Positive Leadership: Vince Lombardi

'The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.'

'The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.'

'Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.'

Vince Lombardi (1913-1970)

Positive Leadership: Vince Lombardi

Positive Leadership: 'Being The Best That I Can Be'

'To be the best I can be.' 

This is one of the phrases we hear most when asking what a client’s ultimate goals include. At the same time this phrase can either be considered an excuse or an amazingly powerful objective. 

If you use it as an excuse then it is likely you are already about as good as you are going to be. 

On the other hand if you are using it as a motivating force - a guiding star - then you are constantly looking for ways to get better. The “getting better” attitude means there is a constant tension between being dissatisfied with your current state and acknowledging the progress you are making. The getting better attitude has the following characteristics:

1. Errors are genuinely seen as learning opportunities.

2. Feedback is constantly sought. In fact you probably drive other people mad by constantly asking for feedback...and accepting and learning from it.

3. You are a ‘doer’. Working hard, monitoring your results and looking for affirmation that you are progressing.

4. You are prepared to try things which are different or non-conventional, provided the logic behind doing them is clear.

Do you genuinely hold the ‘getting better’ attitude? If you do, then good on you; you’ll find your competition lessens as you attain ever-higher levels of output and performance.

Positive Leadership: 'Being The Best That I Can Be'

Positive Leadership: Choose Your Office Friends Wisely

New hires often seek professional advice from colleagues of the same nationality or background as a means of settling into a new environment. But this reliance on compatriots can work against you.

For more, see: http://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-management/organisational-behaviour/are-you-becoming-clique-ish-2392

Positive Leadership: Choose Your Office Friends Wisely

Positive Leadership: Why Values-Based Leadership Matters

A thought-provoking look at why values matter more than ever to leaders in our complex, fast-moving world:

Positive Leadership: Why Values-Based Leadership Matters

Positive Leadership: Communicating in a Crisis

Chris Lehane, political strategist and Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer, explains how to effectively communicate in a crisis situation.

Lehane served as special assistant counsel to President Bill Clinton and press secretary for Al Gore's presidential campaign.

He co-wrote the book Masters of Disaster: The Ten Commandments of Damage Control with filmmaker and Stanford GSB lecturer Bill Guttentag.

Positive Leadership: Communicating in a Crisis

Positive Leadership: Developing Leaders

Positive Leadership: Developing Leaders

Positive Leadership: Psychological Testing for Recruitment

Picking ‘winners’ – some excellent insights from Arsenal FC manager Arsene Wenger on the importance of testing for motivation, intelligence and tenacity in young footballers.

Positive Leadership: Psychological Testing for Recruitment

Positive Leadership: Being a Great Team Member

Good teams have the skill to win games; the great teams have the skill and the will to win games! The will to get through difficult times!

Deep down inside we all know we can't do it alone. We know that Cup Finals are not won by individuals. They are won by a collection of individuals who make a great team. It's the same with work and life. We are better together when we are surrounded by great team members.  Here are none ways to be a great team member.

1. Set the Example - Instead of worrying about the lack of performance, productivity and commitment of others you simply decide to set the example and show your team members what hard work, passion and commitment looks like. Focus on being your best every day. When you do this you’ll raise the standards and performance of everyone around you.

2. Use Your Strengths to Help the Team - The most powerful way you can contribute to your team is to use your gifts and talents to contribute to the team's vision and goals. Without your effort, focus, talent and growth the team won't accomplish its mission. This means you have an obligation to improve so you can improve your team. You are meant to develop your strengths to make a stronger team. Be selfish by developing you and unselfish by making sure your strengths serve the team.

3. Share Positive Contagious Energy - Research shows emotions are contagious and each day you are infecting your team with either positive energy or negative energy. You can be a germ or a big dose of Vitamin C. When you share positive energy you infectiously enhance the mood, morale and performance of your team. Remember, negativity is toxic and will sabotage teams. Complaining is like vomiting. Afterwards you feel better but everyone around you feels sick.

4. Know and Live the Magic Ratio - High performing teams have more positive interactions than negative interactions. 3:1 is the ratio to remember. Teams that experience interactions at a ratio equal or greater than 3:1 are more productive and higher performing than those with a ratio of less than 3:1. Teams that have a ratio of 2:1, 1:1 or more negative interactions than positive interactions become stagnant and unproductive. This means you can be a great team member by being a 3 to 1’er. Create more positive interactions. Praise more. Encourage more. Appreciate more. Smile more. High-five more. Recognise more. Energise more.

5. Put the Team First - Great team players always put the team first. They work hard for the team. They develop themselves for the team. They serve the team. Their motto is whatever it takes to make the team better. They don’t take credit. They give credit to the team. To be a great team member your ego must be subservient to the mission and purpose of the team. It’s a challenge to keep our ego in check. It’s something most of us struggle with because we have our own goals and desires. But if we monitor our ego and put the team first we’ll make the team better and our servant approach will make us better.

