Next Level Blog

JANUARY 19, 2017

Since writing the first edition of The Next Level in 2006, I’ve coached, spoken with, and observed thousands of leaders in action. Many of them have been good leaders. Some have been great leaders. The great ones have one big thing in common. They don’t just lead at their best; they live at their best. They understand that to lead others effectively, they first have to lead themselves effectively. Great leaders practice and exhibit strong personal leadership.

Development 101

Development Leadership Self-aware Operations 101

Next Level Blog

JUNE 6, 2017

When we were kids, summer was something that stretched out ahead of us with the promise of fun and play. When we join the working world, we still greet the longer days and warmer weather of the season with gusto, but, paradoxically, it can be the busiest and most hectic time of the year for many of us. With co-workers on vacation, we’re often on backup duty while also managing our own daily work.

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Objective Delegation Leadership Definition 58

Next Level Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

Delivering his monologue after the midterm elections last week, David Letterman was talking about President Obama’s low approval ratings and landed a great line: “Take a look at this: gas under $3 a gallon – under $3 a gallon. Unemployment under 6%, whoever thought?

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Marketing Leadership 154

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

No doubt, you’ve heard all about it by now. It’s the end of the Academy Awards ceremony and Hollywood icons Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway have just announced that Best Picture goes to the popular musical La La Land. The producers and cast joyfully come on stage to accept their Oscars and make their speeches. The main producer, Jordan Horowitz, goes first and then, as his co-producers start giving their thanks, the hub-bub begins. Guys with headphones are scrambling around the stage.

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Document Film Mentor Definition 76

Next Level Blog

AUGUST 28, 2014

One of the biggest shifts that most rising leaders have to make is the shift from being the go-to person to someone who builds teams of go-to people.

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Delegation Development Operations Team Building 153

Next Level Blog

JULY 20, 2015

Every so often you hear a story that’s the exception that proves the rule. In this case, the rule is don’t compare yourself to others; just do your best and play your own game. The exception is the story that David Duval shared this past weekend at the British Open.

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Comparison Report Career 116

Next Level Blog

DECEMBER 4, 2014

Over the course of my career, I’ve had the good fortune to have a number of mentors who have helped shape my life and career. I wrote about one of them in a pre-Thanksgiving post I wrote last week. I don’t think I ever set out to recruit a particular person as a mentor.

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Mentor Development Course Team Building 124

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 27, 2015

Back when we were co-teaching The Flow of Coaching module at the Georgetown Leadership Coaching Program, my good friend, hero and fellow Davidson College alum Frank Ball used to do a funny bit with a bottle of water. To make the point that coaches and leaders should coach people and not problems, Frank would put a bottle of water on the table in the front of the room and say, “This bottle of water represents the problem.” Then he would start coaching the bottle of water.

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How To Leadership 119

Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 24, 2016

If someone tried to force you to take a drug that was going to reduce your ability to mentally focus by 33%, you’d probably do everything you could to get away from them, right? Yet, the chances are you’ve already done that to yourself over the past several years. Your partner-in-crime is your smartphone. In a 2015 study commissioned by Microsoft , researchers found that the average human attention span has dropped from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to 8 seconds in 2015.

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Tactics How To Conference Survey 77

Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 31, 2016

What difference would it make if you really knew the people you work with every day? Not just knowing what they do at work and maybe one or two facts about their life outside of work, but what they really care about, are passionate about, worry about or laugh about? What difference would it make if you could find the person behind the professional? Chances are you’d connect with them more deeply, trust them more fully and work with them more productively.

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Workshop How To Leadership Travel 76

Next Level Blog

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

During the opening session of a new leadership development program last week, I asked the participants to share the biggest leadership lesson they’ve learned in their careers so far. There were a lot of interesting answers.

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Participative Influence Career Leadership Development 124

Next Level Blog

JUNE 10, 2015

One of the elements I love the most about our leadership development programs like Next Level Leadership® group coaching and Developing Leadership Presence is the peer coaching.

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Mentor Development Participative Leadership 110

Next Level Blog

MARCH 21, 2016

If you’re of a certain age, you likely recognize the name, Dr. Art Ulene. For 23 years, he regularly appeared as the medical expert on NBC’s Today Show. While he’s long since retired from that gig, the show still runs his 30 Day Weight Loss program every year.

