Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog: Women

Leadership

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“The crux of leadership development that works is self-directed learning: intentionally developing or strengthening an aspect of who you are or who you want to be, or both.” Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee (Harvard Business School Press)

Leading with Vision

Today's workforce, especially Millennials, want to be intellectually stimulated and emotionally engaged.

As the authors reveal in "Leading with Vision" to explore corporate vision as a key leadership principle, this requires a new approach to leadership.

Leading with Vision draws on data and insights from the authors' biennial "Trends in Executive Development" survey--the industry's leading survey of over 400 companies--to provide an in-depth framework designed to help leaders set the future path for their organizations, departments, teams, or initiatives and to actively engage employees in establishing a work environment in which employees bring their very best to work.

Leading with Vision is a 6-step process for creating a compelling vision that will motivate, rally and inspire employees to be proactive enablers of the vision and company strategy. A compelling vision will work for a large, well-known company like Microsoft, and it will also work for the small start-up email security company. The question remains, can it work for organizations that are in industries not typically considered exciting, such as banks, manufacturers, and government agencies?

How it works:

The leadership of the business, the employees, and the customers were all connected to the organization through one unifying and personally compelling concept. The employees felt like they were making a difference, like they were an important character in the organization's story, and they were like the adage by Maya Angelou:

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Source: Bonnie Hagemann: Leading with Vision: The Leader's Blueprint for Creating a Compelling Vision and Engaging the Workforce

May 08, 2017 in Books, Business Coaching, Career , Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Communication, Current Affairs, Leadership, Memes, Self Assessment, Self-Awareness, Skills, Success, Tips, Women, Work life | Permalink | Comments (0)

Option B

After her husband died suddenly, Sheryl Sandberg grieved, as anyone would. What she did next was a little more unusual, and very much in the Silicon Valley spirit of problem-solving. As she grasped for answers, Facebook’s chief operating officer reached out to a business school professor.

Adam Grant, a Wharton School expert on organizational psychology, is a friend of Sandberg’s, but also someone she knew would have insight into her situation grounded in data. And in her moment of grief, Sandberg needed grounding.

“I was so worried my kids’ happiness would be destroyed in the moment we lost Dave,” Sandberg says of her husband, Dave Goldberg, who at the time of his death worked as the CEO of SurveyMonkey. “I asked Adam, ‘What do I do? Tell me. What. To. Do.’”

Grant told Sandberg about a longitudinal study of children who had lost a parent but nevertheless had happy childhoods and became well-adjusted adults. “The research was so helpful because something else that happens with death is this sense of complete loss of control,” Sandberg says. “I have no control over Dave’s death—it happened so suddenly. And even when death doesn’t happen so suddenly, you can’t stop it.”

In helping Sandberg find answers, Grant wound up becoming the co-author of her new book, Option B, about facing adversity and building resilience. It’s equal parts memoir, scientific explainer, and inspirational anecdotes of others who have struggled in difficult situations.

Source: Sheryl Sandberg: Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy

April 25, 2017 in Books, Business Coaching, Career , Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Communication, Health, Leadership, Memes, Personal Coaching, Personal Life, Self-Awareness, What is, Women, Work life | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 81st Masters

Masters co-founder Bobby Jones offered a warning: "No putt is short enough to be despised," he once said.

By the time Sergio Garcia arrived at Augusta last week he was largely a forgotten figure. But he had a secret weapon: He was in love again, this time with Angela Akins, 31, a former Golf Channel talent who now wears an engagement ring the size of a satellite dish. Garcia's life as a swinging bachelor has been replaced by a contented domesticity.

Angela was an ankle-breaking point guard who had a handful of scholarship offers until she blew out an ACL, as a senior in high school. She played golf at Texas and is still good enough to engage in spirited matches with her fiance.

Throughout Masters week Angela reinforced what she called "the good energy" by taping inspirational quotes from everyone from Buddha to Audrey Hepburn on the bathroom mirror.

In the past Garcia let Augusta National get into his head as he was "trying to fight against something you can't fight." This time he accepted the vagaries of the wind with an admirable stoicism and ground out 17 pars to go with a lone birdie, cobbling together his third bogey-less round in this, his 19th Masters appearance.

