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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Mar 22

"The Middle Matters" is listed on Amazon at a ridiculously low price this week-- so a great chance to get a copy of a book that many people have told me "I wish I had this book years ago!"

This week's article is one of my favorite "tools" in the toolkit.

Can I Rant for A Minute?

Because of an event this week, The Middle Matters: A Toolkit for Middle Managers is listed on Amazon at a ridiculously low price -- so I thought I would share a story from the book this week to give a...

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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Mar 15

So many folks in the middle feel they've landed in management roles without an instruction manual.

Two things can help: 1) understanding these 3 roles: doer, leader, and influencer. And 2) we all need to develop skills for each.

Check out the article and the book.

The Path of the Middle Manager

This week, I thought I would share a excerpt of "The Middle Matters: A Toolkit for Middle Managers." The Doer-Leader-Influencer framework is the center piece of the book and the key to understanding a...

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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Mar 1

“Ego clouds and disrupts everything."

Our internal narrative puts us the center of the action and casts us as victim or hero, when in truth we are neither.

#LeadershipDevelopment #ExtremeOwnership #TheMiddleMatters

Article at jeffsigel.com/blog

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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Feb 23

Such an honor and so much fun to have been Collette Revere's first guest on Feedback Fix - Open360's new podcast!

We had an amazing conversation about giving feedback and the importance about making the feedback about their growth rather than what you need.

Link: www.loom.com/share/63ea48...

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Feb 22

I'm not sure if this article will come across as angry or frustrated. I'm not. I'm just suggesting that organizations need to courageously and fearlessly support their people.

Check out this week's article at jeffsigel.com/blog

#Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #Respect #TheMiddleMatters

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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Feb 15

People who have left the corporate environment know exactly what I mean when I say "Corporate PTSD."

My article focuses on what we can do - . But the real call to action is for companies to fix toxic cultures.

Full article at jeffsigel.com/blog

#ToxicWorkplace #CorporatePTSD #TheMiddleMatters

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Feb 8

Thought I'd try something different this week. A sort of parable.

We don't have to be perfect. But when we make mistakes, we should apologize.

And we don't have to agree, but we should at the very least not go out of our to purposely offend people.

Seems obvious, but somehow it's not?

Don’t Just Hand People Snakes

I’ve been thinking about this article for a while, but I finally decided it was time to write it because I witnessed a baffling example of disrespect and dehumanization in the news this morning.

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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Feb 1

If we are going to live ownership and accountability, then we need to live it at every level. Especially the top.

Check out the article below.

#middlemanagers #themiddlematters #leadership #leadershipdevelopment

Chaos Proof Your Organization (part 5)

I have come across many senior leaders at the top of organizations, large and small, who are frustrated with their team’s inability to get things done.

jeffsigel.com

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Jan 28

Part 4 is all about "crisis leadership" and how to avoid.

Crisis leaders are great in tough situations, but without learning to shift out of crisis mode, they sometimes end up creating crises in order to feel valued.

#TheMiddleMatters #MiddleManagement #Chaos-proof

Chaos-Proofing Your Team (Chaos-proof part 4)

The first rule of Chaos-Proofing your team is: Don’t add to the chaos. The second rule of Chaos-Proofing your team is: Don’t add to the chaos.

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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Jan 22

A few weeks ago, someone sent me a great article in Kevin Coupe's Morning News Beat about middle managers. One thing led to another and we ended up having the conversation at the link below.

#leadership #leadershipdevelopment #middlemanagers #themiddlematters

KC/In Conversation: Why Middle Management Matters - MNB

Not that long ago, I went off on a rant about companies looking to thin out their ranks of middle managers because of a sense that these people inhibit companies' agility and ability to innovate. I t...

morningnewsbeat.com

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Jan 19

The key to managing chaos is to accept what is out of your control and act on what is in your control.

You might have bad boss, work might be overwhelming, people might be expecting the impossible... the question is, what will you do about?

#Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #TheMiddleMatters

Chaos-Proofing Yourself (Chaos-Proof, Part 3)

This week I wanted to continue the “Chaos-Proof” series with a focus on individual contributors (or really everyone, since we are all individuals and we all contribute.)

jeffsigel.com

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Jan 11

Part 2 of the "Chaos-proof" series ... there's a cultural component to chaos in organizations -- essentially does the organization function in the mode of "us vs them" or does it adopt a "we're all in this together" perspective?

#middlemangement #leadershipdevelopment #leadership #chaosproof

The Learning Mindset vs. the Chaos Cycle (Chaos Proof - part 2)

In last week’s article, I talked about the vicious cycle of chaos and firefighting that seems to plague a lot of companies. And I laid out three co-morbid conditions that seem to be connected with cha...

