High-Impact Leadership to Develop Winning Teams
Leaders, Are you continuously aligning the tasks and goals of your team with the overall vision and objectives of your organization? How important is team development in your organization? Are you creating an environment that allows people to be all they can be? The subject of high-achieving teams is nothing new. The output of organizations large and small is still driven by collective effort. More than ever before, collaboration is the crucial element leading to success in today’s fast-growing companies. Every day brings new challenges and no one person, however smart and educated, can possess the complete solution. Teams must form, innovate, execute and deliver complex solutions at continually increasing speeds to meet market demands. While the underlying key values of team performance – trust, commitment, engagement, communication, accountability, and results – remain unchanged, the environment that surrounds and influences team performance has changed a great deal. In any company, there [...]
Taking Charge: Managing and Overcoming Fear
Leaders, Fear is one of the biggest stumbling blocks people encounter in managing change and moving forward. It heightens your stress level, activates your fight and flight instinct, and can cause you to wake up at night worrying. Your capacity and ability to pay attention is being limited or shut down. You have probably experienced frightening situations yourself and observed your staff trying to stay safe, thus, not fulfilling their potential. Fear rears its head when people attempt to move beyond their comfort zones. Each of us has a comfort zone – a set of boundaries within which we live. These are the situations and circumstances that we know that give us a sense of security because they represent what’s familiar. Fear can paralyze us, keep us safe or from our dreams, and fear tells us we are in danger. Fear can either shut you down or help propel you [...]
Leadership Excellence: Inspiring Performance and Sustaining Success
Leaders, A few days ago, I returned from Lisbon / Portugal where I delivered a speech on Leadership Excellence at the regional EMEA conference of the CFA Institute (cfainstitute.org); attendees came from 43 different countries – something that is otherwise only found at the United Nations. Here are the key messages of my plenary address: Leadership excellence can be found in day-to-day activities. I had the best lessons on leadership excellence on the dance floor , and this is what I want to see so much more of in the business world: Know who you are: Dancing and leadership means being aware of your own style, what you’re passionate about, and then expressing exactly that. Emphasize self-leadership: The way my dance partner holds himself leads me to effortlessly do my part and follow him well. Focus on implementation: Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, just start moving. Both dancing and doing business can only be [...]
Authentic, Influential Leadership Unveiled: The What, Why, and How of Executive Presence
Leaders, Jim Keene, CFA, Atherton Consulting Group, and Annette Czernik, PCC, Inspired Executives, recently designed and delivered a webinar and wrote an article on Executive Presence for the CFA Institute. For us, Executive Presence is a crucial skill set for every leader. We define Executive Presence as follows: „Executives with Presence have deep domain knowledge and are characterized by confidence, calmness under stress, ability to connect with and change others, decisiveness and emotional intelligence. Executive Presence is observed through how people act, communicate and look. Executive Presence is the result of your individual energy management, the way you impress and influence people or situations, and your ability to connect and engage with others in the moment. Authenticity is the core of Executive Presence. People can sense your genuiness and will follow you if they believe you. That‘s how you exert influence. Executive Presence is the integration and full engagement of [...]
Irresistible Marketing for Start-Ups II (+ Free Download)
Leaders, Tell me about your business! What do you do? If I were an investor or prospect client, what would you say to me to gain my attention, interest, and to get to the next level? Will I be intrigued by the way you are giving your brief, concise speech? If you cannot present yourself and your business or idea in 60 seconds, your strategy is not yet clear enough. It just takes a ride in an elevator to appeal to the strategic mindset of potential investors or clients while also creating an emotional connection to your company’s mission or value proposition. Effective elevator pitches captivate the audience through careful message construction and pre-delivery rehearsals. Many entrepreneurs find it awkward to promote themselves and their business. You can become more comfortable by designing and practicing an attention-grabbing elevator pitch. Start off strong and tell what you do, not what you [...]
Irresistible Marketing for Start-Ups I (+ Free Download)
Leaders, Some of you might have stepped out of your ‘safe’ corporate careers to start your own businesses. Some of you might only have played with that thought … . Let me guess – the uncertainty the new environment and the transition presented made you feel uncomfortable, right?! It is hard to create a sense of safety and trust for your clients if you are not feeling it inside. Who would feel attracted to a person or an organization that communicates from a place of fear? What can you do to manage the ambiguity? To be successful in business today you just need to be good at dealing with ambiguity. It is a critical business skill to be able to respond with confidence and adaptability. You can manage ambiguity if you can make decisions based on the information you have, even if that isn’t the whole picture cope with uncertainty [...]