If we’ve read one “fail fast” article lately, we’ve read a million. Failure is an option! You can’t succeed until you fail! The Lean Startup goes so far as to encourage experimentation on your customer base, with the goal of failure, so you can turn it around into success quickly. There’s merit to...
Meg and I were lunching, as we often do, and I was being a good ear - only putting my executive coaching hat on occasionally for an old friend. The young company she’d joined a few years ago – that had allowed her to break the glass ceiling into the inner executive ranks – had just been acquired....
Yes, Steve Jobs changed the world. He was brilliant, fearless, courageous and undeniably successful by all measures but one. But, in his most blatant imperfection, I see great opportunity for you. The ends don’t justify the means I know that part of your justification for being a jerk and a...
Speaking truth to power is an important professional development skill, but it's also an important life skill. It's the best way to live in total integrity - at home and at work - every day of your life. AND it's a sure fire way to change the world around you in meaningful and important ways every...
Language is an important element of our personal power. When you catch yourself speaking with the out-of-power words we looked at earlier, don’t beat yourself up. Saying “I’ll try” instead of “I will” is just a habit and habits can be changed with focus (see below).
There are two legitimate reasons that we often choose out-of-power vocabulary. The InPower trick is to learn to use InPower language to deal with these situations. Most of the time, our language turns out to be an indicator of deeper things.
Even when I left Corporate America, I didn't leave. For at least a few years I think I was still caught in the corporate culture trance as I contracted in semi-permanent positions. It was lucrative and fun, but I didn't really experience the freedom of the outside until later. Freedom can be...
I’ve recently chatted with some women that left a “women’s business networking group” frustrated that no one wanted to talk about business issues. Are we getting good at networking, but not using it to build our business and mentoring skills? What I’m wondering is whether many women are missing an opportunity to really mentor each other on the business of business. Are we giving each other a leg up or are we just empathizing and listening sympathetically?
Sometimes we run into people in positions of power who just seem incapable of getting their ego out of the way. Regardless of how “successful” they appear on the outside – and how many rewards they receive for it – it’s a drudge to work for them and the company suffers the inefficiency of a demotivated workforce. Most organizations – especially large ones – that I’ve worked for tend to treat these ego-leaders as a cost of doing business.
What they don’t seem to realize is that by tolerating a toxic boss they are failing to realize productivity and innovation while sending the message to the entire employee base that, “we know this person abuses their position but we care more about them and their results than we care about you and all the productivity we could get out of you if we and the ego-boss respected you.”
Although I don’t think it happens often enough, it does happen that the egomaniac sees the errors of their ways and switches perspective to become the servant leader.
Are you afraid of failure or making mistakes? Where do you think the deepest wisdom comes from? Look to the wisest leaders and know the advice they pass on was earned the hard way and from mentors who cared. Learn from it and develop your own wisdom to pass on to those you work with. Read General Powell’s advice reflectively, pat yourself on the back for the things you’ve internalized and promise your future self to improve where you are still growing into his wisdom. My favorites are #4 and #12. What are yours?
Make your YES mean more by saying NO more often. Saying “No” is hard because we don’t just say the word, we burden it with other – unsaid – baggage on both the sayer’s and receiver’s part. But it doesn’t have to be that way and powerful leaders know how to use the Art of No in ways that leave the listener feeling useful, appreciated and inspired. Learn to practice the Art of No. Your team will thank you for it.
Gaining Power In Your Career: A Guide to Getting Promoted at Every Level
October 2024 Leadership Development Carnival
Breaking the Mold: Thriving as Women in the Workplace Built for Men
Unlocking Potential: How the Right Coach for Executives Can Transform Your Leadership Skil…
The Psychology of Goal-Setting Success
