November, 2011

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Five Techniques That Make You Matter Most

Leadership Freak

The need to tell others you’re important suggests you don’t feel important. Insecure leaders need to build, protect, and validate themselves. They spend their days like male peacocks fluffing their tail feathers. “Look at me, I’m beautify; I’m important.” Fluffing activities suggest people don’t believe they matter. You must believe you matter: “Everything you will [.].

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Seven Simple Ways to Subtly Influence Others

Kevin Eikenberry

It had been a long day of work and travel, and it was going to get longer. Due to weather issues around the country, flights across the eastern half of the U.S. were delayed and canceled. It was snowing heavily in Denver, where I had just landed to find my connecting flight canceled. I quickly [.].

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Dave Balter | Why Humility Matters In Today's Leadership

Tanveer Nasser

What role does humility play in today's leadership and how does this trait benefit leaders in facing the challenges present in today's global market? That's one of the questions I discuss with CEO Dave Balter in the latest episode of “Leadership Biz Cafe”. Dave is the CEO and founder of the word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing company, BzzAgent, which has been featured on CBS News, the BBC, and the New York Times Sunday Magazine.

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Beyond Listening – A Power-Key to Influence

Kevin Eikenberry

It was a typical business trip. I’d spent the day training a group of people from inside an organization. After the training, I was invited to join the group for dinner. After a lovely dinner, a couple of the participants had some additional questions about the training and how to apply what they were learning. [.].

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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

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The Top Ten Lies Leaders Believe

Leadership Freak

The truth is we tell ourselves lies. Lies seem to make life better, they make us feel more useful and in control. I can always tell when I touch the lies people believe about themselves. They deny the obvious and defend the ridiculous. It reminds me of the time one of our children denied stomping up [.].

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8 Ways to Overcome Fear and Find Courage

Leadership Freak

Gutless leaders aren’t leaders. Separated from courage the other components of leadership like decision making, problem solving, and vision casting are meaningless drivel. Cowardly Leaders: Closes their ears to criticism. Attack critics. Using anger to fuel action. Make excuses. Refuse to change their minds. Change their mind too quickly. Defend poor choices.

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The Best Leaders Carry Flashlights

Kevin Eikenberry

I first remember carrying a flashlight at summer camp. Coming back to the cabin after the campfire would have been pretty treacherous without one. Something got me thinking about flashlights recently. As I thought about them, I realized that as leaders we need to have a flashlight available for a variety of reasons. [.].

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The Single Greatest Gift Successful Leaders Give

Leadership Freak

Image source I’ve seen frustrated leaders say things like, “That’s the way it’s going to be.” It’s their end game when confused or resistant people push them. It works with two year olds who fear punishment. It works with employees who have a high need to please. Regardless, leadership by decree indicates loss of leadership. Warning [.].

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The One and Only Reason to Help

Leadership Freak

Competent people are insulted when you try to help them do their job. They think, “You don’t trust me.” Managers must know when to step in or stay out. Help too quickly and you’re a smothering meddler; delay too long and you don’t care. When it comes to helping others, their confidence levels matter. Overconfident [.].

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The Secret to Powerful Leadership

Leadership Freak

It’s the morning after and it wasn’t what I heard but what I saw that matters most. I’m home from the two-day Elite Leadership Program in New York City. The drive home gave me time to think about what I heard. Believe me, A.G. Lafley, Calvin Klein, and Jack Welch hit home runs. Lafley led [.].

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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.

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15 Potent Strategies for Fighting Confusion

Leadership Freak

Confusion is common. Clarity is rare. Confusion and chaos inevitably rule unless someone intervenes. Any fool can create confusing complexity. Successful leaders always fight confusion and find clarity. Clarity is leadership’s secret and most powerful weapon. Clarity allows followers to know where they’re going and how to get there. Without it everyone flounders.

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The Reason I Haven’t Posted in a Week

Leadership Freak

One week ago today, I was lying flat on my back looking at the low-hanging ceiling of a life-flight helicopter. My right leg was cocked at an unusual and uncomfortable angle, painfully yelling for attention. At the same time, a highly trained medical professional relieved the deadly pressure around my collapsed lung. His skill is [.].

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One Question Away From Optimism

Leadership Freak

Image source You can’t lead if you aren’t dissatisfied. Every new beginning begins with dissatisfaction. If the present is satisfactory, you have nowhere to go. A preferred future stands on an un-preferred present. Dissatisfaction is easy, optimism is necessary. Seeing the light dimly: Things come together at the strangest times. During dinner with the CFO [.].

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One Useful Strategy for Becoming More Useful

Leadership Freak

Peter Drucker encouraged leaders to ask, “How do we make ourselves useful?” Daniel Pink’s research indicates three drives motivate us. Autonomy: the desire to be self-directed. Mastery: the urge to get better at stuff. Purpose: making a contribution. Combining Drucker and Pink: Leaders are useful when they honor the contribution of others. Honoring contributions: Explain [.].

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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.

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Defending New Ideas Without being Defensive

Leadership Freak

All leaders explore, introduce, and defend new ideas. Defending an idea often creates adversarial conversations. You offer points that support your idea and others evaluate, adopt or reject. You’ve surrendered your power from the beginning. There’s value in the traditional process but there’s a better way. Defend less explore more: Explore how new ideas compare [.].

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Four Leadership Lessons from Coach Mike Krzyzewski

Kevin Eikenberry

Last night Duke University’s men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski won his 903rd game. It’s the most of any men’s college basketball coach ever (Tennessee’s Pat Summitt has won over 1000 coaching women’s college basketball). He’s been coaching for 37 years. He’s won 13 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, was named National Coach of the Year 12 [.].

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As the Holidays Approach: How to Avoid Holiday-itis

Kevin Eikenberry

You may not even be aware of the newest quasi-medical malady facing people around the globe. It hits about the first of December each year and impacts people’s attitudes, energy, and productivity for approximately four weeks. Like any other malady, the first step in treatment is diagnosis. I’m sharing the diagnosis and subsequent treatment plan [.].

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Everyone Wins with Gratitude

Kevin Eikenberry

Since in the United States today we celebrate Thanksgiving, it is appropriate, perhaps even expected, to suggest we be grateful today. Of course, the reality is that gratitude is important to our relationships and to us as well, (as today’s quotation suggests) and deserves a place in our daily thoughts. I’ll move right to it [.].

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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.

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How to Avoid Irrelevance, Guaranteed!

Leadership Freak

“Customers are the boss.” A.G. Lafley. Customers determine what you must do well. You may be the world’s best pickle packer. But, if the world doesn’t value perfectly packed pickles, you are tragically irrelevant. Unexpected: I love coming across an unexpected idea. The first core strength of Proctor & Gamble – A deep understanding of [.].

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Five Ways to Transfuse Energy into your Team

Kevin Eikenberry

A blood transfusion is a process of receiving blood products into your blood stream intravenously. In the past, whole blood was introduced into the patient’s blood stream. Today, typically, particular blood parts like red blood cells or plasma are injected as needed. In non-technical terms, blood (or blood parts) is injected into someone’s blood stream [.].

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How to Make Risk Taking Less Risky

Leadership Freak

I woke up this morning to a few email questions from individuals seeking my perspective, advice, or suggestions. I usually answer questions with questions and when applicable reflect back what I see. Giving advice falls third on my response to email questions. One questioner explained their aversion to risk along with a lack luster performance [.].

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A CEO of Southwest Airlines on Goals

Leadership Freak

We forget the expected and remember the unusual. I’ve been remembering something unusual that was said to me about ten months ago. Jim Parker, former CEO of Southwest Airlines told me, “Don’t set artificial goals for yourself. Don’t set goals about the job you want or the amount of money you want to make.” You [.].

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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

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Are You In Control?

Kevin Eikenberry

David Allen is best known for his book Getting Things Done. His book has been, over the last decade, the most popular time and productivity management book and process on earth. The quotation below applies to managing our time, but goes much deeper, if you allow it to. I hope today’s questions and action steps [.].

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Jim Collins on Paranoid Leaders

Leadership Freak

Bad things will happen. It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when. Even optimists knows it’s true. Hi performing leaders, according to Jim Collins are “paranoid performers.” They’re always asking, “What if,” and then preparing for it. They think about and anticipate the day of “bad things.” What ifs: I hate what [.].

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Jack Welch Led Gossip Sessions

Leadership Freak

With typical candor and color, Jack Welch said, “We always had one hell-of-ah gossip session after every meeting.” (ELP, 2011, NYC) At least two things happened at meetings Jack Welch attended. First, the agenda happened. Second, and more importantly, an H.R. meeting happened during and after. During meetings Jack and his team looked through the [.].

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When Are You At Your Best?

Kevin Eikenberry

One of the first and most influential inspirational speakers I learned of and learned from was Earl Nightingale. Today I reread one of his profound quotations. “We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve [.].

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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.

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Success Requires It.

Kevin Eikenberry

and it is in short supply. It’s concentration, and, no, I’m not talking about the popular game show that aired from 1958-91. Concentration isn’t really in short supply; the supply is large, if you choose to capture it (and successful people do). Most however, - text while driving - answer emails while [.].

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Time to Think

Kevin Eikenberry

I grew up on a farm, so I know what it is like to work hard physically. Many times I’ve started working before dawn and finished long after dark. I know what it feels like to be physically dog tired. And. in my work now, there are days I am every bit [.].

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What Leaders Have in Common With Raffles

Kevin Eikenberry

You’ve experienced it many times. You are at the county fair, the community charity event, a local seminar or networking event. You bought a ticket, filled out a form, or handed someone your business card. And you know the rules. You must be present to win. If you wanted the items being drawn, you wanted [.].

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One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership

Kevin Eikenberry

This week’s Resource Recommendation is One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership by Mike Figliuolo. This new book, focused on the leader as an individual, promotes an important idea with a creative approach. Mike Figliuolo, an accomplished leadership trainer, coach, and speaker, suggests that to be the best leader we can [.].

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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.