How To Present At A Conference - A Checklist - Part 1
At some point in your career, you're going to get to, or have to, present at a conference. There are some special considerations, and here they are.
Oct 27, 2025
Manager Tools
Tired of management theory? Want to learn specific skills to help improve your management performance? Then Manager Tools is the podcast for you! Manager Tools is a weekly business podcast focused on helping professionals become more effective managers and leaders. Each week, we discuss specific actions for professionals to take to achieve their desired management and career objectives. Manager Tools won Best Business Podcast Award in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2012 as well as the People's Choice Award in 2008. Find more at http://www.manager-tools.com/
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Episodes
The Hip Pocket Presentation
Most managers don't know it, but if they want to further their career, they must always have a presentation in their hip pocket, ready to be given on no-notice. That's why it's called the Hip Pocket Presentation.
Oct 20, 2025
The Love Speech
For many years at our Effective Manager Conferences, Mark ended the day by giving what we came to call, "The Love Speech." Love matters in managing others. Here it is, for the record, for those who never got to hear it in person.
Oct 13, 2025
What To Do When You Get Promoted - Part 2
Promotions are exciting - congratulations! And now you have some work to do, but we will tell you exactly what and why and how.
Oct 06, 2025
What To Do When You Get Promoted - Part 1
Promotions are exciting - congratulations! And now you have some work to do, but we will tell you exactly what and why and how.
Sep 29, 2025
Career Insurance For Your Directs - Part 2
We recently re-released a Hall of Fame Career Tools cast about Building Your Network. That's only one part of a series of things everyone must do to manage their own careers. Everybody needs "Career Insurance." And too many managers don't educate their directs on what they have to do to be successful with their own careers management.
Sep 22, 2025
Career Insurance For Your Directs - Part 1
We recently re-released a Hall of Fame Career Tools cast about Building Your Network. That's only one part of a series of things everyone must do to manage their own careers. Everybody needs "Career Insurance." And too many managers don't educate their directs on what they have to do to be successful with their own careers management.
Sep 15, 2025
Google's Project Oxygen
We have mentioned, usually only briefly, Google's "Project Oxygen' for many years, in many podcasts. Now we tell the story - in part because we were there.
Sep 08, 2025
The Black Widow Mistake - Part 2 (Hall of Fame Guidance)
The Black Widow Mistake is named after the red, angular figure eight markings on the abdomen of the dangerous female black widow spider. The mistake that many aspiring executives make is to start narrowing their development at the same time that their executive role requires them to be thinking more broadly, including outside the organization. It can put a stop to your upward development.
Sep 01, 2025
The Black Widow Mistake - Part 1 (Hall of Fame Guidance)
The Black Widow Mistake is named after the red, angular figure eight markings on the abdomen of the dangerous female black widow spider. The mistake that many aspiring executives make is to start narrowing their development at the same time that their executive role requires them to be thinking more broadly, including outside the organization. It can put a stop to your upward development.
Aug 25, 2025
See One, Do One, Teach One
The way most managers develop their team is haphazard and neither efficient nor effective. How can we not develop our teams when doctors learn thousands and thousands of procedures, diagnoses, and surgeries in such little time? See One, Do One, Teach One. It's faster, and it works well if you're willing to delegate and give lots of negative feedback.
Aug 18, 2025
The Four Hidden Dangers of Not Delegating - Part 2
Too many managers fail to delegate sufficiently. In many cases, managers don't know how or what to delegate. But even when some managers have a sense of what and how, they don't delegate. This is often because they don't know the hidden dangers of NOT delegating!
Aug 11, 2025
The Four Hidden Dangers of Not Delegating - Part 1
Too many managers fail to delegate sufficiently. In many cases, managers don't know how or what to delegate. But even when some managers have a sense of what and how, they don't delegate. This is often because they don't know the hidden dangers of NOT delegating!
Aug 04, 2025
Proactive Reporting And The Bricklayer - Part 2
As managers get more responsibility, and potentially promotions to Senior Manager, they start feeling squeezed between the demands from above and the demands of running their org. The increases in requests for information from above take time to prepare for. The answer is to make your team's reporting more proactive.
Jul 28, 2025
Proactive Reporting And The Bricklayer - Part 1
As managers get more responsibility, and potentially promotions to Senior Manager, they start feeling squeezed between the demands from above and the demands of running their org. The increases in requests for information from above take time to prepare for. The answer is to make your team's reporting more proactive.
