Leadership Blog
Growth: The Great Leadership Separator
The number one quality I look for in a potential leader is personal growth. And that’s because without a track record of leading yourself, there’s no guarantee you can develop my team. I once asked a young woman I was interviewing for a leasing position with my...
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Accomplish More with Collaboration
I had never actually looked up the definition of collaboration until today. Intuitively, I understood early on that it had something to do with working with others. Playing nice. Teamwork. But as I grew in my career and spent more time with executive teams from...
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Embrace Change and Increase Your AQ
I remember in one of my early supervisor roles asking a job candidate, “How flexible are you?” I probably could have asked that question in a better way. But, regardless, her response, “Well I’m not very flexible, but I am adaptable,” should have told me everything I...
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Soft Skills are Key to Career Growth
Research conducted over 100 years ago by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation and Stanford Research concluded that 85% of job success comes from having a well-developed set of “soft skills.” It’s a wonder that HR executives today continue to struggle to find...
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Attend That Meeting with Intention
I have a love/hate relationship with conferences and meetings. Not for the reasons some people do. I pretty much enjoy any and all educational opportunities, and a productive meeting energizes me in a weird “stick-me-in-a-board-room-all-day-and-I’m-super-happy” kind...
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Quick & Simple Growth Plan Prep
The new year has almost become cliché for setting new goals and resolutions. Research published in 2002 the Journal of Clinical Psychology shows that just a month into the new year, only 64% of resolutions continue to be pursued. Should we abandon our attempts...
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Know, Show, and Grow Your Value
I have a news app on my phone for when I’m waiting in line, trying to sleep, or just killing time. I recently read these headlines that surprised me: “30 Steps to the Raise You Want” and “24 Steps to Get the Promotion You Deserve.” While I haven’t actually read the...
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Are You Where You Want to Be?
July came (and went) fast! It's time for a mid-year check-in on that personal leadership and growth plan. Remember that before we can effectively lead others, we need to lead ourselves. If you created a Personal Growth Plan for 2018, it's important to do a half-time...
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(un)Motivated
One of the biggest challenges in leadership is motivating unmotivated people. As a new leader, I used to struggle with this every day. Finally, my mentor and father shared with me what he believed to be the three reasons people don't do what you want them to do: They...
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Parenting Leadership Principles
I've been having a lot of conversations lately around the topic of parenting. Not surprisingly, there are benefits to both simplifying our parenting principles and not micro-managing the teams we lead. As toddlers, my kids had quite a few "do's" and...
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Time to Call an Audible
Standing there in the middle of the airport, I called the audible. I canceled the flight to Orlando and re-booked to Santa Ana. I chose to have three full days of rest and quiet. . . But why had this been so hard?
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Leading Through Crisis with Hope
What do you look like in crisis? More importantly, as a leader, what do you look to in those moments when a difficult or important decision must be made? Do you intend to imagine the worst-case scenario? Or are you more of a Pollyanna in the midst of difficulty? Some...
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