March, 2016

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Good Products Start With Good Questions

Nir Eyal

Nir’s Note: My friend Jake Knapp just published a fantastic book titled, Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days. The book details a process he and his colleagues at Google Ventures use to quickly go from idea, to prototype, to live test. Jake put together an exclusive excerpt from the book for NirAndFar.com […].

Manager 99
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7 Principles of the Pig

Leadership Freak

If you have a team of pigs, fall in love with bacon. The people on your team reflect the future of your organization. The future begins with who’s on your team, not where you want to go. First ask, “Who is on the team?

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Change and The Power of Habits

Kevin Eikenberry

In my work coaching leaders and members of my team, I am often reminded of the tremendous role that habits play in our lives and work. Of course that impact can be for positive or not – the purpose of this article is to help you use habits more effectively to create the results you […]. The post Change and The Power of Habits appeared first on Kevin Eikenberry on Leadership & Learning.

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David Burkus | Why Organizations Need To Change The Way We Work

Tanveer Nasser

If there's one thing every leader out there can agree on, it's that the way we work has drastically changed over the past few decades, and in today's interconnected, global environment, that change is now happening at a much more accelerated pace than ever before. In light of these fundamental shifts to the way we work, which 20th century management principles should we stop using, and what do we replace them with in order to ensure we're bringing out the best in those we lead?

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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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The state of growth hacking (Guest post)

Andrew Chen

[Hi readers, I recently met some amazing folks at Mixpanel – Justin Megahan and Amelia Salyers – who interviewed me for their “Grow and Tell” series. This was originally published on the Mixpanel blog , and I’m excited to re-publish it here too. Thanks to Suhail , founder/ceo of Mixpanel, for helping set this up. Hope you enjoy the interview.

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10 Ways to Make People Feel Powerful

Leadership Freak

You influence the way people feel about themselves. When you make people feel weak, they act in fear. When you make people feel powerful, they act with boldness. Boldness takes you further than fear.

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Hooked for Good: How Habit-Forming Products Improve Lives

Nir Eyal

Last week’s Habit Summit was amazing! It was wonderful to see so many blog readers and friends enjoying the keynotes — not to mention the Stanford sunshine. Below is my opening presentation highlighting examples of companies changing user behavior for good. Let me know if you can think of more examples in the comments section below. BTW – […].

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The Secrets of Compassion for Leaders

Leadership Freak

“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.” Lao Tzu Today’s challenge: Be passionate about compassionate leadership. Compassion doesn’t ignore problems.

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12 Ways to Enlarge the Way People Feel About Themselves

Leadership Freak

Immature leaders wonder, “How do you feel about me?” Mature leaders wonder, “How do you feel about yourself?” Leadership includes how others feel about themselves because of your influence. If you want to change an organization, change the way people think and feel about themselves.

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5 Practices of Go-Giver Leaders

Leadership Freak

Begin every interaction by asking yourself, “How might I give, rather than how can I take?” Teams build protective barriers against taking-leaders, but giving-leaders connect. 5 practices of Go-Giver Leaders*: Don’t get it backwards: don’t start thinking you’re the deal. Great leadership is never about the leader. Great leadership is about holding people up.

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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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15 Proven Behaviors that Elevate Leaders

Leadership Freak

All leaders have weaknesses and blindspots that limit their opportunities. The higher you go in an organization the more people watch and evaluate your smallest behaviors.

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How Distraction-Addicts Find Focus

Leadership Freak

If I’m not distracted, I’m looking for the next distraction. I’m addicted to distraction. It makes me feel important. Distraction doesn’t make you important it makes you shallow.

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4 Ways to Fix What’s Wrong with Accountability

Leadership Freak

The chief end of accountability is nudging people toward their potential by leveraging untapped talent. The secondary end of accountability is getting things done. Who you are comes before what you do. #1.

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10 Practical Ways to Make Better Decisions

Leadership Freak

Weak leaders silence dissent; wise invite it. Peter Drucker said, “If you have quick consensus on an important matter, don’t make the decision.” All important decisions are made better by constructive dissent. Leaders with authority and power are responsible to invite, explore, honor, and reward constructive dissent.

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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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Authenticity is at Least Four Things

Leadership Freak

This post is inspired by my conversation with Karissa Thacker author of, The Art of Authenticity. Authenticity is not one thing. It is at least four. #1. Selves-Awareness: Know who you are.

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4 Benefits of Weakness

Leadership Freak

Strengths take you further than weaknesses, but turning a blind eye to your weaknesses limits your potential. Strength-based leadership is no excuse to ignore the benefits of weakness. Leaders without weakness are: Clueless.

