Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

From the book,  Leading With Strategic Thinking , the  three key activities that comprise strategic thinking  are: Assessing situations  Recognizing patterns Making decisions

“By focusing in specific ways on five key leadership elements — Purpose, Process, People, Presence, and Peace —you can increase your time, capacity, energy, and ultimately your leadership impact,” explains  Amy Jen Su , author of the book,  The Leader You Want To Be: Five Essential Principles for Bringing Out Your Best Self—Every Day . Su shares both Western management thinking and Eastern philosophy to provide a holistic yet hands-on approach to becoming a more effective leader with less stress and more equanimity. She draws on rich and instructive stories of clients, leaders, artists, and athletes. And, she focuses on three foundational tenets: s elf-care, self-awareness, and personal agency . Most important, Su explores in depth, chapter-by-chapter the  Five Ps : Purpose  – Staying grounded in your passions and contributions, doing your highest and best work that has meaning and is making a difference. Process  – Relying on daily practices and routines that honor your natural energy

To help you bring out the best in your team, you need to get close and understand their skills, abilities, and motivations. So, the authors of the book,  Your First Leadership Job , recommend you hold  getting-to-know-you conversations  with each of your direct reports. Ask these  open-ended questions . Let each team member know the purpose of the meeting in advance. And, don't cheat by adding in work-specific questions. What do you enjoy doing most as part of your work? Why? What do you  miss most about the jobs you've had in the past? Why? What things about your current job do you enjoy the least? Why? How do you cope with or relieve stress? To help you do your job, what could I change about: Your work environment? The content of your work? How you get your work done? What form of recognition do you prefer or not prefer?

  Searching for good leadership books to read this summer? I recommend these:

  No One Succeeds Alone is the inspiring story of Compass Founder & CEO Robert Reffkin , whose mother, mentors, and search for belonging taught him valuable lessons that anyone with a dream can put into action today to improve their own quality of life.   Each chapter in the book shares a part of Reffkin’s life story and eight practical lessons , such as:   Love your customers more than your ideas. Find someone to give you the critical feedback others won’t. Collaborate without ego. If you help people, they will want to help you.   Prior to becoming CEO of Compass, a real estate company and technology platform, Reffkin completed a B.A. and M.B.A. from Columbia University and worked at McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and as a White House Fellow.   He has also run 50 marathons in 50 states to raise $1 million dollars for charities — including for America Needs You, the non-profit he founded to serve young people living below the poverty line who are the first in their familie

  "You will only fail to learn if you do not learn from failing." - Stella Adler "Nothing is impossible. The word itself says 'I'm possible!'" - Audrey Hepburn