Subscribe to the Three Star Leadership Blog

The Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training.

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check Wally's Three Star Leadership Letter

Find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.

Find out more about Wally's coaching services.

Here are five choice articles from the business press to start off your work week. I'm pointing you to articles about stay-at-home moms to the rescue, the perils of jumping on a bandwagon, great advice from twenty-five impressive people, negotiating psychology, and workforce planning.

Last week's newsletter was "The Princess and the Timer." As usual there were pointers to Web and Reading Resources, too.

From the Wall Street Journal: How Stay-at-Home Moms Are Filling an Executive Niche
"The decision among some highly educated women to stay home with children is sparking a countertrend: The rise of the mommy "SWAT team." The acronym, for "smart women with available time," is one mother's label for all-mom teams assembled quickly through networking and staffing firms to handle crash projects. Employers get lots of voltage, cheap, while the women get a skills update and a taste of the professional challenges they miss."

Wally's Comment: I used this strategy years ago and I'll vouch for how well it can work. Remember that stay-at-home-moms with skills are only one group that can offer skilled and experienced help to your business. After you stop by the PTA and childcare center, head over to the senior center.

From the New York Times: A Lender Gets Caught in the Currents
"In its 100-year history, CIT has traditionally engaged in the meat-and-potatoes business of providing loans and leases for heavy machinery, tech equipment and other staples of the manufacturing economy. But under Mr. Peek, CIT spread its wings, offering a tour of the perils awaiting any firm that jumps into seemingly lucrative new arenas at the expense of focusing on markets that it knows and understands best. Mr. Peek, a 61-year-old Wall Street veteran who lost out several years ago in a race to run Merrill Lynch, led CIT down that path and is now scrambling to keep his company afloat. "

Wally's Comment: This is a simply great story about a company that was solidly profitable, a new CEO who wanted to put his stamp on the place, and what happens when that stamp involves expanding into areas where you have no experience, just because they're for others profitable at the moment.

From Fortune: The Best Advice I Ever Got
"From tech (Larry Page) to Wall Street (Peter G. Peterson) to the military (David Petraeus) to entertainment (Tina Fey), accomplished people tell Fortune about the advice that most influenced their lives.

Wally's Comment: I love articles like this one and the array of people sharing the best advice they ever got is truly impressive, from Michael Bloomberg to Alan Mulally and everyone in between.

From the Economist: Inside a deal
"Judged by the number of times that negotiations are said to have ended in a “win-win situation”, striking a successful deal might seem easy. There are, after all, shelves full of books offering advice about how to succeed as a negotiator. The main tip is to gain bargaining power by understanding the person on the other side of the table. But what exactly does a negotiator need to know about his antagonist? In a series of experiments a team of researchers have come up with some intriguing answers in a report just published in Psychological Science."

Wally's Comment: Here's some research about whether it's best to get inside your adversary's head or heart.

From Workforce Management: Staffing, Down to a Science
"At leading organizations such as Capital One, workforce planning looks far ahead at business goals and forecasts talent supply and demand to ensure that staffing needs critical to success are met. Sophisticated, highly analytical approaches to workforce planning that account for a range of business scenarios enable organizations to predict their long-term needs to almost the very last employee. "

Wally's Comment: Don't be fooled by the word "science" here. It doesn't mean "using experiments to find truth" or "scientifically proven." Instead, it means what it usually does when you see it in a business article. When you see the word "science" substitute "using a sophisticated mathematical model" and you'll be fine.

Normally I wouldn't recommend an article on prediction that promises precision. My life experience, despite a major in Management Science, is that as soon as your introduce human beings and their behavior into the equation, precision goes out the window. But this article has lots of very good material that will help you think about planning to meet your people needs.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.

Request your free copy of "Meeting the Challenges of the Boomer Brain Drain: An integrated approach."

Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.

Click here to find out more about Wally's coaching services.

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check our Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Letter.

Click here to find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.