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Category Archives: Leadership
14 Basics to Master
Leadership training focuses intently on high level leadership skills – strategic planning, negotiation, managing stakeholders, projecting charisma, developing and communicating a vision. These are certainly vital skills. But, to be an effective leader first requires that we master basic productivity … Continue reading
Field Centric
As leaders, we can get wrapped up in so many different activities and meetings – meeting with the finance, human resources or marketing department; talking to investors, banks and insurance companies; strategic planning; looking at acquisition candidates or joint venture … Continue reading
Make Molehills
“Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.” Unfortunately, too many leaders ignore this wise advice. Instead, every minor issue becomes a major problem that needs to be addressed and resolved now. Why? Leaders make mountains out of molehills for … Continue reading
The Four Stupidities of the Smart Leader
To be a good leader, we have to be intelligent: intellectually, socially and emotionally intelligent. In a previous blog post, I even gave some advice on 8 Ways to Be As Smart As We Can Be. Being smart, however, does … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Leadership, Personal Success
Tagged Business Leadership, Communication
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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
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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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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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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The Necessity of a Good Cadence
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, cadence is defined as “the beat, time, or measure of rhythmical motion or action.” In the business context, cadence is used to describe regularly scheduled activities, specifically regularly scheduled meetings, follow-ups, visits or other actions. … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Leadership, Team / People
Tagged Accountability, Follow-up, Leadership, Project Management
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Use the ‘Base Rate’ for Better Decisions
The IT project took twice as long as planned. The construction project to expand the plant went over budget. Why does this always happen? Too many decisions are made with too much self-confidence and too much optimism. As a result, … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Leadership, Personal Success
Tagged Base Rate, Decision Making, Richard Thaler
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10 Fundamentals of Continuous Improvement
When continuous improvement is a fundamental part of our company culture, our business gets better every day and will soon out-run and out-perform the competition. Over 100 years ago, Henry Ford wrote: The competitor to be feared is the one … Continue reading
Posted in Improve / Turnaround, Leadership, Perform / Execution
Tagged Continuous Improvement
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David M. Shedd - Move Your Company Forward 