Jul 21, 2025
How To Go On Vacation - Part 2 - HOF 2025
Part 2 of our Hall of Fame guidance on how to plan for and take an effective vacation.
Jul 14, 2025
How To Go On Vacation - Part 1 - HOF 2025
Our Hall of Fame guidance on how to plan for and take an effective vacation.
Jul 07, 2025
20th Anniversary Cast
Welcome to a special episode of Manager Tools. Today, you're listening to the live recording of our 20th anniversary podcast, captured in front of a fantastic audience of managers and leaders just like you.
Jun 30, 2025
Building Your Bench - Chapter 1 - Part 2
Too many managers rely on HR to bring them candidates for their hiring needs. HR is a necessary part of sourcing candidates, and it's important to work with them. But there is often a disconnect, because they don't know your work or needs as well as you do. Effective managers build a bench of possible candidates, and hire from their own bench whenever they can.
Jun 23, 2025
Building Your Bench - Chapter 1 - Part 1
Too many managers rely on HR to bring them candidates for their hiring needs. HR is a necessary part of sourcing candidates, and it's important to work with them. But there is often a disconnect, because they don't know your work or needs as well as you do. Effective managers build a bench of possible candidates, and hire from their own bench whenever they can.
Jun 16, 2025
HR May Not Be Your Friend - Part 2
Effective managers need a good relationship with HR. But HR may be the hardest staff organization to have a good relationship with, because their incentives are often misaligned with everyday managers. Even if you have an "HR Business Partner," they work for someone else, and probably support other managers. This isn't inherently bad, but a smart manager knows to work with them, while understanding the challenges.
Jun 09, 2025
HR May Not Be Your Friend - Part 1
Effective managers need a good relationship with HR. But HR may be the hardest staff organization to have a good relationship with, because their incentives are often misaligned with everyday managers. Even if you have an "HR Business Partner," they work for someone else, and probably support other managers. This isn't inherently bad, but a smart manager knows to work with them, while understanding the challenges.
Jun 02, 2025
The World's Best Feedback Organization
If feedback is so important to high performance - and it is - it makes sense to study if and when and how the very best athletes get feedback about their performance. While there are 500 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies - truly rarified air - there are only 32 starting players at each position on each NFL team. There are more than 10 times more of the very best CEOs in the entire world than the very best starting quarterbacks, middle linebackers, centers, and defensive ends.. Even if you count all ...
May 26, 2025
Everybody Has Too Much Work To Do! - Part 2
Everyone is always complaining that they have too much work to do. Too many tasks, too many projects, too many meetings. Theree's not enough time in the day to get everything done. What no one realizes is this is the way it's supposed to be.
May 19, 2025
Everybody Has Too Much Work To Do! - Part 1
Everyone is always complaining that they have too much work to do. Too many tasks, too many projects, too many meetings. There's not enough time in the day to get everything done. What no one realizes is this is the way it's supposed to be.
May 12, 2025
The Hidden Purpose Of Interviewing - External Validation - Part 2
Part 2 of our guidance on why interviewing must not only select the right candidate, but also build organizational trust through a fair, known, challenging, and respectful process.
May 05, 2025
The Hidden Purpose Of Interviewing - External Validation - Part 1
Interviewing must not only select the right candidate, but also build organizational trust through a fair, known, challenging, and respectful process.
Apr 28, 2025
Working Hard - Chapter One - The Myth And The Basics - Part 2
It takes hard work to get ahead in your professional life. As you progress into more demanding roles, more is expected of you. To climb to the top, if that is what you aspire to do, takes an incredible amount of work. But it is a MYTH that “working hard” simply means working more hours. In fact, working more hours, in the long run, is NOT the way to think about “working hard.” In this series of guidance, we will lay out how to get the most out of yourself without constantly sacrificing your pers...
Apr 21, 2025
Working Hard - Chapter One - The Myth And The Basics - Part 1
It takes hard work to get ahead in your professional life. As you progress into more demanding roles, more is expected of you. To climb to the top, if that is what you aspire to do, takes an incredible amount of work. But it is a MYTH that “working hard” simply means working more hours. In fact, working more hours, in the long run, is NOT the way to think about “working hard.” In this series of guidance, we will lay out how to get the most out of yourself without constantly sacrificing your pers...
Apr 14, 2025
Introducing The Effective Senior Manager Conference
Learn about our Effective Senior Manager Conference: its purpose, its agenda, its topics. If you’re a manager and are thinking about your career as a Senior Manager and even Executive, you need to learn why the job is different, and how to succeed.
Apr 07, 2025
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