Leadership

Susan M Barber Coaching & Consulting, LLC > Blog > Leadership

Don’t turn me in. I am an Impostor!

I heard an interesting podcast today on the subject of being an impostor.  This is something that many people feel throughout their career.  Here are some of the questions that go through an impostor’s mind: “What if people find out I don’t know everything that I should?  What if they realize I am not ready for this role and they shouldn’t have given me the job?”   Does this sound like you? Surprisingly this happens to many high potential people, especially…
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Are You Ready to Dream Big?

My husband and I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) tonight.  If you haven’t heard of them before, they are a group of singers, musicians, songwriters and storytellers that tour at Christmas time.   They have been playing rock music with a combination of art, stories and visual effects for the past 21 years.  They play some traditional Christmas music, as well as their own songs.   Many of the songs are so great that they don’t even require lyrics or…
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Do you Want to Build a Snowman?

  Christmas is officially on the way.   We put up the decorations in the house, baked some holiday chocolate chip cookies and then it snowed about 5 inches throughout the day and night.   I may be in the minority here, but I totally love the first snowfall.  There is nothing better than when you can just watch it as it comes down which turns everything white.  One of my favorite things is when you first walk outside in the snow…
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Lessons to Share With My Younger Self

Have you ever thought about what kind of advice you would give to your younger self?    The advice could be about relationships, career and just life in general.  There is a whole long list of things that I would share with my younger self if I could.  I guess this is why they say “if I could only go back in time with what I know now.”  Would your current experiences, education, and knowledge help you make better decisions and…
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How Connected Are You?

Take out your smart phones or laptops and look at your social media accounts.  Many people judge their status on social media by how many friends they have on Facebook or Snapchat, Connections on LinkedIn and Followers on Twitter or Instagram.  Hard to believe that not so long ago none of these things existed including the internet.   (My children still don’t believe I didn’t have a cell phone or laptop when I was growing up!) Now take a look at…
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How can I get my motivation back?

  Monday is the first day back to work for many people after the holiday weekend.  Many people traveled over the holiday and had four days off.  Enjoying family, eating way too much and shopping with the zillions of people at Black Friday Sales takes a lot out of you.  The time off went very quickly and now it is time to head back to work and school which will be a challenge for everyone. By the time that you…
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Do you see Feedback as a Gift?

If your company follows a traditional calendar then you and your team are probably preparing for performance review time.   For those maybe not familiar with that term, it is the time of year where management will give a formal review of their employee’s performance.   Theoretically, if the leader is giving feedback throughout the year, then this should not come as a surprise to the person receiving the review. Unfortunately, many leaders are not doing this on a consistent basis.  There…
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What are the beliefs that you have about yourself?

I was working with one of my clients the other day and he shared that he didn’t think he had what it took to perform a senior level role.   This is a person who has accomplished a lot in his career.   Even though we detailed out his background and all the things that he accomplished, he still struggled to feel like he was qualified.   This is how strong a belief can be for a person.  Even with all the facts…
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Are you setting a good example for your team?

“The most powerful leadership tool you have is your own personal example.” -John Wooden This quote was a good reminder to me that leaders have to set the tone no matter what is going on in the organization.    Change is a constant and leaders are getting new information to process all the time.  They need to discern if it is something to act on, share with their team, communicate to the rest of the organization or keep it to themselves.  …
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What makes a leader, a leader?

Have you ever considered the question, what makes a leader a leader?   By definition, a leader is “a person who leads a group.”    So that would say that when you have a group of people reporting to you, then you are a leader in the most formal sense of the word.   How would you describe yourself?  Are you a leader? I worked in an organization that felt a bit differently than that regarding the term leader.   Everyone was considered a…
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