On Sunday, Garcia came out looking more relaxed than any other contender, and thanks to two quick birdies, he built a three-shot lead after five holes.

Garcia's win came in his 74th major championship, the longest any player has ever waited for such a breakthrough.

Here, Jones deserves the final word: "Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots--but you have to play the ball where it lies. The breaks will even themselves up in the long run, if the run is long enough."

Source: Alan Shipnuck, SportsIllustrated, April 17, 2017

April 21, 2017 in Career , Current Affairs, Games, Health, Leadership, Memes, Self-Awareness, Skills, Sports, Television, Tips, What is, Women | Permalink | Comments (0)

Your Resistance to Change

Resisting change is normal. Perhaps up to 90% of the American people do not have a clue about change. Once you discover how significant change is in our lives is every day (and how an understanding of change can make you happier), we still resist change to some degree.

Whether the change is positive or negative, we know some pain is coming, and it is only natural that we try to avoid it. What we can do is influence our reactions to the emotions that all change will cause.

What is change?

Change is doing something different. Change is a feeling or emotion that is constantly going on around each human. We cannot change the emotions or feelings but we can control our response caused by change.

Positive and negative change causes the same emotions. Going through change always causes some form of pain. So no one really likes change.

Understanding change is not difficult. However, you must know how to control the feelings and emotions change always causes.

A working knowledge of change can make a person happier. It is a matter of not being blind-sided by the emotions and feelings of change on a twenty-four hour basis. The first step is to acknowledge we are having these feelings and emotions and where they are mostly coming from. Once we do that we can then combat these feelings and emotions.

Conquer Change and Win is an easy-to-read, fun book about the serious subject of change. This book will change your life for the better. It will lower your stress level.

Source: Jr., Ralph Masengill: Conquer Change and Win: An Easy-to-Read, Fun Book about the Serious Subject of Change

John Bielenberg: Think Wrong: How to Conquer the Status Quo and Do Work That Matters

January 31, 2017 in Books, Career , Communication, Current Affairs, Failure, Health, Memes, Personal Coaching, Personal Life, Success, Tips, What is, Women, Work life | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ego Free Leadership

At a time when workers feel a sense of disconnect with their jobs and companies--a September 2015 Gallup Poll recorded U.S. employee engagement levels at thirty one percent, with almost twenty percent of employees actively disengaged--it's vital that leaders of organizations be able to recognize how their own behaviors and egos might be contributing factors.

Asked to describe an ideal team or organizational culture, most employees will use words like supportive, transparent, authentic, collaborative, and trusting, yet when asked to describe their company's actual culture, they will use words such as competitive, political, territorial, untrusting, and conflict averse. If leaders know the culture they want, why do so many organizations struggle to create that environment?

Interpersonal conflicts are a fact of business whether they involve subordinates, peers, suppliers or boards of directors. Resolving those conflicts with a win-win mindset can unlock untold dividends in the form of a shared sense of purpose and commitment according to "EGO FREE LEADERSHIP: Ending the unconscious habits that hijack your business", by business executive Brandon Black and executive coach Shayne Hughes.

Black's case is not unique since "fish always sink at the head."

Once he resolved to acknowledge how his behavior was creating organizational dysfunction and took corrective measures, the impact on the company's performance was dramatic. Between 2009 and 2013, while many in his industry closed their doors during the Great Recession, Encore's revenues and profits increased 300%, operating cost declined 30%, and the stock price rose 1,200%.

EGO FREE LEADERSHIP provides an in-depth examination of the habits and beliefs that hold executives and their teams back and offers solutions to removing crippling ego dynamics.

Source: Brandon Black: Ego Free Leadership: Ending the Unconscious Habits that Hijack Your Business

Self-Coaching Books in ebook or paperback editions:

Can't Get Enough Leadership

Develop Leadership Skills: A Mobile Reference Guide

Ask the Coach

January 25, 2017 in Books, Career , Communication, Ethics, Failure, Leadership, Memes, Personal Coaching, Self-Awareness, Skills, Success, What is, Women, Work life | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hamilton Recognized His Challenges

Why Know Yourself Better?

Because when we are unaware, we unconsciously engage our default behavior. Only when we become aware of who we are and how others see us are we able to change our behavior.

Sometimes, just being aware, allows the problem to solve us--rather than requiring us to solve the problem.

