Jo McDermott

personal change

  • What We Can Learn From the Olympics

    People who make it to the Olympics are REALLY good at what they do.  Even people who finish LAST at the Olympics are way better than most of us.  How do they get there?  Well, the easy answer is that… Continue reading

  • Life, Death and Legacies

    Death-Bed Regrets I bet you have all heard the story about the guy on his death-bed who regretted how much he worked and how little time he spent with his family, or doing what he loved, or making a difference… Continue reading

  • Getting Things Done Without The Title

    How Do You Get Things Done When You’re Not the Boss? I deal all the time with people in organizations who are trying to get things done without the direct authority to ‘order’ people to do it.  These are people… Continue reading

  • The Transition From Manager to Leader

    Leaders v. Managers I’m sure you’ve probably heard about the differences between managers and leaders.  Managers do things right and leaders do the right thing–right? I think that this is an interesting discussion, but it isn’t that easy.  Managers do… Continue reading

  • Get a Mentor. Use a Mentor.

    Get a Mentor I know you’ve heard it.  If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ve heard it from me.  You need a mentor to help your career.  Easier said than done, right? Typical questions about mentors and mentoring are: What… Continue reading

  • Stephen Covey and his Gifts to Business People

    All business people owe a lot to Stephen Covey, who died this week at the age of 79.  Covey wrote his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, in 1989.  There were no earth shatteringly new concepts in it—to… Continue reading

  • Promoted to Manage Your Peers? Awkward.

    They’ll Hate Me! If you spend enough time climbing the corporate ladder, or if you work in a small organization, eventually you’ll be promoted to manage your peers.  This is one of the toughest developmental experiences there is.  It’s hard… Continue reading

  • Become a Great Leader

    Do You Want to Become a Great Leader? How you think about leadership has a profound affect on your success in becoming a good leader.  We all have our individual idea of what a good leader is.  Then we assume… Continue reading

  • Flip the Switch

    A Story I’m going to tell you a story so that you can learn an important lesson without having to go through what I went through to learn it.  How’s that for a deal?  Then you’ll be able to do… Continue reading

  • Is That Smoke Smell Your Burnout?

    Are You Burned Out? Here are the symptoms: Everything looks bleak You don’t even have enough energy to care Your tolerance of other people is very low You feel unappreciated You feel like you’re going through the motions It doesn’t… Continue reading