Archives for June 2013

Top 5 articles you must read on workplace innovation

June 28, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Image courtesy of renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 1. Keith Harrell's article, Attitude in the Workplace, in Success talks about some of the challenges people face today in the workplace. When was the last time your attitude, good or bad, made a difference?

  2. What is the perfect place to work? Here is an article showing some characteristics of a truly great workplace. 

  3. While some workplace stress is normal, excessive stress can interfere with your productivity and impact your physical and emotional health. Here are tips to reduce and manage job and workplace stress. 

4. This is one of the diciest challenges of office politics, one that invades the cubicle farm and executive suite alike: How to deal with workplace whiners.

5. "Don't just Hear- Listen." One of the tips for effective workplace communication. To improve communication within your team and throughout your entire company, you need to implement a few easy but important changes to your corporate philosophy and practice. 

 

Filed Under: generation y, innovation, Uncategorized · Tagged With: , , , , ,

5 Rules for Asking the Right Questions

June 27, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Image courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The key to generating the optimal solution is asking the right questions. Oftentimes, we are "married" to certain ways of thinking or asking a set of questions that end up causing us to fall into patterns of the past. Here are five tricks to asking the right questions for any challenge you are facing:

1) Understand your Assumptions: What are you asking and why are you asking it? What would you ask if you reversed your assumptions [i.e., When reimagining cars, what if you let go of your assumptions about drivers? Meet, driverless cars (thanks Google!)]?

2) Invite Openness: How do you invite others to help you think through the question? Instead of starting a question with "why not…" how about asking "what if…"?

3) Create Trust: Engage others so they feel they can be part of your questions. Ask: "How do you feel you are resonating with this question?" or State: "What I'm hearing you ask is…"

4) Stop being married to your questions: Practice asking more provocative questions: instead of "What's not working?", ask "If we were to achieve an outstanding service award, what would we celebrate"? (check the book Kill the Company by Lisa Bodell for more provocative questions). 

5) Understand the role that questions play: Questions are meant to explore, spark, inspire–they don't solve the problem. They help uncover the key instruments that allow for solution generation. Start at questions and use the thread of dialogue, dissent and discovery to uncover the solution.

Filed Under: generation y, inspiration, questions ·

MONDAY INSPIRATION: Babe Ruth

June 24, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Sumos | Dreamstime Stock Photos | Stock Free Images

Sumos | Dreamstime Stock Photos | Stock Free Images

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” — Babe Ruth

 

Best way to do this is by building your connections with those who can then steer you in the right direction and, most importantly, will never let you give up. 

Filed Under: inspiration ·

Top 5 articles you must read on Innovation

June 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

writing pen  1. Bryan Mahoney's article, Innovation Strategy goes on to identify top five strategies to address innovation, one of which entails the creation of culture of innovation by promoting and rewarding entrepreneurship and risk-taking.

  2. This article in Innovation Excellence by Paul Hobcraft expresses that organizations should not rely on a single innovation function, it must integrate with the entire organization.

  3. How does a company like Google continue to grow exponentially while still staying innovative? Susam Wojcicki, Google's Senior Vice President of Advertising, discusses some of the processes and principles in place to make sure that the company doesn't get bogged down in the past as it keeps moving forward. 8 Pillars of Innovation

4. Today, we’re on the brink of a new digital paradigm, where the capabilities of our technology are beginning to outstrip our own.  Computers are deciding which products to stock on shelves, doing legal research and even winning game shows. They will soon be driving our cars and making medical diagnoses.  Here are five trends that are driving it all. 

5. 7 Tips to Speed Time to Innovation: This article delves into the goals every organization should work toward to boost product development performance, looks at how these goals further a product organizations ability to bring innovative products to market, and outlines the ways that a Product Portfolio Management (PPM) Solution helps comapnies reach these goals. 

Filed Under: generation y, innovation, inspiration, leadership · Tagged With: , , ,

3 Hard Mistakes I Made

June 20, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Having been an entrepreneur (in many different forms) for a while now, I've gotten asked this question a lot: How did you build your business? The truth is I've worked on over 5 businesses this decade, some failed miserably, some a success. Today, I want to share the three hard leadership mistakes I made in my business career, thus far [ps–I know that I will have many more over time.]

1) Starting a business too quickly: In the past, I started a business way too quickly. I had business partners and didn't realize what it takes to build strong trust with people around me and make sure they were the right people. Also, I took on many projects at the same time thus getting nothing done. Be careful to say no to an offer even if you can't believe you got it–you'll get better ones if you keep striving and doing good work. What are you doing "too quickly"? What could you say "no" to this week so you can say "yes" to something else?

2) Letting emails overwhelm me: Email overload can be the worst. In the past, I've found myself dictated by a schedule by others rather than setting myself free to plan my work. Now I use applications and set core days and times for email responses–and I'm 10x more productive. Here are a few key ones I use: Self Control, Other Inbox, Boomerang, YouCanBookMe. What could you try to improve your email productivity?

