s a strongly centralized, federated model. Dangerous ground comparing a good organization to the US government, but there’s a point to be made here.

Josh’s Resources

The Trusted Advisor by David Maister ( who has been on this show too… take a listen to show 41 and show 127) Training and HR has to learn how to serve their clients

Peter Drucker’s The Effective Executive

Social Networking is a crucial component of learning… www.techcrunch.com

Don’t let the weasels get you down….

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to our 150th Episode. Yeah you heard it, 150… I think the reason we are still here is people want to lighten up while still learning and getting better at what they do. We dedicate this episode to the Muslim Mullah Nasrudin. It’s hard to learn anything while being miserable….. whether it’s life or just how to do a decenjt performance review.

3:43 George Bernard Shaw has our quote of the week. If you’re going to tell people the truth, make them laugh or they’ll kill you.

5:18 Welcome Adrian Gostick. Why are we so darned serious at work and why should we lighten the #$%@% up? Research shows people stick around at companies where it’s fun to go to work. So why are companies so afraid of humor in the workplace?

9:21 Can you suddenly turn on fun in places that weren’t fun til now? Adrian’s research says fun is critical and it’s never too late. You can start with some goofy contests or Academy Awards ballots. People really are eager for fun.

11:51 People can be cynical…. programs like FISH can backfire on you… how do you avoid cynicism and the “flavor of the month”? Plus, let’s face it…. some people are fun and some don’t want fun thrust upon them.

16:47 Is fun cultural? How do you create fun when people are so spread out all over the planet? It IS doable. Tie the fun to work and celebration.

21:07 Don’t laugh, there’s evidence and lots of data that this works. Fun is a major factor in retention oh, and it’s your responsibility, middle managers.

More Resources

The Back of the Napkin- Dan Roam

The Speed of Trust- Stephen M R Covey

Don’t let the weasels get you down

This site is kept up and running by the IT geniuses at XMinds… check them out.

I happen to really like my contribution this month, and that’s not always true. If you are a fan of “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” you might want to check it out…. And heck the Evil HR Lady does a great job of explaining why this should result in her being fired…… hilarious.

Read the carnival here….

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we dedicate the show to someone who took something messy and chaotic but critical, applied methodology and analysis to it and changed the world….and a lot of borders. Carl Philippe Gottlieb Von Clausewitz is our man, like it or not.

3:00 The quote of the week is from Publilius Syrus….. argue all you want but when a decision is made, get on with it……

4:00 Welcome Paul Elliott. My whole training career was influenced by his work in Human Performance Technology…. the Six Sigma of training, if you will. (He’d hate that description). What is it? If you take good, capable people and put them in a broken system, the system works every time. It looks at performance by trying to integrate all the pieces of their jobs by analyzing six areas:

• Access to information
• Access to the right resources and tools
• Incentives and consequences
• Are they a fit for the job?
• Knowledge and skills
• Motivation

10:23 Performance is based on a lot of things in the environment that have nothing to do with skill or training. (Note to self… open ended questions, Wayne). Study the people who do the job well….. they’ll show you the ways to get it done. He gives us a case study.

15:41 Why are we looking at top performers when we spend most of our time helping the laggers? Activity is not valuable unless you’re getting the results you want. Who’s producing and what are they doing that the rest don’t?

19:49 Hmmm someone who doesn’t think you can teach leadership…. spend your time where you can change behavior. Jobs need to be matched based on strengths and fit to what’s actually going to help them perform. High performers tend to have their own metrics that have nothing to do with what’s in the employee handbook.

24:07 You can’t just ask high performers what they’re doing because they are unconscious of what they really do. OH and this is a cool number. Performance is only a training problem 10% of the time.

Resources:

www.exemplaryperformance.com for more information and tools.

Improving Performance by Geary Rummler and Alan Brache

Performance Consulting by Dana Gaines Robinson and James Robinson

The ASTD Handbook for Workplace Learning Professionals

Don’t let the weasels get you down!

Show Notes

0:00 Greetings and welcome to episode 148. Today we’re talking conflict and teams, so the show is dedicated to Agamemnon and Achilles. (This link is to Diana’s site and she did the hard work here, not me).

Are you a winner or a whiner? How people perceive your behavior can cost your team everything…..

2:27 The quote of the week is fro Johann Kaspar Lavater- would it kill you to let someone talk without trying to look so smart??? Hey, you get my lessons too, gang.

Don’t forget our webinar on June 26th. Find out more here…..

3:58 Welcome Diana McLain Smith. Human dynamics can get weird, and when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Teams just get weird. Everyone from Dilbert to Drucker can tell you that. Why is another question. Is it too much to just ask people to act rationally? (Yes, is the answer)

7:29 We look at Steve Jobs and John Scully in the early days of Apple. On paper, a great relationship. IN reality, a car wreck. We have idealistic ideas of how relationships should work, but after a while reality sets in. Strengths become “failings” and behavior is assumed to be for all kinds of bad reasons.

