“Standing in the classroom, it doesn’t matter what the subject is, first I have to deal with headtrash,” I said. We were locked in a discussion about learning.

“So, how do you teach a manager how to hold someone accountable,” Erwin repeated.

“It’s easy to teach someone the method. The difficult part is finding that part of the brain that keeps them from doing it. Most mismanagement comes from the manager sitting on a problem, not making a decision, not taking action.”

Erwin nodded in agreement. “I have seen that over and over.”

“The first step is awareness, identifying the reason for hesitation. Managers can come up with all kinds of excuses to avoid the necessary confrontation. That is where we start.” -TF
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Coming soon is a new design for Management Skills Blog. We have been working hard to develop new programs for managers, both classroom and online. Follow this link to find out about our next management program beginning July 24 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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Tour de France Update

Out of the Pyranees and back into a couple of flat stages. Here the breakaways over the weekend were successful in shaking up the top contenders.

For Team Discovery (USA), they saw Yaroslav Popovych (UKR-DSC) come back from place 23 to place 11 in a stage win that also saw teammate Paolo Salvoldelli abandon the race after a crash.

Popvych is the only hope for Discovery with most forecasting either Floyd Landis (USA-PHO), Denis Menchov (RUS-RAB) or Cadel Evans (AUS-DVL) to take podium honors in Paris.

But we still have the Alps to go.

Overall Standings after Stage 14

1-PEREIRO SIO, Oscar -ESP-CEI -64hrs 05min 4sec

2-LANDIS, Floyd -USA-PHO –+1min 29sec

3-DESSEL, Cyril -FRA-A2R –+1min 37sec

4-MENCHOV, Denis -RUS-RAB –+2min 30sec

5-EVANS, Cadel -AUS-DVL –+2min 46sec

6-SASTRE, Carlos -ESP-CSC –+3min 21sec

7-KLÖDEN, Andréas -GER-TMO –+3min 58sec

8-ROGERS, Michael -AUS-TMO –+4min 51sec

9-MERCADO, Juan Miguel -ESP-AGR –+5min 2sec

10-MOREAU, Christophe -FRA-A2R –+5min 13sec

11-POPOVYCH, Yaroslav -UKR-DSC –+5min 44sec

12-FOTHEN, Marcus -GER-GST –+5min 46sec

13-ZUBELDIA, Haimar -ESP-EUS –+5min 55sec

14-SINKEWITZ, Patrik -GER-TMO –+7min 7sec

15-LEIPHEIMER, Levi -USA-GST –+7min 8sec

16-BOOGERD, Michael -NED-RAB –+7min 23sec

17-TOTSCHNIG, Georg -AUT-GST –+8min 16sec

18-KARPETS, Vladimir -RUS-CEI –+8min 36sec

19-AZEVEDO, José -POR-DSC –+9min 11sec

20-SCHLECK, Frank -LUX-CSC –+10min 6sec