"Emotional Intelligence (EI)" is a concept we in the leadership business have heard about and focused on for the past several years. In a nutshell, it means you have the ability to control your emotions and read and respond to other people's emotions appropriately. Tons of research indicates that people with EI, and specifically leaders with EI, are more successful. They are … [Read more...]
Don’t Forget Your Manners When You Become a Leader
"Please." "Thank you." "Excuse me." "I'm sorry." Most of us were taught by our parents or other well-meaning adults to use those phrases liberally. Yet, says Keith Martino, author of Expect Leadership and head of CMI, a global consultancy that customizes leadership and sales development initiatives, “Simple as they sound, those phrases are often difficult for many people in the … [Read more...]
How to Know if You Are a Truly Great Leader
What makes a great leader? Think about it. Your opinion may vary widely from the next person's. Certainly, great leaders come in all different shapes and sizes. They use different approaches and strategies. Some lead with an iron fist. Others inspire with their words. Regardless how they do it, they motivate, inspire and influence people to meet their full potential, to go the … [Read more...]
Work-Life Balance is More Than Just a Cliché
Hopefully, you found time this weekend to relax, have some fun, spend time doing something you love, and re-energize before this week started. I talk about the importance of relaxation often on this blog, because I think it is critical to leaders' success, especially new leaders who likely are feeling a totally different set of pressures than their more tenured … [Read more...]
Start the New Year Off Right With This Simple Exercise
New Year's Eve is just days away, and I want to share a short exercise with you that will be fun, informative and might be the most valuable 90 minutes you’ve spent in a long while. It is possible you could take longer than 90 minutes, and you could perhaps spend a bit less time, but if you will give yourself just 90 minutes on New Year's Eve to do what follows, you will be … [Read more...]
Detours Can Be a Good Thing (if You Have the Right Attitude)
There are times in both personal and professional situations where apparent road blocks get in the way of achieving your desired goals. Earlier in my life, these road blocks discouraged me. Now, I just see them as detours, and I have learned to learn from the detours. I learned to use them to get where I want to go. If our normal, most direct route is closed. We don't … [Read more...]
Ensure That You Have Communicated Effectively
The communication process really should be easy. You say something to other people. They hear it. They act in a way that is consistent with what you said. End of discussion. However, it’s not quite that easy. In reality, the process for spoken communication goes something like this: You get a picture in your mind of what you want to communicate. You convert that … [Read more...]
7 Tips to Celebrate Your Team’s Progress
Celebration is often a challenging topic for leaders. They wonder if they should celebrate and when it's appropriate to do so. You tend to see two extremes: Those who don't celebrate anything because employees "already know they are succeeding so why waste time celebrating?" and those who celebrate every-single-thing along the way. The best solution (as is the often the … [Read more...]
What You Can Learn From Your Thanksgiving Pie
My favorite food is homemade pie. I come by this naturally, as my Dad used to famously say, “I only like two kinds of pie; hot and cold.” While I can’t quite say that, there is little doubt how much I love pie. And I’ve had lots of it too. As a kid growing up we had fresh pie nearly every day all summer. I learned why many years later when my mom admitted, “I learned that if … [Read more...]
Ethical Leadership: Don’t Abandon Your Core Values to Do the Job
My definition of "ethical leadership" is one that I have synthesized over time, and I am sure draws heavily from various resources I've read, experiences I've had and stories I've heard from colleagues, clients and friends. Here is how I define Ethical Leadership: Knowing your core values and having the courage to act on them on behalf of the common good. There is much I … [Read more...]