The Single Biggest Cause of All Leadership Failures … Nearly 46 years ago, Kellogg’s released the first television commercial for Eggo® brand frozen waffles. The commercial shows an Eggo® waffle popping out of a toaster which is immediately grabbed by a father and son simultaneously while they both repeat the phrase “Let go of my Eggo!”…
I’m sure most people have seen the 1980 film by Stanley Kubrick entitled, The Shining.The story, written by Stephen King, is a psychological thriller about a writer who takes his family to an isolated hotel to be the caretaker in the off season. It will also give Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) some much needed…
So what’s all this mumbo jumbo you keep hearing about Emotional Intelligence? Emotional Intelligence can be defined as a person’s ability to effectively negotiate social relationships and environments. Emotional Intelligence is a relatively new science and is becoming an important factor in determining a persons success in business and in life. A recent survey of…
Leadership – Do You Draft or Pull? A few years ago I participated in a Sprint Triathlon (a shorter version of a triathlon which includes swimming, cycling, and running). During the event, I had an opportunity to notice two different approaches by two different racers. Both people were involved in the exact same race and…
The Missing Key to Leading Others One of the biggest challenges facing a leader is the ability to step back and influence others to get results. The key is to get results without doing the work yourself or micromanaging your folks into becoming clones so they do the work the exact same way you would.…
The Art of Leading, Coaching, & Influencing Others™: Authority versus Control A brief excerpt from Joe’s new book, The Art of Leading, Coaching, & Influencing Others™, coming out later this year. A number of years ago a colleague of mine recommended a book entitled, Power versus Force by David Hawkins. It was an extremely powerful…
The Art of Leading, Coaching, & Influencing Others™: Transparency & Opaqueness Transparency – the quality or state of being free from pretense or deceit. Opaqueness – attempt to block, making something hard to understand or see. Much can be said about these topics because they touch every aspect of our lives. Whether it is politics, the news…
The Autobiography of a Self-Proclaimed Leader … “The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.” ~Voltaire Once upon a time there was a man who believed he was a great leader. Once a week he…
“The single most important characteristic of any leader is self honesty; without it you can’t lead anyone.” Joe Contrera Recently I was interviewed by Dr. Mathew Norton of The Mindfluence Revolution on the topic of Leadership. If you’re interested in hearing the interview simply click here …. According to Joe Contrera, leadership is not a reward…
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…