Habits are a powerful part of our life. Without habits, we likely couldn’t cope with the complexity of our lives, yet, not all of our habits serve us well. As you grow as a leader, it is ideal that you think about your habits, so that you can replace bad habits with ones that will help you both professionally and personally. This exercise can help you to understand which … [Read more...]
6 Ways Leaders Can Help Others Measure Success
One of earliest tools I learned how to use growing up on a farm 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. As a boy, emulating Dad was always a good idea. I don’t use a tape measure every day now, and you may not either, but the idea of … [Read more...]
Your Words Are Powerful
In order to be a highly effective leader, you must be able to successfully influence and persuade others. While we all know how powerful our actions are in influencing others, we cannot lose sight of how powerful our words are as well. Ralph Waldo Emerson noted this power, for both good and bad, with these words: “No man has a prosperity so high or firm, but that two or … [Read more...]
It’s Not Easy Being Green: 5 Steps to Teaching Employees New Skills
You are new to leadership, but you have likely mastered many skills on your way up the ladder. In fact, you've probably reached expert status in several areas. At some point, you will need to share that knowledge with your employees. You'll need to teach them new skills and coach them to better performance. Learning a new skill and being a beginner at something is hard, but … [Read more...]
The Power of Expectations
John Steinbeck, the great author, said it as well as it can be said: "It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him." The opposite is true too. That is perhaps the most important, yet most often overlooked, key to your success as a leader. If you want to achieve great results (and why would you want anything less?), you must expect great … [Read more...]
Pull Meetings Out of the Weeds
Having grown up on a farm, I know a little bit about getting in the weeds. And I know when you find yourself there, especially if the weeds are thick and tall, the going gets tough and you might even lose your way. I don’t know about your office, but my experience is that this happens in meetings all the time for a variety of reasons. Meeting attendees can become bogged down … [Read more...]
Learn From All Your Experiences, Even the Truly Rotten Ones
The Vash Young quote “Any experience can be transformed into something of value" should hold special meaning for new leaders. After all, you will definitely experience your ups and downs as you manage the challenges of being a leader, and it can be easy to lose sight of the value of your experiences, especially when times are difficult or painful. As a leader, … [Read more...]
What Leaders Can Learn From Watching the Super Bowl
If you are like a lot of people, you will be watching the Super Bowl this weekend. Whether at a party, or home alone, whether you are a true fan of the game or of the Broncos or Panthers, or are just watching for the commercials, the Super Bowl is more than a chance to relax, root, eat or spend time with friends. The Big Game offers you a leadership learning … [Read more...]
4 Reasons You Should Stop Setting Goals
We are more than halfway through the year. That means a large percentage of you who set goals for this year have either fallen behind, given up on them, or got distracted and forgot about them. And if you didn't set any goals this year, you're likely no further on your way toward achieving anything either. Today, I'd like to offer a different perspective on goal setting: … [Read more...]
Finding Your Bigness Balance: 7 Ways to Properly Set the Size of Your Goals
This is the time of year when we're all thinking about setting goals and making resolutions. The good news is that there are hundreds of books, websites and other resources that teach systems for setting goals. The better news is that most, if not all of them work, if you do the work needed to make them work. The bad news, however, is that all those resources don't tackle … [Read more...]