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Why You Don't Want to Be Called a Leader

Sep 7, 2015
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Everyone has to lead sometime. Forget about the


title, and just do it.
There are leaders and there are those who lead. Leaders hold a
position of power or authority, but those who lead inspire us.
Whether they're individuals or organizations, we follow those who
lead, not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow
those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves.
-Simon Sinek
The idea of being a leader always appealed to me. I held my first
management position at 22, leading a small production team in a
bookbindery. I loved being in charge--making decisions and trying to
motivate my team. But one day, I heard a comment I've never
forgotten. After chastising a line worker for a mistake, he snapped
back:
"You know, you're the type of manager the rest of us hate."
A comment like that stops you in your tracks. I remember standing
there for a few seconds, just processing it. Is that true? Who else
feels that way? That moment led to various occasions of selfreflection over the years. I'd ask questions like:Why do I want to be
the leader? How are others responding to my leadership style?

The fact is, we all have to lead at some point. Some are thrust into
positions of authority whether they like it or not, like the couple who
suddenly discover they will become parents. Some professionals
are required to lead in their daily work (teachers and doctors, for
example). Others are looking to lead in order to promote ideals and
values they feel strongly about, and to guide others who share those
values.
So many situations call for capable leadership. So, how can you lead
effectively?
Work hard to do the following:

1. Set the example.


Let's say you ask me how to get somewhere you've never been
before. I could outline step by step directions, draw you a map, even
provide details about landmarks to look out for.
Or I could say: 'That's not too far out of my way. Why don't you just
follow me?'
Value statements and culture decks are often abstract and
ineffective. And 'Do as I say, not as I do' never works: You can
preach respect and integrity until you're blue in the face, but it won't
mean anything when you curse out a member of your team.
On the contrary, when you work hard to show others what you
believe in, they'll naturally follow.

2. Be humble.
Boss #1: Makes a mistake. When it's exposed, he or she refuses to
admit it or tries to blame someone else.
Boss #2: Realizes he or she isn't perfect. After recognizing a
mistake, they readily admit and learn from it.
Who would you prefer to work for?
President, director, Mom and Dad. 'Leaders' are no more perfect
than followers. Owning up to that inspires respect.
Additionally, don't be afraid to reach out to your team for help. This
humanizes you, and helps create an environment where people
learn from each other.

3. Praise sincerely.
Praise and recognition can be motivating and inspiring--if it's
authentic and specific.
Here's how to start: Pick one or two employees a day and tell them
something specific you've valued about their work (e.g., the way
they handled a project or problem or a specific quality you saw in
action). Tell them how and why you found their actions so beneficial.
The more details, the better.
Authenticity is key. Don't just go through the motions, checking
people off a list. The goal is to instinctively recognize and appreciate
the efforts of others--and communicate that appreciation

consistently. (For more about building an authentic praise culture at


work, read this.)

4. Be kind. But not weak.


Sincere praise is extremely important, but so is corrective feedback.
Refusing to address an individual's major problems doesn't help him
or her to grow. It also amounts to your tacit approval of subpar
performance.
And if a person's behavior adversely affects coworkers, refusal to
take action will gradually destroy your culture.
Be constructive, yet direct, with your criticism--no feedback
sandwich. (When you've been effective at applying point three, point
four becomes much easier.)

5. Delegate.
Micromanagement 101 states: If you want it done right, you have to
do it yourself. But what happens when you're not around?
Proper delegation, on the other hand, achieves the following:

You 'create' time you can spend on other activities equally or


more important

Employees gain additional skills and experience

You can observe how employees perform under different


circumstances

You demonstrate trust in the individual, which strengthens your


relationship

When done effectively, delegating brings benefits to everyone.

6. Learn to listen.
No one ever learned anything while speaking.
When you listen skillfully to employees, you stay in touch with the
reality of your company. You become quickly aware of new problems
and how your people are dealing with them.
In addition, you send the message that what's important to them is
important to you. Your advice carries more weight, because it's
based on reality.
Forget about being 'a leader'. It's only a title, and one that's not
good for much. We're all faced with opportunities to lead, so focus
on leading effectively.
Those who follow will do so, not because they have to, but because
they want to.
***
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Subscribe to the newsletter here or contact me via email


using jbariso[at]insight-global.de (or here on LinkedIn) to start the
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I also write for Inc.com. (You can find my author page here.) Follow
me here on LinkedIn or on Twitter @JustinJBariso.
Some other articles you might enjoy:

Steve Jobs Knew How to Run a Meeting: Here's How He


Did It

True Story: How Going on Welfare Made Me an


Entrepreneur

Starbucks vs. Amazon: A Tale of Two Cultures

In Search of the Definition of Leadership

This Is How LinkedIn Is Taking Over the World

uccess Rule #1: Love is Work.


Sep 7, 2015
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Life is difficult. This is the first paragraph ,and the very first
line of Dr. Scott Pecks landmark book of 25 years ago, The Road
Less Traveled.
Translation: If you cant get with this statement, then dont read
the rest of the book.
Today, on Labor Day, there are a group of laborers at our home just
working away. They are part of a team helping with a remodel

project around here. The point here is I didnt ask them to come to
work today. I expected to see them tomorrow. They just decided to
show up, and work. When I asked them why they were here today,
they simply said, we love what we do.'
This team actually traveled here from New Orleans to work on this
and other projects in Atlanta, and everyone on the team owns a
small part of this small framing company. It's their own company, so
they literally see the fruits of their labor every day. The point here
is, they could have easily taken today off. They chose not to. They
love what they do. Just like I do.
Success rule #1 of life is --- love is work.
Nothing good, comes easy. Everything meaningful, is a bit of a pain
in the rear. A little inconvenient. A little frustrating. A little effort.
This is the most basic rule of leadership and success in life, but not
surprising actually, most people miss it. Maybe because many
people who are successful make it look easy. But it is not.
Love it work, and appropriately so it makes sense that an
entrepreneur works 18 hours a day to keep from getting a job. This
is me, basically.
But no one is forcing me to do it. Like the guys at my house, I love
what I do. And when you stop loving what you do, you need to start
thinking about doing something else.
There are many reasons, beyond the obvious, for loving what you
do. Here are a few:

1. The most obvious is that like me and the gentlemen outside right
now, you just love what you do. Its not a vocation, its an
advocation. Its not a career or a skill,its a passion.
2. You love what your job or career allows you do. To make a
difference in the world. To lead a team of great people. To see parts
of the world, and do things, you would not otherwise have the
chance or opportunity to see or do.
3. It allows you to take care of your family and your
responsibilities and to be self-reliant. This is not a small thing here,
so don't discount it.
4. Its R&D (research & development) for your future endeavors.
In other words, someone else is effectively paying you to prepare for
your next stage and phase in life. Complete with employee benefits.
And as long as you are giving your employer a respectable days
work, there is nothing wrong with this. In this case, your 9 to 5, is
paying for your 5 to 9.' As my friend Rod McGrew would say, "fair
exchange is no robbery."
The craziest thing in the world is to give up on your life
simply because it is difficult. Heck LIFE IS DIFFICULT.
Life is 10% what life does to you, and 90% how you choose to
respond to it. Whats your response going to be? Thats all about
the work of life.
Getting angry is easy. Finding grace, reason, patience and
understanding forgiveness even is work. Often, very hard work.
But its the only rational way to live really.

Author Scott Peck once also said, love is work, non-love is laziness,
and anti-love is evil. The reality is, evil exists but it is very rare.
Most people are simply lazy. Emotionally lazy, financially lazy,
psychologically lazy, intellectually lazy. They just dont want to do
the work.
If you love your job, you will want to quit just about once a month.
If you love your children, you will want to throttle them, at least
once every six to eight weeks.
If you are married, you will want a divorce at least once a year. This
is not your life, this is just life.
The truth is, most people even want a divorce from themselves at
least once a year. I know I do.
I have even wanted to quit Operation HOPE on more than one
occasion over 23+ years, but then I realized, I cant Im the
founder (smile).
Which reminds of the young man who came home and told his
mother he wanted to quit school. 'All the kids were mean and the
teachers and adults hard to handle. He wanted to quit he said, until
his mother reminded him that he was the principal of the
school -- and couldn't quit (smile again).'
Challenges are everywhere, so you might as well embrace them
folks.
The reality is that most anything, or most anyone you love --- will
drive you more than a little crazy. Maybe even a lot crazy.
As my dear friend Rod McGrew once also said, "John, if you are
madly in love, and ready to submit to the it, the drama will

entertainment you. Now, if you are madly in love, but not ready to
submit to the it, then that same drama will drive you crazy."
Nothing may change about the drama in your life in the short term.
But you can change how you view and respond to it.
You can choose to respond, not react.
As you forward in your week, remember that only in the dictionary
does the work success come before the word work, because the
dictionary is alphabetical. Everywhere else, work comes first.
Even the Bible says, to be poor is not to not have anything. To be
poor is not to not do anything, and lazy hands make a man poor.
I have said, there is a lot of love in the word no.
I love you cousin, but you need to get off of my couch and go get a
job.
I love you friend, but if you are going to have that child, then you
are going to have to take care of them.
I love you -- whomever, but if you do the crime, you are going to
have to do the time.
I love you notable person, but if you are going to call yourself a
community leader, you are going to have to produce some
community results.
Whatever you love, will drive you just a little mad. But the reality is
that there is no growth without legitimate suffering. There are no
rainbows, without a storm first.
All love is work. Embrace it. All.

