Greetings from Cleveland

Mark and Mike,

I have found your Manager Tools podcasts to be the [b]most[/b] effective management/leadership learning tools for me. My wife bought me an iPod for Christmas and somehow the little device found you off the get-go. I have listened for several months now and have taken to heart much of what you have shared.

I am a Cleveland-based senior research scientist with a medical device company. I have long been an egghead content to get deeply involved with research problems of interest. More recently I have found myself increasingly interested in "moving up the ladder" with the goal to have a more significant impact on the direction of my organization.

One of the first actions that I took was to seek out a mentor as described in your Basics of Mentoring podcasts. I sought a mentor inside my company even though he is located at our corporate headquarters in California. There were numerous positives about this mentoring relationship that outweighed my concerns about the distance.

While I have been involved with project management, I have only recently had responsibility for a direct report. I feel fortunate to have found Manager Tools before becoming a manager. I have hit the ground running knowing the importance of behavior and communication. There has been no issue with immediately establishing one-on-ones. The feedback model made sharing (adjusting and affirming) feedback a very simple, low-stress exercise. And I realized that I did not need to be an expert (in software development) to provide coaching.

I will continue to listen to and participate in Manager Tools to develop manager/leader skills. It is difficult to say how much I have professionally profited from Manager Tools.

One question I have is how can I start to return the favor?

All the best.

Kendall