Leadership Articles

“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know oneself.” Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Improved Almanac (1750)

A client was experiencing some employee performance issues and asked us to present training to their managers on a new employee performance evaluation form. Terrific. However, they weren't thrilled when I told them that the training should only focus about 10 percent of the time on the actual ...

Life is full of change and often times that change occurs in our professional lives. It also often seems to be directed by others and out of our control. Yet, there are also many times in our lives when we desire change, when we, in fact, NEED change to keep us inspired and motivated. So, how do you truly know when it’s time for a change in your professional life? There are three key signs that are clear indicators you’re ready for things to be different.

The rapid pace at which technology is changing makes it seem as if the latest gadgets and technologies will be replaced even before you get to enjoy their full benefits. For many small business owners, the decision to make technology purchases often comes with the apprehension that their hardware and software will be obsolete within a short time. While staying up-to-date with the latest technology requires financial resources, the cost of being outdated is far greater. Howeve

Urgent care centers are increasing in numbers. Especially in the United States, you now see more urgent care centers developing all the time. It is easier to find an Urgent Care Center in Bronx or any other part of New York than it was a decade or so ago. Urgent care centers may not be the hospital emergencies we are used to in case of accidents or life-threatening situations. These do sort the waiting time problem out for people that may not have much of it at hand.

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the importance of expectations in the workplace and the four basic areas where expectations are required. As I was writing it, I knew people might want the logical next step . . . once we realize the ultimate importance of expectations, and the areas in which they need to be set, we also need to know how to actually set them. That is the purpose of this article – to give you a seven step process as a supervisor, leader, manager or co

Nashville is the capital of Tennessee and has a lot of importance education wise. People from all around the world come here because of the universities here and to get higher education. It is also sometimes regarded as the founder of the country music, and it is supported well by the music halls here and the concerts being arranged. This place also has one of the best jumpings off place so you can experience the other Tennessee very easily too.

Calgary is one of the youngest cities in Canada, which was settled in 1875. It might have settled in that time, but the population started rising in the early '70s, and the population has doubled since then. Calgary is a very beautiful and young city, which is full of different things to do and a lot of adventures to live. It has a lot of Urban nature in the city and also has two villages in the city instead of just one, which is common in most of the cities.

The young leader might not recognize it, and the veteran may no longer think about it, but neither situation obscures the truth: leaders influence all the time. At one level this makes complete sense. After all, as leaders we are trying to take people towards a desired destination, and since we can`t force anyone to do anything (at least not successfully for any extended length of time), we must rely on our ability to influence others to move them towards the goals. This sort

A Small Change Can Make a BIG Difference All the talk about the economic climate at present, both in the UK and around the world, is of doom and gloom. It even appears to be heading towards some degree of that dreaded ‘R’ word, recession. My immediate response is ...

For years in training around the world I've said – “There is always an emotional component to change.” And people have typically nodded in agreement. After all, personal experience will tell anyone this is true. There have been changes in your life you were excited about, and those where your emotions were, let’s say, less positive. Yet generally speaking, organizations act as if the data and facts will rule the day with any change. There is no perfect PowerPoint deck

Leaders today face unprecedented challenges. Economic downtu s, change in workforce demands, an ever increasing competitive market combined with the need to do more with less makes for trying times for the best of leaders. Those leaders that stand out, take a stand, and make a difference are what I define as renegade leaders. A renegade leader is a leader who drives results, instills trust in their organizations, allows innovative thinking and creates a bond with their peopl

Step One IDENTIFY THE OPPORTUNITY • There are six ways to identify opportunitiesrn1. You identify an opportunity for another personrn2. The person identifies an opportunity for themselvesrn3. A customer, vendor, or other outsider identifies an opportunityrn4. You identify new skills needed within your teamrn5. A situation creates an opportunityrn6. An assessment tool uncovers a need for a person’s developmentrn• These different opportunities may arise due to a new need,

Forgiveness.rnWe see it in public gestures like Nelson Mandela forgiving his captors after his long imprisonment or when President Ford pardoned President Nixon.rnAnd we often see the results when there is no forgiveness.rnLike in the news every day – from revenge violence to road rage to people arguing about reclining seats on airplanes.rnYes, Mandela and Ford were leaders, but how does forgiveness apply to us as “everyday” leaders?rnIt applies immediately and directly

"There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning and yearning." - Christopher Morley (1890-1957 - American jou alist, novelist, essayist & poet) I would arrange Morley's ingredients for the good life in this fashion: yearning, learning and earning. Yearning is the catalyst to ...

