Relevant Leadership Blog

Change is Inevitable, Adaptability is Essential

  There has never been a point in time where adaptability – the ability to deal with change – has been more essential. The new normal seems to be a never-ending, changing target and so we have to learn to be flexible. But why is change so hard? One word – fear. Change triggers a fear of loss. Giving up what we know, what we enjoy and what is comfortable. What happens in our mind when we face the unknown is we ask, what if? And our mind tends to answer with a worst-case scenario response. Our minds are actually

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A Lesson In Marketing

Today I am in the virtual studio speaking to the leadership team at Charles Schwab. Let me tell you how that happened. 11 years ago I wrote an article on LinkedIn about how to grow your influence. It was read by Liz Hall, VP of Training for C&A Industries, a staffing company in Omaha, Nebraska. Liz got on my site and bought my book The Power of Influence. When the order came through I saw her title in charge of training so I emailed her and started a dialogue. A few months later I was speaking in Nebraska for Subway

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The Commitment Scale

    As a young entrepreneur I had a mentor who used to tell me, “If you treat your business casually, you will become a casualty of your business.” This advice has stuck with me for nearly 20 years and with time I have found it to be applicable in many areas beyond business. If you treat your health causally, you will become a casualty. If you treat your personal and professional growth casually, you will become a casualty. If you treat your marriage casually, you will become a casualty. If you treat parenting casually, then your kids will become

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The Best Advice Stephen Covey Ever Gave

https://youtu.be/H8wHTBJwRQgWhat Is the best advice you have ever received? Was it a coach telling you, “When you quit, you fail.” Or maybe it was a friend who said, “It’s ok to say no.”Or perhaps it was your Mom who told you to wear clean underwear.  In any case, advice from the right person at the right time can often change our perspective. That is what happened to me the first time I met Dr. Stephen Covey.  The advice he gave me at first seemed specific but I have found it to be more general and has shaped my mindset.  When Stephen Covey found out I was

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If You Don’t Express It, You Can’t Expect It

Last week I was helping my friend Sydne Jacques prepare her speech that she is giving this week. One of the lines in her speech that stuck out to me was, “If you don’t express it, you can’t expect it” I love the way Sydne explained it. She said: “Often in our lives both at home and at work expectations change and we don’t talk about it. We need to learn to talk about expectations because I’m convinced 98% of the time that you are sad, mad or frustrated it’s because you expected somebody to do something but they either

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How To Get Free Popcorn

One of the best strategies I know to win with people is to focus on being interested, not interesting. The problem with being interesting is that it’s all about you. But being interested is all about the other person. It’s where influence comes from. It’s placing other people’s interests first. People who are interested know how valuable it is for relationships and friendships to let the other person talk. They listen more than they talk. They allow others to share ideas and opinions. They make people feel welcome, involved and appreciated. I have taught this idea for more than 10

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Outward Thinking

This is going to seem like a parent brag and maybe it is, but my kids seem to teach me much more than I teach them and I hope this will inspire you too. Last week Lizzy (who is 7) competed in a Ninja Warrior competition. There were five girls who competed in her age group and Lizzy did great and ended up taking 2nd place. 1st Place got $50, 2nd Place got $20 and 3rd Place got $10. When they brought up all five girls, Lizzy and Maisey (who got 1st) realized that the girls in 4th and 5th

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What Is Your Floor Goal?

  Have you hear of floor/ceiling goals? Most people set ceiling goals. It is the pinnacle of what you want to achieve (the ceiling). The problem is we swing for the fences but often strike out. Goals should be about progress (base hits to carry on the analogy) and so I’ve started setting floor goals as well as ceiling goals. The floor goal is the minimum I’m committing to that still creates progress. As an example – one year ago today, after being inspired by my friend, Jim Cathcart, I committed to doing 100 pushups every day. That is my

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Do You Know Your Value?

I love the lesson this little story teaches A father said to his daughter “You graduated with honors, here is a car I acquired many years ago. It is several years old. But before I give it to you, take it to the used car lot downtown and tell them I want to sell it and see how much they offer you. The daughter went to the used car lot, returned to her father and said, “They offered me $1,000 because it looks very worn out.” The father said, ”Take him to the pawnshop.” The daughter went to the pawnshop,

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Listening Equals Love

Have you ever heard or read a quote that made you stop & ask to hear it again?   Yesterday that happened with this quote by David Augsburger: “Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person they are almost indistinguishable.”   Isn’t that powerful?!   Listening is a skill we all need to work on. Whether it’s in leadership, in relationships, in friendships or parenthood – we can probably all improve in this area.   Especially at a time of crisis when people are hurting, confused, anxious & scared, they need to feel loved (in

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