3) Surround yourself by only the best for you: Why do Tony Robbins and Richard Branson hang out? Because as you grow and reinvent yourself, you need to continue to 'seed your garden' of relationships with people that inspire you. Over time, relationships must change–be around people that push you to be better, challenge you, and help you grow and accept sometimes you may need to let some relationships go. Who are the new people that inspire you that you'd like to connect with?

What are hard mistakes you've made? What have you learned from them? Tell us in the comments below.

If you enjoyed this article, get exclusive access to a FREE private collection of leadership and career tools by email here.

Filed Under: inspiration, leadership ·

MONDAY INSPIRATION: Henry Miller

June 17, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Aaleksander | Dreamstime Stock Photos | Stock Free Images

Aaleksander | Dreamstime Stock Photos | Stock Free Images

“The real leader has no need to lead — he is content to point the way.” — Henry Miller

 

 

 

Filed Under: inspiration ·

Top 5 articles you must read on Generation Y

June 14, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 1. Millennials aren’t fond of the top-down leadership style that has until now dominated the professional world, preferring instead to collaborate in teams. Here is a post about Millennials Who Quit Jobs To Get Ahead by Angelina Chapin in The Huffington Post.

 2. Penelope Trunk's article on Millennials in Quartz, discusses about the various traits of Generation Y that we don't know. Gen Yers are not risk takers, they are not conflict-seekers, and they are generally respectful of institutions and organizations.

 3. "The idea of work being an activity and not a place — that is more important to Generation Y" – Alsion Maitland. Generation Y is set to transform the way we work in the next 10 years. 

4. Are baby boomers more entrepreneurial than Gen Y? This article written by Charlie Osborne was published in SmartPlanet gives a comparison between Gen-Y, Gen-X and Baby Boomers.

5. Bea Fields's article, Marketing to Gen Y, gives us ideas on how to approach them and get their attention. Hang out with them, experience life with them, respect them and if you do, their outlook on life will change you.

Filed Under: Uncategorized ·

Three Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Actions

June 14, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Since action is ultimately what leadership is all about –  it’s remarkable how often we turn the work of action into a test of how much "we do" rather than an opportunity to enhance motivation, deepen commitment, and create opportunities for leadership development of others. When pursuing any important work, it is critical to "check in" to understand WHY you are doing work tasks, WHO you are developing, and HOW you are solving problems.

Here are three questions you must ask yourself to reflect on any work actions you do:

  • First, does it solve the problem at hand? Did you get done what you set out to do? Are there more books in the school, for example? Did more money get allocated to the business?
  • Second, does it strengthen the organization? Did it deepen understanding, build relational commitment, and generate new resources, people, and ideas?
  • Third, does it facilitate the learning of individuals who take part in the action? Did people learn, did they gain confidence, were they energized – or were they completely burned out?

​What are you learning from your responses to these questions?

If you enjoyed this article, get exclusive access to a FREE private collection of leadership and career tools by email here.

Filed Under: generation y, inspiration, leadership ·

My 2013 Commencement Address

June 12, 2013 by · 1 Comment

Sewickley Academy 2013 graduation ceremony. Photo by Jason CohnThis Sunday I had the distinguished honor of being the keynote commencement speaker at my high school, Sewickley Academy in Pittsburgh, PA. The theme of the address was to "Choose Excellence", to urge graduates to choose excellence, to pick a path and master it and to be the most inspiring version of themselves they can be.

Addressing my high school in a commencement speech was an amazing opening for growth for me. The truth is: I spent most of my high school experience treating myself as 'not good enough' and always felt it was awful to be 'the nerd' in high school. Then when I wrote my speech, I realized that so many of the "inspirational messages" I was writing were the things I had felt I needed myself. So, in essence, it was really a speech to myself, a speech to call myself to excellence and create space for the young graduates to do the same. It also made me realize that how easy it is to get stuck in an 'old story' about my high school experience, so many years later–which was finally transformed during the ceremony in a beautiful way.

What negative self talk from your school days still keeps you in your 'old ways'? If you were to write a speech to your 18 year old self what would it say?

Here's mine. 

2013 Sewickley Academy Commencement Speech

Filed Under: generation y, inspiration, keynote speaking, leadership · Tagged With: , ,

MONDAY INSPIRATION: William Shedo

June 10, 2013 by · Leave a Comment
Henrymao | Dreamstime Stock Photos | Stock Free Images

Henrymao | Dreamstime Stock Photos | Stock Free Images

“A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” — William Shedo

 

With the same token, leaders are those who can handle the storms by rallying the troops and who do not sit on the sidelines when going gets tough. 

Filed Under: inspiration ·
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