You will experience both more success in life, and more joy within
you too.
Let's go...
John Hope Bryant is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Operation
HOPE and Bryant Group Ventures, a Thinker-In-Residence 800-CEOREAD, and an Inc. Magazine/800-CEO-READ bestselling business
author

How to Fall In Love with YOUR Life


Sep 7, 2015
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When I work with people in my LifeWork Community program, we


look for the easiest ways to effect big changes. Why? Because, often
it's little shifts that create major transformations.
These little shifts tend to get overlooked because we're looking for
the major breakthrough, the AHA! moment that changes everything.
Yet, when you make the small changes the big moments will happen
as they do and when they do. The benefit here is that you'll be
further along in your personal transformation having made small
changes along the way.

And so, the focus of this article is the little ways you can fall in love
with your life.
Fall in Love with Your LIFE Again
Somewhere along the way we came to believe that happiness was a
place we were destined and entitled to arrive. We also came to
believe that happiness came with having everything we want. These
mistaken beliefs can really mislead us. If we arent feeling happy or
we're not getting what we want, we tend to feel like something is
wrong.
But, nothing is wrong with your life and nothing is wrong with you.
To really access the marrow of life we need to learn some skills that
help take our focus away from what we dont have or should have
and instead connect us with what is. Here are three things you can
do today to shift your thinking and to love the life you have before
you.
Look for what's amazing in your everyday life.
Most of us have unconscious expectations about how our life should
be. At the very least, we all have hopes that our lives will turn out in
a particular way. When you're preoccupied with comparing what you
have against what you think you should have, you're not able to
appreciate what you have for what it is. One of the easiest ways to
figure out if your expectations are keeping you from being satisfied
with your life is to pay attention to your habits. Do you crave a

sugary snack in the afternoon? Are you dissatisfied with your


relationships after the initial honeymoon period? Do you start
getting bored with work after the initial newness wears off? While
there can be many reasons these habits develop, one of them is a
lack of ability to see what's amazing in your day-to-day. If you're in
the habit of waiting for something amazing to happen to you,
challenge yourself to find what's wonderful in what's around you.
Find something to be grateful for.
One of the fastest ways to fall in love with your life is to look for
things for which you're grateful. Take time to celebrate these
aspects of your life. We're the meaning makers of our life. If we
dont create the meaning, appreciate the little thing, or feel
gratitude for what is, then regardless of how good it really gets
nothing is going to feel that special.
So, how do you get started? It's actually fairly simple. Take a
moment during breakfast or dinner to turn to a loved one or friend
and tell them one thing you're grateful for/ excited about/ intrigued
by from your day. Or, you can keep a gratitude journal where you
write down three things that happened during the day that you
thought were special. Another approach is to tell one person per
week how grateful you are for them or something they've done. The
great thing here is that when you express your gratitude, you feel
good and those around you feel appreciated and noticed. It's a win
for all involved.
Try to be intentional.

It takes intention to approach your day-to-day life from a place of


gratitude. While this mind-set can take a little bit of practice, more
often than not it really just requires that we be aware of what we
want. When we're feeling bored or checked out, that's our reminder
to check back in with our intention.
Here are some tips to move through your day with intention. When
you wake up each morning, think about how you would like to go
through the day. How would you like to feel as you move through it?
If there's an aspect of your day that you anticipate will be
challenging, see if you can come up with a way to go through it
that's ideal for you.
As you go forward, you can build on and develop these skills so that
you can add more enjoyment to your life. But, dont worry if you
have some days where you feel flat. It's normal. Remember that you
can always wake up tomorrow and ask yourself, what would I like
today to be like?

Lifestyle Coaching
Mindfulness
Personal Development

Can You Change Your Life In Just 6 Months?


Sep 7, 2015
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Last night, as I was putting some more thoughts


into theRobinsoe Programme for Entrepreneurs,
which we'll publish later in the week, I was trying to
think of other things that could be done in just 6
months. I looked online for answers and most of
what I found from people answering a similar
question in different forums was related to
learning. If people had 6 months in their hands,
they'd learn something new.

From learning a new language to learning how to cook, to make


furniture, to garden; all sorts of things but every time: Learning. I
wonder how many of them actually do it.
It's never easy to go from "I'd like to" to "I'm doing it" or "I did it".
Not only is it difficult to add an activity to a daily or weekly routine;
it is even harder to stop doing something for something else. It
changes habits, and in general, people don't like change much. Even
if changing means better, changing is not something we do
naturally. In fact, it is something we resist.
I tried to think of this concept in the context of entrepreneurship.
When you study, or studied to work in a particular job, and your
mind is set on finding that job you prepared for, I wonder what stops
you from putting the fruitless job search on the side and start
entrepreneurship.

