Earth Day is this week, April 22 to be exact, and all week schools, charity organizations, businesses and more are taking a closer look at what we can do to protect the environment, reduce our carbon footprint and prevent pollution. No doubt the havoc we're wreaking on our environment with pollution is a major problem, and we should all be doing a little more to protect … [Read more...]
3 Lessons You Can Learn From Your Non-Stick Pans
PTFE or polytetrafluoroethylene was discovered on April 6, 1938 by Dr. Roy Plunkett at the DuPont research laboratories, and it was patented in February of 1941. You know PTFE as Teflon, the non-stick coating used on pans, griddles, grills and the like. The chemical has a growing list of uses, and it has made DuPont a lot of money. That is all well and good, but what does … [Read more...]
Stepping In, Stepping Up: How You Can Lead Successful Change
By Lisa Hillenbrand and Ellen R. Auster, authors of STRAGILITY: Excelling at Strategic Changes Change we must, but how? Perhaps you are in a new position. Perhaps your organization is in a state of flux, and you’ve been asked to turn things around. Or maybe you are taking over a new project or leading a new team. So how should you go about leading strategic change and making … [Read more...]
Switch Off Your Autopilot Mentality
By Jaimy Ford, business writer and editor As a new leader, it's easy to slip into a routine and stick to it. After all, why should you change what appears to be working? However, if you simply adapt a previous leader's style or you rely on trusted approaches that come easy to you, you run the risk of slipping into autopilot. When that happens, creativity and innovation … [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...]
Small Innovations Can Be Just as Powerful as Big Ones
By Jaimy Ford, business writer and editor When you step into a new leadership role, you may be determined to leave your mark, and that may drive you to rush and make big—even revolutionary—changes. However, you don't need to make drastic changes to make an impact. "It's easy to be intimidated if you believe you must constantly come up with big, market-disrupting … [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...]
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...]