6. Build Relationships - Relationships are the foundation upon which winning teams are built and great team members take the time to connect, communicate and care to build strong bonds and relationships with all their team members. You can be the smartest person in the room but if you don’t connect with others you will fail as a team member. It’s important to take the time to get to know your team members. Listen to them. Eat with them. Learn about them. Know what inspires them and show them you care about them.

7. Trust and Be Trusted - You can’t have a strong team without strong relationships. And you can’t have strong relationships without trust. Great team members trust their teammates and most of all their team members trust them. Trust is earned through integrity, consistency, honesty, transparency, vulnerability and dependability. If you can’t be trusted you can’t be a great team member. Trust is everything.

8. Hold Them Accountable - Sometimes our team members fall short of the team's expectations. Sometimes they make mistakes. Sometimes they need a little tough love. Great team members hold each other accountable. They push, challenge and stretch each other to be their best. Don’t be afraid to hold your team members accountable. But remember to be effective you must built trust and a relationship with your team members. If they know you care about them, they will allow you to challenge them and hold them accountable. Tough love works when love comes first. Love tough.

9. Be Humble - Great team members are humble. They are willing to learn, improve and get better. They are open to their team member's feedback and suggestions and don’t let their ego get in the way of their growth or the team’s growth. If we're not humble we won’t allow ourselves to be held accountable. We won’t grow. We won’t build strong relationships and we won’t put the team first. There’s tremendous power in humility that makes us and our team better.

Positive Leadership: Being a Great Team Member

Positive Leadership: Why Women Make Better Business Leaders

Positive Leadership: Why Women Make Better Business Leaders

Positive Leadership: Women Should be as Ambitious as Men

Tory Burch says women entrepreneurs should find their passion and be just as ambitious as men. She founded the Tory Burch fashion label in 2004. Her clothing line is now carried in more than 800 stores worldwide. She also heads the Tory Burch Foundation, which offers mentorship opportunities to women entrepreneurs and provides micro-loans to women-owned businesses. 

Positive Leadership: Women Should be as Ambitious as Men

Positive Leadership: Integrity is the Most Important Characteristic of Leadership

‘Integrity is the basis of trust. It is one quality that can’t be acquired. It must be earned.’ Warren Bennis

Corporate ethics has to be more than a buzzword or a slogan. A culture of integrity can be a major corporate asset with a value as great as a company's trademarks, patents, or brand name.  

Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, leads the most aggressive and successful criminal prosecutors office in the United States specialising in white collar crimes. He has led the insider trading prosecutions of Raj Rajaratnam, the head of a major hedge fund, and Rajat Gupta, former head of McKinsey and Company, and has never lost a criminal insider trading prosecution. His office has also prosecuted major Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, money laundering, and securities fraud cases, and has a particularly intimate view of the benefits of integrity as a valuable business asset. 

(For the full speech, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTv3e5iZNOM )

Positive Leadership: Integrity is the Most Important Characteristic of Leadership

Positive Leadership

Positive Leadership

Positive Leadership: Turning a Goal into a Question

Turning a challenge statement into a challenge question consistently turns the finger of responsibility away from others and back to ourselves. Someone “out there” is no longer responsible for solving the problem. Instead, someone “in here,” me, is responsible for making change happen.

The mere act of translation ratchets up a sense of personal responsibility for identifying and implementing a solution to a problem.

Try it!

Positive Leadership: Turning a Goal into a Question

Positive Leadership: Reaffirming Your Core Values Helps You Perform Better

People who thought deeply about their most important personal values committed 44% fewer errors in a button-pushing task than others, says a research team led by Lisa Legault of Clarkson University. Self-affirmation appears to alert people to their mistakes, allowing them to improve performance. Past research has shown that self-affirmation also offsets the ill effects of mental depletion and boosts self-control.

Positive Leadership: Reaffirming Your Core Values Helps You Perform Better

Positive Leadership: What Makes Apple Great

‘Apple has changed every day since I have been here. But the DNA of the company, the thing that makes our heart beat, is a maniacal focus on making the best products in the world. Not good products, or a lot of products, but the absolute best products in the world. In creating these great products we focus on enriching people’s lives—a higher cause for the product. These are the macro things that drive the company. They haven’t changed. They’re not changing. I will not witness or permit those changes because that’s what makes the company so special….Creativity and innovation are something you can’t flowchart out……Everybody in our company is responsible to be innovative…..We want diversity of thought. We want diversity of style. We want people to be themselves. It’s this great thing about Apple. You don’t have to be somebody else. You don’t have to put on a face when you go to work and be something different. But the thing that ties us all is we’re brought together by values. We want to do the right thing. We want to be honest and straightforward. We admit when we’re wrong and have the courage to change. And there can’t be politics. I despise politics. There is no room for it in a company…….I think we have a responsibility to make products that have a greater good in them……………we want to provide a product that changes people’s lives in some way.’ 