But then I also wonder what you, already convinced entrepreneur,


keep trying to force your business plan and venture idea to
investors, incubators or accelerators when you are not ready to
qualify for their criteria.
So, in those different contexts, I get to think about the time loss
trying to achieve the unachievable. How many doors have you
knocked on over the past 6 months, whether to look for a job or an
investor? How many times were you told that you have a good idea
but there are others better than yours?
In the context of Robinsoe, we have set our mission to make
entrepreneurs, and their venture, investor-ready. This means that we
spend 6 months preparing them to meet investor criteria. We have
chosen this mission because too many entrepreneurs, whether first
time or not, simply aren't ready to integrate an ecosystem that is
looking for one thing, and one only: return on investment.
The Investor business is about risk, but it is risk-adverse. Of course it
is. Who would give $50k to someone without a minimum of
assurances? No one. There is no other reason. And Investors say it
all the time: prove your concept.
This is precisely where things go wrong. Most investors, nowadays,
go by the Lean Startup. If you are an entrepreneur, in any field, and
you don't know what the Lean Startup is: READ THE BOOK!

START TODAY!
If you're serious about your entrepreneurial ambitions, you'll read it
in just a couple of days. Otherwise, you're wasting your time; all
you'll be left with is a business plan no one in the investor
community wants to read. In 6 months' time, you'll still be left with
your business plan and ... bitterness.
What investors want are metrics. If you have metrics, it means you
found a way to address a problem, build a solution around it and
found early customers or users for it. It means you understand what
being a modern entrepreneur is about. This doesn't make a
successful entrepreneur out of you; it means you work in stages and
you are able to milestone your journey. First stop: seed funding.
When you analyze entrepreneur failure as much as I have, you come
to realize that we often focus on the wrong thing at the wrong time.
We pay so much attention or put so much stress on the idea of
building a successful business that we forget everything in between.
So much so that the everything in between gets overlooked.
Entrepreneurs might be fine with that, but investors don't.
Business Angels receive hundreds of business plans they just don't
read. Accelerator programmes and incubators have limited places
and they're choosy. Bootcamps where you get 10 minutes to pitch
are equally selective: you won't get on stage unless you've got
something really serious to show for.

So, ask yourself one question: what will you do with your next 6
months? Will you resist change and keep doing the unsuccessful? Or
will you use the next 6 months to learn how to be successful?
I know this is a great dilemma!
Not so much? Great; you chose the learning! There aren't 36 ways to
do this:
1.

Learn by yourself. Read the Lean Startup. Try to implement the


methodology. Join groups. Attend networking events. Find mentors.
Advance as fast you can. Ask all the questions you can think of.
Read a lot.

2.

Join a bootcamp. Immerse yourself into a crash course and


gather as much information as you can. Then do 1.

3.

Join a university programme. Apologies to those concerned, but


R.I.P.

4.

Join a governmental programme. Write a business plan. Find


out if you qualify for subsidies or grants.

5.

Integrate a medium-term programme (3 to 6 months), online or


offline. Hook up with peers and mentors. Attend sessions. Engage.
Learn a method. Receive knowledge in stages. Address key issues at
the right time.

You have a choice. I suspect 1 and 2 will take longer than 6 months
to get you to investor-ready. 5 is probably your best option because
you're being taken care of; you're not just looking for information,
you're being given knowledge in a structure way.
When you make your choice, keep in mind your #1 objective:
convince investors you are investor-ready. The success of your
business will come later, a lot later.

Robinsoe is a 6-month programme to get entrepreneurs


from idea to investor-ready. We start October 5, 2015.
Register atwww.robinsoe.com before September 25.

Written by
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Suzi West

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Kathy LaRosa

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Spot on, Heather Hannemann
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Zeta Yarwood - Executive Coach, Life and Career Coach

Executive Coach, Career Coach, NLP Life Coach & Trainer at Zeta Yarwood Coaching and Training

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Short on time? The Only 6 Interview


Questions You Need to Prepare For
Sep 7, 2015
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With the demands of modern day living, preparing for a job


interview can seem like an impossible task. Family, home or work
commitments already consume most of your day, and even just the
thought of trying to find a spare 3 hours to prepare for a job
interview is enough to burst that stomach ulcer youve been quietly
nursing.
As you know, preparation is key for any job interview. Fail to prepare,
prepare to fail. But as long as you already know your CV off by
heart, it can be done in roughly 60 minutes. Now, I know some of
you are thinking, 60 minutes?! I cant even find 5!. Well, its time
to get resourceful. Whether youre in the shower, in the car, in the
bathroom, in a queue, being ranted at by your psycho boss in a
meeting, or on the phone to your chatty mother-in-law there are

times when you can zone out and focus on you. Make sure you have
a small notebook and pen always at the ready, and focus on
answering these key interview questions for maximum interview
success:
1) Tell me about yourself (5 mins)
To answer this, simply write a script about your past experience and
proven successes, following this formula:

