If you lead others, you're in the change business, and that means you will face your fair share of resistance. People will reject your ideas, fight the direction you want to go, disregard your expectations for new behaviors and more. Dealing with resistance is a normal part of leadership. When you initiate change that involves other people, they will inevitably ask: “What’s … [Read more...]
7 Ways for Leaders to Successfully Navigate the Unknown
Few things are certain in this world. When you take over a leadership position for the first time, you undoubtedly will face a world of uncertainty. Everything from how to motivate your team to how you will hit your goals is essentially unknown when you first take the reins. But it's not necessarily a bad thing, says Julie Benezet, author of The Journey of Not … [Read more...]
New Leaders: Adopt a Cinematic Approach to Drastically Improve Presentations
This is a guest post by Ted Frank, author of Get to the Heart. I’ve seen people, specifically new leaders, struggle with presentations. As they try to explain complicated diagrams and metaphors, their confidence and credibility drain as they show stock-photo slides to a bored audience. The problem? Their storytelling. But there’s a storytelling method that works for real … [Read more...]
Unproductive Team? Ask Yourself These 7 Questions
This is a guest post by Scott MacDonald, CEO and author of Saving Investa: How An Ex-Factory Worker Helped Save One of Australia’s Iconic Companies. If your team does not seem to be reaching its potential or achieving its goals, here are some hard questions to ask. Do you have the right talent? Some employees are more talented than others, and you may need to upgrade … [Read more...]
5 Lessons For Achieving a Successful Career Without Sacrificing Happiness
Personal happiness is an afterthought – if it’s a thought at all. But that’s the wrong way to look at things, says Scott MacDonald, a seasoned CEO and author of Saving Investa: How An Ex-Factory Worker Helped Save One of Australia's Iconic Companies. “Hard work absolutely is important, but I’ve met plenty of people who worked hard and never made much money or achieved … [Read more...]
3 Keys to Establishing Credibility With Your Team
By Samuel B. Bacharach, author of The Agenda Mover: When Your Good Idea Is Not Enough. As a new supervisor or manager, you will certainly have projects and ideas you will want to implement. But you have to remember that while getting a promotion may give you the positional authority to move your agenda forward, positional authority alone is not enough. To get your team … [Read more...]
Your Super Weapon is Actually Your Employees, Not Your Products
Your most important asset may not the products you sell. Rather, it's your employees, especially if you are in a service industry, says Dushyant Sukhija, a former executive with Cisco Systems and author of The Cisco Way: Leadership Lessons Learned from One of the World’s Greatest Technology Services Companies. “Employees are the true intellectual capital of the company and … [Read more...]
Training Can Be Fun and Games: 7 Gamification Tactics for Effective Employee Training
This is a guest post by John Findlay is co-founder of Launchfire. You just took over a team, and you are frustrated with the level of training your employees received under your predecessor. Perhaps the previous leader didn't invest in training at all or maybe he or she just wasted everyone's time with ineffective training. And now you need to make big changes. Developing … [Read more...]
It’s Not Always WHAT You Ask—It’s HOW You Ask It
Recently, I was speaking with participants in a training class about communication strategies to resolve conflicts. I shared with them that a genuine sense of curiosity about the other person’s perspective often goes a long way toward resolution, and that a sense of curiosity is often revealed when we ask the other person questions. As we discussed the value of possessing a … [Read more...]
Does a Company’s Reputation Rest on the Shoulders of the Leader?
Karen Tiber Leland is a branding expert and author of The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand. When you think Facebook, you think Mark Zuckerberg. When you think Amazon.com, you think Jeff Bezos. Those and other examples of celebrity corporate leaders show that a CEO’s personal brand can work in concert with the corporation’s brand, helping … [Read more...]