The only moment in which we can take action is the present moment. Awareness of what’s happening right now is critical to successful leadership — from self-awareness to the awareness of others, your team, your organization, and your environment. Presence is the key to your effectiveness, influence, vision, communication, integrity, relationships, and continuous improvement. When [...]
Create Accountability in Your Organization
As organizations grow and have more employees, executives can lose sight of the need for single-person accountability. They start to move to consensus decision-making and diffuse responsibility. This results in slow decision-making, inefficiencies, political maneuvering, and internal competition for credit. If anything goes wrong, it usually leads to blame and finger-pointing. When you make high-performing [...]
Be the Change You Want to See
Many of today’s organizations try to develop the capability to quickly adapt to change in their management teams and even in all employees. But as an executive leader, you need to take the next step. It’s not enough to adapt to change when you’re often the person creating the change. You’re the model for others [...]
Authentic Vulnerability Builds Trust
Showing vulnerability takes courage, but it’s also one of the most powerful ways to connect with people and gain their trust. When your team sees you are human and vulnerable, they identify with you and can see the leadership potential in themselves. When you show your vulnerability, you give others permission to be authentic and [...]
Build Real Relationships
We spend the majority of our time with the people we work with, so why don’t we develop real relationships with them? Building relationships with people can also build success. Plus, having real relationships make going to work every day far more enjoyable. You don’t have to be friends with everyone, but you can create [...]
Boost the Self-Esteem of Others
In any company, people are your biggest asset. Nothing happens unless your people make it happen. Most executives spend the majority of their time dealing with people. So we want them to be the best they can be, and that starts with their self-esteem. Self-esteem at work generally relates to whether or not the person [...]
Show Employees You Care
The Wall Street Journal reported that the executives identified as “high achievers” cared about both people and profits. Average achievers focused on production, and low achievers were most concerned about themselves. It doesn’t take much effort to show you care, and the returns are huge. Take a moment to connect with someone in the hallway. [...]
Winning Hearts and Minds
You may have heard the expression great leaders win the hearts and minds of their people. Keep in mind that hearts always come first. Visionary leaders connect with people on an emotional level. They communicate from the heart and they motivate from the heart. People want to connect on a human level. The heart comes [...]
Focus on the Results, Not the Credit
Working collaboratively always produces better results than working competitively. When people compete for credit within an organization, they don’t support each other toward the shared vision. This creates a culture of self-interest, rather than organizational interest. Competition is healthy for competitors, not for team members. Imagine if the players on your favorite sports team were [...]
Picture Your Vision
To really make your organization’s vision come to life, create the whole picture for yourself and for your team. Start with your own personal vision and see how it’s fulfilled in the organization’s vision. Once you’ve connected it for yourself, work with your team to connect your vision for the team to the organization’s vision. [...]