How long you have been in the industry

What has been your most recent experience (what were you
doing and where)

One reason why you like the industry and your work

One achievement (pick the one most relevant to the role you
are interviewing for)

One strength or significant ability (again, most relevant to the


role)

Conclude with your current situation what type of job and


industry you want to work in and why?
Try and keep as much of your answer as relevant as possible to the
role you are interviewing for.
2) Why do you want to work for us? (5 mins)
Now if youve done things properly, you will have already
researched the company before you even applied to the job so this

should only take you 5 minutes to prepare. But if you havent (tut,
tut, tut) then you will need to get on the internet sharpish. Go to
their website, look at their mission and vision statements, then go
through the rest website and see if there is any information about
what they have achieved and want to achieve. Then do the same
onGoogle.com. The great news is, with the amazing invention of
smartphones, you can now even prepare this one in bathroom!
3) Why should we hire you? (31 mins total)
Ok, so here its all about focus. You only want to focus on
information RELEVANT to the role you are interviewing for. Youre
mainly looking at the jobs youve had over the last 10 years (12 if
you have time). With this question, they want to know what you can
bring to the table and how well you understand their business.
Simply write 3 lists:
a) Companies (1 minute)
List the companies you have worked for that share commonalities
with the company you are interviewing with e.g. similar industry,
products, operations, sales/marketing strategies, consumers etc.
Show them you know their business.
b) Relevant experience (15 minutes)
Go through each job youve had in the last 10 years and write down
all of the responsibilities / experience youve had, MOST relevant to
the job. Pick the sexy stuff. The stuff that really shows you can do
the job. That you understand the job and what it entails. Ideally you

want 2 to 3 examples for each role youve had in the last 10 years,
with a total of around 8-10 examples ready at your fingertips.
c) Relevant Achievements (15 minutes)
This is the biggie. If you have no time to do anything else, then
focus here. Your achievements show what value you can add to the
business. Whatever you have achieved for your previous companies,
the new employer will assume you will achieve for them. They are
the reason the company will hire you. Why you are worth the
investment. Again, you are focusing on the achievements RELEVANT
to the job you are interviewing for. Quantify as much as possible
include as many figures, percentages, time measurements etc. as
you can. Achievements could be:
Increased sales / revenues by x amount of dollars or Grew the
business by y %.
Saved the company x amount of $ or reduced process time by
y number of days increasing efficiency by z %.
Write at least 3 examples for each role you have had in the last 10
years. If youve had only one role for the last 10 years you still
want roughly 10 examples. 1 for each year!
If youre super modest and struggling to list your achievements,
focus on what value you have brought to your previous companies
and work from there (read this to get you started).
4) What are your strengths/weaknesses? (8 minutes)

Pick 3-5 strengths and one weakness. Again, for the strengths, focus
on whats most relevant to the job you are interviewing for. Give
examples of when you used each strength. For the weakness its a
trick question. Focus on a weakness that could be a strength in a
different context e.g. 'Sometimes I'm too enthusiastic when working
on a new project. But I've learned to adjust to everyone else's pace
and not go charging ahead.'
5) Why did you leave that job? / What didnt you like about
that job? (5 minutes)
Wanting a higher salary, better health insurance/benefits, having an
a*sehole boss, crappy teammates, too much hard work, are NOT
good answers to either of these questions. While they might be the
real reason, KEEP THEM OUT of the interview. ALWAYS be as positive
as you can about every job, boss, co-worker, company you have
ever had. When answering these questions, focus on passion,
learning opportunities and career growth. The interviewer wants to
know you are joining them to grow and make a difference not
because you want a higher paycheck.
6) Give me an example when and how you dealt with it (15
mins)
These are your famous Competency-based questions. HR
departments love them. Its mainly to figure out behavioural style,
interpersonal skills, thought processes and personality. Making sure
you have the right stuff to handle any situation that presents itself.
Again focus on the ones relevant to the job you are interviewing.
Examples could be when you had to show leadership, manage

conflict (with a colleague or customer), motivate teams, handle


stress or a challenging situation, make a difficult decision, handle
change, create a new process etc. Think about what you might have
to do in that job and focus on creating answers for those.
OK, so I lied. Its actually 69 minutes. But the point is that once you
have all this information and put it all together, you will be able to
answer most if not all of the questions thrown your way. In any
interview not just the one youre preparing for. Then its simply a
case of learning and practicing your answers. Get your husband,
family members or your kids to interview you. Maybe in the car or at
meal times. Make it fun (turn it into a game) and everyone will want
to join in. Interview yourself at much as you can, in front of a mirror
or simply in your head. Any opportunity you get - practice, practice,
practice!
For further advice on how to perform at your best in job interviews ,
please contact me at zeta@zetayarwood.com or
visit www.zetayarwood.com.
Enjoyed this article? You might also enjoy:
http://zetayarwood.com/job-interview/
http://zetayarwood.com/cant-find-a-job/
About the Author - Zeta Yarwood

Zeta is a Leadership / Executive Coach and Career Coach with one


clear goal in mind: to empower men and women everywhere to take
control of their careers and their lives. During her own corporate
experience, Zeta saw how the pressures of work and home life
impacted the performance of her colleagues and clients. With a
genuine desire to help people be the best they can be, Zeta initially

decided to train as an NLP Life Coach and Career Coach. Now, Zeta
works with professionals at all levels to help them gain clarity on
their goals and overcome any challenges standing in their way of
success - allowing them to consistently perform at their best.

