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 ignorant.

The Mind Of The Leader takes you on a journey, using real-world inspirational examples of successful companies, that begins with leading yourself and ends with leading your people. Each chapter includes quick and easy exercises, tips and self-reflections that will help you train your mind to achieve different goals ranging from more focus to self-awareness.

“Leadership needs to redefined to meet the needs of the 21^st century workforce,” explain Hougaard and Carter. “The younger generation of workers are increasingly looking for meaning, connectedness and purpose at work. For many, a good paycheck and great benefits aren’t enough if they don’t feel they are making a difference.”

Hougaard’s and Carter’s research shows that leaders who are more human, more relatable, more present, kind and selfless, are better able to attract and retain workers and secure better financial results.

One of the more interesting findings covered in the book is about Ego and Leadership. Hougaard and Carter explain that the downsides of a big ego makes you:

Vulnerable to criticism – ego creates a defensive wall around you that prevents you from learning from your mistakes.
Susceptible to manipulation – because an inflated ego makes you predictable, because it drives your behavior in obvious ways. And, when you’re a victim of your own need to be seen as great, you end up being led into making decisions that may or may not be good for yourself, your employees and your organization.

Plus, it:

Narrows your field of vision – and makes it hard for you to see and accept new opportunities and you fall victim to the limitations of your own success. And, the moment you believe that past successful behavior will lead to present and future success, you’ve stagnated.
Corrupts your behavior and causes you to act against your values.

Hougaard is the Founder and Managing Director of Potential Project, a global provider of leadership and organizational effectiveness solutions based on training the mind. Carter is an International Partner and North American Director for Potential Project.

6 Ways To Seek Feedback To Improve Your Performance In The Workplace

Getting feedback is an important way to improve performance at work. But sometimes, it can be hard to seek out, and even harder to hear. “Feedback is all around you. Your job is to find it, both through asking directly and observing it,” says David L. Van Rooy, author of the new book, Trajectory: 7 Career Strategies to Take You From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be . As today's guest post, Van Rooy offers these six tips for how to get the feedback you need to improve performance at work . Guest Post By David L. Van Rooy 1. Don’t forget to as k : One of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming things are going perfectly (until they make a catastrophic mistake). By not asking, you’re missing out on opportunities for deep feedback: the difficult, critical feedback that gives you constructive ways to improve. 2. Make sure you listen : Remember, getting fee...

Sample Of Solid Business Guiding Principles

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Good Sample Business Principles

I really like these 10 guiding business principles that San Antonio, TX headquartered insurance company USAA lives by: Exceed customer expectations Live the Golden Rule (treat others with courtesy and respect) Be a leader Participate and contribute Pursue excellence Work as a team Share knowledge Keep it simple (make it easy for customers to do business with us and for us to work together) Listen and communicate Have fun Too many companies don't make it simple for their customers to do business with them. Is it easy for your customers to: Buy from you? Make returns? Get pricing and terms? Receive timely responses to their e-mails? Quickly get answers when phoning your company? You can find more examples of companies with impressive guiding principles in the book, 1001 Ways To Energize Employees .

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.

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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...

Use A Board Of Advisors

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A 2010 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management shows that job security is what matters most to employees. And, having that job security helps to keep employees loyal. Okay, that's really not too surprising during these times of high unemployment. Next on the list is benefits . The unstable economy, coupled with rising health care costs, make employer offered benefits more important than ever. Third on the top five list is an employee's opportunity to use his/her skills . When employees feel good about their jobs and their abilities, and clearly know they are contributing to their organization they remain engaged and loyal. In fourth place is an organization's financial stability . Compensation came in fifth on the top five list. Employee pay often is not the most important driver for employee retention. Despite study after study that shows pay is not the top reason employees stay with a company, research results like these often surpris...

Resolve To Find A Mentor In 2011

Having a mentor is one of the best things you can do to advance your career as a leader. So, decide today to secure a mentor who will work with you during 2011. 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 ha...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

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