This morning, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced the nominees—including Pearl Jam, Janet Jackson, Journey and more—for its 2017 induction ceremony. That got me thinking about music and bands, and the role each member plays. The singers in the band are out front, and the lead guitarists often have the coolest solos, but without the drummer—or with an off-rhythm … [Read more...]
Make This Your Top Priority When Communicating With Employees
The late great Jim Rohn, was more than just a great speaker, he was a modern day philosopher. One of my favorite quotes by him “The goal of effective communication should be for listeners to say, ‘Me, too!’ versus ‘So what?'” epitomizes what communication should be all about, especially in the workplace. As a leader, being able to communicate effectively is probably your … [Read more...]
Shhhhhh! Leader Thinking Here
We live in a busy, filled-to-the-brim world. That is true for everyone, but especially for leaders. There are more distractions, diversions and noise in our world than ever before in history. While everyone has 24/7 news, email, texts, social networks and a hundred other sources of information and noise coming at them all day, leaders probably have more. More demands, more … [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...]
8 Keys to Successful Performance Conversations
It is likely you have had an experience like this in your past: You are 8 or 10 or 12 years old. You’ve done something wrong, but maybe you don't know what just yet. However, you certainly know you are in hot water after you have been told to “Stay after class,” “Go to the office” or “Wait until your father gets home.” Whatever the offense, the event goes about the same. … [Read more...]
Why New Leaders Can’t Avoid Learning
You can run, but you can’t hide. That's what people say. However, there are leaders everywhere who do hide, like ostriches burying their heads in the sand, when their teams are under-performing or when challenges arise. Leaders who want to blame others, the economy or the market for their team’s lack of success. Or “leaders” who have a title, but shouldn’t, because they … [Read more...]
Feeling Pressure? You Probably Aren’t Prepared
Football officially starts next week, folks. Today, I will share one of my favorite quotes from, undoubtedly, one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. Perhaps his quote "Pressure is something you feel when you don't know what the hell you are doing" tells us why that is. Prior to retiring this year, the two-time and reigning Super Bowl Champion had broken … [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...]
The Comfort Zone is Your Biggest Obstacle to Change
In a recent post, Frank Granara and Lorraine Grubbs, co-authors of Beyond the Executive Comfort Zone: Outrageous Tactics to Ignite Individual Performance, offered insight on how to shake things up and push both yourself and your team out of your comfort zone. Today, I am going to expand on that. Take a minute and mentally put yourself in a place that you love. You love the … [Read more...]
Your Leadership Contribution: Are You Doing Enough?
I’m a big fan of questions to help us learn, grow, plan and succeed. So I regularly take time to sit down and ask myself a series of questions to gauge my progress on a goal and evaluate my efforts. For example, here is a question stem I revisit at least several times a year that forces me to really think about my role as a leader: What is my contribution? What is the … [Read more...]