For

David Ribott, Ed.D (ABD), CPCC, ACC


Learning Advocate who develops to fulfill the Leadership Imperative | Performance by Design | Life
[re]Aligned

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Quick Tip: Building & Maintaining Your


Leadership Brand
Sep 7, 2015
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Often when I meet with prospective clients, a good portion of our


talks center on leadership development solutions for their senior
leadership teams. And no matter the industry, maturity stage of the

company, or regional context, we end up talking about the


leadership brand of their leaders.
Putting The Johari Window to Use
To keep it simple, when looking at your leadership brand - how do
you know you do what you say you do?!?
Well, the only way to find out is to put it to the test, and a nice
framework to use is the Johari Window.

What's nice about this model is it's easy to understand and use. The
four quadrants speak for themselves, and while typically balance is
usually a goal to strive for, in this case - it's not.

Here, the goal is to expand Open Self to build and maintain our
leadership brand.
Expanding our "Openness"

Key to knowing for sure the impact and consistency of our brand is
being able to expand ourOpenness into the three other areas in
order to reduce our blindness, identify barriers we are unaware of
and remove them, and to share more of ourselves we have difficulty
disclosing to others.
Good news - it's POSSIBLE!!!
Planning a Way Forward
If you're unclear what constitutes Hidden and what you need to
disclose to open up this space further, think of Trust - a basic tenant
of Leadership.

"The glue that holds all relationships together--including


the relationship between the leader and the led--is trust,
and trust is based on integrity." - Brian Tracy
Some internal guiding questions to build Trust you need to ask
yourself here are:
- what do I want others to know that only I know about myself and
can not show itself unless I choose to do so?
- how do others really see me?
- who could I solicit to help me Open up more?
And keep in mind, Trust has been identified as ESSENTIAL to great
leadership, so your brand will not flourish without it.
Creating Accountability
In Mojo - How to Get It, How to Keep it, How to Get It Back If You
Lose It, Marshall Goldsmith talked about finding an accountability
partner who would ask a set of questions specific to one's personal
development.
For him, he enrolled his close friend to check in on him daily with
questions designed to provoke self-discovery, solicit feedback, and
check for internal consistency of his own leadership brand.

I think its very important to have a feedback loop,


where youre constantly thinking about what youve done

and how you could be doing it better.


Elon Musk
Life-Long Commitment
Enrolling a trusted friend or a dear colleague at work to hold you
accountable is a good place to start as are assessment tools that
incorporate 360 feedback and are supported by expert coaching like
the Leadership Circle Profile.

However, in order to truly avoid threats to your leadership brand


where what is unknown or hidden or blind dwarfs what is open to
others, there needs to be permanent safeguards in place that enable
life-long learning to not only maintain your leadership brand, but
also enhance it.
What safeguards do you have in place to enable life-long learning
and enhance growth for your leadership brand?
_______________________________________________________

About David

David is a leadership practitioner, who is passionate about creating


the conditions for sustainable people development and
organizational development success. His passion for sustainable
success is grounded in the belief that all people and organizations
can enhance their performance when the right conditions for
success are intentionally cultivated at the workplace.

Leadership Begins At Home: How We Can


Be Poor Leaders At Home
Sep 7, 2015
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I drew this for you mama because you were sad, and I
don't want you to be sad, I want you to be strong, and I
want you to know that I love you so much. I wrote ILU by
myself, and it's you and me so close with a pink heart
between us.
My five year old daughter told me these sweet words a few days ago
when she noticed that I was so tired after a hectic week at work. We
are all human beings, and sometimes we easily forget that our
natural emotions could instantly affect our family.

Living for the ladder of success


Indeed, as parents, we tend to put more focus on our professional
challenges, and we can be great leaders at work, and unfortunately
poor leaders at home. We wrongly believe that our role as a leader
suddenly stops once we are home because the challenges are not
the same, and we do not have to lead anymore. In fact, leadership
should not be viewed strictly as work related. Like I already
explained in previous posts, leadership is first about relationships at
work, and more importantly at home. A true leader should be a
leader in every area of life.

