Leadership Articles

Un-Game Principle: Belief creates the factr Who doesn’t love the unself-conscious little boy or girl, the undaunted miniature explorer who moves with unbridled enthusiasm to experience life?

You know, I often hear employees make comments or pose questions such as: This company sucks. Management sucks. Why do we do things this way? This is the way we have always done it. Why can't we do things differently? This company is just a big bureaucracy, nothing gets done. We are so ...

Have you ever had the thoughts “I have too much information and too many choices without a way to choose what’s right for me. I don’t have time to do all I need to do. I need to go on an information diet.”? “I need to go on an information diet” is our solution to the uncomfortable experience of feeling information-bloated and time-deprived. What happens to most of us when we’re uncomfortable ? We consider that a problem. We naturally want to get back into our comfort zone. That would be the obvious solution to our problem.

It was 1994 when the papers were delivered to my apartment; I had just joined the ranks of 50% of the population when my wife filed for divorce. As a single father my biggest fear was that someone would come in to my ex-wife's life and that person would eventually replace me as the figurehead and father in the life of my two young children who were five and one at the time.

I messed up - big time. I knew deep in my gut something had to be wrong, but for some reason, I didn't have a frank, direct conversation with Joseph. During our numerous status meetings, I had accepted his rationalizations of a hectic travel schedule, numerous new team members, and uncooperative ...

Most business professionals today that we coach are overwhelmed. They get to the end of the day with an ever expanding to-do list and fall exhausted into the evening commute. They return the next morning after reversing the commute and fall exhausted into their desk chair, thinking, “Here we go again…” And yet there are those who do more in a day than most do in a month. Who increase their sales with greater productivity and get out of the office earlier. Who make a life and a living. You wonder, “What is their secret?” One of their secrets is this: they finish their day strong.

Did you see Paul McCartney performing for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee? The world still loves the music of The Beatles fifty years later. They’ve sold 600 million albums internationally with 20 songs going #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts. So how did The Beatles achieve such amazing results? More importantly, how can you learn from them and discover your business’ success in the silver lining of today’s economy? Here is how The Beatles grew their brand and business through the lens of the five Work Positive core practices: Perceiver

As a leader, the requirement to communicate accurate information is extremely important. In a crisis situation the stakes increase, the leader not only requires accurate information, the information needs to be communicated to constituents in a timely fashion.

You may have to lead yourself as well as others at some point in your lifetime. It may not be necessary that you lead a large team but it is necessary for you to have effective skills of leadership to lead it. It has been providing through various researches that one must have qualities like flexibility, assertiveness, caring and cleve ess to be a good leader. They should also be inspiring and positive to attract more and more followers. Some tips are provided here under whic

Smart managers look for ways to free time in order to get more done each day. Sometimes managers forget one of the best ways is to delegate. Letting others do what we feel only we have the ability to do is sometimes difficult. But to function at your greatest capacity, learn to let go.

True leaders are mentors with a servant's heart. These are not just pretty words to fill out space. If you are NOT a true servant with a true passion for helping people you will not be a true leader in the real sense of the word. It is that simple. You may be doing well and have a list of people ...

Take-off location, lead leg, tail leg, stride length, arm action — these are all familiar terms to an Olympic hurdler. They’re all a beautiful choreography of rhythm, position, speed and muscle memory. Of course, no Olympic champion starts out with everything in sync. Muscle memory must evolve. Positioning must be taught. Speed must be developed. And rhythm, that’s a mental zone every champion enters when everything else syncs up. Corporate team building can seem a lot like an insurmountable hurdle, but with the right mindset and approach, it can be a rewarding experience.

I have an extraordinary friend I often secretly call “Superwoman.” That’s because at 65 years old, she has most active lifestyle of anyone I know. She ziplines, kayaks, bikes, hikes and canoes, rain or shine, sleet or snow, 52 weeks of the year. She heads several fitness groups in her area and is on a trail, in a river or up a tree every weekend without fail. That’s my idea of a real leader.

Customer service is a very, very demanding job that few people are cut out for. As a hiring manager or small business owner, even the best of training can’t turn a non-CS superstar into the customer service rep of your dreams. Hiring the best candidates from the start is the best move you can make. This requires doing extensive background checks, in-depth interviews, following up on recommendations and trusting your gut. However, having a checklist of must-haves for CS reps

When my wife was pregnant with our first child, she really wanted a certain kind of baby crib. It even had a name—the Jenny Lind crib. Frankly, at that point in my life, I didn’t have enough money to buy it, but I really wanted to purchase it because it meant that much to my wife. I was discovering even then how to Work Positive. So I changed my perception, released my imagination, conceived a complementary relationship, believed that I could find the money, and acted on my attention and intention so I achieved the positive result of buying that crib.

I left the hotel in downtow Columbus, determined to take a brisk jaunt before preparing for my keynote address in the convention center. Not knowing the city, I spied signs on street lamps and taped to the sidewalk that read "Make-A-Wish Walk." A great idea! Surely the path would be around safe and interesting neighborhoods.

