September, 2011

article thumbnail

Seven Ways Leaders Move First for Best Results

Leadership Freak

Image source Moving first is the difference between leading and following. Seven ways leaders move first. Leaders: Move toward people first. When you wonder if you should greet someone, you should. Extend your hand first and say, “Good morning,” first. Don’t hold your head down while walking the hall. If you don’t move first, you may [.].

article thumbnail

The Mighty Pen – Four Reasons to Write Positive Feedback Down

Kevin Eikenberry

Every leader, supervisor, coach, team member and parent has been told of the value of giving positive feedback. We’ve heard reasons why. We’ve heard we don’t do it enough. We’ve learned all of the basics about giving positive feedback successfully: make it timely, make it specific, and when giving positive feedback consider sharing it publicly. [.].

87
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Teresa Amabile & Steven Kramer | How To Create Meaningful Work

Tanveer Nasser

How does creating meaningful work impact an organization's ability to succeed? That's the basis of my conversation with Dr. Teresa Amabile and Dr. Steven Kramer. Teresa is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration and a Director of Research at Harvard Business School. Steven is a developmental psychologist whose writings have appeared in such illustrious publications as the Harvard Business Review and The New York Times.

article thumbnail

Four Ways to Create Unflinching Boldness

Leadership Freak

Timid people achieve less than bold people. Boldness builds the future. Fear stalls progress and congeals the past. Fear is survival mode. Boldness is opportunity mode. 4 Ways to Build Boldness: Prepare people for future challenges with training. Provide mentors. Celebrate mistakes caused by boldness. Most importantly instill people with hope. Don’t press timid people [.].

article thumbnail

How to Make The Best Benefits Decisions for 2025's Workforce: An HR and Total Rewards Guide

Speaker: Kaitlin Ruby Carroll

Retaining top talent in 2025 means rethinking benefits. In a competitive job market, fertility benefits are more than just offerings - they are a commitment to your team’s well-being. Gain critical insights into the latest fertility benefits strategies that can help position your organization as an industry leader. Our expert will explore the unique advantages and challenges of each model, share success stories from top organizations, and offer practical strategies to make benefits decisions tha

article thumbnail

The Truth about What’s Holding You Back

Leadership Freak

Every great start begins with a painful stop. The first step toward the right destination is to stop going in the wrong direction. Casting vision isn’t doing. Dreaming of how you want to change things won’t change them. You’re problem isn’t lack of dreaming – it’s lack of stopping. The first step after dreaming [.].

article thumbnail

The People You Try to Please Control You

Leadership Freak

The people you try to please control you and your organization. Customers drive organizations, you don’t. Drucker said, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” You are all about pleasing customers. Pleasing others, however, presents problems for you. The more people you try to please: The more frantic you and your [.].

More Trending

article thumbnail

The “Sweet 16? of Positive Work Environments

Leadership Freak

If people start worrying when you show up, you’re a downer. If people love to see you leave, you’re a loser. If your team hates receiving calls from you, you’re a lousy leader. People in positive work environments love to see the boss coming. They love seeing you because they’ll go further with you than [.].

article thumbnail

Finding Freedom While Developing Leaders

Leadership Freak

This is the second post based on my conversation with Bob Burg, author of: “It’s Not About You.” Leaders see in others what they don’t see in themselves; that can be frustrating. It’s frustrating to see potential in someone who doesn’t care as much as you. If you aren’t careful, it’s also arrogant because you don’t [.].

article thumbnail

How to be Liked More and Why it Matters

Leadership Freak

Image source: I’ve frequently had an, “I don’t care if you like me,” approach to life. Looking back, it was insecurity not confidence. I wanted people to prove they liked me because I didn’t feel that likeable. Being liked matters: You care about being liked because people are influenced by people they like. Wanting to be [.].

article thumbnail

Great Leaders Are Great Haters

Leadership Freak

Maybe hate isn’t such a bad thing, after all. I believe love is stronger than hate. However, hate and love are dynamically connected. Tuesday’s conversation with Claire Diaz-Ortize, Twitter’s Head of Social Innovation and Philanthropy, made me think about negative versus positive motivation. Are leaders motivated by things they don’t want or things they want. [.].

article thumbnail

The Diversity Reckoning: Can HR Survive Without New Perspectives?

Speaker: Jeremy York

2024 has tested every organization, and 2025 promises no less - the warning signs are everywhere. If you’re relying on superficial approaches to diversity, you might find yourself scrambling to catch up. Thought diversity - the fuel for new ideas, fresh perspectives, and disruptive innovation - is more than a buzzword. It's a survival strategy. And if you’re not building it into your workplace culture right now , you’re heading for trouble.

article thumbnail

Four Keys to Managing Social Media Use at Work

Kevin Eikenberry

George tries not to let it bother him, but when he walks by Sarah’s desk, and sees her Facebook account open he wonders, “Why isn’t she doing her job?” Susan sees half of her team seemingly always on their cell phone —not talking on the phone, but sending text messages, and she wonders if all [.].

