Blanchard LeaderChat

In this exciting episode, Alexa Shoen shares secrets for finding your first job—or your dream job—from her new book, #EntryLevelBoss. She calls her approach a "fitness plan" for looking for work, with the goal of helping people go through the job search process as efficiently as possible.

Shoen believes there are 14 incorrect beliefs that stymie our job search efforts and she challenges us to reconsider those assumptions. For example, many people believe they need the right degrees to get the right job. They spend thousands of dollars on schooling when they should have focused on getting practical experience. It's not that an MBA isn't a good thing—but sometimes jumping on the first rung of the ladder to get the experience can be more important than getting more educated.

Before you start your job search, Shoen wants you to answer three questions:

• What kind of role do you want?
• Where do you physically want to work?
• What industry do you want to work in?

Don't just throw your resume out there—answer these questions and create a list of possible employers. Then plan a strategy for making connections with those companies. Shoen reveals a few creative methods for tracking down people who can help you find that perfect job.

Most important, Shoen advises you to focus on being interested instead of looking interesting. Find out enough about the company to know what kind of problem you can solve for them. Think about what you can bring to the job on day one that will set you apart from other candidates.

About Alexa Shoen

For more information about Alexa Shoen, go to www.entrylevelboss.com.

In this week's podcast, you'll hear Brendon Burchard explain why and how some people perform at a higher level than others. He identifies six habits successful people practice to sustain long-term achievement in their personal and professional lives.

1. Seek clarity. Successful people continually seek clarity. They are curious and ask questions. They are intentional about understanding how they are perceived by others and about the specific differences they want to make.
2. Generate energy. So much mental, emotional, and spiritual fatigue exist today that we all must take control of our own energy. High performers develop routines such as meditation or other wellness practices to increase their energy throughout the day. They practice the exercise of releasing tension and they set their intentions before starting a project or activity. They create transitional moments to refuel their bodies and minds, and to increase creativity and focus.
3. Raise necessity. High performers amp themselves up to do a good job. Before any situation, they define why it is important to excel, and they increase the psychological stress on themselves. They understand who and what they are performing for, and strive to be their best.
4. Increase productivity. Focus is the key to increasing productivity. High performers don't do something just so they can cross it off their list. They continuously determine the most important work they should be doing—and then they intentionally block out time for that work in order to achieve their most critical goals.
5. Develop influence. High performers influence others by asking them to think about things differently and to challenge themselves. When you think about someone who influenced you, you'll realize they probably challenged you in the same way.
6. Demonstrate courage. Demonstrating courage doesn't have to be a Herculean feat. Practical things done on a daily basis help people perform at higher levels. Speaking up for yourself, sharing your truth, and speaking up for others are all acts of courage.

As Burchard explains, "The things that matter most to your performance might seem like common sense, but they are not common practice. You must identify the things that make you extraordinary and align the right habits to help yourself become a higher achiever."

About Brendon Burchard

For more information on Brendon Burchard, visit www.brendon.com

In this episode, hear Keith Ferrazzi explain the new rules for work presented in his latest book, Leading Without Authority. The days of authoritative command and control are gone. "Work doesn't happen in organization charts anymore. Leaders need to learn the power of co-elevation to bring collaboration to a higher level of effectiveness," says Ferrazzi.

When a leader thinks of themselves as a servant, host, or Sherpa, their role changes to one that focuses on working hard to get the most out of a group of individuals. If the whole team is committed to the mission and to each other, extraordinary and transformative things happen.

A team isn't necessarily a group of people in the same department reporting to the same person. Today's teams are made up of peers working together across functions to achieve results. Co-elevation requires a shift in mindset and behaviors. Ferrazzi shares how to re-contract with colleagues to define new ways to work together collaboratively and offers bold solutions you can put into practice tomorrow.

Now more than ever before, it is critical for individuals to step up and lead even if they don't have the title, the authority, or the position. It might not be comfortable at first, because it will be disruptive. But disruption drives innovation. The true power behind co-elevation breaks down silos and gets people focused on crossing the finish line together.

For more information about Keith Ferrazzi, go to www.keithferrazzi.com. To access the handout mentioned in the podcast, go to www.keithferrazzi.com/leaderchat.

