Okay, I’m going to publicly admit something here. I am not a great networker. One to one relationships I love. Small group interactions I like. But being with groups of people in a networking setting…well, traditionally that hasn’t been my thing. Now, as a business leader, I recognize that this particular ‘thing’ is an area I need to work on. Entering networking groups comfortably is a skill I want to master. Is it a natural talent for me? Nope. Is it a skill I can develop over time? Yes, indeed. That’s a pledge. What I have come to learn, is that the act of stepping into a leadership role, whether in my business or other areas of my life, requires the humility to witness my weak muscles and the desire to build them up. Not in a self-critical sort of way, but from the place of desiring a greater level of excellence. It’s critical to hone these skills and it matters that I do. Not only to the growth of my company, but to those that follow me and those that I serve. It’s an absolute imperative. While leadership skill development areas abound, my experience has taught me that one particular area of skill seems to cry out for attention the most often regardless of business size. That is the area of emotional intelligence. When I speak of emotional intelligence I’m referring to a body of skills which include: Self-awareness Self-regulation Motivation (defined as “a passion for work that goes beyond money and status”) Empathy for others Social skills, such as proficiency in managing networks and building relationships To my mind, that is the stuff of great leadership. Emotional intelligence is really more a matrix than a mere set of skills. While comprised of distinct components, the development of one area likely informs and influences the others. So it is with my networking aspiration. My networking practice is social skill development. Through the process of building my muscle in that one area, I will automatically touch upon and enhance the others. Now that’s efficiency. There is a vital inter-connection between developing emotional intelligence and building a strong business. Especially in the area of leadership. Think about it—every item on that list tends to be that which we most powerfully relate to and admire in others. It’s a body of skills that both generates high regard and gets things done. Emotional intelligence or EQ is a massive aspect of great leadership. Attending to the numbers, paying attention to the metrics and reaching revenue goals is a vital part of the game. Developing and enriching one’s EQ, however, is the real game changer. So where are you on the EQ scale?...

Guns, batons, switchblades…none of these are legally allowed in the workplace. I’m sure you’ve seen the sign posted prominently in the foyer. Rather, other types of weaponry are stealthily brought into the office, in case of offensive or defensive need. Add to that, a wide array of personal shields and armor, at hand and ready to fend off possible attack. Though you may not see these armaments brandished or secured in a shoulder holster, trust me, they’re usually there. The workplace began and continues to emerge as an environment where control, ego battle and ego survival run rampant. Work has been equated to a war zone, a jungle, a battleground and a field of competition—all places replete with fear, anxiety and the threat of defeat or death. News Flash!! Those types of environments are not places where most people want to hang out and work. And, there’s a really good reason for that—they do not feel like safe places to be. Paranoia and anxiety are not reliable promoters of excellence, potential or creative genius. Now, I can hear the flak (also known as an exploding shell) from one or more of you regarding the tone of this piece. Is she kidding? Is she some sort of a peacenik? A Commie? Okay, maybe no one’s asserting I’m a Commie, but you get the message. And, I understand this response, I do. In large part, I attribute such responses to the state of being inured. Otherwise known, as the mindset we fall into and accept as gospel when we are immersed in a certain perceived reality. The weapons we bring into the office today are not made by Smith and Wesson or Rockwell Collins. They are not as tangible as all that. So, what are they? backstabbing, badmouthing or slurs stealing someone else’s idea setting someone up to fail or ‘throwing someone under the bus’ using another person for one’s own gain brownnosing lying, cheating or withholding information for one’s own advantage exploiting or treating others abusively forming cliques or blackballing Shields and armor, too, are different from military theaters. In business, they take the form of: doing just enough not to get fired not connecting with coworkers choosing not to be loyal to the company not speaking up pretending to be sick when you’re not coming in late and leaving early not wanting to take on anything new or put yourself on the line hiding in a cubicle or behind a computer As you can see, the work-based weaponry is different from that found on military battlefields. But, it still serves the same purpose as all swords and shields—attack and protection. For companies that want to increase employee performance and...

When you really look at a business, at the people that work there, it’s like a rich, flavorful stew—comprised of varying background, perception, desire, ability, expectation, history and hope. Each person that shows up is completely unique. Within the whole of it, there will never be two or more people with an identical worldview. Never. Each person holds and will continue to hold a singular perception of everything. It’s the nature of how we humans perceive and process the world. Not to freak anybody out here, but that’s the truth of it. It’s no wonder then, that it can be challenging to create alignment and a collective outcome amidst all this distinctiveness. In the past, the proposition was so incomprehensible, that control seemed the most appropriate solution—to command people to line up and operate more or less mechanistically. It was a ‘push’ mentality designed to externally steer people towards the desired outcome. Or, to use pain or pleasure to extract the desired action. Regardless of its form, it was relying on an external force, something outside each person, to generate a result. Being externally driven or pushed is fatiguing, uninspiring and in the end, oppositional to excellence. It’s an old, outdated mindset that no longer serves the aims of a company or anyone in it. Business leaders, HR and managers of all stripes need to get clear on this. Attempting to initiate action and performance through largely external means will not create extraordinary outcomes. It will limp people across finish lines, but it will never cause them to cross with a high head, strong gait and eyes set on the next race. The force that stimulates people to be good, great or remarkable is located firmly within each person. That’s where the big energy and initiative is located. The way to help people unlock that storehouse and invite it in to the workplace, is through creating spaces that sincerely call it forward. Trust, transparency, alignment, clear vision, appreciation, connection, support, humanness…all, pull people forward and into higher levels of achievement. When the external environment is supportive and inviting, the internal vibrancy and capacity is much more likely to be activated. That’s the more powerful pull—making the act of pushing simply a waste of energy. Activate action in your people. Let the energy of desire, commitment and purpose do the heavy lifting.  Discover more here! 8 Powerful Ways to Energize Your...

  Ever feel like you’re drowning in a tsunami of information? Online articles and white papers, inter-company reports and metrics, emails and Tweets—the waves of information keep on coming. Somewhere along the line, information began proliferating like some unrestrained bacteria and continues to spawn exponentially. I’ve come to refer to this phenomenon as the great data dump. Even as I say this, it may seem I’m hypocritically contributing to the morass. This is, after all, a blog I’m writing. However, it’s not the existence of prolific data that I’m referring to here. It’s the ever-present challenge of mastering two distinct skills in response to this tsunami: content curation and disciplined digesting. Both of which have become competencies that are must-haves for anybody in business. Curating content requires the spirit of an explorer and the focus of a microbe researcher. It’s a job of dual and opposing practices. The explorer is open-minded and casts a wide net while the researcher maintains a clear focal point, undeterred by passing temptation. In this digital information age, replete with flash, pop-ups and tantalizing lead ons, it’s a powerful skill to develop. Disciplined digesting is about mindfully placing your attention where it most needs to be while a three ring Barnum & Bailey Circus does its best to get you in the tent. I’ve mentioned Pavlov’s dogs before—this skill requires dismantling the Pavlovian effect. My sense is that we’re going up against a boatload of primal wiring and conditioned learning here. To digest information in a disciplined way, focus in needed. Without these skills in conscious development mode, an entire workday can be frittered away like rice at a wedding. Thrown up in the air and landing where it may. Our need for awareness and conscious action has never been more necessary than now. The numbers of entities powerfully clamoring to capture our attention is locust-like—they are everywhere and continuing to grow in numbers. It’s up to each of us to reclaim where we place our attention and when. In essence, effectively captaining our own ship. Greater clarity and focus are more easily accessed through a calm mind. Here are 6 ways to bring calm into the workplace. 6 Ways to Create a Calming Moment…at Work...

  According to Woody Allen, “Showing up is 80% of life and success.” In many cases, I believe that…but not in all. When it comes to work and business, simply showing up doesn’t usually get the job done. It’s a great start, but the more important question to ask is, “how much of who we are gets to show up?” As a business leader, professional advisor and former employee, I’ve observed the many ways in which people ‘show up’ at work. In fact, I adopted my own retinue of ‘showing up’ personae over the years. These personae represented parts of the whole, but rarely the whole itself. Depending on the work environment, certain aspects got to show up and certain aspects were safeguarded outside the company walls. The whole enchilada was rarely made available. That’s a problem. Why? Because the extraordinary, the remarkable, the above and beyond, even the really good, is a product of the whole enchilada. A plain flour tortilla is not extraordinary. How fully and completely any given person is showing up at work matters. In fact, it’s huge. Leadership cannot survey their employees with the question “hey, how much of you is showing up here?” And, oftentimes, employee’s couldn’t answer because they don’t know. If, however, your people are bored, tired, angry, disconnected, apathetic, disillusioned, uninspired, disengaged—there’s your answer. How much is showing up? Only that which keeps their job in place. The flour tortilla. Companies and leadership have it within their power to invite the whole person to the party. It’s just that so few do. Either because they don’t know how, they don’t know the whole is missing or they don’t care. For those forward-thinking leaders who get it, who recognize the power of the whole person showing up at work—those leaders possess the ideal mindset to catalyze remarkable things. For leaders who state categorically that it’s the sole job of the employee to inspire themselves—well, I hope they’re satisfied with flour tortillas. Tired of your people just going through the motions? Interested in energizing and activating your workplace? It all begins at the leadership level. The leader leads the way. Discover 6 Steps You Can Take Today! 6 Steps You Can Take Today to Jump Start Your Company Culture...

  We have become so accustomed to leaders possessing a handful of culturally lauded qualities that we have forgotten some of the most critical aspects of remarkable leadership. Good looks, affability, charisma, confidence, easy talking, boldness and even height figure largely these days. Much of the appraisal is based on the visual—do they look the part. Then, do they sound the part. And, finally, do they act the part. Of course, content plays a role in our evaluation, though at times that can be difficult to assess. Now, I tend to look upon leadership less from the context side and more from the content side. I believe leadership, whether it be to one or many, is a pretty big deal. Whether it’s the guy who owns and runs a small service station or a person in political office or the CEO of a financial behemoth—if you inhabit the role of leading people, you have stepped into a place that requires more. It is not about being the ‘top dog,’ it’s about being the kind of person that earns the respect, loyalty, trust and support of those that follow. Our current culture has placed an enormous amount of ‘cred’ on the concept and trappings of celebrity. Interestingly, the Latin root of celebrity is celeber, which means honored. As a culture we seem hungry to honor someone and something. Or, to be honored ourselves. When it comes to leadership, this hunger may be fierce enough that we anoint too quickly. That in our haste to receive or offer this homage or honor we are asking too little from ourselves as leader or too little from others as followers. It’s time to appraise leadership from a deeper place. As a leader, it’s time to develop from a deeper place, regardless of the container in which one leads. Character, integrity, honesty, service, vision, compassion are the stuff of real leaders. They are the core qualities that create and animate the kind of leaders that are needed today. There are more than enough surface-level posers out there playing the role of leader and too few being a leader of real substance. Being a leader of substance requires a commitment to development and growth. Titles and letters, degrees and accreditation are mostly accouterment and not that which matters most. Beyond the surface lies the real truth of genuine leadership. It’s woven into the core and substance of the individual, who they are today and who they are actively becoming. We are all served by those who are able to demonstrate our potential as human beings, who live and act in accordance with a higher truth. That is the stuff of true leadership. The rest is...