A good friend recently started a new, dream job, and it includes managing other people for the first time. When I ran into her at an event, she shared with me the difficulties of learning to manage other people. Her arched brow and wringing hands showed how much it was weighing on her. I felt her pain. Developing as a manager has been at once the most challenging and most … [Read more...]
How to Achieve Peak Performance – Business Lessons from a Baseball Mom
My son has been playing travel baseball for nine years, and throughout those nine years, I have learned some valuable lessons: An eight a.m. baseball game in a state outside my own is the perfect alternative to the average family vacation. Life is far too short to waste precious time scrubbing stains out of white uniform pants. The True meaning behind “heads up!” is … [Read more...]
Traits of a Successful Leader
Effective leadership is far less common than it should be. Fortunately, you can learn to be a better leader. It's takes wisdom, intuition, confidence, and humility to be one of the best leaders. To help you be a better leader, here are five key traits that many successful leaders have in common: 1. Be Available Great leaders are effective communicators in every situation. … [Read more...]
3 Vital Skills Every Leader Needs
My very first boss led our team from a place of wrath and terror. We feared his raised voice and demonizing glare. He could melt your self-esteem with one withering look. If one of us made a mistake (or sometimes, even if we didn’t), the thing we would fear the most was his reaction. He may have meant it as leadership, a foolproof way to bring a team to victory. To me, it was … [Read more...]
The Best People For The Job vs. The Best Job For The People
I was a bit of a late bloomer. I accepted my first "real job" five years after graduating from college. Sure, I made a living, but I bounced around jobs that, at least for my goals, were not career-track endeavors. Finally, I landed what I considered to be a “real job” – working for a law firm. Although I majored in advertising & marketing at Boston University, my lack … [Read more...]
If You Want Everything Done Right – Delegate!
I know this is nothing new. We are all aware delegation is necessary. “If you want something done right, Do it yourself.” Raise your hand if you can relate to this quote by Charles-Guillaume Étienne. That’s me, jumping up and down waving my hand in the air. I have been known to fall victim to that mantra every now and again. That's not terrible advice. The truth is if you … [Read more...]
4 People Every Successful Businessperson Needs on Their Team
No one succeeds alone. From the people who pave the roads we drive on to the teams that run the restaurants we lunch at, there are countless souls that help us navigate each day. The team that helps you be great at what you do runs the gamut from coworkers and clients to family and friends. Everyone needs a tribe, and that tribe should include four essential roles – the … [Read more...]
5 Tips to Use the Power of ‘Why’ to Boost Employee Performance
What motivates you to work? While many leadership teams think the secret to boosting employee performance and job satisfaction is based solely on monetary rewards, team building events, training, awards, and a long list of other recognition tools, for most people, motivation lies in just one word -- why. Think of it this way. How many things do you do just because? You have … [Read more...]
Why Personal Branding is a Leadership Must
Ascending to a role as a leader -- whether that is in a company, community, or organization -- can be an opportunity to make a significant impact. But simply assuming a title as leader doesn't do it. You don't create significant impact just because you occupy a role or wear a title. You make the significant impact because of your strategic actions that inspire, empower, and … [Read more...]
How to Become a More Strategic Leader
Great business leaders understand that leading an enterprise in the direction of continuous growth once it has caught fire can take herculean effort. Inevitably, every organization—from startups to the well established—faces the tenuous transition point where it must be willing to untangle from deeply embedded routines and consistently make core decisions that result in … [Read more...]