In a recent leadership workshop a participant asked me: "How can I encourage my staff to take initiative and think outside the box? I suppose one reason I saved answering the question until now (in this forum) is that it`s a multi-part question. There are three parts really - the encourage part, initiative part, and the "think outside the box" part. As the title of this article suggests, I`ve chosen to focus on the third part because it`s the key part of the question. Encoura

I love the Olympics. I love the athleticism and the story lines and the preparation and the inspiring moments and the psychology and the history ... and so much more. Olympic Torch - As I`ve talked with people during the Games, I`ve found that even people who generally aren`t sports fans usually can find something to be interested in during the Olympics (winter and/or summer). However, whether you`re a sports fan or not, there are valuable lessons to be learned when you view

I used to be in the army 40 many years in the past, stuck with drab duty and endless quantities of time through which to conjecture. I used to be supposed to head over to an additional region and kill individuals. This was not a process I thought of as honorable. 1 night time I fell right into a conversation with a vibrant personal, and he requested me if We've ever study Lao Tse. I instructed him I hadn't and asked him what it was. He informed me that it absolutely was...The

Trust. Your ability to lead is severely hampered without it, and the more of it you have, the easier leadership becomes. Plus, with greater trust comes greater speed of implementation, clearer communication and much more. It is certainly something that leaders must spend time creating and working intently to maintain. There are many things that you could immediately and obviously identify as trust busters, so I won’t spend time talking about those. Rather, I want to identif

Do you ever feel like a lifeguard tower at a seagull convention? Although I teach leaders how to motivate others, occasionally I have a hard time practicing what I teach; especially when I am hit by one of life's unexpected waves. How do you feel when you're smacked by a setback at work and home? What do you do when people are difficult, equipment breaks down, your schedule seems out of control, or those seagulls are threatening to hold a convention over your head?

A desktop computer is a personal computer designed for regular use, that may not have a touch screen, a keyboard, and a mouse connected to it. A laptop computer, on the other hand, is a portable personal computer designed especially for use with wireless networks. A desktop computer is the most common type of computer used in homes or offices today. The function of a Final Desktop computer is to provide a personal computing environment where users can perform basic office or

Experts have become omnipresent. They're everywhere: on your favorite television show, on drive time radio programming, on blogs and internet discussion forums, between the pages of nationally popular magazines and your local newspaper. You can't throw a dart, it seems, without having it hit an Expert on the way to the dartboard.nnWhy is this happening? What has motivated all of these people -- financial planners and attorneys, floral designers and wedding planners, massage t

If you are responsible for completing performance evaluations for employees, be prepared to answer the age-old question: "What does it take to get a ____ rating?" Regardless of the scale used in your organization's performance management system, employees will either ask you or wonder what they have to do to earn higher ratings. This is especially the case if higher ratings translate into higher pay. As a manager, you are the only person who can answer this question. To answ

Employees determine the performance of a business and it is the behavior of leaders which makes the performance of the workers. If we put two organizations side by side with the same machinery and equipment and one of them will do better than the other one, the reason would be the difference of the workers and the behavior of their leaders. In some cases the workers are motivated and work for success themselves. They are probably motivated by the values and beliefs lay down b

I just spent the last two and a half days in a Hilton Grand Vacations Club (HGVC) timeshare unit right on Ocean Blvd in Miami Beach. My goal was to pull myself away from the distractions of life and focus on writing some articles and working on “bigger picture” projects. Why Miami Beach? I had timeshare points to use and thought it would be a good place to balance “sequestering” myself with easy-access amenities. It was a great place to achieve my goal. The beach was

A lot of people spend a considerable amount of time in the gym honing their bodies, and while regular exercise is always good for the body and physical fitness, did you know that the brain requires just as much attention? Why hasn’t anyone made a habit of going to a “brain gym”? After all, the human brain is responsible for every thought, feeling, reaction, mood, and emotion that you experience in life. The health of your mind greatly affects the quality of your life. T

Unemployment occurs when a person is available to work but is without work. The unemployment figures are growing worldwide, in US it is 8.1% ( Feb 09) Vs 4.8% ( Feb 08) and many articles describe this phenomena as the biggest threat to the world, bigger then war . Yesterday I spoke to friend that was on his way for job interview searching for inspiration to be on his best. I suggested to him that by being passionate about the work he is going to do, he will have better chance

Senior management understands the value of investing in future leadership, but also realizes that to find extraordinary leaders it is important to look for outstanding qualities that are multidimensional, strategically developed, and tempered by experience. Here are a few questions to ask yourself regarding your leadership development objectives: Do I have a panoramic vision of the organization?r

**===========================================================** Quote of the week: For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Rom 8:19-21 NIV). “When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened…….. ” (Luke 21:9 NIV)r

Why Leaders Should Care About Empathy Empathy-first leadership means putting connections above all else. Empathetic leaders understand the importance of getting to know the people they’re leading as people, not merely by their job descriptions. This mindset entails stepping back - and putting your ego aside - to listen to others’ needs and wants. Not only do you display empathy, but you also develop your consciousness of the situation at hand. In empathetic leadership, th

