Does your team know your core values and personality style?
Is your behavior consistent in all your interactions with your colleagues?
Do you sometimes find yourself following a pattern of behaviors that others’ expect from you, instead of creating your own?
Do you experience a level of stress trying to perform to others’ standards? (more…)
As the leader of your team or organization, are you experiencing any issues similar to the ones on the list below?
Quick quiz for everyone!
Raise your hand if you…
I’m guessing most of you raised your hand on at least 5 or 6 out of that list of 7 items.
Well, I’d like to announce that the new normal is here. There’s no need to wait for it any longer. For some of you that’s good news, for others, you’re groaning. (more…)
Imagine you’re walking along the beach. In the distance you see storm clouds gathering, the sky darkening. The sun slowly becomes unrecognizable behind the thick cover overhead. The waves rushing onto shore become increasingly more powerful, as they push further into the sand, washing away the designs and formations made by beachgoers earlier in the day. The lifeguards beckon swimmers out of the water because they know the undercurrent is stronger and the sea is dangerous. Umbrellas and beach chairs are stacked up and tied down. Meanwhile the sand is pushed in and out by the waves, back and forth in unpredictable patterns.
The sound of her watch alarm abruptly awakened Carol from a deep sleep. It was January 2nd and she was already focused on how she would address her leadership team when they returned to work in a few days. Thoughts had been swirling in her mind over the two-week holiday break.
Everyone had worked so hard over the past nine months during the pandemic. As CEO of her mid-sized company, the past year was unlike anything she had ever seen. Their industry had endured its unanticipated ups and downs in the past, but the unprecedented inability to forecast any sense of normalcy over the past year was worrisome. (more…)
Imagine taking a trip to Niagara Falls, New York, observing the beauty and power of the rushing water, as you peer through the mist to see across the international border. You could be surrounded by other tourists, wearing rain ponchos as protection from the water spray, and taking pictures of the rock formations surrounding it. But what if you instead, stepped onto a wire two inches in diameter, strung 1500 feet from one side to the other, and step by step crossed onto the other side? (more…)
Think back to the start of your professional journey. What if you knew your full capabilities, your potential, your value? What difference would that have made in your decisions? How would it have increased your confidence to pursue your goals?
A research study has shown that our confidence increases over the course of our career[1]. It makes sense. Over time, we learn from our successes and failures. We discover how to get better results based on our personal style and capabilities. We figure out how to navigate tough situations. We gain clarity about our goals. In fact, the women surveyed rated themselves as 15 points less confident than men in their mid-20s, with both increasing to the same level of confidence by the time they reached their mid-40s. (more…)
Kevin crouched near the edge of the cliff, 2,000 feet above the valley floor. Still slightly out of breath from the last leg of his climb, he surveyed the vast forest below him, the denseness of the trees, a lower summit off to the right, and a river running through it along the highway far below. From this vantage point he could see miles and miles of largely undisturbed woods and rugged terrain. It was beautiful yet overwhelming to take it all in.
He was reminded of why he decided to hike to this peak in the first place; the need to find solitude and think about the overwhelming amount of information he was managing as CEO of his company. Strategic decisions needed to be made about the coming fiscal year, and while he had a capable team, they tended to focus on their individual piece of the organization.
Kevin felt accountable for integrating it all into a comprehensive plan. As the leader, he had the vantage point of seeing the implications of everything in ways that others didn’t. But he was beginning to think more about that responsibility. How can he effectively use his vantage point to be a better leader, and to get better results with his team? What fundamentals did he need to think about to make a positive impact on the business? (more…)
Everyone has a purpose, but not everyone will recognize it and fulfill it. And one of the biggest reasons why is because they won’t have the patience to go through the process to see it come to pass. Joe is a good example of how practicing patience and preparation ultimately led to fulfilling his purpose.
Joe grew up the youngest of four brothers on the family farm in the Midwest. His father owned herds of cattle and while they weren’t poor, they were far from rich. One day Joe had a dream that he would be running a multi-million-dollar company and make a distinctive impact on millions of people. Different from any other dream, this one was vivid and clear. The next morning, he remembered every detail of it and couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow this meant something. Now this seemed the farthest thing from reality because none of Joe’s brothers had gone to college or left the family business, and there was no expectation that he would either. (more…)
Bob sat down at his desk and let out a huge sigh. He had just returned from lunch with one of the board members at his company. They were preparing for the current CEO to retire within the next 6 months and the board wanted to initiate a formal selection process to confirm Bob as a candidate to replace him. Bob had been with the company for 15 years and held the CFO role for 5 years. It was time to step up. He knew the inner workings of the company as well as challenges in the industry. He also knew that his chances of being selected were pretty good. But there was one nagging issue on his mind. He fundamentally felt that the strategy the current CEO and Board were pursuing wasn’t going to pay off the way they thought. He had shared his concerns in the past but given the politics didn’t feel he could push it too far. Now, if he were to be selected as CEO, he realized he couldn’t lead the organization forward with a strategy he didn’t believe in. He knew that two or three of the twelve board members might support his thinking, but that wasn’t sufficient to make the shift he felt was necessary. And if he declined consideration, he’d have to come up with a really good reason because telling them he didn’t believe in their strategy would call into question his role over the past several years. (more…)