December, 2013

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The Three Power-People You Need on Your Team

Leadership Freak

'The enemy of success is isolation. The higher you go the easier isolation becomes, but, it’s a devastating problem at all levels of leadership. Isolated leaders fear conspiracies and feel misunderstood. Worse yet, ivory-tower leaders resort to control through authority. Us/them thinking destroys influence. Defeat isolation and enhance success by developing a high-power inner circle. […].

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Why the Best Leaders Have a Big Heart

Kevin Eikenberry

'To be clear, there are as many different leadership styles as there are people. Yes, lots of smart people have created models to define and describe basic leadership styles, and yet all of us bring our uniqueness to the equation too. Perhaps the simplest of leadership style models divides leaders into “people leaders” and “task […].

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Don’t Make a Resolution; Find a Word

Leadership Freak

'Leave a comment on today’s post and become eligible for 1 of 100 copies of, “One Word That Will Change Your Life.” What if one word could transform your life? I don’t blame you if you’ve stopped making resolutions. You’re busy enough and the last ones didn’t work. One Facebook contributor summed up the […].

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Five Leadership Resolutions for 2014

Leadership Freak

'A history of failure prevents you from making New Years resolutions. You fell short last time. Why try again? What’s the point? One friend said, “The only resolution I’ve kept is the one not to make New Years resolutions. But… Those who can’t start fresh are doomed to repeat the past. People who get it […].

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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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10 Secrets to Moving Forward While Falling Short

Leadership Freak

'Image source Those who can’t fall short can’t move forward. The pursuit of excellence requires imperfection. Steps toward excellence are always inadequate. The nature of moving forward is you’re always falling short. Excellence is achieved as the result of a long series of imperfect improvements. The ability to accept the inadequate, at least temporarily, is […].

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20 Positive Ways to Confront Poor Performance

Leadership Freak

'Lousy leaders whine about mediocrity but can’t or won’t have tough conversations. Excellence is a function of confronting performance issues. Call people to rise up or they will leave or lay down. Exceptional organizations consist of exceptional people. Talent develops when poor performance is confronted. 6 Reasons performance deteriorates: Resentment, anger, and getting even.

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How to be Assertive Not Pushy

Leadership Freak

'Pushy people want what they want regardless of how you feel. You have pushy-jerk radar that tells you to resist, protect, hold back, or attack. You put up with pushy people because you’re afraid not to. Pushy leaders walk on others to get things done. They won’t take no. On the other hand, leadership demands […].

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5 Ways to Make Suggestions that Get Heard

Leadership Freak

'Suggestions are another way of saying do it my way. The person making suggestions is telling you how they would do it, if they were doing it. Ever notice how people who aren’t doing it know how you should do it? Unappreciated: The worst suggestions come after you’re done and someone says, “Next time you […].

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How to Break the 7 Barriers of Leadership

Leadership Freak

'Leaders desire what they don’t have and reach for what they haven’t reached. Unfulfilled passions frustrate. Drive encounters barriers. Barriers block the future and frustrate the present. 7 Barriers of Leadership: Failure to name wins. Fear prevents you from naming what you really want. But, you can’t achieve what you haven’t named. Unrealistic optimism.

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Four Qualities of Game Changers

Leadership Freak

'Leave a comment on today’s post and become eligible for 1 of 50 copies of Mike Myatt’s new book, “Hacking Leadership.” Leaders go beyond safe improvements to risky innovations. Leadership is dangerous. Management is about safety. I’m not degrading management at the expense of leadership. Managers lead and leaders manage. The ability to distinguish […].

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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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Take This Oath to Communicate Change More Effectively

Kevin Eikenberry

'Physicians take the Hippocratic Oath before they can practice medicine. Lawyers take a professional oath after they pass the bar. And people elected to all sorts of positions take an oath of office. Considering how important the leader’s role is in communicating change effectively, and how poorly many leaders do it, I am proposing an […].

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Marshall Goldsmith: Choose to Invest Yourself

Leadership Freak

'Over-commitment is the inability to say no. Chronic over-commitment reflects lack of priorities. Weak, insecure leaders fill their calendars to the point of panic. “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” Socrates The hardest choice isn’t deciding what to do, although that can be tough. The hardest choice is deciding what to stop. Starting is […].

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Three Simple Steps to Radical Change

Leadership Freak

'* Leaders change things. Leaders who can’t manage change fail. Everything that successfully resists change dies. “Companies that pursue and embrace change are healthy, growing, and dynamic organizations, while companies that fear change are stagnant entities on their way to a slow and painful death.” Mike Myatt in, Hacking Leadership Three steps in the change life-cycle. […].

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Five Secrets to Escaping the Past

Leadership Freak

'Your job is moving people into the future not recreating the past. Tensions emerge when leaders pull toward the future and followers cling to the past. Clinging to the past is losing your future. Clinging: People cling to the past because they: Don’t feel heard. People who consistently bring up past situations are saying, “Please […].

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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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Six Ways to Deal with Messy People

Leadership Freak

'The easiest, short-term leadership strategy is avoiding people. Just hide in your office doing paperwork. Connecting with people is messy. Hidden baggage bubbles just under the skin. Emotions erupt. Priorities shift. Personal lives collapse. Health declines. Financial stability vanishes. Just when you figure them out, they change. Safe: Disconnection is safe.

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A Conversation with an Angry Leader

Leadership Freak

'Leaders who aren’t frustrated are aiming too low. But, leaders who can’t manage their anger grow bitter, destroy their health, and disconnect with employees. I had a conversation with a young angry leader this week. He’s angry at the response of the people in his organization. Like many leaders, he hasn’t learned to manage anger’s […].

