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Author Archives: David Shedd
Patience
The regular readers of my blog are aware of my focus on Decisiveness and Getting Things Done. But, as in all things in leadership, balance is required. Good leaders balance this decisiveness with a healthy dose of patience. There are … Continue reading
Three Keys to Teamwork
The fundamental determinant of success on most projects and at most companies is teamwork. Volumes have been written about how to foster teamwork. My small contribution is to suggest that each of us, when part of a team, keep three … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Perform / Execution, Team / People
Tagged Accountability, Humility, Simplicity, Teamwork, Winning Teamwork
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Don’t Get Angry
The Ancients knew a thing or two about anger: “Whom the Gods want to destroy, they first make angry.” Ancient Greek Proverb “Great anger is more destructive than the sword.” Indian Proverb “The angry man will defeat himself in battle … Continue reading
A Good Leader is a Good Storyteller
If only I could never open my mouth…until the abstract idea had reached its highest point – and had become a story! Zorba the Greek Since joining my current company, I have been emphasizing several concepts, such as “trust but … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Leadership, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Communication, Leadership, Storytelling
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Apology Accepted
As a leader, we will make mistakes or behave (in a moment of anger or frustration) inappropriately. The usual response is to blame someone else, ignore the mistake or minimize the bad behavior, and then just move on. “I have … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Personal Success, Team / People
Tagged Apology, Humility, Leadership
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Humor – A Vital Leadership Skill
“A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th President of the United States) Having humor in the workplace is crucial to leadership success and … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Personal Success, Team / People
Tagged Business Leadership, Humor, Winning Teamwork
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Seek Out the ‘Useful Answer’
“When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.” Dalai Lama In my company, as in many others, we have a formal system to review work that we have done. Whether called post-project reviews, re-caps, or post-mortems, these reviews give the people … Continue reading
When Negotiating, Selling or Just Persuading, Quality Over Quantity
Niro Sivanathan is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School, who teaches Negotiations, Influence and Decision-Making. His psychological insights can help all of us be better negotiators, influencers and decision makers. In this blog, I let Niro’s … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Communication, Personal Success
Tagged Communication, Negotiation, Niro Sivanathan, Persuasion
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The First Two Steps in Process Improvement
Most process improvement initiatives fail miserably. First, they do not improve the processes they were supposed to improve. Second, they waste managerial and employee time, effort and attention. Or, third, the process may be improved; but this improvement does not … Continue reading
Top Three Things to Do Today to Be a Better Leader
To build a better business, we need to be better leaders. This does not mean we need to rush out and get more training or education or bring in a consultant (absolutely not!!). Instead, we need to focus on the … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Leadership, Perform / Execution
Tagged Follow Up, Leadership, Positivity, Simplicity
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Selling When We are Not in Sales
No matter what our title is, we are all salespeople. Whenever we are trying to… persuade others lobby for our point of view satisfy a disgruntled customer ask for a raise… we are selling. Below I offer nine suggestions (from … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Perform / Execution, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Communication, Persuasion, Selling
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A Time For Everything
“We all have times when we think more effectively, and times when we should not be thinking at all.” Daniel Cohen To be effective as leaders, we must do our good work in its proper time. We need to be … Continue reading
Posted in Perform / Execution, Personal Success, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Effectiveness, Golden Hour, Power Hour
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A Happy Company
The American Psychologist and Author, Martin Seligman, is a strong promoter of positive psychology and well-being. His five-part recommendation for increased happiness and life satisfaction consists of: Positive Emotion Engagement Relationships Meaning Achievement This prescription (remembered with the acronym ‘PERMA’) … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Perform / Execution, Team / People
Tagged Engagement, Happiness
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Best Version of Ourselves
The Australian Motivational Speaker and Catholic Author, Matthew Kelly, focus his message on people becoming the best version of themselves. This message should resonate with all of us as leaders. As leaders, we have strengths, and we have weaknesses. We … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Personal Success, Team / People
Tagged Leadership Characteristics
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What To Think About
Studies from social psychologists have concluded that the media (contrary to common opinion) is not effective at changing how we think. Instead, it is quite effective in determining what we think about. As leaders, it can be helpful to focus … Continue reading
Careful: A User’s Guide to Our Injury-Prone Minds
Careful: A User’s Guide to Our Injury-Prone Minds, written by Steve Casner, is an excellent discussion of safety in our lives, both at home and at work. It is a straightforward read, and I highly recommend it. Below I share … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership, Perform / Execution
Tagged Careful, Safety, Steve Casner
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Three Cheers for Foresight
To be successful, leaders need to develop and hone their business foresight. Used effectively, foresight focuses our attention on the time and space between the immediate, day to day tactical execution and the long-term strategic vision and planning. Foresight in … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership, Perform / Execution
Tagged Business Acumen, Foresight
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The Curse of Knowledge
As leaders we are bedeviled by the Curse of Knowledge: The Curse of Knowledge is the difficulty we have in imagining that another person does not know what we know. The Curse of Knowledge rears its ugly head in three … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Communication, Leadership
Tagged Clarity, Communication, Curse of Knowledge
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Four Ways to Overcome Confirmation Bias
The biggest decision-making bias for all of us is the confirmation bias. Wikipedia explains it well: Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership, Personal Success
Tagged Confirmation Bias, Decision Making
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Avoid Fair Fights (But Fight Fair)
Whether we are competing in our core business, starting a new business venture, or looking to win a new, large job or project, we need to focus our energies on areas where we have a competitive advantage. We need to … Continue reading
David M. Shedd - Move Your Company Forward 