For years I have heard that leaders need to delegate and stay out of the weeds. Management gurus are always saying something like: “Don’t get your hands dirty. Stay out of the daily work. It’s not the highest and best use of your time. Your time and brains are too important.”

And, I have followed that advice — at least I have tried to delegate and to stay out of the daily work. But maybe I was not doing it right, because it has not really worked.

Head over to the NYT Small Business Blog for a great essay on the eternal struggle of leadership, with some wise words on the weeds.

Traveling even more than usual this holiday season?  Check out this infographic that will help you squeeze every ounce of productivity out of that four hour layover.

Jullien Gordon has some ideas on the modern day quandary of never knowing when to call it quits at the office.  As he says, "Work is never-ending. Emails are never-ending. And to-do lists are never-ending. As a result, a white collar worker can have an extremely productive day and still feel overwhelmed and unaccomplished at the end because there is always more to do." He has four ways of deciding when to go home, that he changes based on the project:

1. Energy-Based: I'll Leave Work When I'm Dead Tired
2. Time-Based: I'll Leave Work When The Clock Strikes 5pm
3. Results-Based: I'll Leave Work When I Finish My Daily To-Do List
4. Feeling-Based: I'll Leave Work When I Feel Good About What I Accomplished

Head over to the full article to read about how he makes that decision.

Marty Heinrich at GovCon shares some guidance on best practices for analyzing cloud risk over at the GovCon Blog.  Here are his eight pointers.  Head over to the full article to read more. 1. Define and document

2. Evaluate the cloud architecture

3. Perform due diligence

4. Negotiate contractual arrangements

5. Define continuous monitoring

6. Define measures to ensure privacy

7. Ensure that the cloud solution provides necessary record-keeping functions

8. Ensure compliance with FISMA standards,