Media 84
article thumbnail

Five Strategies that Create Your Future

Leadership Freak

If you feel stuck you are. You want to be unstuck but wanting doesn’t change anything. Wanting without acting makes matters worse. Frustration drains you. Frustration and blame are twins. Where there is blame there is frustration – where there is frustration there is blame. Blame and frustration deepen ruts. Getting unstuck: Taking responsibility ends [.].

article thumbnail

How to Make Passion Convincing

Leadership Freak

Vision creates emotional passion. Passion, on the other hand, doesn’t create vision. Expressing emotional passion with those who don’t share your vision creates skeptics not followers. Emotional passion won’t get people on board: I just landed in Philadelphia Airport from Williamsport, PA. The commuter flight takes about fifty minutes. I watched the pilot walk through the [.].

article thumbnail

To Accept Limits or Not – That is the Question

Leadership Freak

There are limits; it’s dangerous to believe otherwise. Benefit: Accepting limits enables peak performance. For example, cars are designed for peak efficiency while running within a limited rpm range. Dangers: Surpassing limits lowers performance. The more frequently you exceed limits the sooner you fail. The further from boundaries the more devastating the failure – think [.].

article thumbnail

Recognition Powers High-Performance — If You Do it Right

Speaker: Radhika Samant and Todd Wuestenberg

Employee recognition has often been deemed a "feel-good" initiative, tied closely to rewards. While we understand its importance, we tend to associate recognition with intangible outcomes like engagement and sentiment, rather than direct impacts on retention and high performance. In today’s workplace, the true ROI of recognition lies in its ability to regenerate tangible, business-driven results.

article thumbnail

A Leadership Intention (classic)

Leadership Freak

Repost of a favorite: How do you want others to feel when they are around you? Like you are smart or like they are smart? Like they have great ideas or like you have great ideas? Like they are stars or like you are a star? One of the best things One of the best [.].

article thumbnail

Say Yes to Being Late (in these four situations)

Kevin Eikenberry

Most successful people pride themselves on being on top of things, delivering when promised and generally being on time. In fact the highest achievers are typically high achievers because they don’t procrastinate and are able to get lots done on time. Think about this another way, most of us have been taught the value of [.].

82
article thumbnail

How to Be In Control

Kevin Eikenberry

Author Arbie M. Dale is quoted with a profoundly powerful quotation. powerful enough that I will get right to it. “To decide to be at the level of choice is to take responsibility for your life and to be in control of your life.&# - Arbie M. Dale Questions to Ponder What does [.].

82
article thumbnail

Bob Burg on Life and Leadership

Leadership Freak

Yesterday Bob Burg took my call and we chatted for nearly an hour. I don’t waste much time on calls so after he shared a bit of his story, I asked him if he thought of himself as a leader. I loved his answer. It set us on a conversation spanning leadership, encouragement, defining success, [.].

article thumbnail

HR Meets AI: The New Way of Keeping Large Workforces Connected and Engaged

Speaker: Miriam Connaughton and Donald Knight

As organizations scale, keeping employees connected, engaged, and productive can seem like a monumental task. But what if AI could help you do all of this and more? AI has the power to help, but the key is implementing it in a way that enhances, rather than replaces, human connection. Join us for an exploration into how industry trailblazers are using AI to transform employee experience at scale while addressing both the potential and the pitfalls.

article thumbnail

How to Bring Caution and Courage Together

Leadership Freak

Let caution inform action not prevent it. Act in alignment with your highest point of confidence not your lowest point of caution. Keep caution in the backseat and boldness in the front. When caution is the end there is no beginning. When caution is fear of failure it’s self-preservation; its selfishness disguised as noble intelligence. [.].

article thumbnail

The Pain of Round Pegs in Square Holes

Leadership Freak

Passion is essential but it doesn’t solve everything. About a month ago I invited one of our lead people to take on a new role. It’s not working out and it’s my fault. They were passionate; but now I see frustration. They’re out of their sweet spot. Passion isn’t omnipotence or aptitude. For example, I’m [.].

article thumbnail

Our Deepest Craving

Kevin Eikenberry

William James has been called “the father of American Psychology.” He was a trained physician and wrote voluminously. (Interestingly enough Ralph Waldo Emerson was his Godfather). He is most known for his self-trained work in psychology and philosophy. He is widely quoted 100 years after his death, and nothing he wrote is any more quoted that the powerful quotation that [.].

