"Accountability breeds response-ability." -- Stephen R. Covey Once you reach the uppermost layers of management, Accountability becomes Efficiency—and as a C-Suite manager, one of your first tasks should be to implement Efficiency wherever necessary. If you've made it to the C-Suite, you didn't get there by accident. You were elevated to the position because of your demonstrated SuperCompetence in all aspects of your work life. It's a truism that you can't be SuperCompetent without having a highly-developed sense of Accountability; and as one of your company's leaders, you're a cornerstone upon which the entire organization rests. This means that you have to set the Efficiency example for your team to follow. The buck stops with you because it has to; after all, where else can it go, … [Read more...]

"The older I get, the more I see a straight path where I want to go. If you’re going to hunt elephants, don’t get off the trail for a rabbit." -- T. Boone Pickens, American financier At the lofty C-Suite level, the SuperCompetent Key of Attention transforms into Focus. Suddenly, your capacity to concentrate on your work and only your work becomes paramount—much more critical that it was before, if only because your actions impact the company more completely than they ever have. A distracted, overwhelmed CEO or VP can be much more damaging than a middle manager who can't keep his or her head in the game. Worse, the higher you go, the more distractions you have to deal with. When you're just Josephine Schmoe down in Cubical Land, it's hard enough to filter out electronic distractions, … [Read more...]

"There cannot be a crisis today; my schedule is already full." -- Henry Kissinger, American politician. "The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Stephen R. Covey, time management and productivity guru. "A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time." -- Annie Dillard, Pulitzer Prizing winning author. One of the core keys of SuperCompetence is Availability: your willingness and ability to protect your time, so that you can accomplish your desired activities. At the C-Suite level, this translates as Scheduling—and Scheduling is about more than just accomplishing the things that you want to accomplish. CEOs, CFOs, Presidents, … [Read more...]

"Prioritization is about doing something. It's not about an excuse for inaction." -- Bjorn Lomborg, Danish author and business professor "We can do anything, but we can’t do everything… at least, not at the same time. So think of your priorities not in terms of what activities you do, but when you do them. Timing is everything." -- Dan Millman, American author "First things first, second things never." -- Shirley Conran, British editor and writer In my most recent book, SuperCompetent (John Wiley and Sons, 2010), I identified and described six keys that anyone can use in the workplace to maximize their performance: Activity, Availability, Attention, Accessibility, Accountability, and Attitude. Recently, I've been considering how all six affect C-Suite executives—that is, upper-level … [Read more...]

"If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality." -- Benjamin Franklin Ben Franklin had it right. Of all the resources available to us, time is certainly the most precious. Unlike office supplies or even money, it's impossible to get more; there's no box marked "Time" in the supply closet where you can grab a spare minute or two. Once time is spent, it's gone, and there's no getting it back And yet, we invariably waste it. Look: you can't afford to waste time at work. A firm grasp of time management is absolutely crucial if you want to succeed…although the truth is, when you manage time, you're really managing yourself. You need to buckle down and control you. With that in mind, let's take a look at the eight biggest self-inflicted … [Read more...]

"To succeed in life you need things like talent, diligence, persistence, skills, hard work and maybe a little luck. You can achieve great things—but in order to do so you have to do a lot more than just think about them." -- Paul Sloane, author of The Innovative Leader. Unless you've been living in a cave since 2006, you've certainly heard of The Secret. This popular philosophy, as outlined in a self-help book of the same name, purports to relate the true secret of success in all aspects of life. According to author Rhonda Byrne, it’s all about optimistic thinking and a faith in abundance; that is, a belief that the Universe will provide for you through a Law of Attraction, assuming you keep believing in whatever it is you really want. The Secret has been widely interpreted, by … [Read more...]