Joe Contrera is the Founder and President of ALIVE @ WORK LLC, a leadership development company dedicated to helping Extraordinary Leaders Achieve Extraordinary Results. He is the author of three books. His latest, Extraordinary Results: Mastering the Art of Leading, Coaching, & Influencing Others, is quickly becoming a must-have resource for leaders in organizations across the country. It will not only change what you believe about leading, it will help you build your leadership skills so that you can successfully influence others.
“If all the world’s a stage, please stick to your own script and read your own lines!” – Joe Contrera With all of the chaos unfolding in the world, I am struck by the level of judgment folks have towards others. Social media has given everyone a voice and so they use it to…
“The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance” ~ Socrates “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” ~Aristotle “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth”. ~ Marcus Aurelius The Philosophers of Old Above are three quotes from three incredibly…
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” ~Ayn Rand A while ago my friend Matt and I were discussing the topic of commitment. I was sharing a situation where I felt that I needed to either be ‘all in’ or ‘all out!’ You see sitting…
“The mind is slow in unlearning what it has been long in learning.” ~ Seneca “It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence.” ~ Seneca I have always believed that growth as a person, a leader, or a professional meant that I needed to learn, whether it…
“Nothing will kill a great employee faster than watching you tolerate a bad one.” ~Percy Belcher Over the course of the last 25 years I have had numerous opportunities to Coach leaders in a variety of positions. There have been quite a few times when someone from HR or a leader reaches out because…
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” ~ Lewis B. Smedes There is a popular saying which states, “Forgive and forget.” While that sounds simple, it isn’t always easy! Sometimes, horrific things happen in life that are caused by the actions of others. These situations can…
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl Have you ever experienced something in life that you didn’t like, didn’t want, or wished that somehow was different? Have…
“Sometimes we are so damn determined to be heard, seen, liked, right, or to win a conversation that we fail to listen to each other. In doing so, we create chasms when what we really need is to create connections!” ~Joe Contrera For years, I have had the opportunity to observe both the pleasures…
“You are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training, grooming, and encouraging your greatest asset.” – Tom Hopkins Over the course of the last 25 years in the leadership development business, I have come to realize a few things about developing and educating employees, more specifically in the area of Leadership Development.…
“Leadership is a privilege to better the lives of others. It is not an opportunity to satisfy personal greed.” ~Mwai Kibaki I am often asked about whether leaders are born or trained. I personally dislike the use of the word training when it comes to developing leaders. I believe we train animals…we educate leaders.…