In the area of leadership, the landscape has transformed significantly, reflecting major shifts in philosophy since the 1980s and 1990s.
Read MoreHave you just been promoted into a leadership position and don’t know where to start? Or perhaps you’ve been at it awhile, but want to improve your skills. There are many things effective leaders have adopted as part of their practice:
Read MoreDo you remember a time when you smiled at someone, and they smiled back? When someone gave you a compliment? When someone paid for your coffee in a drive through lane?
Read MoreWhat do you know today that you didn’t know yesterday, last week, last month, last year? Are you always seeking to learn? How?
Great leaders are always learning; they have a growth mindset, which is actually about more than just reading or learning new things.
Read MoreGo Hard or Go Home!
It’s All or Nothing!
No Pain, No Gain!
I’m not sure when I first heard these phrases, but I somehow never thought to question them.
Read MoreWhat makes a great leader? That’s the million dollar question without a clear-cut, simple, do this and you’ll rock answer. Ask a group of people and you are likely to get a ton of different answers, but I do think there are a few core skills that great leaders have in common.
Read MoreAre you a rockstar or a super star? Or do you know? What about for those on your team?
Read MoreYears ago, a student walked into my classroom. He was visibly upset and started rambling at me. I knew he was trying to tell me something, but I had no idea what exactly he was trying to get across.
Read MoreI often read books for a specific purpose when I want to learn more about a topic so I can teach, but as I started reading more regularly (resulting in greater quantity), I started wondering, “Am I implementing any of the ideas from these books or am I just reading them and then putting them on my shelf?”
Read MoreI’m reading Howard Behar’s Book It’s Not About the Coffee (Howard was a senior executive at Starbucks who worked closely with Howard Schultz, founder, and whose focus was always the people and culture). I actually saw him speak at a conference a few years ago and his talk was titled, “It’s About the People” which fits my belief about a people-centric focus too.
Read MoreI have always thought I was a fairly positive person, but about 13 years ago, someone challenged me on that belief. I asked around and a couple people reinforced that despite how I saw myself, they saw me as leaning towards the negative. It shocked me and made me really think and reflect.
Read MoreI love Michael J. Fox. I remember watching him as Alex P. Keaton in “Family Ties,” and being drawn to his character. As I became older, I loved “Back to the Future” and “Spin City” too. I read his first memoir, “Lucky Man” when it was released in 2002 and it solidified my admiration.
Read MoreThere’s a phenomenon whereby if you make note of something, you start to notice it everywhere. For example, you buy a red car, and you start to see red cars everywhere. I wasn’t sure if it was more of an Urban Legend, but a quick Google search gives me actual names for it: Selection Bias, Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon and Red Car Syndrome.
Read MoreI have read many leadership books, but I think one of my favorites is still The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. I have read many of his books and they’re all great, but this one distills down characteristics of great teams.
Read MoreWhy is starting the hardest part? Staring at a blank page before you decide on the first words? Saving the first dollar? Making today the day you actually eat the salad and exercise, rather than saying, “I’ll start tomorrow”?
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I was having one of many recent conversations with a friend when she asked me an interesting question about why I attended this one group of which I was a member. She questioned whether it was to make systemic change and I sheepishly replied, “yes” as I thought it felt right, but also figured it probably was not if she was asking me the question.
Read MoreI was researching for the leadership course I teach and I found a list of 7 essential questions when coaching or making a decision.
Question number 5: ”If I say yes to this, what am I saying no to?”
It hit me like a ton of bricks as I had a tendency to say yes without really considering the cost of that yes.
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