This blog actually got its beginnings on the back of an old boarding pass…boarding to what city I don’t know…maybe my trip to upstate New York where I got my first taste of the Appalachian Trail. I’m in the middle of a set of seminars about “Succession Planning from the Middle Up” and got the idea for a collaborative blog to share best practices and resources – to help you blaze your trail to the next level and lead the way for others.
That’s where the name came from, actually. The first person on the trail — the trailblazer — has no trail to follow, but a glance behind reveals footsteps for others to follow, be it in snow, mud, dewy grass, or broken twigs. Now the next person knows it can be done – no matter what “it” is. A “blaze” is a mark or sign on a tree or landmark left by those who have traveled this way before and been kind enough to leave a “light” on for us, pointing out the path through the wilderness.
That’s the kind of trailblazing that I envision for this blog: A place to see the next step to the next level – the best practices and resources that can point the direction up. Yeah, you’re in the middle now, but didn’t you used to be at the bottom? Progress towards is what that looks like to me! Know with certainty that there IS a place at the top with YOUR name on it if you undertake the due diligence to find your niche, to learn best practices from your colleagues, to share your best practices so your colleagues can learn from you, and keep up with what’s new about middle management.
I’ll be sharing a new focus topic every Monday — starting with the first middle management competency from the succession planning seminars — and am asking you to share your most successful means to implement or deal with that topic in your middle management world.
Any time that I find them, I’ll put books and articles in the resource lists at the bottom, so check there whenever you check the blog. Notice the Amazon search link on the left. You can use it to search for books that interest you, and, if you order a book through that link, I’ll get a few cents of credit for it because I’m an Amazon Associate — just to keep things out in the open between us.
My regular posts won’t be this long; I’ll be brief and concise from now on — just setting things in motion today. I hope you will post complete descriptions of your successful best practices so we can add them to our toolbox.
So let’s go out there blaze some trails!
Dr. TC