In this episode, hear leadership expert Dave McKeown challenge leaders to break the cycle of mediocrity and take responsibility for their own development. In his latest book, The Self-Evolved Leader, McKeown acknowledges that it is easy for leaders to get stuck in the busyness of the day-to-day and allow themselves to be disrupted at any time. Leaders need to spend less time taking care of every little detail and more time developing, inspiring, and encouraging their staff.

In this compelling episode, you'll hear La'Wana Harris share timely thoughts about her new book, Diversity Beyond Lip Service. She explains how she works with leaders to help them become aware of their own biases and how to make conscious choices that mitigate bias in order to embrace diversity. Harris defines diversity as the full spectrum of human indifference including race, gender, and sexual orientation. But she also points out other differentiators such as cultural elements, position or role status, privilege, and physical abilities that limit inclusion.

La'Wana's executive coach experience has provided many opportunities for her to work with people to first build their awareness of biases, then do the self-work to move forward with actions that have a positive impact. She encourages us to commit to courageous actions and speak up when we see someone being marginalized. The action is to not ignore what you are observing; instead, practice awareness, point out the discrepancy, and be part of the solution. This is the only way to move beyond supporting diversity only through lip service. It takes a long-term commitment to action.

Diversity is an issue that must be addressed, and now is the time. "There are no extra people—every single person has inherent value and it is a huge disservice to ourselves and others not to mine for the greatness in everyone. We must help others become their best selves and fully appreciate the beauty in our diversity," explains Harris.

For more information on La'Wana Harris, go to lawanaharris.com or find her on LinkedIn.

In this episode, Mark Johnson describes a method for putting visionary thinking and processes into place so that any organization can take advantage of disruptive innovation. As business models change at an ever-increasing rate and the world becomes noisier, the tendency for most organizations is to hunker down and deal with the here and now. But it is important to get past the pull of the present and plan for five to ten years in the future.

In this episode you'll hear Joel Peterson, chairman of JetBlue Airways, discuss the difference between an entrepreneur and an entrepreneurial leader. In his latest book, Entrepreneurial Leadership: The Art of Launching New Ventures, Inspiring Others, and Running Stuff, Peterson explains that leaders who want to make a lasting impact must learn to launch new initiatives, inspire others, and champion innovative approaches. In short, these leaders require a new set of skills.

Judd Hoekstra, coauthor of Who Killed Change, explains why up to 70 percent of change efforts fail. Research indicates there are several predictive reasons why change fails, and Hoekstra explains how to navigate through the process successfully. He also describes three of the five stages of concern that people experience during a change initiative.

"If leaders know that showing gratitude and appreciating the work of their employees is important, why aren't they doing it consistently?" asks Adrian Gostick, organizational culture expert and cofounder of The Culture Works. In this episode, hear Gostick talk about research his company conducted with more than one million employees that confirms the strong relationship between employee recognition and employee engagement. He explores the myths that are holding people back in his latest book, Leading with Gratitude, coauthored with Chester Elton.

Hear motivation expert Susan Fowler describe the three basic needs that are essential to optimal motivation: choice, connection, and competence. She explains we all need to create these three needs in our lives in order to thrive.

• Creating the basic need of choice can be as simple as recognizing that we have a choice. Have you ever wished you didn't have to go to work in the morning? That is a choice point. When that happens, ask yourself what would happen if you didn't go to work—what would you lose? Then ask yourself what you would learn and contribute if you did go to work. Thinking about those things will help you plan and understand that you do have a choice. Fowler recommends that at the end of each day we ask ourselves which choices made us happy and which ones didn't. This simple process makes us more aware that we do have choices, and it helps us look at consequences to ensure we make better decisions in the future.
• The need of connection is tied closely to values. If you say family is your number one value but you spend 80 hours a week working and missing family events, or if you say health is a value but you don't eat right or exercise, you might need to take a closer look at your values. The choices we make are true indicators of our values—so if we don't know what your values are, we'll have trouble creating connection in our lives. Defining our values is the first step toward creating connection.
• The third basic need is competence. This isn't necessarily about mastery; it's about learning and growing every day. Everyone wants to feel effective at managing professional and personal activities, but mastery doesn't happen overnight. Developing competence is about making progress.

The most important takeaway is that we can control the quality of our lives by controlling the quality of our motivation through the creation of choice, connection, and competence.

For more about Susan Fowler, go to www.susanfowler.com.