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The Seven Pursuits of Leadership

Leadership Freak

'You may grow weary of a life of pursuit but what’s the alternative? Spend yourself in pursuit or waste yourself in ease. Fatigue from pursuit is the noblest form of exhaustion. “At its essence, leadership is pursuit…” Mike Myatt Achievement is never as satisfying as pursuit. After attainment comes more pursuit or grow lazy and […].

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10 Ways to Win at Office Politics

Leadership Freak

'Lack of leadership invites backstabbing, gossip, sabotage, game-playing, and foot-dragging. But, don’t expect a savior on a white horse to rescue you after you’ve been stabbed in the back. Responding: Getting even with the person who made you look bad makes you look bad. Respond in ways that you would brag to mom about. You […].

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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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Solving the Pathetic Meeting Problem

Leadership Freak

'Orderly leadership meetings are pathetic and useless. Head-nodding sessions are exercises in futility that waste resources, talent, and time. Cancel them and do something productive. The spirit of agreement permeates pointless leadership meetings. When was the last time you saw anything beyond polite disagreement followed by quick head-nodding in a leadership meeting?

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Finding Compassion without Losing Power

Leadership Freak

'Compassion is essential to exceptional leadership, extraordinary results, powerful impact, and richness of life. What does compassionate leadership look like? The opposite of compassion is mean. Mean leaders: Send the message that they can’t be questioned. Don’t understand the personal goals of people on their team. Disregard the emotional impact of their behaviors.

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Overcoming the 6 Mistakes of Inaction

Leadership Freak

'Smart mistakes happen when you take action, fail, learn, and adapt. Dumb mistakes happen when you don’t try at all. Weak leaders over-prepare and under-execute. 6 Mistakes of inaction: Isolating. Not declaring what you want in simple, observable behaviors with tangible results. Withholding feedback. Neglecting the emotional state of the team. Ignoring the passions of […].

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Six Simple Ways to Strengthen Your Culture Now

Leadership Freak

'People in strong cultures smile and laugh. The idea that it takes fewer muscles to smile than frown is silly. If you don’t want to smile, it doesn’t matter how easy it is. You may think you’re smiling, but does your face know? Dead giveaway: Frowners aren’t present. A serious face, when you’re with others, […].

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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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Four Words For Leaders to Remove From Their Vocabulary

Kevin Eikenberry

'We spend the early parts of our lives adding to our vocabulary. Teachers and parents want us to learn new words. And research shows that vocabulary is a good predictor of success. And yet I am asking you to take four words from your vocabulary? Yes I am. To be clear, it isn’t like you […].

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Changed

Leadership Freak

'How has your leadership changed? My wife brought the topic up yesterday. I turned the topic back to her. “How do you think I’ve changed?” She said, “You’re more of a leader and less of a controller.” I didn’t take offense at the suggestion that I’m a control freak. I was and still feel the […].

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20 Ways to Rouse the Flamingos

Leadership Freak

'People stop trying when it’s hard to get things done. Indecision and bureaucracy inspire slumber. Successful leaders make it easy to get things done. 20 ways to rouse the flamingos: Don’t use a team when an individual is all that’s needed. Choose a path and make it work. Don’t keep making the same decision over […].

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Mandela on Education and Change

Kevin Eikenberry

'The world lost a great statesman, visionary, leader, and human being yesterday. The work and legacy of Nelson Mandela will be in full view of the world for the rest of history. It is only fitting that I share a quotation from this great man today, about two topics near to my heart, and I’m […].

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Overcoming the Fear of Positives

Leadership Freak

'Leave a comment on yesterday’s post and become eligible for 1 of 50 copies of Mike Myatt’s new book, “Hacking Leadership.” Short-sighted leaders are stingy with positives and free with negatives. Their talk is constantly dark. They focus on: What’s not working. What you need to improve. What didn’t reach the mark. What could be […].

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How to Move Through Your Fear

Kevin Eikenberry

'In my last Powerquotes-style blog post of the year, I am looking forward. Many of the challenges we all face in the coming year are challenges in part because of our fears. With that in mind, I felt today’s quotation was important for all of us – and I’m at the front of the line. […].

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The Best Leaders are Bold Leaders

Kevin Eikenberry

'If you make a list of leaders who have made a difference – whether the list is global and historical, or local and recent – you will find they all have one thing in common. Those leaders are bold. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines bold in part with these three definitions: not afraid of danger or […].

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The Kind of Resolutions the Best Leaders Make

Kevin Eikenberry

'I’ve written a lot about resolutions over the years (here is a list). I guess I am drawn to the topic this time of year, as are many others. And as I have chronicled and you will often read over the next few days, people have mixed feelings and mixed results with resolutions. Which puts […].

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Creating a Great Place to Work

Kevin Eikenberry

'It’s become almost an industry itself – judging organizational culture and creating lists of great places to work. The most recent I’ve read is from Glassdoor, as reported in FAST Company Online this morning. The findings and lists are worth reading, but perhaps not surprisingly, I want to talk about how we as leaders can […].

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The First Thing That Must Change

Kevin Eikenberry

'Change is a challenging topic – one that is written about often. Heck, it is one that I write about, speak about, and consult on regularly. Today’s quotation cuts at the personal side of change, stating a profound truth. Below, I will help you think about this, both personally and professionally. Questions to Ponder - […].

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