Leadership
How to create a healthy workplace culture
When we think about the makeup of a workplace, tangible aspects often come to mind: location, office space, number of employees, revenue. However, certain...
Leadership
Management
8 meeting commandants that we all need to follow
Designed by Freepik We all like to complain about meetings. Meetings are a waste of time, boring, inefficient, run too long, nothing gets accomplished,...
Inspiration
13 ways to re-energize your team
The Young Entrepreneur Council is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that...
Inspiration
The performance-values conundrum
Leading others effectively is a balancing act. A leader is charged with getting work done through others while maintaining decorum and possibly even creating...
Leadership
Evolve, not eliminate: Dos and don’ts of pivoting a company
There are many reasons why executives decide to pivot their companies, but the biggest one is by listening to customers and responding to their...
Inspiration
The high-potential ultimatum
These days you can’t go a week without hearing about the virtues of flexible schedules. They greatly reduce absenteeism and environmental impact, and spur...
Communication
Doubt: The kryptonite of public speaking
Everyone knows Superman’s great weakness: Kryptonite. It’s the one thing that’s guaranteed to suck away his strength and destroy his power. As public speakers,...
Management
14 things every employee manual should include
The Young Entrepreneur Council is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that...
Management
Lessons from 3 role models
I walked into our family room and caught my daughter and husband mid-conversation. The topics: discipline and responsibility, areas my daughter, like any 13-year-old,...
Leadership
Elemental and very essential boardroom manners
Image courtesy of Surachai at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Emily Post is one of the best known experts on etiquette and manners. But there are countless others...
Careers
The power of your leadership story
By thinking of your career as a narrative with a plot, characters, and an arc -- you can increase your awareness of yourself as a leader.
Management
4 reasons leaders need to share their knowledge
Tony Hsieh knows the value of knowledge sharing. The Zappos CEO could have kept his industry-changing standards for customer service, employee engagement, and corporate...
Inspiration
Career development vs. career advancement: Leaders need to understand both
Leaders tend to think career development and career advancement are interchangeable terms; however, these are two very different concepts.
Management
To succeed today, you need wisdom
Leaders place great emphasis on productivity, teamwork, focus and other catch-words to improve company efforts. In our race to get ahead, we may be...
Careers
Ethics and business success: A perfect marriage
There is no guarantee that doing the right thing will lead to personal success. In 30-plus years as an ethics consultant, I have seen...
Careers
Creativity: It’s what’s missing from career development
A significant investment is made each year on studies, training, portals and programs related to career development; yet, the return on this investment continues...
Leadership
Making your organization more fluid
This post is an edited excerpt from “When Millennials Take Over: Preparing for the Ridiculously Optimistic Future of Business,” (Ideapress Publishing, March 2015) by...
Communication
What “Shark Tank” teaches about the importance of communication skills
In the season 5 premiere of of “Shark Tank” (the TV show with an average of 6 million viewers), two brothers, both aspiring entrepreneurs,...
Communication
Building trust: It’s not a one-and-done deal
What role does trust play in employee engagement? It’s a fairly large one, according to this Towers Watson research. The study cites leaders’ ability...
Leadership
What’s the biggest challenge you face when leading a “rising star”?
SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. We run the poll...
Communication
The power of doubt: Finding comfort in discomfort
This post is an excerpt from “The CEO Report,” by Heidrick & Struggles and Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, based on...
Communication
Telltale signs of the most transparent leaders
It’s clear that transparency in the workplace creates a better office culture, but it is also vital to organizational success. It starts with having...
Communication
Unleashing the introverted leader
About 10 years ago, I was participating in a leadership program with area principals and other organizational leaders. As part of the training, we...
Careers
Political savvy gets you the promotion you deserve
In the beginning of my corporate career, I made a conscious effort to avoid office politics. I thought it was a waste of my...
Strategy
Constructive disruption — why Google, Uber, and AirBnB win
Today’s great companies win by disrupting stale industries. That is, the great companies of the 21st century destroy the status quo in ways that...
Careers
The big secret to being a better CEO
When you’re just getting started as an entrepreneur, you’re expected to wear a lot of hats. You’re a programmer and a designer. A financial...
Communication
Ditching your smartphone can make you a more effective CEO
In a world where 1 billion people use smartphones, many can’t believe that I run a company without one. They can’t imagine life without...
Management
How to work for a macromanager
No one wants to work for a micromanager. Micromanagers are control freaks, always breathing down their employee’s, telling them how to do everything and...
Management
Meetings: Decide what matters and who cares
This post is an excerpt from “MEETINGS MATTER: 8 Powerful Strategies for Remarkable Conversations,” (Jackson Creek Press, January 2015) by Paul Axtell. There is...
Small Business
What’s the best performance advice you’ve received from an employee?
The Young Entrepreneur Council is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that...
Leadership
Workplace sanity is within reach
Many organizations measure how satisfied customers are with their products, services and with the customer-service experience. Those organizations may not do much with the...
Small Business
6 ways to fund your new business
Credit: photosteve101 via Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) Getting a business off the ground is almost impossible if you don’t know...
Management
The future of business is fast
This post is an edited excerpt from “When Millennials Take Over: Preparing for the Ridiculously Optimistic Future of Business,” (Ideapress Publishing, March 2015) by...
Communication
Make a great first impression
“Because you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” – Head and Shoulders dandruff shampoo commercial. One rainy day during the...
Strategy
3 forgotten ways to boost creativity
Highly structured lives, busy schedules and constant communication mean that employees today have less of a propensity to be creative. We think we have...
Management
How to give a promotion you won’t regret
Meet Will. Will was recently promoted to a management position after working with his company for nearly five years. Although he initially seemed right...
Communication
What if conversations were action?
Josh is a seasoned leader who identifies with being introverted. As such, he prefers to stay in his office, head down, only looking up...
Leadership
Why everyone is talking values — and why they should be more than buzzwords
Lately, I’ve noticed everyone seems to be talking about “values.” From major brands such as Whole Foods, which launched its first national advertising campaign...
Management
The No. 1 way to retain great employees: Stay interviews
Don’t wait until an employee leaves to have an exit interview. Instead, keep your workers with a “stay” interview. This easy, inexpensive interview is...
Careers
The deeply flawed David Carr’s lessons in mentorship
Those of us who never knew or interacted with the late David Carr can do little to add to the tributes from the past...
Communication
Confident leaders invite dissent
Are you willing to be around people willing to push back?
Careers
3 transitions that turn good leaders great
Every leader had to start somewhere. That’s true about the shift supervisor on the shop floor and the head of a multinational corporation. Rarely...