12:59 We discuss the term “Frame”, which is how we look at someone and all the assumptions we make about their behavior. Visionary zeal can also be volatility, attention to detail becomes micromanaging….you have to check your assumptions at the door.

16:49 Does this mean that opposites don’t attract, and you should avoid conflict on the team at all costs? Not so fast…. when people are doing a task, do we look at the behavior or at the people? And it’s an old habit…. many of us have never learned to deal with conflict.

21:15 an example of a team that makes it work and you might not expect them to- Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer at Microsoft. What are they doing right?

25:15 When people say they need to “work on the relationship”… what do they actually do? Going off and thinking does not mean obsessing about the other person but grab a pen and paper. Then ask what you’re doing that you do to set that person off?

Diana’s Resources:

West of Eden :The End of Innocence at Apple Computer

John Meacham- “Franklin and Winston”

Doris Kearns Goodwin “Team of Rivals”

Wall Street Journal article on Gates and Ballmer

Don’t let the weasels get you down!

Now, since this is a pretty enlighted group of people, I guess my question is- are you blocking these implementations and if so, why? Or, as I suspect, are you leading the charge and can’t get people at the Mother Ship to pay attention to anything newer than “this Blog stuff they have heard so much about”?

Let me know… post…. I’ll be writing about this in this month’s newsletter to be sure…… you can go to www.crankymiddlemanager.com and subscribe if you want to be part of the fun…..

First, Nan Russell at Work Matters has an internet talk show, and your humble servant is this week’s guest.

Take a listen to it here.

Then Eric Pennington, who was our guest on Episode 138 turns the tables. On Friday at 12:30 Eastern Time I will be on his show… you can hear it live (or listen to the recording) here.

It’s kind of fun being the interviewee…..

0:00 Welcome to the show all ye who try really, really hard. Today we talk to Ken Blanchard about his new book and the last 25 years of management development. We dedicate this episode to King Sejong the Great of Korea. Others will notice when you’re management material. Oh and Tom Peters is the last one on my list.

3:45 Immanuel Kant had a lot to say about wisdom… good advice here. Also a shameless plug for a webinar on June 26th. Just go to www.dimdim.com and look for featured meetings. You can read about the webinar here.

5:45 Welcome Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager. Whatever the reason, we’re glad he’s here. One Minute Manager has sold over 13 Million Copies!!! Why? Maybe because everyone was tired of hearing how the Japanese were so brilliant. It came out the same time as Megatrends and In Search of Excellence, kind of a golden age of management books. It’s a classic, even if it is false advertising.

8:45 Over the years, middle managers have struggled with operational leadership. Vision is great but you have to help your people get things done. The real impact comes from operational leadership…so why is most of what we hear high-level leadership? Ken talks about a new concept- the triple bottom line.

12:34 Ken Blanchard is a “Seagull Manager”….. I love when people we look up to admit their flaws….. the greatest detriment to being a good manager is our own ego.

17:34 If you want to know why this show is different from others, the fact that Ken Blanchard just said, “Duh” sums it up, but sometimes there’s no other response. After all these years people management still impacts your business as much or more than other factors. This is a big issue for entrepeneurs (you can hear Jay Goltz talk about it on episode 130 )

23:30 Big Disclaimer…her name is Margie, not Marjorie…. Ken’s wife and co-founder is Margie… I know that…. didn’t hear the mistake til the third time through. Humble apologies. There are 5 principles of being an entrepeneur:

• Passion
• Profits (know your numbers and take care of the take care)
• People
• Priorities
• Perspective

27:00 Ken’s resources

Ken recommends Patrick Lencioni (who has been on this show)

Good to Great by Jim Collins.

Don’t let the weasels get you down!

When: June 26th, 11am Eastern time (US) 4PM (GMT)

How to register: visit www.dimdim.com and look for “Featured Meetings”

No dial-in necessary, just headphones or speakers for your computer

Oh yeah… it’s FREE to keep the budget weasels at bay

Are you tired of waiting for approval from the folks upstairs for budget to manage your remote team the way you want to manage it? The nice lady from HR won’t approve your training request? We’re going to look at 4 ways managers of remote teams can take control of things and help their team work better at little or not cost.

Anyone managing teams across time zones or leading virtual projects (all the responsibility and none of the financial authority) will find something of use and you’ll learn from managers around the world as well.

Just go to www.dimdim.com and give them your email address. You’ll receive your invitation via email. This is less a Cranky Middle Manager event than one for www.greatwebmeetings.com but heck, it’s information you can use and it’s still me.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the 146th Edition of the Cranky Middle Manager on our third anniversary. Since our guest, Melanie Holmes, works for a Temp Agency, it seemed the right time to commiserate with