Leadership Freak

JANUARY 18, 2024

Stupid questions add stress. Here's how to stop asking "why questions" that create adversarial conversations. It natural to ask why, but it's the wrong question when someone misses the mark. More.

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Leadership Freak

JANUARY 26, 2024

The mentors who changed my life chose me. I didn’t choose them. Eventually you learn the first principle for gaining wisdom. You don’t have it. Here are 7 marks of great mentors. Seek one. Be one. When wisdom knocks, open the door.

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Mentor Leadership Development Development Leadership 277

Leadership Freak

MARCH 29, 2024

The FORD Method has nothing to do with cars. The FORD Method is about connecting with people. “. the simple phrase small talk can be code for torture.” Susan Cain Here's a simple strategy for building connection with new people. What's your best tip for connecting with new people?

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Power Tips Strategy Leadership Development 257

Leadership Freak

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

Change is hard because we make it hard. Change your life by rejecting things that make change hard. Impatience makes change frustrating. Change your words. Change your life. Change a routine. Change your life. Change your friends. Change your life.

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Leadership Development Development Leadership 272

Leadership Freak

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Seth Godin said, “Earn trust, earn trust, earn trust. Then you can worry about the rest.” Be trustworthy if you aspire to lead. Here are 10 questions that reveal trustworthy leaders. Plus, 5 simple ways to be trustworthy.

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Godin Leadership Development Development Leadership 267

Leadership Freak

MARCH 11, 2024

Typical answers to the secret of success are dissatisfying. You can't control good fortune. You can't order up talent at the talent store. You're already working hard. Beyond the big 3, what's the secret of success from your point of view?

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Succession Leadership Development Development Leadership 262

Leadership Freak

MARCH 22, 2024

Who has time to care for people when there's so much to do? I hope that sounds stupid. I talk myself out of expression care. I don't want to pry. What if I make people uncomfortable? Sometimes care is a simple question.

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Leadership Development Development Leadership 256

Leadership Freak

JANUARY 12, 2024

Teams that can’t make decisions are cars without wheels. Some teams advise. Other teams make decisions together. If you’re on a team that makes decisions together, this post is for you. This post includes a team decision-making tool you can download.

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Tools Team Download 271

Leadership Freak

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Excellence is learned. You might be a little smarter or more talented than some, but excellence always begins in your head. The engine of excellence is inside you. Excellence is process driven.

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Leadership Freak

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

Feedback is often code for criticism. Feedback focuses the past. You see what you did. Advice is about the future. You see what you could do. Years ago, I received feedback that I still use today. Everyone who pursues excellence craves feedback.

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Power Advice Leadership Development Development 266

Leadership Freak

JANUARY 31, 2024

Rejected internal candidates are nearly twice as likely to leave. Other problems include low morale, strained relationships, job dissatisfaction, and envy. *HBR You can’t promote every qualified employee.

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Morale Leadership Development Development Leadership 265

Leadership Freak

MARCH 13, 2024

Painful experiences are unavoidable. You might be going through the fire right now. This post offers 5 ways to gain advantage from painful experiences. It's not easy, but you've done it before. You can do it again. What can you add to the list I offer?

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Leadership Development Development Leadership 253

Leadership Freak

MARCH 6, 2024

Positive psychology isn’t happy talk. Positive psychology concerns itself with things that cause people to flourish. I couldn’t list the 5 elements necessary to thrive during a coaching conversation yesterday (PERMA).

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Positioning Leadership Development Development Leadership 256

Leadership Freak

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

Happiness at work escapes you when you think, "I'll be happy when." I’ll be happy when I earn a promotion. I’ll be happy when I’m on vacation. Desire runs one step ahead of attainment. 5 ways to find happy at work.

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Leadership Development Development Leadership 258

Leadership Freak

APRIL 10, 2024

Even optimists know sunny skies grow dark quickly. Plans derail. Teams implode. Results disappoint. Talent moves on. Mistakes escalate. Crisis erupts. Skillful leaders turn challenges into opportunities. Here are the 10 simplest ways to turn challenges into opportunities that I can think of this morning.

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Crisis Planning Skills Team 232

Leadership Freak

MARCH 7, 2024

Insecure people are conformists. Doubt produces caution. It’s easy to manage insecure people. Do you really want to enable boldness? Bold people resist being managed.

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Resistance Management Leadership Development Development 253

Leadership Freak

MARCH 5, 2024

If unethical office politics turn your stomach, good. But office politics exist wherever people work. What is ethical office politics? Learn the four dimensions of office politics and suggestions for success. You can't thrive in organizations by putting your head down and ignoring people.

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Politics Ethics Organization Succession 248

Leadership Freak

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

It's stressful to host a crucial conversation. Not having it is worse. Every day is dark when you delay difficult conversations, but most of us do. Timely action increases success and lowers stress.

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Tips Stress Succession Leadership Development 255

Leadership Freak

JANUARY 2, 2024

“Why will no man confess his faults? Because he is still in their grasp.” Seneca Smart leaders love correction. When you hate correction, you love grappling with the same faults over and over and over.