Performance evaluations are one of those things we just do in organizations. And often we don't really know why the heck we're doing them. I recently asked a group of employees why we do performance evaluations. I asked, "Why do we bother to design fancy forms, conduct training, and write policies for performance evaluations?" The group of 25 just stared at me. One guy finally spoke up and said, "Is it to determine our pay?" When I asked whether his pay was determined by his

For more than 30 years I’ve coached and mentored women who are top-caliber Fortune 500 executives and high-level entrepreneurs. Meanwhile during that whole time I was either a Fortune 100 senior executive or the founding CEO of my own successful consulting firm. Many things have changed for women in the workplace over the years, but as the saying goes “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” What I’m referring to here is the sad fact that, even in this advanced era of the 21st century, negative stereotypes about women in executive positions stubbornly persist.

"There are no new truths, but only truths that have not been recognized by those who have perceived them without noticing. A truth is something that everybody can be shown to know and to have known, as people say, all along." — Mary McCarthy, author and critic I write these words as I sit in the office/study of my "electronic cottage." One of the reasons I love our home is because it straddles the past and the future. The front of our house looks out upon a typical suburban

In a card game, the dealer shuffles a deck of cards and deals a card out to each player. The players don’t know what cards they have until they pick up their cards and turn each card over to assess its value. Just like card players, oftentimes, leaders don’t know what resources they have to work with in a given situation. Leaders must assess the situation to get a snap-shot of the tools they have available…and then they have to put these tools to work at the highest level of benefit.

You may be changing careers, going back to school, or going back to an old familiar career that you've been away from for a while. Your transition may be voluntary or involuntary and either provides similar feelings of stress and uncertainty. Voluntary transition can arise from being bored or ...

As the leader of an organization, you need resources to accomplish your mission. As you execute your daily mission, you may identify gaps or shortfalls that impede mission success.

I was lying flat on my back in the grassy outfield, trying to come around. I had drifted back from my third-base position for the Little League team White Sox into shallow left field to catch a fly ball. I missed the ball with my glove and instead caught it with my forehead. Someone said, “Son, you’ve got to keep your eye on the ball.” Little comfort when your head is killing you and your ego is dead with embarrassment. And you find out later that regardless of how much you keep your eye on the ball, it won’t help. I needed glasses. My focus was off.

The corporate arena is filled with master complainers constantly trumpeting their naysayer attitudes. People are worried about their job security or upset that they haven’t been promoted, so they have a tendency to be hypercritical or resentful and drag others down. Their ideas are reinforced by the media’s preoccupation with doom and gloom, giving them plenty of ammunition. On top of that it’s an election year, and the political campaign ads are all about mudslinging.

Dependence This week's message is about relationships in the deepest sense. As a very independent, stubborn, and don't-try-to-control-me type person, it's been hard for me to face up to the many many times I needed to depend on others. Yet when I have, there's been a softening inside, a yielding to the truth, and a deeper, wiser taking better care of myself.

Solar roof shingles combine roofing and electricity generation:

When I think of magic, the first images that come to my mind are magicians with playing cards, hats, rabbits and sawing pretty girls in half. When I think a little longer images of more subtle and/or amazing feats of, well, magic come to mind. Magic is a skill that can be mastered. It`s also ...

Some people believe that it takes luck to get out of poverty and live a prosperous life. Actually, there are millions of poor individuals and families all around the world. But why is there poverty in some rich and developed countries? Simply because wealth is not acquired automatically. There are steps that must be taken, here they are:r

Read the title again, carefully. It doesn’t say “it takes more effort to get results.” It says “it takes more than effort to get results.” Ah, the difference a word can make. In the world I grew up and live in, hard work is considered a high virtue. I’ve read children's books that spoke of ...

At a 10-year class reunion, four friends gathered to visit. Tina and George reflected on the differences in Steve and Angela after they walked away. "They were both so smart and outgoing when we were in high school," George said. "Yeah, they were both voted Most Likely to Succeed, remember?" Tina added. "Then why have their lives gone so differently in the last ten years?" George mused. After a conversation and discussing several factors, Tina and George determined the bigges

The 5 Pillars of Leadership Success In the wild, in a pack of dogs, there is one leader and a hierarchy of followers. If the leader of the pack is a stable and balanced leader, the pack will prosper. If the leader is unbalanced or unstable then either the pack will too become unstable, perhaps even chaotic or a challenge to leadership will emerge from another dog in the pack in an attempt to restore balance. With balance in the pack the whole pack is safe but with imbalance i

Whether they are emerging leaders in a large corporation or solo entrepreneurs, almost everyone has experienced a painful career failure or two. The end of the year is always a great time to really look back over the past months and years with a view toward learning how to leverage past failure into future success. Here are four tips to keep you on track toward realizing your ultimate career dreams regardless of what path you’ve followed and what setbacks you have overcome. Failures are Just Detours on the Way to Success

Owners of professional sports franchises invest tens of millions of dollars to draft the top players, and their talent scouts start following athletes as early as junior high school. They have to invest with a forward outlook, and that means they have to constantly be on lookout for talent no matter when it appears or where they find it. If you want to build your own corporate dream team you also have to become a fulltime talent scout. Keep your radar on all the time, because you never know where you might discover your next big value-adding player or diamond-in-the-rough potential asset.

