Jo McDermott

Reframe

  • Dealing with A**holes

    For some reason I’ve talked to a lot of people in the last couple of weeks who were having problems with people in their lives—mostly at work.  The problem when you have to deal with people who are difficult is… Continue reading

  • My Boss Doesn’t Listen to Me!

    What Language Are You Speaking? My first question to you is– Are you speaking your boss’ language?  And, I’m sure your answer is, “Of Course!”  But are you really?  One of the most important tools that I use to help… Continue reading

  • What You Believe About How the Organization Works is WRONG

    If you are the CEO-Founder of the organization, nothing I’m going to say applies to you.  If you are anyone else, it probably does.  We all have beliefs about how organizations work.  For the most part, at least some of… Continue reading

  • Great Leaders and Their Paradoxes

    I have always loved the concept of paradoxes.  A paradox is a self-contradictory proposition.  Paradoxes  are the embodiment of complexity.  Great leaders are full of them. Extreme Self Confidence v. Humility: I don’t think you can be a leader without… Continue reading

  • Lead from where you are

    Tops, Middles, Bottoms Are you the same kind of leader at work that you are at home? at church? with your friends?  If you’re like most people, probably not.  Why is that?  Most people have a picture of the “power… Continue reading

  • Fail. Fail. Fail.

    Failing Isn’t Fun. I really, really to hate to fail.  In fact, I hate it so much that I rarely admit that I failed when I do–it’s not that I lie about it–I just don’t even admit to myself.  So… Continue reading

  • My Generation Is Best, The Other . . . Not So Much

    That OTHER Generation is IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!! One of my favorite team building exercises is to put people of the same generation together and have them describe the other generations.  I have them make a list of the characteristics of the other… Continue reading

  • I Hate My Boss!

    Unless you’re independently wealthy, you probably have to figure out how to deal with a boss you hate–at least for a while.  Pretty much everyone has this problem at some point in their career.  The good news is that you… Continue reading

  • Genericize Yourself, Increase Your Options

    Broaden Your Opportunities For the first ten years of my career, I did product development and operations at an electronic publisher.  Before the Internet.  Explaining what I did was very hard.  (It would be a lot easier now).   When I… Continue reading

  • Being Told “No” Changed My Life

    The most important lessons I have learned came from people who told me “No,” or “Do it faster.” NO! I was “reorganized” into managing a large department with twenty managers reporting to me.  Only a few of those managers had… Continue reading