We all use questions everyday – in every part of our lives: as a leader, as a peer, as a parent, as a team member, as a spouse. We can’t get through the day without asking at least some questions. Even if the only questions you ask all day are:nn“How are you doing?”, ornn“What’s new?”nnYou are still asking questions.nnSo I’m not going to urge you to simply ask questions; that doesn’t make much sense – you already do that. The challenge I have for you today

If you have ever been to a presentation skills workshop, you likely practiced with video. Whether you liked being video recorded or not, video can be a powerful tool for learning and improvement, if you use it correctly. Here, I want to give you some ideas for using that video for the maximum learning value. This will work best if the video is recent (and there is no reason with current technology that you can’t record any presentation you give for this learning purpose), b

According to an article in the July 2006 issue of Benefits & Compensation Digest entitled: Balance Short-Term Profit with Long-Term Investment in Human Capital: "The Labor Department...recorded by 2008 the growth of the U.S. Workforce is projected to drop to near zero and remain at that level ...

I have recently started working with a program to help people achieve results that they have believed to be beyond their reach. This program leverages the power of believing and imaging to propel people to the heights of their dreams, and to success that only a few people ever achieve.

"The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man." - Euripides Balance is not a state or place we can get to. Balance is always in motion. A ballerina trains and ...

Ranthambore National Park is one of India’s well-known national parks. It is located at the point where the Aravali Range and plateau of Vindhyas meet. The Ranthambore National Park is acknowledged as one of the best places in the country to spot tigers. It is located at a distance of 158 km from Jaipur in the Sawai Madhopur district of South-eastern Rajasthan and covers an area of about 392 sq. km. Ranthambore National Park is highly rich in flora and fauna, varied species

There is no perfect leader; leaders truly come in all shapes and sizes. Doctors know the same about their patients, yet they still study anatomy – to understand the basic workings of body parts, their roles and how they function together. While the bodies are different, the anatomy is the same. Similarly, though the style, approach and specific skills of leaders are different, the anatomy is the same. With this post I thought I would share my perspective on the most importa

"A statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of movement." -- Abba Eban (1915-2002) It takes less than 6 seconds to leave a first impression. It is said not to judge a book by its cover, but come on, isn't it the color, the ...

Finding a Story for a Specific Communication Purpose Tom had a major presentation coming up in less than a week, and he was concerned. This presentation was important not only for his team and his company, but also for his career. He knew that if he did well it would make all the difference . . . for everyone. And if it bombed, well, he didn`t want to think about that. So he decided he needed to spend more time and do more preparation than usual, but he knew that might not be

"I Never Met a Leader I Didn't Like"nnWill Rogers on teamworkn(with an assist from Randall Reeder)nnI wrote in my syndicated newspaper column one time: "I never was Chairman of anything, or even on the Executive committee. In fact, I am a mighty poor group worker. I mean well, but I just don't do anything." nnYou may be thinking, "With that kind of record you should've been in Congress."nnNow, to clear up one thing as I get started: I was born in 1879. You may have heard I di

Practice a behavior once and find out how it's done. Repeat the behavior once more and you correct some mistakes. Practice it a third time and start to feel more comfortable. The fourth time you start to feel a little confident. Practice it six more times and start to build mastery. What's ...

Status quo requires no leadership. That has been a mantra of mine for a long time. It encapsulates an important point about the role of leaders - leaders are in the change business. After all, if everything in your organization was perfect, there would be no need for leaders because there would be no new desired destination - you (or the organization) would have already arrived! This means leaders must be students of change - how to create it, how to cultivate it, how to comm

I had a difficult experience this past week: I had to practice what I preach. I had to listen to someone share her criticisms, suggestions, and proposed new procedures for an organizatio I have been heavily involved with for the past five years. And here's the tough part, I had to force myself ...

Growing up on a farm, one of earliest tools I learned how to use was a tape measure. There are several reasons for that - it is often used, using it won’t hurt you (think hammer, saw, or torch!), and my Dad carried a small one in his pocket.rnAnd as a boy, emulating Dad was always a good idea.rnI don’t use a tape measure every day now, and you don’t likely either, but the idea of measuring progress and success is at least as important to us as leaders as the tape measur

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to understand the force that controls what you think and how you act? The thoughts and actions you engage in today, determine the results you experience now and into the future. So, if you understood the force that controls you, you could use that knowledge to change ...

Practice a behavior once and find out how it is done. Repeat the behavior once more and you correct some mistakes. Practice the same behavior a third time and start to feel more comfortable. Practice it a fourth time and start to feel a little confidence. Practice it six more times and start ...