Peak Performance Leadership

Experts have long said that morning habits and routines are a pathway to achieving peak performance. If you study the great leaders of our time and those of before, a solid morning routine stands out as a common dominator. However, as of late the morning routine has been under attack from all forms of distractions and other things wanting to steal your limited time but more importantly your focus. 

The following are 8 morning habits for leaders to achieve peak performance by incorporating into their morning. 

Topics

The following are 8 habits which can kick start our day!

1. Avoiding the Phone
2. Exercise
3. Read
4. Eat a Healthy Breakfast
5. Journal
6. Plan Your Day
7. Practice Gratitude
8. Make Your Bed

For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:

https://movingforwardleadership.com/204

Gordon Bennett is an author, entrepreneur, academic, educator, and speaker. He comes with two decades of military service as an army logistics officer and years as an entrepreneur. Over the years he has held a variety of positions from executive to Commandant of the Canadian Forces Logistics Training Centre—the Canadian military’s national logistics training canter for all military logistics personnel.

He has been published in a wide variety of journals and the popular media on the topics of design thinking, innovation, creativity, logistics, and leadership. He was the lead author of the textbook, The Logistics Practitioner: Leadership and Fundamentals of Army Sustainment published by the University of Toronto Press and the French version by Université Laval. His most recent book Misfit Design Thinking: Using Design Thinking to Energize Innovation and Creativity highlights lessons learned and problem solving techniques from years of critical thinking and problem solving in a variety of situations. His next textbook is scheduled to be published in 2022.

Topics

During this interview Gord and I discuss the following topics:

• What design thinking is 
• How to execute Problem Discovery
• Why idea generation is important
• The structure of the design team and its importance
• How leaders can establish a safe culture within their design team
• The impacts a careerist can have on the design team and organization
• Advice for implementation and testing of solutions
• How to apply implementation and testing on non-physical solution
• Where leader fail in implementing the system

For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:

https://movingforwardleadership.com/203

Cassa Grant is the creator of Wonderbrand™ and Wonderleader,™ the coaching programs that help you SHOW UP as the kind of leader you’d want to follow. She helps her clients communicate better, get more buy-in, and feel really great about how they’re spending time in their business. They become confident leaders with unstoppable influence, unbeatable stories, and powerful personal brands. 

 Her techniques mix brand and storytelling strategy, performance coaching, and subconscious mindset work to help transform her clients from who they THINK they are into who they REALLY are so they can make their mark on the world. Cassa is a certified NeuroLinguistic Programming practitioner, life, and business coach.

Topics

During this interview Cassa and I discuss the following topics:

• What an off beat leader is
• How off-beat leaders can “own” who they are
• How to bring your personality to front as a leader
• How to adjust being a leader of former peers
• How to open communication with a superior in a different location

For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:

https://movingforwardleadership.com/202

A highly sought-after keynote speaker, educator and author, Gabrielle has worked with thousands of high-profile leaders from around the world and helped countless of Australia’s top 50 companies and multinationals to humanise their communications – Telstra, EY, Accenture, VISA, Australia Post, National Australia Bank, Amazon, Vodafone and the Obama Foundation to name drop a few. She holds a master’s degree in management and leadership from Swinburne University, an associate diploma in education and training from the University of Melbourne, and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education in both the Art and Practice of Adaptive Leadership and Women and Power: Leadership in a New World.

Gabrielle is also the bestselling author of Real Communication: How to be you and lead true, a finalist in the Australian Business Leadership Book Awards for 2019. Her other published books include Stories for Work: The Essential Guide to Business Storytelling (2017), Storytelling for Job Interviews (2016), Ignite: Real Leadership, Real Talk, Real Results (2015) which reached the top five on Australia’s bestselling business books and Hooked: How Leaders Connect, Engage and Inspire with Storytelling (2013). Her latest title, Magnetic Stories: Connect with customers and engage employees with brand storytelling was published by Wiley in March 2021. 

Topics

During this interview Gabrielle and I discuss the following topics:

• What’s the problem with acronyms and slang in organizations
• How they lead to confusion in organizations
• When and how leaders should use acronyms, jargon, and slang
• How to get teams and organizations away from using these poor communication styles
• Whether or not speaking directly is to be avoided or not

For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:

https://movingforwardleadership.com/201

200 Episodes! I can't believe I've gotten this far in my podcasting journey. Especially since most people "pod-fade" (i.e. stop producing) after 3 months or about 10 episodes. To reach 200 is definitely an accomplishment which I am proud of and plan doing more.

Topics

In this solo episode I talk about the three main lessons which podcasting has taught me in leadership:

• Never be complacent
• Trust but verify always
• Communicate how they need to hear

For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:

https://movingforwardleadership.com/200

2021 is all but in the books! It's time to reflect on the past year and check out the top 15 episodes according to you the listeners!

Mentioned Episodes

Here they are in order of appearance:

• 150 - Jason Redman
• 153 - Michael Hamilton
• 155 - Matt Comand
• 158 - Cathy Bush & Tara Peters
• 160 - Dan Pontefract
• 163 - Heather Younger
• 164 - Tim Ringo
• 165 - Mike Sarraille & George Randle
• 170 - Susan Fenneman
• 173 - Andrew Freedman
• 176 - David Horsager
• 182 - Likky Lavji
• 185 - Peter Economy
• 189 - Marc Polymeropoulos
• 193 - Bob Nelson & Mario Tamayo

For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:

https://movingforwardleadership.com/199

Sarah Wirth has over 20 years of experience in employee assessment, leadership development, sales executive coaching, and customer service. She began her career as a talent analyst for an international human resource firm, where she coached leaders in organizations ranging from small not-for-profits to Fortune 500 companies. When named chair of leadership consulting and a member of the senior operations team, she helped lead the organization to a 65% increase in revenues. In 2009, she joined a publicly-traded organization as the vice president of client service, increasing client contract retention by 36%. In 2011 Sarah came on board with the EcSell team as Vice President of Member Services, where she oversees member retention and all aspects of sales coaching, leadership and management research. Under Sarah’s leadership, EcSell Institute’s member retention has grown to over 94%. Sarah has a passion for leadership and its impact on the performance of teams. She takes an analytical approach to understanding the skills and talents of high-performing sales leaders and is constantly providing EcSell members with new methods for leading and coaching. Sarah has presented to executives from across the globe with organizations such as Mercedes Benz, Estee Lauder, