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Showing posts from May, 2020

How To Be Your Best Self And Leader Every Day

“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 (released today, October 22),  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 th

How To Prove Your Competence And Win People Over

When you want to improve your competence and how others view your competence, the book,  Convinced: How To Prove Your Competence And Win People Over , by Jack Nasher , is your go-to resource. With the advice in the book you will be able to exhibit your abilities in front of customers, colleagues, and superiors – whether in meetings, presentations, or crucial conversations. Chapter 1 shows you why competence is the most important single factor for your professional success, according to Nasher. Chapter 3 shows you how to present good and bad news in the way that is most beneficial to you. Chapter 5 synthesizes research on the role of speech in projecting an image of expertise and provides tips for speaking like an expert. Chapter 6 emphasizes the importance of body language that demonstrate competence. My favorite verbal communication tips for displaying competence that Nasher shares in his book are:   Speak a little faster than usual, but clearly and smoothly. Speak somewhat deeper and

The Mind Of An Effective Leader

“By understanding how their own mind works and training it for the most essential qualities, leaders can lead themselves effectively first, in order to better lead their people and tap into their human need for meaning, fulfillment and human connectedness,” explain  Rasmus Hougaard  and  Jacqueline Carter , authors of the book,  The Mind Of The Leader . Their book is based on extensive research, including  assessments of more than 35,000 leaders and interviews with 250 C-level executives. The authors found that  three mental qualities are essential to becoming effective leaders . Leaders must be: Mindful  – being present and attentive to their employees’ needs. Being focused versus distracted. Being aware versus being on autopilot. Selfless  – to model cultures based on growth and learning instead of ego. Being selfless versus ego-centered. Being confident versus diffident. Compassionate  – to show their employees they have their backs. Being kind versus indifferent. Being wise versus

Embrace Failing As A Way To Achieve Success

“On the path to success, we trip and lose our footing from time to time. But stumbling and even falling is the best way to learn from mistakes and is critical to achieving goals,” says Bill Wooditch, author of the book,  Fail More:Embrace, Learn, And, Adapt to Failure As A Way To Success . “We all fail. It’s a part of business, and it’s a part of life,” explains Wooditch. “It’s how you deal with setbacks is what makes the difference.” The book will teach you how to: Conquer the negative emotions that naturally arise after making mistakes. Clearly articulate lessons learned. Put these lessons to use immediately.  Plus, you’ll learn how to: Navigate all forms of rejection and failure in pragmatic ways. Rationally examine your personal fears and gain mastery over them. Shed the discomfort of uncertainty, which is the only way to open your mind to all possibilities.  This week, Wooditch answered these questions for me about failing, succeeding and his book: Question :  We are often taught

Great Coaches Have These 14 Attributes

For those who may have missed this posting from awhile back, I am pleased to share again a guest post from  Garret Kramer  about how to be a great coach: 14 Attributes of Great Coaches By Garret Kramer, Author of  Stillpower: Excellence with Ease in Sports and Life   There are many, many coaching manuals and books on the market today.  Unfortunately, virtually all of them provide an external blueprint or "positive" guide to successful coaching and leadership. Very few, however, point the coach inward to an intuitive understanding that he or she already possesses.   Below are fourteen examples of the inside-out coaching paradigm  revealed in  Stillpower .  Consider these attributes of great coaches for yourself; then see how they might apply to you, your team, classroom, company, or family.   1.  Great coaches think state of mind first; behavior (including "working hard, "staying positive, and "doing the 'right' thing"), a distant second.   2.  Grea

How To Find Your Balance Point

A few years ago,  Brian Tracy , along with  Christina Stein , published,  Find Your Balance Point . "The desire for peace of mind and the idea of living a balanced life are central to your happiness and well-being. When you start to live your life in balance with the very best person you could possibly be, you will enjoy the happiness you deserve and experience harmony among all the elements that make up a successful life for you, as you define it," explain the authors. The book teaches you  how to identify you balance point, move to it at will, and automatically return to it whenever you want . "You need to establish your balance point before you can set and achieve the goals that are important to you," explains Tracy. The starting point is to develop absolute clarity about who you are and what matters to you. This means you much be clear about your  values . Then, chapter by chapter, Tracy and Stein take you through: Creating your vision and how to be powered by c

3 Ways To Be A Level 5 Leader

Author and leadership expert  Jim Collins  defines  Level 5 leaders  as those who: Pursue goals with the ferocity of lions while displaying the humility of lambs . According to Collins, who has studied leadership for 25 years, this level of leader is a rare breed. This is a leader who: bestows credit generously  shoulders blame responsibility  puts organization before self

What To Do After Reprimanding An Employee

"A reprimand should end with a reaffirmation of the person's past performance," explains authors Ken Blanchard and Garry Ridge in their book,  Helping People Win At Work . They provide this example: "The reason I'm upset is because this is so unlike you.  You're one of my best employees, and you usually get your reports in on time." "The reason this step is important is that when you finish giving someone a reprimand,  you want him thinking about what he did wrong, not how you treated him ." Thanks for this good advice Ken and Garry.