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How To 90

Next Level Blog

MARCH 6, 2017

In the latest installment of the story that wouldn’t die, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced that the two Price Waterhouse partners responsible for the Best Picture award snafu will never work the Oscars again.

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Examples Class Film Tactics 59

Next Level Blog

JULY 27, 2015

One of the big reasons you need a vacation this summer is to take a break from the chronic state of fight or flight that an overworked and overwhelmed lifestyle generates.

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Workshop Leadership Strategy 103

Next Level Blog

MAY 18, 2015

In case you haven’t been paying attention, it turns out that Pope Francis is one of the most popular people in the world. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that he has a 90% favorability rating among U.S. Catholics and a 70% favorability rating among all Americans.

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Survey Leadership 107

Next Level Blog

APRIL 14, 2017

Then the trouble for United really began. The airline’s CEO Oscar Munoz issued a corporate-speak statement about his regret about having to “re-accommodate” some passengers on the flight. Then an internal memo he wrote to United’s 86,000 employees in which he sided with the flight crew and gate agents was released. That didn’t go over well and the outrage increased. It was at that point that Munoz’ statements evolved into a full mea culpa expressing “shame” over the mistreatment of the passenger.

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Airlines Leadership System CEO 53

Next Level Blog

APRIL 23, 2015

The title of this post is a question I was asked yesterday during an interview for the book summary service Get Abstract. Audio excerpts from the interview will be available in a few months.)

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Execution Books Leadership 106

Next Level Blog

DECEMBER 27, 2016

In working with and speaking to tens of thousands of leaders over the past 16 years, I’ve become convinced that if you want to lead at your best, you have to live at your best. The first goal is completely dependent on the second.

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Download Energy Workshop Travel 65

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

As I''ve been out talking about and coaching around the book for almost 10 years, I''ve recognized that I stumbled on to something deeper than I realized when I was writing The Next Level back in 2005.

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Resistance Career Skills Books 108

Next Level Blog

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

A few years ago I wrote a post called Three Reasons You Should Fire the Prima Donna. That one was about why leaders should be decisive in exiting high performing but totally disruptive members of their team. Consider this post the next level up companion to the Prima Donna post.

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Team Development Leadership Talent Management 132

Next Level Blog

JUNE 20, 2016

So, it was back in March of 1985 when I was dared to ask Diane Dougherty out on a date. She worked in an office across the hall from mine in a Washington, DC trade association. It was my first real job out of college and she was an intern in town for a semester. I was coming back from lunch with an older, married guy co-worker named Dick Loomis and Diane passed us in the hall. As she went past us, Dick said, “Wow, she’s cute. You should ask her out.”

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Goal Commitment Leadership Content 77

Next Level Blog

JANUARY 25, 2016

What if there were an inexpensive pill with no side effects that would cure many of your aches and pains, spark weight loss, give you more energy, leave you in a better mood, increase your mental focus, help you get more done and extend and improve your life? You’d line up for that, right? So, first the bad news and then the good news. The bad news is, to my knowledge, there is no such pill. The good news is you can get all of those outcomes without ingesting anything new.

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Hotels Energy Travel Training 85

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Last month, I wrote a post about how reducing the amount of sugar in your diet can dramatically improve the quality of your life. Today, I want to share a follow-up post about what you should eat instead of sugar. You may be surprised to learn that the answer is fat.

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Wilde Quality Video Follow-up 83

Next Level Blog

JULY 18, 2016

With everything that’s gone on and is going on in the world this year, it’s completely understandable if your fight or flight response has been on overdrive lately.

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Management System Video Quality 74

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 6, 2015

The title of this post comes from a comment made at a global leadership team meeting I was facilitating earlier this year. The purpose of the meeting was to review 360 degree feedback on the team and its members.

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Advice Globalization Review Team 104

Next Level Blog

AUGUST 3, 2015

Whenever we run a 360 or self-assessment based on The Next Level model of leadership presence, one of the lowest rated behaviors is usually “Gives others his/her full presence and attention during meetings and conversations.”

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Document Leadership 94

Next Level Blog

MARCH 7, 2016

If you’re in a leadership role of almost any type, the odds are high that you have to do some sort of public speaking on a semi-regular basis. It could be a staff meeting, a board presentation, a town-hall meeting or a conference keynote. Your public speaking possibilities are endless, really. Do you enjoy them or dread them? Nail them or muff them? It seems like most people dread them and usually don’t feel like they’ve nailed it after speaking in public.

