On Leading with Greatness

Bosses generally hate questions because, in their narrow thinking, questions, even when they ask them, are a sort of trap. Bosses fear that asking questions may make them seem confused, ignorant, and weak. That’s why so many bosses’ questions are actually lightly disguised accusations or threats: “When are you going to get that Fluggenhopper report to me, Jenkins? Don’t you know I have an early te...

You know the phrase “like a boss?” It was the liveliest, hippest phrase in English a few years back. But, alas, it suffered an untimely and completely meaningless death upon the 2020 release of the the megaplex mediocrity Like a Boss . Prior to that, the phrase was inescapable, but what did it really mean? Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

Let me tell you about this truth my friend Jeff laid on me a few weeks ago. Jeff is a serial entrepreneur and all-around wise man, and he observed, “in any communication, the listener has all the power.” That profundity has been tumbling around in my head ever since. It’s a great way for leaders to think about communication. When it comes to a delivered message, the ear has it all over the mouth....

So if harassment, discrimination, and even stealing—all heinous practices—are not taboo, what is? What workplace practice, at its mere mention, universally causes us to recoil in dread and disdain and even disgust? What then is perhaps our greatest workplace taboo? Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

My brother, an engineer, used to design control systems for manufacturing plants. Many of his clients came from the pharmaceutical industry, which generated a ton of anecdotes about the wonderful wooly world of drug companies. One of his best observations was what he dubbed the “rubber chicken effect.” Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

Okay, I admit that I spend way too much time grousing about bad bossing. I mean there have to be a few good bosses out to look up to, right? Well, I have done the research and can assure you that there are a some outstanding innovators to admire. Let’s check out a few of these trailblazers—explorers, if you will—boldly bossing where no boss has bossed before. Get full access to On Leading With Gre...

You have heard the proverb “cheaters never prosper.” Whadda load! Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

You know the guy. The one who puts a positive spin on every situation, who smooths over all the rough edges. At first it may seem okay. After all, who wants to deal with negative vibes? Dr. Goodvibes is here to make it all go away, to turn that frown upside down. When you are in Dr. Goodvibes’ presence, your worries disappear. There can be no regrets, no suffering. Setbacks, problems, even trauma...

How can you use radical transparency to manufacture authority? Responsibility without authority is a mess. If you are a boss, never ever put anyone in that situation. Never. If you are stuck with a crappy boss who subjects you to such abuse, consider embracing the mess and turning your greatest disadvantage into an advantage by owning it. Radical transparency — openly sharing your vulnerability —...

It is high time I come clean. Why am I always ragging on bosses in my essays? It’s not that I hate every boss. After all, I was a boss, and while I am sure a few of my people would argue I was just another bad boss (and sometimes I was), I always strived to improve and had evidence that I did so. As I became more experienced as a supervisor, I tried to assure that I was a whole lot better at leadi...

My best friend when I was about 12 was a boy I’ll call “Randy,” which rhymes with his real name…which was not Mandy or Candy or Sandy. Randy was a total nerd, which suited me since I was too. He had some quirks, though, that even I couldn’t tolerate over the long haul. One of his worst foibles was his cheating when we played games. It didn’t matter the game or how many people were playing. If Rand...

How do you handle mistakes? Recently a friend told me about a situation she had with her employer. I’ll keep it vague to protect the innocent (and, by extension, the guilty I suppose). My friend had a question about how to proceed with with a task. She has two managers, which is structurally a bad situation from the get-go. One is conscientious but overworked and beleaguered. The other is overbear...

The last college I worked at had a scarcity mindset that affected every decision large or small as mindsets do. It was the result of a pretty severe financial crisis from years before and the drastic emergency measures put in place to offset the losses. Whenever someone wanted to oppose an idea (or impose another draconian cut), the budget was the go-to argument. There was no arguing with the budg...

Have you ever been called to a mandatory meeting with no explanation? Have you ever been required to perform a task or work on a project without any sense of its purpose? Have you ever been forced to have fun at work? Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

I have a confession to make. It is one I don’t lightly admit in public. There is something about me that sets me apart from most of the people in America, Europe, and throughout much of the world you know. My secret behavior is likely to make you think much less of me. Get full access to On Leading With Greatness at jimsalvucci.substack.com/subscribe

What do people really mean when they say someone is good deep down? Filbert was a bit of a nut. His wife would say that all the time with a chuckle. Usually she said this right after he pulled “one of his stunts.” It was not easy being married to Filbert, and her little pun was just one way she coped. When Filbert acted out, his friends would say, “that’s just Filbert being Filbert,” and offer a w...

Here is the scene. You are in an audience listening to a dynamic speaker who prances across the stage, mic in hand, full of zeal and conviction. She is preaching the gospel of leadership, and you and your fellow audience members are her latest apostles-in-training. She is making some sense, but you have little time to process what she is saying before she excitedly jumps to the next point and then...

The word reason has to do with explanations and rationality. To be reasonable is to be logical, persuasive, and persuadable. We imbue reasonableness with all manner of virtue. Justice is reasonable. Sobriety is reasonable. Common sense is reasonable. And yet, it is the reasonable that allows for injustice. The people regarded as most reasonable sit idly not wanting to make waves while others suffe...

Leadership is in my blood, literally. My father was a leader in the truest sense. He was often out in front even when he did not have a title or position to put him there. He spent his life leading, and his example still inspires my leadership philosophy. Dad’s early life was rough. Unlike my father, his father was not a warm and loving man, and his mother made it clear that dad was neither expect...

What would it take to up your gaslighting game? Welcome everyone to my supremely succinct and most authoritative lesson on how to gaslight effectively. After decades of close observation while suffering at the hands of gaslighters, I am delighted to offer this compact treatise on the ways and means of gaslighting to you, the morally reprobate public. My regular followers will be surprised that I w...

I recently heard a local politician quip, “I’m not one to judge a book by its cover, but they put covers on books for a reason.” It’s a clever turn of phrase, and he has a point. Modern book covers are a marketing tool and are supposed to indicate, reflect, or symbolize something about the contents of the book. Therefore, the cover should have some meaning and some bearing with regard to the book...

What if I told you I knew one weird trick for doing a better job hiring? Anyone who hires employees wants to do it better. Even if your hiring record is superb, you must realize you are living on borrowed time. Your very next hire might be the toxic, culture-crushing mistake you had evaded thus far. I oversaw a lot of hiring in my day, and I am pretty proud of my record. Sure there was the occasio...

Your values serve three purposes in your work that would seem contradictory. First, they anchor you , assuring that you do not go too far astray. Second, they drive you , serving as a means to propel you forward. Third, they serve as a destination. How can values do all three? * Keep you in place, * Move you forward, and * Loom somewhere in the distance? So how can you put your values to work in a...

Recently I ran a brief workshop during a weekly meeting of my Master Networks chapter. I pretty much have carte blanche during these trainings, so I try to change it up quite a bit. This time, I took a different approach altogether and, instead of presenting ideas or leading a discussion, I turned it into a controlled brainstorming session. I asked the twenty-plus people in the Zoom room, “what is...

Why do we tend to think that more is always better? A long time ago, when I was an English professor, I reported to a department chair who had an odd quirk. Whenever we were to work on a new task or design a new course, she would fall back on the same strategy: “We will take what we are doing now and just do more of it.” Every time she said that she would smile broadly and tilt her head to one sid...