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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Jan 5

Chaos.

This week's article looks at the causes of the chaos cycle -- specifically, the attitudes and mindsets that perpetuate chaos at every level of the organization.

#leadership #leadershipdevelopment #chaos #businesschaos #themiddlematters #middlemanagement

Chaos-Proof (Part 1): Causes of Business Chaos

I thought I would kick off 2025 with a series of articles about a challenging situation that seems to crop up over and over both in my past career and in my more recent discussion: Chaos.

jeffsigel.com

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Jan 2

Happy new year! Working on a cool project -- more coming soon!

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Dec 30

It's resolution time again -- last year's didn't go too well 😬

Yet what an amazing year for accomplishing things that I had never even considered possible.

Taking a different approach for 2025: check out my final 2024 article at jeffsigel.com/blog

#personalleadership #resolutions #middlemanagers

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Dec 26

Senior leaders give two responses about the middle:

they need help
Or
middle managers are the problem…

when I hear the second, I think “wow, found the problem.”

We should always point fingers at ourselves first - it’s what we ask of them, isn’t it?

#middlemanagement #leadershipdevelopment

Toxic at the Top

Does it seem like there are a lot of problematic bosses out there? This week, I thought I would take on this topic because it seems to come up a lot.

jeffsigel.com

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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Dec 23

Just a reminder or two as we all muddle through this world:

People’s lives and experiences are not “insanity” just because you lack empathy and imagination to consider their perspective.

Also, your being offended by someone else’s existence does not constitute an infringement on your beliefs.

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Dec 22

Coolest achievement of 2024- a book! Of all the great Amazon reviews, my favorite is:

“If your boss is driving you insane, read this. If the people you're leading are driving you insane, also read this.”

Great book to kick off 2025!

#leadershipdevelopment #middlemanagement #themiddlematters

The Middle Matters: A Toolkit for Middle Managers

The Middle Matters: A Toolkit for Middle Managers - Kindle edition by Sigel, Jeff. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Middle Matters: A Toolkit for Middle Managers.

www.amazon.com

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Dec 21

Here's my 2024 book list: jeffsigel.com/blog/f/books-ideas-that-stuck-with-me-in-2024

These are the books I just keep talking about over and over. Looking forward to more amazing books in 2025!

#Leadership #Reading #Books #2024booklist

Books & Ideas That Stuck with Me in 2024

I realized, writing last week's article that it was probably time for an end of year book list.

jeffsigel.com

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Dec 20

I just learned about the "Baader-Meinhof phenomenon" last week and now it seems to keep coming up randomly in conversations. Very meta.

#leadership #mindset #baadermeinhof #positivethinking #positivity #positivemindset

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Dec 20

I am convinced that at some point a woolly mammoth was attacking the cave and a "crisis leader" took charge and saved the day ... but then he got worried -- if there's no crisis, will I still be the leader? Which is why he led an attack on the next cave over. Crisis averted -- or maybe perpetuated?

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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Dec 19

Just an observation: I think there's a crisis of "crisis leadership."

Leaders who are great at fighting fires but who seem to constantly have fires to fight. Is it possible that they are creating the chaos?

#Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #TheMiddleMatters #MiddleManagement

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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Dec 18

“We don’t have to respect a particular action … but we do have to respect that person as a human being.” - Kim Scott

I wrote the article about workplace challenges… ultimately, though, demonization/dehumanization is all around us.

#themiddlematters #elevateleadership #middlemanagers #human

You Can’t Compromise with Demons

Last winter, there was this very contentious political battle raging in my town. I won’t go into the details. But suffice to say, it needed to be solved quickly, and neither side was budging.

https://jeffsigel.com/blog/f/you-can’t-compromise-with-demons

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Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Dec 16

Why doesn’t my boss trust me? Listen to me? Respect my expertise? Care what I think? Support my career? Give me more responsibility? Let me do my job?

The simplest answer is: your boss is human.

#middlemanagers #themiddlematters #leadership #badbosses #personalleadership

"What is Wrong with My Manager?" Humanizing your Boss

Why doesn’t my boss trust me? Listen to me? Respect my expertise? Care what I think? Support my career? Give me more responsibility? Let me do my job?

jeffsigel.com

Jeff Sigel @themiddlematters.bsky.social · Dec 16

Managers in the middle feel like:

- They’re just conduits for passing along direction
- There’s not time to understand or impact the “big picture”
- There’s little opportunity to “level up,”

#middlemanagement #themiddlematters

Middle Management Culture: The Key to Activating Strategy

I’ve been talking to a lot of people recently about the role of the middle manager. There’s a real sense that the “middle” has somehow gotten lost between the people they manage, who do the work, and ...

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