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Leadership Development Development Leadership 260

Leadership Freak

MARCH 1, 2024

You can hate 20% of your job and still love your job. Over the years I asked managers how much of their job they could hate and still love their job. The number hovers around 20%. Unrealistic expectations ruin satisfaction. The formula to love your job is 20-60-20.

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Management Leadership Development Development Leadership 249

Leadership Freak

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Thin relationships make everything slower, harder, and less fulfilling. Successful leaders strengthen relationships between others. They also know how to strengthen relationships with others. In this post: The #1 commitment to strengthen relationships. Personal and team conversation starters.

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Commitment Team Succession How To 251

Leadership Freak

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

The world is ugly when you're filled with discontentment. Discontent with the past drags you into helplessness. But discontent with the present is opportunity to change the future. Contentment isn't passivity. This post offers 7 practices that move leaders toward the right kind of discontentment.

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Content Leadership Development Development Leadership 248

Leadership Freak

APRIL 16, 2024

My friend Glen Van Peski's book is released today. "take less. do more." I couldn't be more delighted to host today's guest post. His story energizes me. Glen is providing 20 books for Leadership Freak readers. Leave a comment on today's post to become eligible. I highly recommend Glen's book.

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Leadership Books Leadership Development Development 216

Leadership Freak

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

Beginnings shape endings. Lack of preparation allows toxic habits to contaminate one-on-ones. Poorly done one-on-ones are a destructive waste of time. Don't bother having one-on-ones if you aren't going to prepare. Here are 7 ways to prepare for one-on-ones like a pro.

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Leadership Development Development Leadership 247

Leadership Freak

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

One leader said, "I realized my supervisors weren't supervising because I was doing it for them. Don't handicap people. Be the reason people step up.

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How To Delegation Leadership Development Development 261

Leadership Freak

APRIL 11, 2024

Willy Wonka built a land of pure imagination and so do you. Decisions are shaped by imagination. Evan a logical list of pros and cons is based on imagined eventualities. Your view of the future explains how you live today. Leaders imagine the future.

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Leadership Power Leadership Development Development 222

Leadership Freak

MARCH 15, 2024

What's the difference between vulnerability and oversharing? The people who change us let themselves be seen. How can you let yourself be seen? How much is too much? I decided to focus on being vulnerable like a leader in this post.

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Leadership Development Development Leadership 238

Leadership Freak

APRIL 17, 2024

Moses spent 40 years in the desert. Nelson Mandel spent 27 years in prison. In the 1930, Winston Churchill was marginalized because he warned England about Hitler. The wilderness is an inner experience, not a place. 4 strategies when life feels uphill.

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Strategy Leadership Development Development Leadership 209

Leadership Freak

JANUARY 19, 2024

You dangle at the end of the rope because of grit gone bad. The people who climb the highest get the most help. Seek help before you need it. Here's how.

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Leadership Development Development Leadership 270

Leadership Freak

APRIL 18, 2024

Pockets of energy are your future. Some areas of work are back holes. You pour energy in but get nothing back. Pour energy into energy. When fire flares up pour gas on it. You can't pull back and move forward at the same time.

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Energy Leadership Development Development Leadership 202

Leadership Freak

MARCH 27, 2024

I bet you had a conversation that changed the trajectory of your life. How can you lead life changing conversations. It's not always predictable, but some skills make it more likely. How to lead one-on-ones that change lives.

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How To Skills Leadership Development Development 228

Leadership Freak

JANUARY 3, 2024

The path to your best self requires self-awareness. Self-awareness hinges on self-reflection. Self-reflection enables self-discovery. Here's how.

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Self-aware Leadership Development Development Leadership 271

Leadership Freak

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

Dear Dan, I have a new manager that has been with our department for a little over a year now and she never gives direct feedback. She told me that I’m doing an excellent job. I’m looking for more than that. Any suggestions?

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Management Leadership Development Development Leadership 238

Leadership Freak

JANUARY 16, 2024

You don’t think straight when emotions are high. Self-distancing enables a new way of seeing. LeBron James used self-distancing when he left the Cleveland Cavaliers and went to the Lakers. More.

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Leadership Development Development Leadership 242

Leadership Freak

MARCH 14, 2024

“The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way.” John Ruskin You do not see like a leader until you see yourself. Here are some suggestions you can use today.

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How To Leadership Development Development Leadership 230

Leadership Freak

JANUARY 23, 2024

82% struggle holding people accountable. Probably you do to. Here are 10 fundamental principles for holding people accountable. Do you know where accountability begins? The missing ingredient of accountability is #10 on the list.

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Leadership Development Development Leadership 240

Leadership Freak

MARCH 8, 2024

You hear more bellyaching when you passively listen to complaints about others. Complaints about others might be self-serving or spoken from genuine concern. Today I offer 4 responses when you hear complaints about others.

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Leadership Development Development Leadership 231