As Alexander Hamilton would have realized, the ancient Greek aphorism know thyself is an excellent place to start in the study of leadership. You are unique, so it is important to first examine yourself in order to recognize what your strengths and weaknesses are.

There are many practical ways to assess your particular skills and challenges. Read about strong leaders and compare yourself to them. Take online personality tests and skills assessments.

In addition to the assessment of your strengths and weaknesses, knowing thyself should include an assessment of your lifetime dreams. To fulfill your dream, you will have to establish multiple long-term goals that complement one another.

Once you have set your long-term goals (for example educational goals, financial goals, family goals), start setting short-term goals that will help you attain them.

Alexander Hamilton was orphaned at the age of thirteen. Through hard work and self-directed study, he pursued a college education in what is now called Columbia University. While in college, he was caught up in the spirit of the revolution and joined a New York militia company. His talents were soon recognized by General George Washington.

"Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages." George Washington

Source: Gordon Leidner: The Leadership Secrets of Hamilton: 7 Steps to Revolutionary Leadership from Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Fathers

January 18, 2017 in Books, Business Coaching, Ethics, Leadership, Memes, Personal Life, Self Assessment, Self-Awareness, Skills, Success, Tips, What is, Women, Work life | Permalink | Comments (1)

Women and Time Management

What is "Women and Time Management?"

A time management book for working women---based on what has worked well for the female clients of North America's top executive women coaches.

Year after year, we have heard working women’s frustrations, and we have helped them deal with massive internal conflicts. Both society and individuals struggle with countless expectations, too much to do in too little time, and the fact that they receive little of the support or recognition they want—and deserve.

Men with little insight into—or appreciation for—a woman’s unique predicaments, biology, and socialization patterns have attributed her problem as one of time management! They then have proceeded to write a number of articles and books suggesting how she “fix” her problem. However, their suggestions are based on what works for men—and those suggestions are largely unhelpful for women.

Is it any wonder that the self-help books currently available don’t work well in relieving the pressures working women routinely face?

What makes "Women and Time" different?

Executive coaches Barb McEwen and John Agno, have documented over three years, proven coaching solutions that have worked well for their career women clients. These exclusive self-coaching secrets discovered by successful women clients are now, for the first time, available to all working women.

The concept for the book came about because of very real, very important needs that their female clients repeatedly express. The book is intended to help you understand and work with your unique inner compass. As you read the book, you will be amazed at what you learn about yourself.

“Women and Time” delivers proven time management tips that reduce stress and help you reclaim your time and life. This self-coaching book is fully loaded with unique insights for time-strapped women:

How to manage stress

Meeting expectations: Theirs and Yours

Changing outdated beliefs

Mastering the skill of focus

How to set goals

How to schedule think times

How to negotiate what you want

How to establish priorities and delegate

Why your attitude is everything

Buy it now -- $7.19 Paperback or $.99 eBook

Women and Time

How "Women and Time" can improve your life.

If your brain tells you there will always be more to do, then this book is for you.

Creating a more holistic paradigm of balance to your work and personal life will help you from thinking you are running between compartments. This new dynamic equilibrium is meant to allow all the parts of life to work synergistically in a highly interrelated whole. Life balance isn't an "either/or" but an "and."

The roles you play at home and work must be in concert...not requiring you to play different roles. Although there are distinct competencies attached to each role, it is to your advantage to create a powerful synergy among all roles.

Effective time management allows you to be more flexible, not less flexible. It facilitates you doing the things you really want to do and to become the person you want to be. When you put these newly adopted coaching tips into practice, everything that comes your way becomes organized.

This inter-role synergy saves incredible problem-solving time and energy.

Women and Time (Read these book reviews from career women)

Women, Know Thyself: The most important knowledge is self-knowledge.

For specific "things to do" on time management, self-knowledge and other subjects, consider purchasing this paperback "Workbook Edition" of "When Doing It All Won't Do: A Self-Coaching Guide for Career Women:"

When Doing It All Won't Do: A Self-Coaching Guide for Career Women--Workbook Edition

December 23, 2016 in Books, Business Coaching, Career , Current Affairs, Leadership, Memes, Personal Coaching, Personal Life, Self-Awareness, Skills, What is, Women, Work life | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gender-Balanced Leadership

Women are undoubtedly a key part of the talent pool in the United States.

