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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Opportunities come along every day, but are you ready for them when they happen? It would be great if you could predict what to know and when to be ready, but you can’t. All you can do is to prepare yourself as much as you can, be ready to learn on the job and from others who can mentor you. Let me share a story with you that illustrates this point. A football player named Jordan Howard played the…
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The beginning of the year is the time of the year to clean the slate and try new things. What things have you been thinking about, but haven’t put into action yet? What is holding you back? So many people that I work with have a lot of dreams and aspirations for change to occur, but are hesitant to try. So let’s clean the slate and try a new approach. Write…
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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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How many of you have thought about changing jobs or looking for a whole new career? I think that we all consider it when we are having a bad day, but how many people actually do it? I will share with you a bit about my story. I worked at the same company for 20+ years and had created a good reputation for getting things done, bringing teams together and as a leader who was a good people developer. I…
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It is the final game of the World Series tonight. The Chicago Cubs led for most of game 7 and then the Cleveland Indians tie it up 6-6 in the 8th inning, which forced them to go into extra innings. This could have caused the Cubs to wonder if they had it in them to come back from this adversity. Their usual closing pitcher is worn out due to all the pitches he has thrown over the last three days. Then…
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I am a big sports fan and wanted to share that two sports teams in Chicago had two big days this week. My Chicago Bears won on Monday Night Football. They have not had the best record this year, but I am happy that they did well and it helped me win in fantasy football this week. Tonight’s big event was seeing the Chicago Cubs Baseball team tie up the World Series! I am so excited for them and hopefully…
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Since it is Halloween, I thought it might be good to talk about things that are scary. No, I am not really talking about ghost and goblins, but what are the things that scare us and hold us back from moving forward? It is pretty common to be scared when you are trying something new. For example, I remember when I was little and I rode a bike without training wheels or swam in the deep end of the pool…
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My very first team leader experience consisted of managing 3 direct reports and 20 indirect reports. Since this was a new experience for me, I asked for advice from some people who had been managing teams. What did they do to prepare themselves to lead a team? I pulled together their ideas and came up with my plan. I asked myself the following questions: What qualities did I want to emulate or reject from my previous leaders? What are my…
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I recently sent out a survey to do some research on challenges that leaders have so I could build some coaching programs. Some of the responses included some questions about coaching and how it works. I thought it might be helpful to answer those questions here in this post. What is coaching? The International Coaching Federation who is the governing body of certification for coaches defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them…
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