81
article thumbnail

Gain Influence with Others by Seeing Yourself

Leadership Freak

I’m from Maine. My parents are from Maine, and so are my parent’s parents. We refer to ourselves as MAINEiacs and we have a reputation for stoicism. Maybe the cold winters make us that way? My dad is a classic Maineiac – steady and unemotional. Self-awareness to this MAINEiac seemed like a passing fad – [.].

article thumbnail

The Upskilling Advantage: Transforming Your Workforce For Future Growth

Speaker: Brian Richardson

With a staggering 92% of CEOs prioritizing skill development, and 84% struggling with transformation, mastering upskilling is now more critical than ever. Drawing on extensive research and collaboration with hundreds of leading organizations, discover key hurdles and innovative best practices in workforce upskilling. You'll walk away with a deep understanding of how to build a culture of continuous learning, expert insights into assessing the current skills of your employees, and a strategic too

article thumbnail

Anatomy of an Apology

Kevin Eikenberry

You may have heard or read about it, or if you are a Netflix customer, you may have received it in email. If you didn’t, Reed Hastings, Co-founder and CEO of Netflix wrote an apology and explanation for a significant pricing change that took place in late July. If you haven’t seen it, reading it [.].

81
article thumbnail

How Pain Shows the Way

Leadership Freak

The pursuit of excellence turns ugly when it makes you negative and critical. There’s a thin line between reaching high and negativity. Furthermore, turning the critical light inward is dangerous. During a recent seminar a leader asked, “What do you do when you remember all the things you’ve done wrong and forget the good.” I [.].

article thumbnail

When it’s Better to Receive than Give

Leadership Freak

I know one of our region’s most gifted relationship builders, everyone knows him. I remember the day he taught me a valuable lesson. Build connections by letting people do things for you. I regularly have coffee with “Joe” – not his real name. One morning I offered to buy Joe a cup of coffee. I [.].

article thumbnail

To Friend or Not To Friend – How to Manage Facebook with Your Team

Kevin Eikenberry

In our Bud to Boss Workshop, designed to help leaders successfully navigate the transition to leadership, we talk about the importance of relationships between leaders and their team members. Within the least year or so I have been frequently asked two related questions: “When we were peers I was friends with people on Facebook. Now [.].

Manager 81
article thumbnail

Mastering Remote Onboarding: Proven Strategies for Seamless New Hire Integration

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

Join this brand new webinar with Tim Buteyn to learn how you can master the art of remote onboarding! By the end of this session, you'll understand how to: Craft a Tailored Onboarding Checklist 📝 Develop a comprehensive, customized checklist that ensures every new hire has a smooth transition into your company, no matter where they are in the world.

article thumbnail

Pareto: 80% of Your Time is Spent on Trivialities

Leadership Freak

The 80/20 rule (Pareto Principle) indicates 80% of your activities are trivial and 20% deliver results. Who wants to go to their CEO and say I’m wasting 80% of my time? It’s shocking to suggest that 80% of an employee’s time is available for richer activities. It’s even more uncomfortable to apply that rule to [.].

Manager 81
article thumbnail

One bad apple DOES spoil the whole barrel

Leadership Freak

Image source Team-work is often slower and always more complex than individual-work; it requires more interaction and greater skill. Five stages: Teams go through five stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Typically, they are not distinct stages; forming and storming overlap. Additionally, storming, norming, and performing may occur simultaneously.

article thumbnail

Who is your organization becoming

Leadership Freak

Image source Great vision ends in being not doing; it surpasses activities. Great vision answers the questions who do we want to become. What you want to do is important; who you want to become essential. Products and sums: Organizations have identity in the present and trajectory toward the future that goes beyond products and [.].

80
article thumbnail

Getting Smart at being Wrong

Leadership Freak

Whoever said, “Fail often, fail fast, fail cheap,” has my respect. One challenge, however, is organizational expectations. Some within your organization have a low tolerance for failure. They choke creativity, stall innovation, and paralyze people. Why? Mistakes cost: Decline in morale. Lost confidence. Opportunities lost. Underutilized resources. Misallocated resources.

article thumbnail

How To Empower Your Workforce With Modern Fertility Benefits

Speaker: Andrea Wuchiski

In an era where a workforce spans multiple generations, HR managers and Total Rewards leaders face the unique challenge of designing benefits packages that cater to diverse employee needs. This session will delve into how comprehensive fertility benefits can bridge generational gaps, support employees’ health, and enhance workplace satisfaction. Join us for an insightful session that highlights the strategic importance of fertility benefits in today’s competitive job market.