How To Jump-Start Your Business

As a leader in your business, try these six ideas to give your business a jump-start:

Ask for ideas from employees in all parts of your business. Don't ask for ideas only from your product development or marketing departments.
Be sure all employees clearly understand your vision and the mission of your business.
Brainstorm ways to take advantage of your strengths.
Determine how to overcome your business' weaknesses.
Choose which opportunities you will prioritize to help keep everyone focused on a common goal.
Celebrate your successes regularly and encourage learning from your mistakes.

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The Six Mindsets That Distinguish The Best Leaders

The key takeaway from the book, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish The Best Leaders From The Rest , is the best CEOs think and act differently than the rest across each of six key CEO responsibilities , including: Setting the direction (vision, strategy, resource allocation) Aligning the organization (culture, organization design, talent) Mobilizing through leaders (composition, teamwork, operating rhythm) Engaging the board (relationships, capabilities, meetings) Connecting with stakeholders (social purpose, interaction, moments of truth) Managing personal effectiveness (time and energy, leadership model, perspective) Starting with a pool of more than 2,400 corporate leaders, McKinsey & Company senior partners and authors Carolyn Dewar , Scott Keller , and Vik Malhotra extensively screened the group to identify the elite core, then sat down with 67 of them for multiple hours to talk...

Do You Really Need To Read Leadership Books?

The answer is yes. And, fortunately, there are lots out there to select from. However, if you don't have time to read books about how to be an effective and good leader, you can select a few words from the list below and then practice what those words mean, as you lead your team every day. Leaders on the LinkedIn Executive Suite group came up with these nearly 50 words in answer to a discussion topic I posted in the group forum: " A Good Leader Is [insert one word]." A big thank you to that group for this valuable list. Accountable Adaptable Approachable Authentic Aware Bold Brave Candid Caring Clear Challenging Charismatic Compassionate Courageous Credible Decisive Dedicated Ethical Empowering Engaged Fearless Forward-Thinking Gracious Honest Humble Inclusive Influential Inspiring Intuitive Loyal Mindful Moral Motivating Objective Open Passionate Pro-active Receptive Responsible Respectful Skilled S...

Effective Listening: Do's And Don'ts

Here are some great tips from Michelle Tillis Lederman's book, The 11 Laws of Likability . They are all about: what to do and what not to do to be a leader who's an effective listener : Do : Maintain eye contact Limit your talking Focus on the speaker Ask questions Manage your emotions Listen with your eyes and ears Listen for ideas and opportunities Remain open to the conversation Confirm understanding, paraphrase Give nonverbal messages that you are listening (nod, smile) Ignore distractions Don't : Interrupt Show signs of impatience Judge or argue mentally Multitask during a conversation Project your ideas Think about what to say next Have expectations or preconceived ideas Become defensive or assume you are being attacked Use condescending, aggressive, or closed body language Listen with biases or closed to new ideas Jump to conclusions or finish someone's sentences

Six Mindsets That Distinguish The Best Leaders

How To Avoid 8 Common Performance Evaluation Pitfalls

As the year comes to a close it's likely time for many business leaders to tackle the annual performance appraisal process. So, here is a good reminder from author Sharon Armstrong about how to avoid eight performance evaluation pitfalls . These are in what I consider is the best chapter of the book The Essential HR Handbook , that she co-authored with Barbara Mitchell. 1. Clustering everyone in the middle performance-rating categories 2. Overlooking flaws or exaggerating the achievements of favored employees 3. Excusing substandard performance or behavior because it is widespread 4. Letting one characteristic - positive or negative - affect your overall assessment 5. Rating someone based on the company he or she keeps 6. Rating someone based on a grudge you are holding 7. Rating someone based on a short time period instead of the entire evaluation period 8. Rating everyone high, to make you look good There's ot...

Resolve To Find A Mentor In 2025

Having a mentor is one of the best things you can do to advance your career as a leader. So, decide soon to secure a mentor who will work with you during 2025. Make that one of your New Year’s resolutions. A mentor can benefit leaders new to their leadership role and they can benefit experienced and seasoned leaders, as well. A strong mentoring relationship allows the mentor and the mentee to develop new skills and talents, to build confidence, and to build self-awareness. Proper mentoring takes a commitment from both parties and it takes time to develop and to reap the rewards of the relationship. Plan to work with your mentor for no less than three months, and ideally for six months or longer. When seeking out a mentor, think about these questions : 1. Will the relationship have good personal chemistry? 2. Can this person guide me, particularly in the areas where I am weakest? 3. Will this person take a genuine interest in me? 4. Does this person have the trait...

5 Tips For Generating Ideas From Employees

Your employees have lots of ideas. So, be sure you provide the forums and mechanisms for your employees to share their ideas with you. Hold at least a few brainstorming sessions each year, as well. And, when you are brainstorming with your employees, try these five tips: Encourage ALL ideas. Don't evaluate or criticize ideas when they are first suggested. Ask for wild ideas. Often, the craziest ideas end up being the most useful. Shoot for quantity not quality during brainstorming. Encourage everyone to offer new combinations and improvements of old ideas.

How To Create And Live A Powerful Personal Brand

In her new book, Selling Yourself , Dr. Cindy McGovern shows you how to step-by-step create a powerful personal brand. Using her five-step strategy, you’ll learn how to build an impressive, authentic brand, live your brand and sell your brand. “Whether your brand has created itself, you’ve outgrown your original brand, you’re ready for the next level, or you’ve changed your passion or purpose, this book is for you,” shares McGovern. You’ll learn how to showcase your brand to expand your opportunities, establish trust, build deeper connections, have more confidence to ask for what you want, leave lasting impressions, and finally to express gratitude. One of my favorite parts of the book is where McGovern includes this quote from Mahatma Gandhi : Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny. ...

5 Reasons To Do An Employee Survey

Business leaders who wonder whether they should conduct an employee survey should think about these five good reasons for conducting surveys, as recommended by John Kador and Katherine J. Armstrong in their book, Perfect Phrases for Writing Employee Surveys : 1. To discover what employees are thinking and doing – in a nonthreatening survey environment. You will learn what motivates employees and what is important to them. 2. To prioritize the organization’s actions based on objective results – rather than relying on subjective information or your best guesses. 3. To provide a benchmark – or a snapshot of your employees and their attitudes at a certain point of time that you can then compare to future surveys to spot trends. 4. To communicate the importance of key topics to employees – by communicating with employees the survey results that shows your organization is listening to employees. 5. To collect the combined brainpower and ideas of the wor...

The Five Points Of Professionalism

Here's more good advice from The Everything Coaching And Mentoring Book : Professional behavior on the job means that work habits are strong and consistent. Your organization's work ethic should be solution- and positive-results-oriented. And you should regularly take inventory of these five points of professionalism : Honesty and integrity Learning and initiative Resilience Positive attitude Teamwork Check out these useful online resources for more coaching and mentoring tips and advice: Micomentor The Center for Coaching and Mentoring The Coaching and Mentoring Network Coaching and Mentoring for Small Business Owners Manager's Forum Coaching and Mentoring Careers Peer Resources Coaching and Mentoring Training

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