Parents provide the earliest influence on children


As parents and role models, we deeply affect our childrens' lives. In
other words, we strongly influence the kind of leaders our children

will become. I believe we should take some time to reflect on our


leadership at home as much as we do at work. Obviously, the stakes
are not the same, that is the least we can say, but we should
absolutely think about how we are leading at home, and what
examples of leadership we are giving our children. It is our duty as
parents to help our children reach their greatness by being at home
and leading.

To lead, inspire, and encourage


By leading at home we inspire and encourage our children. We
embrace a courageous vision of leadership that is communicated to
our children. Many of our skills as leaders were learnt at home.
Leadership within the family and the community builds important
roots for the leadership roles one might have in the future. Children
need leaders at home to be able to lead too. And before they can
lead others, children have to lead themselves and believe in
themselves. As leaders and parents, we need to strongly encourage
our children to believe in themselves, and to lead themselves to be
able to have a positive impact on others.
Developing leadership roots is not about fabricating fake images or
roles, it is about being yourself at work and at home. It's about
leading in the best of our capacities, and prioritizing our lives in a
way so that our children will never feel that a late meeting with a
client is more important than a bedtime story. Many articles, books,
and various resources deal with how to become a better leader at

work, but almost none of them focus on how to be a better leader at


home.
We absolutely have to take some time to think about how to become
a better parent, because there is no professional success or money
earned that will compensate any failure at home. We have to try to
be successful at work and at home because our children are not a
negotiable position or career. Our children are human beings who
constantly look at us as inspirational individuals, role models and
leaders.
Indeed, leadership is also about setting yourself free, and being
responsible for the choice you make to balance your life. In short, to
become a better leader we should start by being effective leaders at
home. This is what will make a real difference in the world. Our
children's leadership begins with us, as parents and leaders at work
and at home.

KHM.

5 Lessons for Business and Life

Sep 7, 2015
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Just over a year ago my Dad passed away from a huge and sudden
stroke. It was a shock then and remains a stark and absolute
reminder that even the strongest, invincible, seemingly unstoppable
comes to an end. This is as true for people as it is for products,
services and customers. It has been a challenging year for many
reasons and one in which - to quote Jim Rohn I have gone to work
on myself As a result I think I have grown and learned some
valuable lessons for life, and by definition for business, that I
thought it worth sharing.
1.

Plan your life before someone plans it for you I guess


there are two schools of thought, journey versus destination; live life
and see where it takes you OR define exactly what you want and go
out and get it. The reality is that a truly fulfilling and powerful life
falls somewhere between the two. However, the fact that
unfortunately the majority of us spend more time planning our trips
to Tescos (other supermarkets are available) than we do our life is a
stark reflection of our busy lives and a shock. Most of our day to day
activity is driven by someone elses agenda be it responding to
email, answering the phone, dealing with customers, clients or our
colleagues. If you do not plan your life, you will undoubtedly end up
as part of someone elses plan and guess what, they will not have
your best interests at the heart of that plan. So take some time to

think about what you want to achieve in life, set some life goals,
give yourself a purpose to consider that is outside of your daily,
weekly or monthly grind. I have created great energy and great
progress from clearly defining my Life Goals, creating 3 year goals,
yearly goals and priorities that drive me forward.
2.

Focus on the one thing in his excellent book The One


Thing Gary Keller exhorts that only the ability to dismiss
distractions and concentrate on your ONE Thing stands between you
and your goals. We are bombarded with information and choice
which means that focusing on what is important becomes harder
and harder. If you are truly clear what your One Thing is each day
and you ensure that you deliver it you will make progress. I have a
little quote on my pc screen until your one thing is done today,
everything else is a distraction! It has helped me focus and writing
this blog today is my one thing well at least one of my one
things :-)

3.

Progress not perfection Dan Sullivan and the Strategic


Coach programme use this mantra as a way of helping the
entrepreneurs they coach to move forward. How many of us get
paralysed by procrastination or poleaxed by the need for perfection?
Well I am certainly guilty and I would venture to suggest many of us
are. So next time you are facing a new project, habit, difficult team
member, client or customer instead of asking yourself how can I
win, succeed, crack this..? Ask yourself what would it take to feel
like I was making progress? This makes it so much easier to
overcome the inertia and get started, and as we all know, once we
start the ball rolling..

4.

Celebrate success and stay grateful to be successful


needs energy and unfortunately there are more things in life that
zap our energy than there are that recharge it. Think of the ease by
which you can list all of the issues, worries, challenges or concerns
you face right now, human nature seems to engender most of us
with a natural propensity to focus on the negatives. If you can
celebrate any win, any success, no matter how small, you will create
positive energy and as Newtons 3rd Law defined for every action
there is an equal and opposite reaction, energy IN pushes you
forward!!! As a Physics teacher Dad would be very proud of me
quoting Physics (however erroneously) in a blog! J Focus on what
you have achieved rather than what you havent, be deliberately
grateful of people, things and circumstances and you will find that
you create positive energy that will lift you forward.

