Relevant Leadership Blog

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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We’re All In This Together

My mind has gone back to this story several times in the last couple of weeks. Several years ago, my friend Cindy and her kids noticed that two robins had built a nest in one of their trees. As they paid attention to the robins’ activity they realized there were eggs in the nest. Those eggs soon hatched four baby birds. Cindy and her kids took ownership of the baby birds. They loved to watch them and would check on their condition regularly. Then one day as Cindy was putting clothes away in one of the kid’s rooms – she

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Influence and Charisma

We all know someone who is charismatic. They have a charm that can inspire devotion in others. My question is: What creates that type of Charisma? What produces that type of presence? One of the biggest keys to influence and charisma is being genuinely happy for other people’s success. When someone achieves something great – do you feel threatened by their success or do you celebrate it? One of the surest signs of someone being comfortable in their own skin is how they see others and how they can separate others experiences and achievements from their own. Too many people

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All Excuses Are Equal

Nearly 14 years ago we were a couple weeks away from our first child being born. I was busy growing our business and Sarah was getting everything ready at home. I started the process of recruiting a new sales rep. We had a great discussion and he seemed like this could be a good fit. The next day Sarah went into labor early and our daughter was born. The whirlwind of our first baby took over. We were at the hospital making sure mother and baby were great. Then we brought her home and were trying to figure out what

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A Phrase That Will Make Leaders More Influential

When you’re the leader, the one in charge, it’s far more natural – and far easier – to lecture and command than to discuss and invite. Leaders can create caste systems within their organizations simply by language choices. When they refer to “we” as the leadership team and “you” as the employees, they create a separation in the team. If we want our people to feel like they are in a partnership with us, that we are in it together, that we are locking arms with them to accomplish the overall goal of organizational success, then we need to communicate

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Service Makes You a Better Leader

A study at the University of Kent in southern England was dedicated to figuring out how givers are perceived. Researchers conducted an experiment called a “cooperation game” in which participants were each given a small amount of money and asked to contribute to a common fund. Next, the researchers doubled the common fund and passed it out equally to members of the group. In this game, the best thing for everyone is to continually reinvest their money and keep doubling the fund. But if you’re crafty, rather than cooperate you’ll be tempted to hold back some of your money. That

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10 Ways To Act As A Leader Regardless of Your Position

John Quincy Adams said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” Regardless of your position or authority – here are 10 ways to step up as a leader starting today. 1. Do More Than is Expected 2. Get Clear On Your Values and Live Them Fully 3. Be a Problem-Solver 4. Be A Model For Others To Follow 5. Possess A Genuine Love For People 6. Make Those Who Work With You More Successful 7. Deal Wisely With Difficult People 8. Develop Accountability for Results, Beginning With Yourself

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3 Ways to Create Staying Power as a Leader

My thoughts lately have been on the need for leaders to become and stay relevant. Relevancy creates staying power, but it requires constant vigilance. I read an article recently where Vince Molinari shared three ways that leaders become irrelevant. These can be the things that cause the downfall of many leaders. 1)     You Believe You Arrived:  When leaders achieve a certain level of success they wrongly conclude that they’ve made it. That they have arrived. This can lead a leader to starting coasting. Then one day you realize you no longer matter in your organization. Your ideas don’t resonate with others. You

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Mentoring Through Storytelling

Communicating well is not only an intellectual exercise; to really connect with people, especially their emotions, we need to bring them into our experience. Stories do that. When you paint a picture with your words, people put themselves in that picture. As a leader, the right story can be a gold mine. Story creates a spark that ignites a new awareness. It is such an influential tool that if you use it constructively, it can change people’s hearts and minds. That is why Janet Litherland said, “Stories have power. They delight, enchant, touch, teach, recall, inspire, motivate, challenge. They help

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