Dan McCarthy's Page

Dealing with a poor performer has to be one of the hardest responsibilities of a leader. Great leaders confront performance issues head on. They provide feedback, coaching, counseling, and if all else fails, real leaders fire underperformers. It’s all part of earning your scars as a leader.



Cowardly managers come up with all kind of creative ways to avoid dealing with… Continue

The April edition of CCL’s Leading Effectively newsletter sure caught my attention:



Did you know …



That three personality traits are predictors of career derailment?



Actually, no, I wasn’t aware of this. In fact, I’m not aware of any research on leadership derailment that deals with personality traits. Competencies, behaviors, skills, IQ, EQ… sure; but not personality traits.



And I was surprised to learn what they were. You may be to. From… Continue

These days, leaders are looking for way to keep their employees focused and motivated during challenging economic and business conditions. With layoffs, pay freezes, furloughs, and 401K cuts, there’s plenty of bad news going on that a leader can’t control that can drag a team down.



What does a “motivating environment” look like? When it’s 5:00pm, and most of the department is on the way out the door and your team is still working hard and having fun at the same time. A motivating… Continue

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A question from a great leadership reader:



“I am a recent post-graduate in the UK (Masters in International Relations) and want eventually to work in development. My question to you regards the best use of my skills. I feel that I am a leader and I want to put that calling to work. My research has led me to Management Consultancy as a way of learning my trade, with the view of learning the skills that an effective manager/leader… Continue