5.

Focus on what you are really good at we may not all be


able to be professional footballers or cricketers or golfers being
paid to do what we are passionate about and brilliant at. However,
we all have things that we are really good at, things that we do
better than most, which give us huge energy and a sense of
achievement. If you are not sure what yours is start thinking about
it, because the closer you can align the work you do with what you
are passionately ace at, the more productive, impactful and
successful you can be. I am getting closer to defining mine I think I
am great at motivating and inspiring people to build a brighter
future and that is what I am focussing on!
I would love to have had this conversation with Dad but I am
grateful to be able to share it with you and I hope that some of it

resonates, you pass it on and that you build a brighter future for you
or someone else as a result. Remember life is too short not
to be the best that you want to be #btbtywtb.

Vulnerability is the Key to True Leadership


Sep 8, 2015
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Authentic leadership is really about owning yourself, knowing who


you are and what your leadership style is. Many people dont realize
it, but a big part of true leadership is the ability and willingness to
identify, accept and share yourself as a whole person not just
someone who works perfectly in an office.
Sharing yourself completely in the workplace is about more than just
showing up and being professional. It is how you create true and
lasting relationships with your coworkers, communicate
clearly with your team and company leadership, and bring
your best self to work.

Its Not About Knowing Everything


The truth is, your coworkers want to know you as a whole person,
not just the good or shiny side of you.
When I worked in corporate, I struggled most with being vulnerable
at work. I always felt like I had to have all the answers all the time. I

felt like I had to be perfect. I felt like if someone came to me with a


question, I needed to be able to say, I have a solution for you.
Of course, it is important to be knowledgeable about your field and
to be willing to find a solution even when youre not sure. But its
absolutely okay to not know everything because theres no way that
anyone actually does know everything.
This is why we work as a team. Every high-powered person with a
lot of responsibility surrounds themselves with advisors and experts.
Theres no reason for us to feel like we have to be experts at
everything - thats unrealistic.

Its Okay Even Good to Show Emotion at Work


I always thought that, in the workplace, I had to present a cheerful,
professional face, no matter how I was actually feeling on the inside
or what was going on in my life.
Showing emotions and accepting my weaknesses was definitely not
part of presenting a polished exterior 100% of the time. The tricky
thing is that our lives simply arent always perfect. Things dont run
smoothly every day; and sometimes things are downright difficult.
Were whole people we have well-rounded family lives, we have
friends, and we have personal objectives outside of our professional
lives. We should be able to carry that whole person into
work, too.

Theres no need to hide any part of yourself to create a faade at


work. A high performance team needs to trust each other, and
openness and communication fosters trust.
Heres an example: if youre having a hard day, its okay to talk
about it in the office. In fact, when a colleague asks how you are,
you can reply, I had a bad morning, so if I come across as a little
upset, thats the reason. Please dont take it personally.
Now your team understands whats going on and they can cut you
some slack that day instead of becoming frustrated when you dont
bring your A Game to the table.
Of course, theres a fine line between sharing your emotional state
and downright complaining at work. If your state of mind begins to
interfere with your work, your boss will likely approach you and say
something like, Hey, we understand that things are tough, but is
there anything you can do or we can do together to make things
better for you? That opens up a conversation.

The Best Leaders Are Approachable


As a leader, youll notice that the higher up you look within an
organization, the more youll see people who are approachable and
open to connection.
A good example is Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson. He is
known for remembering all the employees with whom he interacts.

When he flies on Delta, you wont see him in business class (though
everyone would certainly understand if he chose to sit there!)
instead, youll find Mr. Anderson sitting in coach so he can
understand what his customers experience on his airline.
Mr. Anderson is known for truly connecting with people. He never
speaks from the top down, and he is greatly successful for it. Hes
open about who he is, and he brings a whole, well-rounded person
to the office each day.
When you reflect on your experience in the office, do you see any
room to bring more of your whole self into the workplace? People
love working with other people, not perfectly polished workers who
never show their human side. If youre ready to get more insight
into how you can bring your full self to work without crossing the
line into the complaining zone, lets talk. I work one-on-one with
corporate clients to establish growth and expansion in their career.
ClickHERE to setup a time to talk and discuss how coaching can help
you to become better at connecting and communicating with your
colleagues.

Nozomi Morgan, MBA, is a certified Executive Coach and the


Founder and President of Michiki Morgan Worldwide LLC. Addition to
coaching, she speaks and trains on leadership, career, professional
development and cross-cultural business communication.
Nozomis clients have a yen for international business, to be
successful in the global marketplace, and savvy in international and
cross-cultural relations. Her work includes coaching experienced
professionals from all over the world from C-suite executives to
up-and-coming managers.

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