Think Like an Entrepreneur, Act Like a CEO

37 Celebrate Your Wins and Theirs

Do you worry so much about what could go wrong that you can’t seem to focus on what’s going right? If so, you’re missing important opportunities. That was the case with my client Joe*, who led a government branch composed of seven communications specialists. His team had been in place for several years and generally was meeting its goals and coping with constant deadline pressure. The problem, Joe said, was that it felt like his people had “run out of juice.” Too often they seemed bored or exhausted, and he was tempted to micromanage in order to prevent mistakes.

We talked about how Joe might restructure the unit’s activities not only to deliver more value to the agency, but also to reengage staffers and encourage ...