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Audience Hotels Energy Conference 82

Next Level Blog

MAY 21, 2015

If you’re a leader in your organization, there will be multiple times in your career when you have to get a new team off to a strong start. One of the critical steps in that process is when you bring the team members together for the first time.

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Team Development Career How To 98

Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Before we go any further, this is not a post about the 2016 presidential election. I have nothing to add to the millions of words that have been written about the topic already other than, like lots of people, I wish it was over. So, this post isn’t about political talking points, it’s about leadership talking points.

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Brainstorming Definition Team Politics 67

Next Level Blog

JANUARY 2, 2017

OK, it’s January 2, 2017. Have you transformed yourself yet? C’mon man! What are we even doing out here, man? Time’s a wasting! Get busy! Sorry about that. I got caught up in all of the annual and predictable “New Year, New You!” hype we’re reading everywhere this week. Yes, this is the time of year when we are bombarded with messages saying now is the time to change whatever you need to change to turn your life around. Get organized. Lose weight. Quit drinking. Be nicer. Read more. Get stronger.

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Advice Tips Examples Team 60

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

When you think back on the best bosses you’ve ever had what stands out about those people? What do they all have in common? What makes a good boss great and a great boss a super boss? What does it take to be a super boss?

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Development Definition Career Books 81

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

What does it mean to really listen? As I’ve written here before , I’ve been focusing a lot on that question in my talks and workshops on mindful leadership. When I ask colleagues to sit with each other for just a few minutes to listen to each other speak about something important in their lives or something they’re grateful for, the process feels transformative for them. What’s really going on when we listen to someone else completely and without any agenda other than to connect?

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Conference Workshop Leadership Participative 81

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 1, 2016

In 15 years of coaching , I’ve worked with a lot of high-performing executives. When things go well, they run like a finely tuned Formula 1 race car. But life and humans being what they are, I’ve witnessed the occasional wipeout where, in spite of best efforts and intentions, an exec spins out and crashes into the wall.

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Engineering Creativity Execution CEO 81

Next Level Blog

MAY 2, 2016

With all of the different roles he’s played in the movies, Tom Hanks is as well qualified as anyone to speculate on what makes a hero a hero. From Army Ranger captain John Miller in Saving Private Ryan to astronaut Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 to the cargo ship commander Captain Phillips and, coming later this year, “Miracle on the Hudson” pilot Sully Sullenberger , Hanks has lots of experience going deep on what makes a hero.

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Ryan Leadership Planning Brand 75

Next Level Blog

APRIL 4, 2016

Today is my 55 th birthday. Yes, I said it. It’s part of my new policy of radical transparency. I’m now older than my parents were when Diane and I got married. Heck, I’m older than they were when we had, Andy, our first child. There was a time in my life when 55 sounded really old. Now that I’m there, I realize how relative that is. Old compared to what or who? It seems especially relative when I consider all that has happened in the five years since I turned 50.

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Workshop Licensing Stress Conference 77

Next Level Blog

AUGUST 9, 2016

Last night, Diane and I were watching the U.S. women’s gymnastics team compete in the opening round of competition in the Rio Olympics. The floor exercises were the most astounding thing I saw.

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Simon Energy Report How To 69

Next Level Blog

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

The coverage this week of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is a stark reminder of the impact his life and death had on the United States and the world. With the perspective of fifty years, it’s easy to argue for or against Kennedy’s strengths and weaknesses.

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Video Leadership 121

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

Last week, I had two reminders of how important it is to take some time to connect with other people and how we leave so much value on the table when we don’t. The first reminder was when I had a group of corporate leaders in a Developing Leadership Presence program we started last week take part in a transformational listening conversation on what they’re grateful for. As they sat in trios for 15 minutes, I heard laughter and saw tears of joy and gratitude.

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Leadership Development 77

Next Level Blog

MARCH 28, 2016

Last week, I was reminded of the value of old friends. While I was back in DC to teach in the Georgetown Leadership Coaching Program, I got to spend three days teaching with my dear friend of 13 (!) years, Rae Ringel. On one of the days we there together, I got to have lunch with another dear friend and mentor of 14 (!) years, Frank Ball. That’s the three of us in the picture that accompanies this post.)

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Mentor Career Development Leadership 74