When we connect with someone on LinkedIn, we welcome them with an invitation to read free chapters of one of our books. We hope just one idea will coach the reader closer to achieving business dreams. One connection recently replied, “Thanks, but I don’t have time to sit down and read a book.” “I don’t have time” are four of the deadliest words you’ll ever say.

The How to Hack the Stock Market is a manual depicting a man's understanding of the stock trading, which he willingly shares to others interested in investing in the stock market. The author, John Bell gives a detailed account of his business exploits and packages his experiences into an easy to understand guide for the benefit of others.

"Show me a good loser and I will show you a loser." rn -Paul Newman I have to admit, I am a poor loser. I don't like losing business that I have worked hard to secure. I don't like when my team works for months with a CEO or meeting planner only to have a haphazard committee come in with their own agenda and hire someone else. The economic crisis can make it even worse. Still I press on, but one question remains: Can anything good come out of a recession? rn rnThere are a few

I just love the "corporate sales buzzwords" don't you? Some of my personal favorites: "We need to start thinking outside the box"rn"Let's take a deeper dive on that..."rn"We need to give it 110 percent!"rn"Let's create a win-win for the customer"rn"It's all about change management"rn"Let's take that offline"rn"At the end of the day..."rn"Let's produce some strong organic growth" And my personal favorite: "We need to set the bar high" I once heard an expression that stuck with

While recently delivering a module on leadership development, several participants suggested that charisma is high up on the list of important qualities for a leader. Research, however, would indicate that many effective leaders are humble, to the point that charisma is the last word used to describe them. So, is charisma a key ingredient to effective Leadership or does it undermine leadership?

According to the tiny digital clock in front of the mayor’s seat to my left the time was 5:58, two minutes to go before the gavel would shake our audience of citizens and staff to attention. In a hundred twenty seconds or so the Council members, five including the mayor would sit up straight and shift their weight in their high-backed chairs in anticipation of standing for the opening prayer followed by the pledge of allegiance.nnWe’re small town America and we can still

Leadership is about growth and development, if you are not growing and developing on a continuous basis, you are simply not working hard enough. Leading is like being a student in a laboratory; every day you should conduct experiments to see what works and what doesn’t. After trying your hand at leading, you go back to the drawing board to tweak your style and approach. Students are constantly challenged to look for new ideas and to develop fresh thinking. The key is to keep learning.

A client recently asked me to help him identify leadership skills his son would need to develop to help him successfully takeover and lead the family business in a few years. He also wants to be able to evaluate all his managers on these skills on a scale of 1 (none/low) to 5 ...

The turn around of events for everyone has a purpose whether it’s from bad to good, or good to bad. And a leader may think he is a leader now, may not be really a leader after all. That’s why there’s a purpose for every turn of events in our lives. rnEveryone around him regards him with power and authority. He is feared and respected by his employers and his associates. He is the major owner of the big corporations that speaks millions and billions of money in the city

FAILURES NOT AN OPTION: NEVER GIVE UP! So often we miss out on God’s best because we give up too soon.

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I'M ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN. WHO WE ARE ON THE INSIDE, GOVERNS WHO WE ARE ON THE OUTSIDE. Spiritual Growthr Change is hard—especially internal change. Here is some insight on how to grow spiritually. Have you noticed that it’s just plain hard to make changes in your life? Losing weight, quitting smoking, beginning an exercise program . . . most of us go in starts and fits when trying to gain traction with such things. And that’s just with making exte al changes. But have you ever tried to become something more—something deeper—on the inside?

Announcements of office parties are met with either go-for-it’s or groans. The go-for-it’s are the ones who enjoyed last year’s party or just look forward to any social experience. The groans are the persons who remember last year’s with disdain or generally avoid socializing with their work mates. Whichever you are, here are your 3 Keys to Work Positive at Your Office Party: Relaxr Groaners often sense a need to be more extroverted or jovial than usual. They feel a game of square pegs and round holes coming.

Ever just go through the day and feel as if you can’t change your life for the better? Everything has been decided for you and you have no choices in what you do, wear or say? Some days can feel like that, but have too many in a row and you just might be drifting aimlessly through life. Then there are those people who get excited when they wake up in the morning. They have things they look forward to and they don’t know what is going to happen to them in the future. These people don’t merely exist, they’re full of life. Living vs. Existingr

The recently introduced Apple iPad is the latest wowing of the world by the pioneering computer company. Taken in totality, with its iPhone, iPod, MacBook laptops, and the original Macintosh computer itself, Apple's ability to hit innovation home runs has changed technology -- and the way people relate to electronic devices, and thus, each other. What was the inspiration behind these products? How does a man -- CEO Steve Jobs, who co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak -- foster

You look at the conference brochure and survey the list of keynote speakers, the various topic tracks, look at the schedule of other events and learning opportunities, and decide to invest your money or budgeted dollars on attending the event. All of these criteria are valuable and good reasons to decide on which conferences to attend. Yet, when it`s all over, a conference, convention or other gathering of like-minded professionals is more than a place to soak up content - it