The Cranky Middle Manager Show #73 More “Slow Leadership”- Adrian Savage
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #73
Today we celebrate two things:
1) The return of Adrian Savage, who was with us on show #54 . He’s back to talk about his new book, Slow Leadership.
2) Our first sponsor, Mind Tools. You’ll remember their founder, James Manktelow was with us on Show # 25.
Well, they have a special offer for listeners of this show. Save 25% on membership their Career Excellence Club, and the first month is only $1 US. Check it out here.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we talk Slow Leadership with the passionate and (dare I say) somewhat cranky Adrian Savage. The show is dedicated to Brasidas, the Spartan general who understood that taking your time shows big returns, when you can battle the weasels to a standstill and do it.
3:29 More from my boy Cicero, who’s leading the pack in quotes of the week…he knows it takes time to make good calls….so why aren’t we allowed to do it?
4:44 Welcome back Adrian Savage (or Carmine Coyote, depending on which blog you read). He’s more than a little ticked off about the lack of Slow Leadership. We take a step back…what does he even mean by Slow Leadership?
9:18 If I apply the “gun to the head test”, no one really thinks we should be working this frenetically, but it happens- so why? Adrian (and me too, for the record) blames the changing marketplace. Long term investment is almost an oxymoron and they aren’t around for the true long term.
12:11 Is this really practical, or is this written from the safety of retirement? It’s all about the choices we make and our definition of career success.
16:14 One of Adrian’s blog postings really raised some hackles- Check it out- what gets people going about the modern workplace? (Check out his blog for November 20th)
23:00 Adrian doesn’t like bad meetings any more than I do. (Quick plug for my e-book, Meet Like You Mean It) Don’t let them steal your time. Stand up to the time thieves. Let’s face it most meetings are unnecessary, they’re badly run and the few that do matter MUST have a clear purpose that can’t be met any other way. Covering your butt is NOT a valid reason.
26:00 Some of the takeaways from the book:
- Give yourself thinking time
- Trust your people- really
- The major source of creativity in any organization comes from the Middle Managers (we love this guy)
30:40 Bob Sutton’s book “The No Asshole Rule”. I will try to get Dr Sutton on the show, but after the Management Issues article I wrote about him, I ain’t promising anything.