Tim Cook, CEO, Apple (From a BloombergBusinessweek interview) 

Positive Leadership: What Makes Apple Great

Positive Leadership: Influencing Up

David L. Bradford shares his top tips on how to influence your boss and overcome power gaps in his new book "Influencing Up". Bradford is the Eugene O'Kelly II senior lecturer in leadership (emeritus) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Allan R. Cohen of Babson College co-wrote the book. 

Learn more about "Influencing Up" : http://www.influencewithoutauthority.com

Positive Leadership: Influencing Up

Positive Leadership: Advice for Leaders Under 30

Positive Leadership: Advice for Leaders Under 30

Positive Leadership: Leading in a Crisis

“You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.” ~ Anton Chekhov

Those who excel under fire do so because: 

• They have the right values and beliefs. Great leaders live by a set of principles that guide them when the need arises. 
• They are inherently courageous. There is not an absence of fear, but management of it. Anyone who has overcome intense fright will tell you that there isn’t a better ‘rush’. 
• They are prepared. Their organisations are disciplined to assess threats and map out ways to deal with the crisis when it occurs. The CEO has to believe this day will come, and when it does, the company will be prepared to cope from the moment the crisis occurs to the point that recovery procedures begin. 
• They know how to communicate. Getting the right ideas into the heads of others is paramount. In the case of a recall or an environmental disaster, the first concern is public safety, not the financial interest of the shareholders. 
• They live and breathe the company culture. If the culture is right, the decision-making is much easier.

Positive Leadership: Leading in a Crisis

Positive Leadership: Happiness

Positive Leadership: Happiness

Positive Leadership: The Power of 'Thank You!'

Thank You!

There are two powerful words every leader needs to learn, know and use daily.  It doesn’t matter whether you lead a group of 2 or 200, these two words will change your team and the culture of your organisation.

When you express these words, generosity flows.  When you fail to use these words, it can send a negative message.  Its absence says, “I can accomplish the vision without you.  You don’t necessarily matter.  You are not essential.”

A leader is only as good as her people.  Just like a great coach is only as good as his players.  Do your players know you appreciate them?  Do they know without them nothing gets accomplished?

Thank you can change your team.  It can change the way your people come to work every day.  Your success is built on the hard work of others.  That’s a fact.  It’s true for every leader.

Are you grateful for their contribution and efforts? More important, do they know it?

Thank you helps a leader create a generous and grateful culture.  Everyone wants to be appreciated.  Everyone wants to know they matter.  Anyone can issue a salary cheque.  People want to know they make a difference.

Leaders set the tone and culture of an organisation.  If you want to have a generous and grateful culture, learn to say thank you often.  It’s free and has a huge ROI.

People don’t read minds.  If you don’t tell them they are appreciated, they may assume you don’t.  True or not, it carries a negative impact.

Five Simple Ways to Say Thank You

1. Details count.  Be specific with your thank you.  If you want impact, it’s in the details.  Don’t be vague and generic.  Be specific as to what they did and how it impacted the team, department or organisation.  Let them know you are grateful for their contribution and effort.

2. Let the public know.  When you give a “thank you” and praise in public, you create loyalty.  Your team will go through a wall for you.  Bragg about them in public and mean it.  It can have more impact than a monetary reward.

3. Be true and authentic.  If the “thank you” is not sincere, it doesn’t matter.  It has to be honest.  It can’t be over used and fake.  People will see through unauthentic praise.  It will have a negative impact.

4. Write it down.  People love to get encouraging notes.  Keep blank note cards in your desk or close by.  Every week, write someone on your team a thank you note.  Take a few minutes and write out a note.  Be specific and let them know what they did, how hard they work and what it means to the organisation.

5. Equal opportunity.  Your “thank you’s” need to reach the front lines.  The people who create and impact the bottom line.  Go deep down the organisational chart with the thank you.  It’s not just for high-level employees.  Practice equal opportunity praise.  Everyone makes a difference and helps you achieve your vision.  Let all of them know it.

There is tremendous power in thank you.  Create a culture of generosity and gratitude.  You are only as good as your people. They need to know it!

Positive Leadership: The Power of 'Thank You!'

Positive Leadership: What We Can Do To Help You

Positive Leadership Limited 2013 from Graham Watson

Positive Leadership: What We Can Do To Help You

Positive Leadership: The Ultimate Measure of a Man

Positive Leadership: The Ultimate Measure of a Man

Positive Leadership: Illusions of Success

Positive Leadership: Illusions of Success

Positive Leadership: Success Secrets

'Show up, speak up, look up, team up, dont give up, lift others up.'

From the power of presence to the power of voice, leadership expert Rosabeth Moss Kanter describes how to navigate through the process of making a difference in the world.

Harvard professor Kanter describes lining up partnerships, managing the miserable middles of change, and sharing success with others. She tells stories of great leaders and ordinary people who use the six success factors to show up, speak up, look up, team up, never give up, and lift others up. This is an up-lifting talk.

Leadership Expert Rosabeth Moss Kanter is a professor at the Harvard Business School, Chair and Director of the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative, and author of SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies CreateInnovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good.

Positive Leadership: Success Secrets