High Impact Leaders

Ever read a leadership or business book that everyone is raving about? The book has the newest, hottest tips for business success. But when you try to implement those new and trendy ideas, the ideas don't really provide the promised results. Well, Don Schmincke knows why.

Unlike other business consultants, Schmincke's background is not in being an entrepreneur or Fortune 500 CEO. He was an MIT  physicist and researcher. (Yup, if you ever watched The Big Bang Theory sitcom, he is one of those guys.)

As a top researcher, he began to question why the top business strategies have such a high failure rate. In this interview, he tells me some of the secrets to success he discovered by questioning everything in the business world. The interview is fascinating and has a few tips and ideas that you have probably never heard before.

Enjoy the interview called "90 percent of Management Strategies Fail" with Don Schmincke.

For more information about Don, visit his website at SAGA Leadership. (https://www.sagaleadership.com/)

This is episode number three of a three-part series called How to Keep People from Manipulating You.

In the last couple of weeks, I covered the first two stages of a manipulation.

In week one, we talked about the emotional appeal and how when we get angry (or some other highly emotional state,) we stop thinking logically. So, manipulators often start with getting the victim agitated.

Last week, we talked about step two, which was creating a fake villain. When someone is manipulating us, they are the villain. As a result, they have to project their actions onto another entity and create a fake villain.

When we finished last week, we explained how many of these villains are nebulous over generalities or vague descriptions -- not actual people. The mob, the deep state, or systemic racism is the cause of all your problems. But when you dig deeper, you can never uncover who the enemy really is.

What person or people are the leaders of the mob? Who in the beauacracy are the people that are described as the deep state. What system is racist? Is it the mayor? The police chief? The people on the city council?

This week, we are going to talk about the narrative. This is the story that is told to manipulate the victim. And typically, the narrative has some truth so that the listener can verify some of the story, but a lot of deception -- which will be harder to uncover.

We also finish with the seven signs of a con artist. If you see any of these signs, you want to be careful because someone is probably trying to manipulate you.

Show Notes: How to Keep People from Manipulating You (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/how-to-manipulate-people-7-signs-of-a-con-artist-you-need-to-know-to-avoid-being-a-victim/)

This is episode number two of a three-part series called How to Manipulate People. Last week, I covered the difference between manipulation and persuasion and what manipulators do to make the manipulation easier. I also gave you some examples from politicians trying to get your vote.

This week, I'm going to take you through the second step of the manipulation. In this step, the manipulator tries to create a fake villain or, in some cases, tries to make the victim the villain.  These are things to look out for if you are worried about being manipulated.

For those of you who don't want to manipulate others and who aren't concerned about others manipulating you, pay close attention to what I cover in this episode. Because there is a fine line between being persuasive and being manipulative. If you want to have high intgrity, it is easier if you understand what we cover today.

Show notes: How to Know When Someone Is Manipulating You. Part Two: The Fake Villain (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/how-to-manipulate-people-7-signs-of-a-con-artist-you-need-to-know-to-avoid-being-a-victim/)

The major difference between persuading someone or manipulating them tends to rely on who benefits from the action. For instance, manipulation occurs if I get you to do something that benefits me but harms you. The person who is manipulating often uses deception in the process. On the other hand, if the manipulated person benefits from the action, the term persuasion is often used.

Western law is based on Judeo-Christian principles of right and wrong. So, if you adhere to these principles, the difference between persuasion and manipulation seems obvious. However, if your morality or belief system is based elsewhere, the difference is a huge gray area.

I once hired an account manager who was incredibly charismatic and likable. In fact, she was one of my best salespeople for quite a while. After a while, though, I started noticing odd things happening with her clients. It started small. For instance, on occasion, she would “accidentally” charge the client a discounted price to close the sale. In others, she might charge the customer an inflated price to increase her commission. I remember having a few discussions with her about ethics and morality.

Eventually, I had to let her go. I found out later that she had previously co-owned a competitive company. From what I could determine, her partners had somehow cheated her out of her equity in the company. It is possible that each of the partners was somewhat shady. It is also possible that the first experience jaded her. Her mentality shifted to “cheat others before they cheat you.”

I tend to find that people who manipulate others have a seared conscience. They see others as being cheaters, so they see nothing wrong with cheating them first.

How to Know When Someone Is Manipulating You. Part One: The Emotional Appeal.

Con artists realize that the beliefs of people are more malleable in a heightened state of emotion. If you think about it, when we get really angry, we don’t think very rationally. I have, on very rare occasions, seen my sweet, amiable wife get so angry that she does something extremely out of character. (Forget that it is often me who caused this anger to be there in the first place. That is beside the point.)

Since people do act out-of-character when in a highly emotional state, con artists often use emotion to manipulate.

Show Notes: How to Know When Someone Is Manipulating You

This week, I interview leadership expert Amy Maybury about how to update your resume and LinkedIn profile in 2023. If you are one of the many people who have recently been downsized and are looking for a way to market yourself better, Amy's advice can be very helpful.

