perception

Monday Morning Leadership Q&A – 3/20/17

Today’s Question: What is a personal brand and do I need one? I first heard of a personal brand years ago when someone came to speak at a personal development session that I attended. I wasn’t sure what it was and didn’t know if it was important for me to have one. Generally brands are thought of in terms of a company or product. Brands will leverage a commercial jingle, symbols or product design to set themselves apart from…
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Monday Morning Leadership Q&A – 2/27/17

Today’s question: “The team that I took over has had little to no exposure in front of senior management. I know I need to help them get visibility. Where do I start?” This type of situation has happened to me. I took over a team that had been given no opportunities in front of senior management and they were only allowed to interact with people on the phone. They were doing a lot of good work but no one knew…
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Networking Unlocks New Opportunities

Does the word networking have a negative connotation for you? For me, it triggered me a bit. It was like that uncomfortable feeling on the first day of school. Do you remember that moment? You walk into the classroom, without knowing anyone yet and you must find ways to make friends. I don’t know if it was any easier back then, but we all figured it out somehow. Networking from a place of scarcity. Connecting with new people was still…
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Three Things That Leaders Need to Focus on Each Week

I met with a Director about the results of a leadership assessment that she recently completed which included direct feedback from her peers, direct reports and management. In that conversation, we also talked about the feedback that her manager had shared with her… she wasn’t communicating or acting like a Director. She was obviously concerned about the feedback and couldn’t understand what she needed to do differently. We talked about what she was focused on and she shared some of…
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Your Imperfections Are What Make You Perfect

We have all grown up with programming and messages from our families, teachers, media, society, culture, etc. that tell us what we are “supposed” to do in our lives. Some of these messages may include: get good grades, go to a good school, get a good job, get married, have children, save for retirement, follow the rules, don’t talk back, respect your elders, etc. You get the gist of the messages that we have all heard and internalized over many years. Those messages…
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