“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does great things. They are the one that gets people to do the greatest things.” ~ Ronald Reagan As a leader, coach, or influencer, when you make yourself the center of attention or the focus you will more-than-likely fail more times than you win. As…
Self-Awareness & the Impact on Others Self-Awareness is the key to unlocking your Emotional Intelligence (EQ). It also happens to be the first skill you must master if you want to be an extraordinary leader. And yet, so many of us focus externally on situations, events, and people that are beyond our control. This external…
The Challenge to Be Extraordinary (VIDEO BLOG) Defining what you believe about being extraordinary by anyone other than yourself, is very dangerous. Why? Because if you allow others to define extraordinary for you, you will always be conforming to someone else’s’ ideals or way of life. And if they choose to live an ordinary life…
How to Reengage Your Teams … With Purpose (VIDEO BLOG) When we lose sight of our why, we lose sight of our purpose. We become less focused because we lack clarity and so our energy gets diluted. An employee who lacks focus is ineffective and ineffective employees become unmotivated and disengaged. As a leader you…
Defining Leadership … I’m an Excellent Driver Defining leadership is about as easy as trying to describe the experience of tasting chocolate to someone who has never experienced sweets. Why? Because everyone has a vastly different opinion about how to define leadership. I once heard a so-called expert on everything define driving in traffic and not…
Influencing Others: Outside-In or Inside-Out Your greatest ability to influence others comes from the fact that influencing others is not an outside-in job … it is an inside-out job! Before I explain why … answer the following questions and be brutally honest with yourself: In a conversation with another person, do you spend the majority…
Bad Habits: Are You A Fixer Upper? A mentor of mine, Dr. Nido Qubein once told me … “Joe, be careful who you spend time with because that is who you will become.” There is another thought that says if you look at where you’ re spending your time and money … that is a…
Curiosity, Control, and Leadership? Curiosity may have killed the cat … but a lack of curiosity could be killing your ability to lead your people. Why? Because in order to be a great leader you must have a general curiosity about the people you lead. You have to understand what makes them tick, more importantly,…
You’ve heard the saying, “garbage in … garbage out.” When it comes to your thoughts and your words, the same principle applies … what you think will determine what you do AND what you say. Most people have heard these statements before … what you sow is what you reap, be careful who you hang out with it is who you will become, thoughts become things, etc.
The most important skill you can build on in your life is your listening skills. And yet … The single biggest issue negatively impacting most work environments and relationships is … poor listening skills. So why is listening so hard? Listening requires that we stop our internal mind chatter and focus on listening to the other person.