Want to show the world your expertise? In this session, Amy Maybury shows you how to update your resume. We also cover how to update your LinkedIn profile to show future employers that you are an expert in your field. Before we get to the technical stuff, though, Amy will show you how to avoid falling into the most dangerous resume trap out there. (Here is a little hint… Your resume should never be about YOU.)

Instead, you want to focus on the problems that you have helped employers solve. If these prospective employers know that when they hire you, they will have fewer challenges to deal with, you will put yourself at the top of the hiring list.

Show Notes: Update Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile for 2023 (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/how-to-update-your-resume-linkedin-profile-to-set-yourself-apart-from-the-crowd/)

In this episode, I interview Chuck Knabusch, author of the book Hope Is Not a Business Strategy. Chuck is an expert on management skills, and he helps small businesses create processes to grow into big businesses. 

Chuck's background was as an executive in a huge company. He spent his entire adult life in “operations,” managing everything from supply chains to production floors to systems integrations. His 30+ year career has ultimately revolved around taking charge, fixing systemic problems, and delivering lasting results for business owners.

Chuck has distilled all his expertise into a few simple ideas designed for leaders of small- and medium-sized businesses. In the interview, he gives advice on organizing time better, dealing with too many emails, how to deal with not having enough budget for a job, and much more.

For details about Chuck's book, go to Hope Is Not a Business Strategy.

This week, I interview Brandon Woodside of The Leaders Institute to discuss how to delegate effectively in 2023. The more virtual our world gets, the more difficult it is to delegate tasks to team members. Brandon has done a ton of research and has years of practical experience managing team members to increase efficiency and help entrepreneurs and business leaders gain back time.

Great leaders know how to delegate effectively and who to assign tasks to. But how did they learn how to do this? Is there a step-by-step way to delegate tasks so you can free up your time and empower your team? Well… Yes, but first, we have to change the way that we think.

In this episode, we cover a step-by-step guide on how to delegate effectively and gain back upwards of 20 hours of your week.

Enjoy the interview with Brandon Woodside.

Show Notes: How to Delegate Effectively to Empower Your Team & Free Up Time (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/how-to-delegate-effectively-to-empower-your-team-free-up-time/)

This is part 2 of a 2 part series on some of the best ways to build a team culture in the 2023 post-pandemic world -- especially since many economists feel like we are headed toward a big recession in 2023 and 2024. Those outside influences can affect your team and the culture of your organization pretty dramatically. Last week I covered a few reasons why doing some type of team activity (especially one that benefits your community) would be important in 2023.

This week, I'm going to give you my best team building tips for 2023.

Show Notes: Best Charity Team Building Ideas 2023 (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/best-charity-team-building-ideas-2022-fun-philanthropic-corporate-activities/)

The best charity team-building ideas for 2023 may surprise you. As teams continue to return to the office, we are experiencing never-before-seen team challenges.

For instance, let’s say you started a new career during the pandemic. It took a while to get into the swing of things. You were working from home for the first year. But now, you understand your job role. You know some of your coworkers fairly well. You also know who you report to, who is responsible for what, and what you need to do to advance.

In 2022, things started to change, though. The boss threw you a curveball. For the first time, you had to come into the office (at least some days every week.) So, for the last year, we’ve all been rebuilding our team cultures.

Now, the specter of “recession” is on the horizon.

So, this episode has two parts. This week, we cover a few reasons WHY you need to build your team culture. Next week, we'll give you a few tips to help you do it.

Show Notes: Best Team Building Ideas 2023 [Especially If We Enter a Recession] (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/best-charity-team-building-ideas-2022-fun-philanthropic-corporate-activities/)

Since the new year is coming up in a couple of weeks, I'm going to spend this week helping you create an effective Personal Vision statement. 

Now before you tune out, let me explain. This short 15-minute exercise is one of the most powerful ways to increase your income, improve your success, lower your stress, and just be happier in life. 

When you go through this little exercise, it will help you reduce fear when you make big decisions in your life. In fact, it can help you keep from making big mistakes in your life and push you to keep moving in the right direction -- Because you will know what direction to go. 

It is like using the map app on your phone to get to a destination. Except, the destination, in this case, is a higher level of success in your personal and professional life.

Your company probably has a company mission statement. Executives create mission and vision statements to give direction and move the company toward long-term goals. Why not create the same type of direction in your own personal life? You can easily create your own personal vision statement as well.

In this session, I’m going to give you step-by-step instructions on how to create a long-term vision for yourself. Successful people know that good vision statements can create positive changes in both their personal and professional life. Hard work will help you increase your success. However, an ideal vision statement can help you create a roadmap to accomplish your career goals more efficiently.

Basically, spending a little time clearly identifying your life goals will keep you moving on the right path. You’ll create a simple action plan for yourself. In my experience, having a good life vision is the most powerful tool in your toolbelt to lead to professional success.

The good news is that the process doesn’t take much time. It is fairly quick and easy. But it is also powerful. As you go through the process, I’ll give you Personal Vision Statement examples to make the process even easier!

Show Notes: Create a Personal Vision Statement for the New Year (https://www.leadersinstitute.com/personal-vision-statement-personal-vision-statement-generator/)