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Recipe for Success: What Leaders Can Learn from Pie

Kevin Eikenberry

Perhaps my favorite food is homemade pie (black raspberry or peach, to be specific). I come by this naturally, as my Dad used to famously say, “I only like two kinds of pie; hot and cold.” While I can’t quite say that, there is little doubt how much I love pie. And I’ve had lots […]. The post Recipe for Success: What Leaders Can Learn from Pie appeared first on Kevin Eikenberry on Leadership & Learning.

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A Life Changing Experiment Anyone can Do

Leadership Freak

It might be slow, but complacency is death. The danger of complacency is you don’t see your own smug self-satisfaction. In dying organizations, “I’ve got it all together and I don’t need to change,” is desired and admired. Why do you look up to the dead?

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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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The 13 Toughest Challenges of Leadership

Leadership Freak

Indifference is easy but empty. Compassion requires more courage, resolve, and wisdom than standing aloof. Every tough challenge of leadership is made better with compassion. The 13 toughest challenges of leadership: Confronting. Correcting.

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One Essential To Building Great Organizations

Leadership Freak

Most of the leadership books I read about organizational development forget to mention the one essential to building great organizations. Perhaps it’s too obvious. Three things that don’t make organizations great: Great people don’t automatically build great organizations.

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Persistence Over Reflection and Other Leadership Blunders

Leadership Freak

Mistake #1: Not learning from mistakes. My biggest mistake was not learning quickly from mistakes. I chose persistence over reflection. Solutions: Reflect on relationships. Move quickly toward failing relationships to see if they might be strengthened. Protect people from themselves. Success gives leaders permission to ignore or make excuses for their frailties.

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Recipe for Success: What Leaders Can Learn from Pie

Kevin Eikenberry

Perhaps my favorite food is homemade pie (black raspberry or peach, to be specific). I come by this naturally, as my Dad used to famously say, “I only like two kinds of pie; hot and cold.” While I can’t quite say that, there is little doubt how much I love pie. And I’ve had lots […]. The post Recipe for Success: What Leaders Can Learn from Pie appeared first on Kevin Eikenberry on Leadership & Learning.

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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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Patterns That Served You Well in the Past

Leadership Freak

Warning: Life’s ruts start feeling like well-worn jeans. Every morning you slip into patterns that served you well in the past. You need a kick in the pants to reignite the adventure.

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3 Surprising Ways to Get the Most from Screw Ups

Leadership Freak

The purpose of reflecting on past performance is improvement, not beating yourself up. My insides shrivel when I think about dumb things I’ve said and done. It happened recently during a Q&A session with leaders of a Global organization.

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5 Ways to Dig Your Own Well

Leadership Freak

Your most powerful contributions are the answers you’ve found for yourself. A struggle answered is purpose found. Profundity is relative: What’s simple to you is profound to others.

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One of the Biggest Shifts in Leadership

Leadership Freak

Regret with the end, hurts more than dissatisfaction at the beginning. Disappointment is realizing the cheese moved. You don’t want what you wanted. You aren’t getting where you want to go.

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Those Who Talk the Most Learn the Most

Leadership Freak

Ken Blanchard jolted my thinking when he said, “Those who talk the most learn the most.” I thought about listening. You must listen in order to learn.

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We Have Met the Enemy

Leadership Freak

You come to a point when you realize you are at the center of your deepest frustrations. What you do then, determines your destiny.

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Sick of Being a “Yes-But” Leader

Leadership Freak

I immediately thought of something that didn’t go perfectly, when a leader on my team joyfully said, “Today was as good as it gets.” He was thinking operationally.

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A New Resource for Those Who Care About Talent Management

Kevin Eikenberry

Today, I’m recommending a new magazine to you. A magazine, Kevin? Could you be any lower tech? Actually, I’m not talking paper and ink, delivered by your mail carrier; and I’m not talking Better Homes and Garden either. I’m talking about a brand-new, digitally-delivered magazine that will actually be most useful when used through an […]. The post A New Resource for Those Who Care About Talent Management appeared first on Kevin Eikenberry on Leadership & Learning.

Manager 47
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Breaking the Wall that Arrogance Built

Leadership Freak

Working on others is a joy. After all, they need so much help. The need to fix others blinds you to yourself.

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What if Someone on Your Team Died

Leadership Freak

I heard (Ret.) General Dempsey, the 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talking about leadership at the World LEADERS Group. He struggled with what to say to soldiers who had lost a comrade in arms. What would you say to your team if one of them died?

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