Inspiration
How to build passion in your employees
How your team members feel about their jobs, their leaders, their company and their customers drives their behaviors.
Inspiration
Inspiration
People want to see meaning in their work
Mary Kay Ash once said, “Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, 'Make me feel important.' Never forget this message when working with people.”
Inspiration
Behind every strong leader is a strong community
Everyone talks about community, but is yours really a community, or just a collection of people?
Inspiration
The 3 great boss secrets to recognizing employees
Few employees get enough praise and encouragement. Here's how to change that.
Inspiration
The 3 “Be’s” of leadership
3 simple steps you should be taking to be grounded, effective and grateful.
Inspiration
Temperament: What it takes to lead
Temperament is a strong attribute of leadership; those with a temperament that is more focused on others will be those who can lead the most effectively.
Inspiration
Why investing in an education model pays
Education sessions build new relationships, lead to new opportunities, boost recruiting, and even generate direct revenue.
Inspiration
Accountability is a team issue
You can't have a strong bench if you aren't inspiring your people -- and holding them accountable.
Inspiration
Plan Pink: What to do when Plan A fails
Molly MacDonald overcame a cancer diagnosis and financial stress to start a nonprofit for others like her. Here's her story.
Inspiration
Leaders as teachers
Managers can learn from teachers, who are a foundational influence on the lives of children -- and who they become.
Inspiration
Is intrinsic motivation at work overrated?
We know about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. But those aren't the only options for inspiring employees.
Inspiration
Confession: I was a benevolent dictator
This leader thought the job of a leader was to be directive -- i.e. to tell staff what to do. Here's how he recognized his mistake.
Inspiration
Lead with the power of emotional appeal
Peel away your mask, especially if you want to make your mark in the corporate world, where everyone is expected to wear a facade of some kind.
Inspiration
Here’s what great companies to work for have in common
What motivated employees 20 or 30 years ago doesn’t inspire today’s millennial workers. Attracting and retaining talented employees requires creativity, experimentation with benefits and work structure, and more.
Inspiration
Authentic leaders attract authentic people
What drives the president and former CEO of Annie's? What is his value system and that of the company's?
Inspiration
4 reasons to support workplace mentoring
Almost all mentoring initiatives start with a desire to develop and enrich employees, but the precise motivations that drive mentoring are as varied as the programs themselves.
Inspiration
How to foster workplace passion
In today’s rapidly changing business environment, companies need passionate workers because such people can drive extreme and sustained performance improvement.
Inspiration
Influencing people who don’t report to you
Here are five steps to help you persuade people whom you can't order to do something.
Inspiration
3 examples of corporate mentoring and sponsoring programs
Mentoring should not be improvised, but rather prepared and believed in throughout the company -- and supported by both women and men.
Inspiration
Employees are looking for inspiration
Looking to get to the top of your organization? You’d better work on your motivation skills. That finding comes from a survey by IIC...
Inspiration
Cultivate the “I trust you” style of management
“Don’t make me think about it!” That was some advice an executive I know shared with one of his direct reports. The executive was...
Inspiration
The power of joy
People need to be inspired, and they will only feel inspired if their leader is positively disposed -- and joyful.
Inspiration
You can win through trust, values and integrity — if you work hard enough
Sometimes I wonder whether all the leadership advice we put out here at SmartBrief is for naught. By that, I mean, is it true...
Inspiration
4 things great senior leadership teams do
Most executive “teams” are a group of individual senior leaders who meet on a regular basis to battle each other for limited resources.
Inspiration
Don’t waste your time — focus on your purpose
How do organizations appear when they lack a sense of purpose? Listless! Employees feel as if they are drifting on a raft without a...
Inspiration
Meaning is the key to high performance
It wasn’t snowing Saturday morning where I live. But still, it felt like a national snow day, and I spent the morning watching the ...
Inspiration
Your words have more power than you think they do
One of my favorite stories involves John Jay Whitney, the 20th Century financier who brought us Minute Maid orange juice (and Gone With the...
Inspiration
How good managers keep their workers smiling
This guest post is by Arte Nathan, a veteran HR professional with more than 30 years of practicing human resources, most of it as...
Inspiration
5 secrets of companies that execute well
This guest post is by Richard Lepsinger, president of OnPoint Consulting and author of “Closing the Execution Gap: How Great Leaders and Their Companies...
Inspiration
Advice for new bosses
This post is by Hank Gilman, deputy managing editor of Fortune. This article is inspired by his book, “You Can’t Fire Everyone: And Other...
Inspiration
12 ways to keep your employees motivated, engaged and unified
This guest post is by Arte Nathan, a veteran HR professional with more than 30 years of practicing human resources, most of it as...
Inspiration
Companies need to cultivate a culture of inclusiveness
This guest post is by Arte Nathan, a veteran HR professional with more than 30 years of practicing human resources, most of it as...
Inspiration
7 ways leaders can affect training’s return on investment
Kevin Eikenberry is a expert on leadership development, a best-selling author, speaker, trainer, consultant and coach. You can learn more about him and read...
Inspiration
Executive Time Management: 3 questions for evaluating people
Jack Welch, according to Fortune magazine, had another key priority as CEO of General Electric: evaluating people. Selecting, training, developing and evaluating people might...
Inspiration
Spotlight on Association Leadership: Air Transport Association’s Nicholas Calio
Nicholas Calio is president and CEO of the Air Transport Association, the nation’s largest airline trade association. Prior to joining ATA, Calio was Citigroup’s...
Inspiration
VIP Corner: Linda Hill on why your network matters as a leader
SmartBrief is partnering with Big Think to create a weekly video spotlight in SmartBrief on Leadership called “VIP Corner: Video Insights Powered by Big...
Inspiration
Habits vs. decisions: Why you do what you do
SmartBrief is partnering with Big Think to create a weekly video spotlight in SmartBrief on Leadership called “VIP Corner: Video Insights Powered by Big...
Inspiration
Building trust through leader communications
Miri Zena McDonald attended the 2012 International Association of Business Communicators World Conference in Chicago and is providing coverage for SmartBrief’s SmartBlog on Leadership....
Inspiration
Q-and-A with Michael O’Malley and William Baker, authors of “Every Leader Is An Artist”
Michael O’Malley and William Baker are the co-authors of “Every Leader Is An Artist,” which proposes a template of baseline leadership qualities and shows...
Inspiration
Leadership traits that inspire and innovate
In the business world, management and leadership positions are sometimes confused as one similar entity, but when looked at more closely, it becomes clear...
Inspiration
What Yahoo and Marissa Mayer did right (and wrong)
If you somehow missed it, a media frenzy erupted after Yahoo announced that it will bring telecommuters home to the office. Much of the...
Inspiration
Beyond authentic leadership: A question of vision
What are leaders for anyway? Half the time we’re disappointed in them, dismayed by their character flaws, disturbed by the mistakes they make and...