How To Identify A Leader During An Interview

The next time you are interviewing a candidate and you want to access their leadership skills, consider asking the candidate these questions : What personal qualities define you as a leader?  Describe a situation when these qualities helped you lead others. Give an example of when you demonstrated good leadership. What is the toughest group from which you've had to get cooperation? Have you ever had difficulty getting others to accept your ideas?  What was your approach?  Did it work? Describe a situation in which you had to change your leadership style to achieve the goal? One leadership skill is the ability to accommodate different views in the workplace, regardless of what they are.  What have you done to foster a wide number of views in your work environment? Thanks to Sharon Armstrong, author of  The Essential HR Handbook , for these helpful questions!

How To Hire Greatness

Hiring Greatness  is the book by  David E. Perry  and  Mark J. Haluska , who combined have closed more than 1,800 hiring search projects. In their book, the authors share their  guide for how to attract, recruit and retain star executives . They advise that it is far more important that a leadership candidate possess specific intangible core attributes, than just decades of industry experience. And, these core attributes go far beyond mere technical skills. For Perry and Haluska, there are  28 core attributes  they always look for in a candidate. Those 28 fit within  five pillars of success : Character Intellect Business Intelligence Leadership Emotional Intelligence They also recommend that when interviewing a candidate you particularly like that you take a healthy step back to figure out why you feel so strongly about that person. So, that you ensure you are not being biased by the following prejudices: Charm  - Outward personality is

Today's Leadership Book Recommendation

If you have a manager who isn't the best communicator, you can suggest he/she read Jane Murphy's and Khatun Huber's book,  What Could Happen If You Do Nothing? Actually, it's more of a handbook than a book, and it is best read by finding the section most applicable at the moment versus reading it start to finish. It's filled with mini-dialogues that demonstrate the impact of  engaged listening, deliberative questioning, and animating suggestions to facilitate change and action. For me, the most useful section is the list of a dozen or so questions (for each conversation category below) to ask an employee to: Start a conversation  with an employee Conduct a  meaningful follow-up conversation Clarify inconsistencies  in what you are hearing from an employee Build and further a conversation  on what's being said to move the conversation ahead Wind down  a conversation Solicit feedback Equally enlightening are these  questions from which a manager

16 Ways Leaders Build Trust

You can't lead if your employees, team or followers don't trust you. Building trust takes  energy, effort and constant attention  to how you act. To help build trust, follow these 16 tips , recommended by author Susan H. Shearouse: Be honest Keep commitments and keep your word Avoid surprises Be consistent with your mood Be your best Demonstrate respect Listen Communicate Speak with a positive intent Admit mistakes Be willing to hear feedback Maintain confidences Get to know others Practice empathy Seek input from others Say "thank you"

Six Questions To Ask Yourself At The End Of Every Day

One of my favorite parts of  Joe Sweeney 's book,  Moving the Needle , is the section where he recommends you ask yourself these  six questions before you go to bed each night : What was the best thing that happened today? What am I most grateful for today? What did I do to live my ideal day today? What is one new thing I learned today? What did I do to meet my goals today? What am I most looking forward to tomorrow? And, by jotting down your answers to these thoughtful and positive in nature questions sets you in the right frame of mind for waking up in the morning!

10 Reasons For Embracing Storytelling As A Business Tool

From Paul Smith's popular book,  Lead With A Story , here are the  10 reasons for embracing storytelling as a business tool : Storytelling is simple Storytelling is timeless Stories are demographic-proof Stories are contagious Stories are easier to remember Stories inspire Stories appeal to all types of learners Stories fit better where most of the learning happens in the workplace Stories put the listener in a mental learning mode Telling stories shows respect for the audience Smith goes on to say that: you don't need a degree in English to tell a story stories can spread like wildfire lessons from a story are remembered more accurately, and for far longer, than learning derived from facts stories spark curiosity and interest rather than the urge to evaluate or criticize stories get your message across, without arrogantly telling listeners what to think or do