Mastering the S-Curve of High-Powered Careers Playing to Your Strengths at Work
Do you get to play to your best strengths at work? For two-thirds of us, the answer is “no” (see the last few paragraphs of the Gallup webpage). But imagine what innovation and energy we could unleash if most of us could answer “yes”. Now that’s exciting. So, what can we do to move toward [...]
Leadership Lessons From Steve Jobs
Beyond the amazing innovations he has brought to our world, there are three lessons I have learned by observing Steve Jobs, the leader, from afar. And the good news is that these don’t require being an inventive genius to be useful. Career Resilience: Steve Jobs was publicly and unceremoniously fired, yet came back to rise [...]
Being Brave: Lessons from Basketball
I have been at the European National Championship Basketball tournament this week, rooting for the Great Britain Under 20s Women’s team which last year, for the first time in history, was promoted from the B League to the A League. By beating last year’s bronze medal team in the first round, they have already “won” [...]
Why Like-Mindedness is Limiting for Leaders
We inherently like spending time with people who think like us, and maybe even act and look like us. It’s easy, comfortable and fun to be with people who understand where we are coming from and share our interests. As well, it builds our confidence to have others we respect tell us they think we [...]
Two Business Lessons from an Olympic Fencing Hopeful
Fencing is a lot like business, and perhaps even life in general. I learned this yesterday at the British Youth Championships, watching my friends’ 12-year old son compete and listening to his coach (who is an Olympic hopeful for 2012) advise him in between matches. The first great piece of advice the coach gave was [...]
3 Ways to Harness Your Fear
Fear /fɪər/ (noun) – a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; concern or anxiety. [1] Since prehistoric times, fear has proven useful to our survival, both individually and as a species. These days, however, fear more often can hold us back from enjoying the success [...]
Intensity
in·ten·si·ty [in-ten-si-tee] – great energy, strength, concentration, vehemence, etc., as of activity, thought, or feeling[1] Why do some people train hard in the gym and play hard on the court, while others go through the motions? Are those hours equally well spent? Some would ask what the point is of showing up if you aren’t [...]
New Year “Swing Thoughts”
Instead of New Year’s resolutions, I have decided to go with the suggestion made by Chris Brogan in his end of year blog to identify three words to live by during the next year, or in his words, “my guiding pillars for what I will focus on in the coming year…a lighthouse for my actions [...]
Would You Take This Job?
The following situation (or something substantially similar) actually exists in real life. How close is this to your dream job, or is it pretty much the opposite? The Job: Congratulations. You have been chosen to start work at our organization. You get to pretty much design your own job; it just has to fit within [...]
5 Ideas for Keeping Your Composure
Keeping your composure when you feel safe is easy. The question is how to regain and retain it when you are no longer in your comfort zone, when you feel out of your element. Add pressure to any situation (speed it up, raise the stakes, increase the competition) and at some point, performance drops. Most [...]
