Nathan Magnuson's New Book Teaches, Inspires And Builds Your Leadership Confidence

New to your leader role? Or, already a leader, but looking to hone your skills? Then, the new book, Ignite Your Leadership Expertise: Become the Trusted Advisor Others Seek, by Nathan Magnuson, is the book for you.

With 10 leadership topics and easy to read within two hours, this book will both teach you and inspire you. Plus, it will give you the confidence to become a leader and/or improve your leadership capabilities. You will learn actionable techniques you can put into play the next day.

If you don't want to read the book in one sitting, follow Nathan’s suggestion to read one or two leadership topics (one topic per chapter) at a time, and then reflect on and practice the techniques he teaches. Perhaps read one topic per month and spend virtually the entire year learning something new and devoting a whole month to each topic to really solidify your newly learned skills.

The book covers these topics and more:

Trust
Leading by example
Listening
Asking powerful questions
Coaching
Culture

At the end of book, Nathan shares valuable links for recommended reading on leadership, career and life topics. And, sprinkled throughout are motivating leadership quotes.

Nathan Magnuson

A few days ago, Nathan kindly answered these questions about his new book:

Question: Tell me more about how you selected the topics you decided to cover in your book.

Nathan: I didn't think much about leadership until I was a senior in college. On the recommendation of some friends, I took a leadership class in my final semester with Dr. Jeff Myers, to whom this book is dedicated. That class was where I realized I wanted to pursue leadership as a career. By now, I've spent about a decade in corporate leadership development. During this time, I've noticed that many people become very interested in leadership at some point in their career journey. Maybe they read a book, attend a talk or participate in a development program at work. Sometimes they encounter a leadership challenge for the first time they don't know how to handle. One of the things that has surprised me is how many of these folks consider themselves novices at leadership but are strong experts in other areas.

My goal with this book is two-fold. First, it's to decentralize leadership expertise by demonstrating how we can all become leadership experts - starting right where we are. My second goal is to show the difference between knowing and influencing. On its own, leadership expertise won't actually make much of a difference unless people trust you. As Theodore Roosevelt famously stated, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Each topic in this book aligns with those themes.

Question: How often do you believe someone looks to a person for influence when that person may not even know they are fulfilling that leadership role?

Nathan: I think it happens much more frequently than most people think. Younger kids look up to older kids to a tremendous degree. Young professionals pay attention to their colleagues who know what they're doing. Even mature leaders have their own professional and industry heroes. On a basic level, we all have friends and acquaintances we share our personal and vocational challenges with. That's essentially an invitation to allow the other person to influence us.

One of the last sections in the book is called "The Applause of a Single Human Being." It doesn't always feel like it, but if we only knew the extent of our own influence, we'd take ourselves a lot more seriously!

Question: How best do you balance being “generous with your applause” with not wanting to share too much praise that it becomes ineffective?

Nathan: That's a great question - I'm actually asked this more than you'd think. John Maxwell said that encouragement is the oxygen of the soul. You simply can't give too much of it! I've often said that if you have to ask yourself if you're giving your team enough praise, you aren't. Studies show that praise has a direct correlation with employee engagement. Sustain the praise, sustain the engagement. The best part is that it's free to give! The only time praise becomes cheap is if the it isn't genuine or if you praise work (or effort) that isn't good.

Question: What critical leadership lesson did you learn from observation during your military service?

Nathan: In the book, I share that one essential (and free) ingredient to growing a leadership expertise is to learn by observation. The military gave me more lessons by observation than I can count! Almost everyone was given some form of leadership responsibility, which meant I was constantly surrounded by living, breathing case studies. Some were exceptional, some left a bit to be desired. Almost all were a work in progress.

Like I mention in the book, any leadership mistake you can learn from someone else, you can avoid making yourself. Probably the biggest lesson I learned in the military that has been reinforced in the corporate world is that if you can only lead when you have authority, your influence will be low and your impact will be minimal.

Nathan Magnuson is a corporate leadership consultant, author and communicator. His writing “career” began as a kid with a monthly family publication of Nate’s News and continued with various blog, article and book projects along the way. His articles are posted on NathanMagnuson.com and in various leadership publications. Ignite Your Leadership Expertise is his first book publication.

Nathan has worked in a staff or consulting role with several Fortune 500 companies and large public service organizations, including Accenture, MASCO, FBI, and Defense Intelligence Agency. Nathan is also a military veteran, having served a tour with the Army Special Operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Thank you to Nathan for sending me an advance copy of his book.

Comments

How To Uncover Your Blindspots To Become A Better Leader

What you don't see about yourself can hold you back as a leader. That's typical for many leaders. What we don't see is what we can't see: we have blindspots . Your blindspots prevent you from achieving your greatest success. “It turns out that we're often not great judges of ourselves, even when we think we are. Sometimes we're simply unaware of a behavior or trait that's causing problems,” explains Martin Dubin , author of the new book, Blindspotting: How To See What’s Holding You Back As A Leader . “Bottom line: until we uncover these blindspots, we can't move forward. The good news is that you can learn to do your own blindspotting .” “Most of us understand the idea of blindspots in a general sense—areas we can’t see, to take the term most literally, or places we have gaps that we may not even realize, to be a little more abstract,” says Dubin. “But in the context of this book, I’m defining blindspots quite specifically: They are...

Helping People Win At Work

Here are some of my favorite pieces of advice from Ken Blanchard's and Garry Ridge's book, Helping People Win at Work : All good performance starts with clear goals. Continually planning and executing without the value of review and learning can blindside you. You don't want to save up feedback until somebody fails. It's amazing how much more you learn when you admit you don't know. If you can't measure something, you can't manage it. The key to developing people is to catch them doing something right. Whenever you attempt to influence someone else's beliefs, thinking, or behavior, you're engaging in leadership. A compelling vision tells people who they are, where they are going, and what will guide their journey.

Q&A With Best Selling Author And Expert Storyteller, Paul Smith

Paul Smith Paul Smith's book, Lead with a Story , is one of the top 10 books I recommend every leader should read. In his book, Paul demonstrates how storytelling is a powerful business tool that can mean the difference between mediocre results and phenomenal success. Since the book was published about three years ago, my admiration for Paul's passion for storytelling and helping to teach people how to effectively tell stories has only but grown. Today, Paul was kind enough to share his thoughts about: that best-selling book how storytelling is growing in the business world his latest book how to use stories during job interviews how Lead with a Story totally changed his carreer 1. How would you summarize the overall reaction to your Lead with a Story book? Any surprises? Paul : Everything is a surprise with your first book. Being a new author, you don’t really know what to expect in terms of book sales, marketing effort...

Full Engagement By Brian Tracy

Best-selling author Brian Tracy's book, Full Engagement , provides practical advice for how to inspire your employees to perform at their absolute best. He explains that above nearly every measure, employees' most powerful single motivator is the "desire to be happy." So, Tracy teaches you how to make your employees happy by: Organizing their work from the first step in the hiring process through the final step in their departure from your company so they are happy with you, their work, their coworkers, as well as in their interactions with your customers, suppliers and vendors. Full Engagement includes these chapters and topics: The Psychology of Motivation Ignite the Flame of Personal Performance Make People Feel Important Drive Out Fear Create That Winning Feeling Select The Right People Internal Versus External Motivation At a minimum, Tracy suggests that managers do the following when managing their employees : Smile Ask questions Listen ...

One Minute Mentoring

Fortunately, I've benefited from having great mentors throughout my career. And, I've have the honor and good fortune to be a mentor, both formally and informally, for various individuals the past few decades. Mentoring is powerful. Both being a mentor. And, being mentored. That's why I became an instant fan of the book, One Minute Mentoring: How to Find and Work With a Mentor -- and Why You'll Benefit from Being One . The book presents a fictional parable about the power of finding, or being, a mentor. In what is about a one- to two-hour read, you'll gain knowledge and easy-to-use tools for how to find and leverage mentoring relationships . Ken Blanchard You'll also learn why developing effective communication and relationships across generations through mentoring can be a tremendous opportunity for companies and individuals alike. Bestselling author, Ken Blanchard, Ph.D . teamed up with Claire Diaz-Ortiz to write One Mi...

The Three Pillars Of Executive Presence

After two years of research, forty focus groups and a national survey, author Sylvia Ann Hewlett contends the three pillars of Executive Presence are: How you act ( gravitas ) How you speak (communication ) How you look ( appearance ) All three work together to help you telegraph (signal) to others that you have what it takes and that you're star material. "One thing to note at the start is that these pillars are not equally important--not by a long shot," explains Hewlett. "Gravitas is the core characteristic." And according to the senior leaders that Hewlett researched the top aspects of gravitas are : Confidence and "grace under fire" Decisiveness and "showing teeth" Integrity and "speaking truth to power" Emotional intelligence Reputation and standing/"pedigree" Vision/charisma In her book, Executive Presence , she teaches how to act, communicate and look your best while avoiding the most comm...

The Rainmaker's Credo

How To Become A Rainmaker is a quick, instructional book that reveals the rules for getting and keeping customers and clients. Written by Jeffrey J. Fox , the handbook format provides you the best approaches to take to become a true rainmaker – one who brings clients, money, business, or even intangible prestige to an organization. One of the real gems in the book is Fox’s The Rainmaker’s Credo , which includes: Cherish customers at all times. Treat customers as you would your best friend. Listen to customers and decipher their needs. Make (or give) customers what they need. Teach customers to want what they need. Make your product the way customers want it. Get your product to your customers when they want it. Give your customers a little extra, more than they expect. Thank each customer sincerely and often.

Business And Life Lessons From Entrepreneur Miguel Leal

What I like most about Miguel Leal ’s memoir, aside from its overall compelling and inspiring information, are the business and life lessons he shares. Those lessons are found throughout his recently released memoir, The House That Cheese Built . The book is a quintessential American dream story from a Mexican entrepreneur who shares the tale of building a multi-million-dollar business from scratch, complete with both success and failure, and always a vision of hope. Leal came to the U.S. penniless as a teenager, speaking almost no English; he literally slept in the boiler room of a Wisconsin cheese factory for months before he was caught. Through hard work, grit, and ingenuity Leal would go on to launch his own business. He is widely credited with introducing Mexican cheeses to the U.S. market and grew his company to a multimillion-dollar success story that defined an industry. Yet, like many successful entrepreneurs, Leal’s great successes were matched by a variety of ...

Book Review: The Elephant In The Room

Diana McLain Smith's new book, The Elephant in the Room , explains how relationships make or break the success of leaders and organizations. It's not a light right. For those who really want to understand relationships, however, this book, based on Smith's clinical research and a wealth of in-depth observational studies, is both insightful and worth the effort. Smith explains that when people click or clash, we typically chalk it up to chemistry and leave it at that. But, she knows there are many dynamics within that relationship that need understanding by a leader to create success. In fact, she says it's possible to identify and analyze the seemingly mysterious ingredients that go into the makings of a relationship. And, given the right tools, it's possible to understand what happens when a relationship forms, and then to actually anticipate what might happen next . That anticipation is critical, claims Smith. Smith also shows read...

Ridiculously Practical Leadership By Nathan Magnuson

What I like most about Nathan Magnuson ’s leadership books is how immediately actionable and practical his teachings are. His latest book, Ridiculously Practical Leadership: The One-Step Approach To Immediate High Performance , is a perfect example. There is no fluff, no theory, just straight-up practical application covering 20 skill topics ranging from decision-making to difficult conversations to giving feedback to leading change and servant leadership . “For twenty years I’ve studied leadership development. I’ve had a front row seat to many incredible leaders and others who meant well but got stuck in the all-too-familiar rut of too-long training classes emphasizing theory over application with little to show for the investment,” says Magnuson. That’s why I wrote Ridiculously Practical Leadership . So, if you’re looking for an approach to leadership development that CEOs, CFOs and CHROs can all support and team leaders can't live without, this...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog