March, 2013

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8 Secrets to Eliminating Negativity

Leadership Freak

One bad experience outweighs one good. A gallon of bad weighs more than a gallon of good. Setbacks nag; success whispers. You overemphasize what went wrong and minimize what went right. Down is easier than up. Small setbacks increase frustration more than small successes enhance satisfaction. One negative defeats one positive. It’s worse! One negative [.].

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Five Minutes to Greater Productivity and Better Results

Kevin Eikenberry

You’ve been busy, you’ve been stressed, and you’ve felt pressure. Maybe even today. Today’s quotation tells you what to do when you are next in that situation. I totally love and agree with this quotation from Dr. Joyce Brothers. So let’s get on with some Questions and Action Steps Questions to Ponder - How often [.].

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Liz Wiseman | How Leaders Grow Employee Intelligence To Drive Success

Tanveer Nasser

Why is it that some leaders are able to stretch and build the intelligence, creativity and motivation of their employees, while other leaders seem only to disengage and drain the collective talent found within their teams? That's the basis of my conversation with leadership researcher and best-selling author Liz Wiseman. Liz is the president of The Wiseman Group, a research and development firm that conducts research in the field of leadership and collective intelligence.

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Ten Leadership Shifts that Change Everything

Leadership Freak

Self-inflicted frustrations when leaders don’t adapt to new circumstances. Leaders want to change circumstances rather than changing themselves. Seizing opportunities requires shifts in thinking, attitude, behavior, and responsibility. The greater the opportunity the greater the necessary shift. Persistent hard work exacerbates frustration until shifts occur.

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SME Relationships: Proven Solutions for Seamless Collaboration and Success

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

💢 Do you find yourself stuck in never-ending review cycles? Are you wondering if your Subject Matter Expert actually got that last review request? Are you having trouble trying to decipher impractical or conflicting feedback? 💢 If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, you may benefit from a crash course on managing SME relationships!

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Seven Proven Strategies for Dealing with Liars

Leadership Freak

Image source by George Hodan Leaders lie because they don’t care enough to tell the truth. It’s too much trouble convincing know-it-alls, for example, so they smile and let them believe they’re right. They say, “That sounds fine.” But they’re shading the truth. Leaders lie to: Build image. Save face. Prevent turmoil. Solve conflict. Distract [.].

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What Leaders Get All Wrong About Leadership

Leadership Freak

I did leadership all wrong for years. I held leadership positions without understanding effective leadership practices. My early education was in theology. Tragically, I had no training in leadership. My leadership journey includes powerful, sometimes painful, shifts in attitudes and practice. The first shift: Leaders hold spotlights rather than stand in them.

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I Made a Mistake

Leadership Freak

Image source by Petr Kratochvil I called a person to confront an awkward leadership blunder. Mistakes aren’t the issue; what you do with them is. 8 wrong approaches to mistakes that matter: Mad Monkey approach: Jumping around making loud noises and pointing fingers. Chicken approach: Brooding. Let’s sit on these eggs until something ugly hatches.

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Why, “Do More with Less,” is Stupid

Leadership Freak

“Do more with less,” demotivates employees. It’s code for work harder. If they’re already working hard, they think, “The more I give the more they want. I’m giving less.” “Do more with less,” disengages and demotivates those giving most. Those hurt most by, “Do more with less,” are the ones doing most. Alternatives to, “Do [.].

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The Secret and Power of Listening

Leadership Freak

Leaders often rise to leadership because they are great talkers. Now it’s in the way. You can’t connect, communicate or influence without listening. Bad bosses talk. Successful leaders listen. Stop talking about listening. Ouch: I still remember the day I asked my wife if I was a good listener. Boy! That was a kick in [.].

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Great Leaders are Great Because They …

Leadership Freak

Great leadership is more about others and less about you. Stop focusing on yourself. Great leaders are great because they: Have emotional intelligence. Reveal greatness in others. Know where they’re going and why. Engage. Don’t really think they are great. Read the whole “great leaders” list on Facebook. Two great leaders: Warren Buffet (4th richest [.].

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Change Management 101: A Practical 3 Part Guide

Implementing new tools or business processes in your organization? Lemon Learning put together a practical 3 part guide to prevent the pitfalls of change management. Drive a successful change management project from diagnosis through to measurement.

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Exposing god-like Advisers

Leadership Freak

There’s a long line of individuals who tell you how to lead. Nearly all do the same thing. They tell you how they would do it. But, they aren’t you. Arrogant advisers believe they are gods molding people into their image, whether they admit it or not. Many have given me advice, over the years. Nearly all told me [.].

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7 Ways to Deal with Emotional Issues

Leadership Freak

Emotional turmoil makes simple tasks complicated, easy tasks hard, and quick tasks slow. High emotion, boiling frustration, and hurt feelings inspire blame. Blame invites defensiveness. Defensiveness causes us to pile on other, perhaps unrelated, problems to prove our point. Never introduce emotional issues unless you’re prepared to deal with emotion.

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Solving the Problem of Too Much Passion

Leadership Freak

When Vicki Stanford, Director of the Speakers Bureau for The Ken Blanchard Companies, invited me to send a video for one of their webcasts, I sent this video on Un-Leaderlike Moments. It’s how I’m solving the problem of too much passion. (2 min. 47 sec.) : How have you seen passion get in the way? This is [.].

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Success is Harder than Failure

Leadership Freak

This post began as an email. It’s my response to a person who shared their mixed feelings regarding unexpected success and opportunity. I’ve been thinking about our conversation regarding the problem of success and opportunity. Those who succeed in unexpected ways know that success is harder than failure. We are excited with opportunities but [.].

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Is Training the Right Solution?

Speaker: Tim Buteyn

Let's set the scene: you’ve identified a critical performance gap in your organization and need to close that gap. A colleague suggests training, but you suspect there’s something going on that training can’t address. How can you determine if training is the right solution before you commit your budget and resources to a new training program? In this webinar, you will learn how to determine if training is the right solution using the Behavior Engineering Model.

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How to Seize Your Greatest Opportunities

Leadership Freak

Opportunity is ugly. Opportunity is a door that feels like a wall, an open window that feels shut, or a ceiling that feels too low. Mud disguises, pain exposes, and fear illuminates opportunity. Distinguish your leadership: Great leaders face great challenges and solve great problems. Clear the mud. Solve the pain. Face the fear. Rise [.].

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I Hate Manipulators

Leadership Freak

The issue isn’t what you want. All leaders want the same thing, results. You can’t lead until you define desired results. Results drive everything leaders do. In the tension between getting results and building relationships, results take priority. Results are the goal. Relationships are the method. Once you determine results, focus on relationships.

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How to Become a Culture Building Leader

Leadership Freak

Leave a comment on today’s post to become eligible for one of ten copies of, “The Culture Secret,” by Dr. David Vik. Winners selected on 3/11/13. Lazy leaders blame. Arrogant leaders push down. Fearful leaders push away. Facebook contributors said, “The worst leaders :” Talk too much and think too little. Believe collaboration [.].

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5 Structures that Shaped Zappos’ Culture

Leadership Freak

Lack of focus wastes energy, squanders resources, and defeats hope. Focus, on the other hand, eliminates the superfluous in order to grasp the essential. Success requires focus. Ask Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, to describe his focus and he’ll say two words, “Company culture.” Dr. David Vik (Doc), author of, “The Culture Secret,” helped build [.].

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Revitalizing Dry Content: A Lesson in Engagement

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

We’ve all been there. You’ve been given a pile of dry content and asked to create a compelling eLearning course. You’re determined to create something more engaging than the same old course that learners quickly click through, but how do you take this “boring” content and create something relevant and engaging? Many instructional designers will say, “Boring in means boring out.

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One Choice that Informs All Others

Leadership Freak

Unable to choose is unable to move. Choices enable movement. Unable to choose is another way of saying stuck. Successful leaders make decisions. Everyone who’s stuck lives with choices waiting to be made. Fear of choosing is fear of losing opportunity. Fear of missing out is the reason you miss out. The critical first choice: [.].

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Sour Faces Whining About Sour Faces

Leadership Freak

I’m sick of organizations that don’t measure what matters. Production targets flash on computer screens. Today’s production target: 1,500 widgets. Current: 837 widgets. The message: people are tools. Measurement reflects value. Morale doesn’t matter when you don’t measure morale building behaviors. Where is the morale meter? What isn’t measured doesn’t matter, even if you say [.].

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How to Become a Future-Maker

Leadership Freak

Make the future or it makes you. Stop reacting; start creating. Urgency dominates where plans lack. Yesterday’s future arrived today. Successful leaders plan. Planners make the future. Planners live like tomorrow is today. If you knew financial decline was in your future would you save money today? “Planning is about preparing for the future, not [.].

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Breathing Life into the Walking Dead

Leadership Freak

Image source by David Wagner Leaders with nowhere to grow are blind, self-indulgent fools. They’re the walking dead. Every time you know more than those around you, growth stops – death begins. I spent most of my early leadership years believing I was someone I wasn’t. I felt smarter and more skilled than I actually was. [.].

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Brain Fog HQ: Memory Enhancement Techniques for Professional Development

Speaker: Chester Santos – Author, International Keynote Speaker, Executive Coach, Corporate Trainer, Memory Expert, U.S. Memory Champion

In October, scientists discovered that 75% of patients who experienced brain fog had a lower quality of life at work than those who did not. At best, brain fog makes you slower and less efficient. At worst, your performance and cognitive functions are impaired, resulting in memory, management, and task completion problems. In this entertaining and interactive presentation, Chester Santos, "The International Man of Memory," will assist you in developing life-changing skills that will greatly enha

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The Problem of Power

Leadership Freak

Image of one of our grandsons. The more powerful you are the more serious your expression. I call it the Rule of the Serious Face. Powerful people don’t smile. Some organizations coach top leaders not to smile. It’s true! The “un” of powerful leaders: Unconnected. Unavailable. Unhelpful. Unfeeling. Unhappy. (Or at least, unsmiling.) The higher [.].

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Five Strategies for Changing Others

Leadership Freak

It’s “Sprinter” in Central Pennsylvania. Spring isn’t here. Winter hangs on. One day it’s sunny and warm. Yesterday it snowed! Change comes slowly. Winter won’t let Spring arrive. It’s the time of uncertainty and reluctance. Change: Unwilling to change is arrogant resistance, fearful reluctance, or ignorant blindness.

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The Courage to Build Trust

Kevin Eikenberry

Everyone I’ve ever discussed the concept of trust with has a wide range of emotions related to it. While everyone wants more trust in their relationships, and believes that in an environment of higher trust they will be more productive, less stressed, and generally enjoy their life and work more, we are often stymied, wondering [.].

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The Top 7 Ways to End Frustrating Wait-Time

Leadership Freak

Image source by Adryana Nicoleta Life goes down the drain while you wait. Airports, repair shops, grocery lines, and doctor’s offices ruthlessly steal time. Time is life. Wasted time is wasted life. Waiting: Escalates anger. Strains relationships. Increases stress. Reduces productivity. Planning and preparation transform frustrating wait-time to satisfying productivity.

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Why HR Sucks and How to Fix It

Leadership Freak

Image source Leave a comment on yesterday’s post to become eligible for one of ten copies of, “The Culture Secret,” by Dr. David Vik. Winners selected on 3/11/13. My worst experience with HR is a broken confidence. She smiled and listened and within an hour violated my trust. Human Resource personnel are among the [.].

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Stop Browbeating – Enhance Capacity

Leadership Freak

I browbeat people when I “know” the path forward. I tell them what I want, before thinking about what they need to hear. Additionally, I pressure people when I’ve made up my mind. At least that’s what others tell me. Honestly, I don’t see Browbeating Dan. I see myself as Pussy Cat Dan. Burden of [.].

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Pretending Its OK or Freedom Through Real

Leadership Freak

Image source by George Hodan Pretending you have it together indicates you don’t. Pretending perpetuates problems, propagates failures, and strengthens stress. Worse yet, … Leaders who pretend lose themselves, bit by bit. Bill George writes, “One Stanford professor has discovered that the number one fear of top leaders is “being found out.” (The foreword of, [.].

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For All the Danny Downers

Leadership Freak

You want the people around you to feel up not down, hopeful not discouraged. All successful leaders energize others. But, what if you aren’t the energizing type? Peter Senge said, “Your primary influence is the environment you create.” Leaders often neglect environments in favor of getting work done. Tending personal environments: Personal space has energy. [.].

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One Question for All Complainers and Critics

Leadership Freak

Get out of leadership if criticism and complaints keep you up at night. You’ll die from lack of sleep. The toughest criticism to handle is directed at a team mate or colleague, not you. Some “loving” critic shares a “helpful” suggestion that tears down, points out inadequacy, or undermines credibility. Complainers, on the other hand, [.].

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Psycho-Cybernetics

Kevin Eikenberry

By Maxwell Maltz Make any list of the classics, and by definition the list will include older books. Yet ask most people what they plan to read and they talk about the new releases, the stuff others are talking about currently. This book is a classic, and it belongs on your reading list – whether [.].

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