The Census Bureau reported that in 2015, women received approximately half of all bachelor's and advanced degrees. So when young professionals enter the workplace, gender is fairly balanced.

Yet, as professionals climb the ladder of their careers, the percentage of women in senior roles dwindles, often reaching teens and single-digit numbers at executive levels. This fact impacts the confidence of women who want to attain senior positions.

"My view on gender balance in corporate leadership roles does not come from an academic or social perspective, but from a grounded, experienced executive's point of view. The reason we need the change has to do with money," author Melissa Greenwell maintains.

Greenwell presents a powerful case for placing more women in leadership positions, along with a step-by-step blueprint for achieving this critical goal in "MONEY ON THE TABLE: How to Increase Profits Through Gender-Balanced Leadership."

Why Women Leave

Child rearing is believed to be the number-one cause of leaders losing their female talent. In reality, many women leave to do something else they can manage professionally and personally.

Because women tend to value meaning over money, it's much more likely that women will make a career move for the satisfaction of job purpose and being valued, rather than the paycheck.

Source: Melissa Greenwell: Money on the Table: How to Increase Profits through Gender-Balanced Leadership

Highly effective people know that the most important and intimidating work we do is “inner work”. Knowing who you are, what you want and why you want it are all important steps in your personal and professional journey.

A self-coaching guide can help you explore your natural talents, focus on what you do best and how to manage your stress and default behaviors.

"When Doing It All Won't Do: A self-coaching guide for career women" by Barbara McEwen & John G. Agno.

November 01, 2016 in Books, Business Coaching, Career , Current Affairs, Leadership, Memes, Self-Awareness, What is, Women, Work life | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New Fashion Mantra for Office Attire: Comfort

Styles and fabrics have taken so sharp a turn toward comfort that fashions may never entirely turn back again.

"People expect comfort," says Caroline Belhumeur, creative director for the apparel label Club Monaco. "It's not like in the '80s when people were stuffing themselves into blazers and stilettos and hobbling around."

There's less separation between weekday and weekend clothing these days, says Roopal Patel, fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue. "We've started to see a shift in how our customers are getting dressed every single day."

People in their 20s and 30s are particularly adamant about comfortable clothing.

Your office dress code should err on the side of conservative. According to the Lipstick & Lollipops, let these five rules with a bit of Coco Chanel be your guide:

http://www.chicagonow.com/lipstick-lollipops/2014/03/office-dress-code/

Dress for Success

What you wear is still relevant. And some of these studies, although a bit dated, are still holding true. The truth is that business has changed. But not as much as many people assume. Most businesses are still conservative – and many are moving towards ultra-conservative in a backlash against business casual.

The bottom line is that even today, the women who mimic the dress of the top executives in their organization still get promoted more and paid more.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2016, Journal Report/Trends

Free ebook at Amazon.com

September 19, 2016 in Business Coaching, Career , Current Affairs, Memes, Self-Awareness, Skills, Success, What is, Women | Permalink | Comments (0)

Integrating Your Feelings With Your Thoughts

Many women have some unique challenges when it comes to taking a stand and speaking up for themselves and others.

Some women struggle with assertiveness, but if they are prone to anxiety and avoidance, it is especially difficult.

"THE ASSERTIVENESS GUIDE FOR WOMEN: How to Communicate Your Needs, Set Healthy Boundaries, and Transform Your Relationships" by Julie de Azevedo Hanks will help women identify their thoughts and feelings, balance emotions, communicate needs, and set healthy boundaries to improve their life.

Emotions are simply information to help guide your interactions with others and inform you when your need to assert yourself.

Why are emotions so important?

There are two primary reasons:

First, they help you develop self awareness. In short, you cannot assert your thoughts, feelings, and needs until you are aware of them!

The second reason emotions matter is because they allow you to connect with others. They are key to developing empathy, which is the ability to feel with another person so he or she feels understood and valued.

Your emotions are powerful tools to first understand your own self and then to forge relationships with others through exercising empathy.

In The Assertiveness Guide for Women, readers will learn about the three communication stances, and practical examples that demonstrate how to apply the new communication and emotional awareness skills in their own lives.

The three communication stances are: