The corporate arena is filled with master complainers constantly trumpeting their naysayer attitudes. People are worried about their job security or upset that they haven’t been promoted, so they have a tendency to be hypercritical or resentful and drag others down. Their ideas are reinforced by ... Views: 1393
Networking is vital in today’s business world, but some of us (myself included, believe it or not!) are introverts at heart and working the room or stepping to the podium is just contrary to our nature. But despite the fact that I was born shy, I now spend a great deal of my time mingling at ... Views: 1056
Today I am honored to have my colleague Darcy Eikenberg as a guest blogger. Enjoy the article and then check out her new book, “Bring Your Superpowers to Work: Your Guide to Clarity, Confidence & Control” (available on Amazon.com)
Have you ever wished for more confidence? If so, you’re ... Views: 913
I just attended the fantastic Atlanta SHRM conference and came away from the event realizing that HR executives are the new game-changers of the business world. They’re providing visionary strategic leadership for companies both large and small, and value they bring to the table permeates the ... Views: 961
There is one problem we’ve all encountered that can be simultaneously frustrating and disappointing. As an innovative leader and team player you present a great idea to your boss. But the boss doesn’t accept the idea or promote it upward through the organizational chain of command. Instead he or ... Views: 2347
Owners of professional sports franchises invest tens of millions of dollars to draft the top players, and their talent scouts start following athletes as early as junior high school. They have to invest with a forward outlook, and that means they have to constantly be on lookout for talent no ... Views: 1388
No matter who you pulled for this season, you have to agree that the Super Bowl winning Giants reminded us that we have the ability to control our own destinies. With the right attitude, a little luck, and powerful perseverance propelled by great leadership anyone can be a champion. They ... Views: 988
You can call it intuition, quantum physics, faith, or just a honed and polished ability to listen to your gut as you navigate the fiercely competitive world of business. But whatever name you give it or however you prefer to explain, the fact is that sometimes there are definite signs that we ... Views: 1205
We all need performance feedback to guide our career development and ensure faster promotions. Whether you look forward to performance reviews and performance appraisals or dread the idea, they are inevitable for almost everyone. That’s why in 2012 I want you to be more proactive about taking ... Views: 1010
Unless you can stick to your goals for the long haul they will totally backfire and make you feel like a failure. But we’re not going to let that happen in 2012, and to ensure that your goals are doable and empowering, be sure to follow these six tips.
Don’t Candy-Coat the Medicine
... Views: 879
Why not make yourself the invention of the year in 2012? I urge and challenge you to renew and recreate yourself in a way that capitalizes on your talents and ambitions while it unearths a new you.
One time I did that by walking away from an enviable corporate position and stepping out into ... Views: 692
We are surrounded by off-the-shelf brands and prepackaged professional images. But those who have learned to listen to their intuition and trust their instincts will always be one step ahead of the pack – and they’ll exude the kind of brand and leadership presence that others want to ... Views: 1010
For more than 30 years I’ve coached and mentored women who are top-caliber Fortune 500 executives and high-level entrepreneurs. Meanwhile during that whole time I was either a Fortune 100 senior executive or the founding CEO of my own successful consulting firm. Many things have changed for ... Views: 1421
Steve Jobs was one of those rare souls who will likely be as influential in death as he was in life, because he was a living legend who also left behind an enduring legacy. As Jobs’ successor at Apple, Tim Cook, explained “Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world ... Views: 1263
Senior management understands the value of investing in future leadership, but also realizes that to find extraordinary leaders it is important to look for outstanding qualities that are multidimensional, strategically developed, and tempered by experience.
Here are a few questions to ask ... Views: 796
Speaking with greater clarity and purpose is vital for any leader, whether they are talking to an employee, client, board room, or the news media. Those who lack this ability will appear weak, befuddled, and ineffective – and will fail to convey their ideas and leadership vision. But those who ... Views: 898
Here are my top three tips for leaders who find themselves challenged by the unprecedented events and markets of 2011.
1. Leverage leadership opportunities into enhanced career value – Assert yourself as a leader by accepting even greater responsibility without being asked. Go beyond the call ... Views: 924
Fall 2011 is just around the corner, and now is a great time for women to consider adding some stylishly attractive wardrobe trends. You should not buy every trend that comes along, but you do want to take advantage of those that resonate with your image and brand to make you look and feel ... Views: 1648
Perhaps the biggest secret to career success – whether you are an entrepreneur or high potential leader working for a major corporation – is to learn how to neutralize or negate negativity.
Negative energy comes in two forms, internal and external. To help insulate yourself from the external ... Views: 1292
I recently had a conversation with a construction engineer about how knowledge of physics enables people to move massive, heavy objects while exerting very little effort. By using centrifugal force, gravity, and the science of simple fulcrums and natural leverage, for example, two people can ... Views: 1074
If you want to seize the day and capitalize on your window of opportunity to move up in your career you have to be fully prepared to jump at the chance. Opportunity doesn’t linger; it knocks and then moves along to the next person’s door. These are scary times. People all around you are being ... Views: 1175
After they hear my personal story of how I rose to a senior executive position with a Fortune 100 company in record time, many of my clients ask how if it’s also possible for them to step up their game and make a lot more money fast.
The answer is yes, but it involves some critically ... Views: 1307
Steve Jobs helped to harness technologies that improve the quality of our lives and the lives of generations to come. He also provided a great role model for leadership success, and we can learn much from his remarkable mindset.
Acquiring 21st Century Tools
Steve Jobs signature products ... Views: 3653
In these uncertain times many otherwise powerful professionals are becoming paralyzed by fears and insecurities. They want to overcome the challenges to their executive presence, their leadership brand, their professional image, and the advancement of their career. But to get to where they want ... Views: 1623
If you have ever come to Atlanta to work with me in one of my intensive sessions, you know that I devote the entire time to coaching, advising, and consulting on a variety of key strategies and techniques.
The intensity of this kind of laser focus really gets to the core of your leadership ... Views: 1663
Picture yourself at a New Year’s party, on the last day of 2012. You are preparing to head into 2013, and are raising a glass to toast the last hours of 2012. Because it was the best year you’ve ever experienced you have plenty to celebrate.
Now imagine that over the next 12 months you will ... Views: 996
I hear so many leaders express impatience about where they are right now in terms of their careers. Attitude and perspective have a direct effect on everything around you, though, so frustration with your present situation only serves to amplify the feelings of stagnation and dissatisfaction. ... Views: 1045
Oftentimes a great looking promotion comes along only because it satisfies a temporary need. Maybe they had to fire someone, for example, or the company is in the middle of reorganization. Once the position is filled and your company feels stable again they may start a more in-depth search for ... Views: 1284
Everyone fears change, but change is the one thing we can depend upon as inevitable and unavoidable. Professionals tend to be afraid of reinventing and repositioning themselves, but we have to remember that if we don’t evolve we risk become stagnant, outdated, and replaceable. Whether it’s a ... Views: 1686
Many professionals working in large organizations or as entrepreneurs don’t really understand the importance of utilizing great technology to communicate your personal brand. The world is a different place today. We already utilize the Internet to search for everything from products, and ... Views: 872
Here are six highly valuable steps to help you snag that next promotion, attain the next level of success, and be a more effective high performance leader.
#1 Don’t just set goals; crystallize them with clarity
Everyone with high potential has goals and dreams. But it is rare to find a ... Views: 1004
My dad attended seminary at Columbia University at a time when many of the great theologians of the 20th century emerged. Later on, as a minister in charge of his own large congregation, he was a rather prominent public figure in town and was continually under the spotlight. No matter where I ... Views: 941
In times like these I often have to gently nudge my clients who become too fatalistic, reminding them that they still hold the cards in terms of their ability to change their internal perspective. To see your greater potential you have to first adopt a more panoramic and long-range view of the ... Views: 1150
This month in the Wall Street Journal there was an intriguing and somewhat unsettling article, “Coaching Urged for Women.” The piece revealed that according to a new McKinsey & Company report “inadequate career development holds back female executives.” The report examined the kinds of career ... Views: 1095
Senior decision makers and HR executives constantly confide in me that high potential candidates for promotions and leadership positions just do not exude the kind of image that will let them keep moving onward and upward. But they don’t know how to explain this to these employees without the ... Views: 2952
The inspiring 2010 Oscar Best Film “The Kings Speech” was based on the true story of the Duke of Windsor struggling to overcome a speech impediment in order to fulfill responsibilities as a great leader. While preparing to assume the throne as King George VI he was faced with the challenge of ... Views: 5198
The newest professional development trend is focused on cultivating women leaders to not only ascend into higher-level positions but also become game changers for their teams, organizations, and industries. I find that many large corporations have established new women’s affinity leadership ... Views: 1582
Are you feeling discouraged by your inability to stand out and command more lucrative fees or higher salaries during this economic downturn? Whether you are a corporate leader or a high-achieving entrepreneur – everyone is looking for effective methods and fresh strategies to attract a more ... Views: 1183
Even before the big ball dropped in Times Square to celebrate the advent of 2011, the media had been bombarding us for weeks with advice about our New Year’s resolutions. Lose a few pounds. Get back in shape. Kick a bad habit. Spend more quality time with your kids. Make better choices in your ... Views: 979
Emerging leaders can have all the technical skill, educational background, and hands-on job experience to qualify them on paper as the outstanding candidate for a promotion. But resumes don’t run companies, people who can handle pressure with grace and show an exemplary positive attitude do. ... Views: 1080
In response to the growing number of recent corporate downsizings many large companies have adopted an organizational structure that involves fewer layers and levels of corporate hierarchy than we saw during earlier decades. In order to adapt to these new developments it is important for ... Views: 1269
Whether you are a corporate leader or a high achieving entrepreneur, everyone today is scrambling to upgrade their professional presence to stand above the competition. We all have good intentions in that regard, but many times we are not really focused on our presence but are instead fixated on ... Views: 1600
When I am coaching leaders and high achievers regarding their executive presence I hear of the same obstacle over and over again. In fact it always comes up in the very first conversation we have – although they do not realize it or recognize it. Because I have coached so many people I can ... Views: 1543
Whenever I’m working in a corporate environment and attending a networking event or meeting with my potential “leadership tribe,” it amazes me that the business tools of executive leaders look worn, outdated or overly casual. These are strategic business meetings where everyone present hopes to ... Views: 3161
Every professional needs to have several great headshot photos in their personal branding toolkit. Your mug shot does matter, especially in this era of new media marketing. The business competition is fierce and you need photographs that visually articulate your personal brand. This is true ... Views: 3908
Imagine this scenario:
An opening is becoming available next month for a higher-level position in your organization. You start daydreaming about how it would feel to be offered the job – which would definitely be a promotion for you and is comfortably within your area of expertise. But then ... Views: 4795
Today with all the personally revealing reality shows on TV and the sharing of way too much private and intimate information on social media sites the trend for Too Much Information (TMI) is naturally spreading into the workplace. More and more professionals are getting caught in the trap of ... Views: 1725
As a professional image consultant one of the things that always amazes me is how many clothes professionals own that they never wear. Women tend to wear only 25 percent of their wardrobes, and men wear 85 percent of the clothes in their closets. That statistic indicates that women like to go ... Views: 2054
Customizing and designing corporate programs to help organizations take their businesses to the next level is one of my great passions. Large, successful companies always understand that people are their most valuable asset. But not all of them train their personnel about how to positively ... Views: 1189
Lately it seems that almost every day I hear from a human resource professional who is struggling to talk with someone in their organization about their image. Personal image can be a very private, personal, and difficult thing to talk about, after all. Who among us wants to find out that our ... Views: 1462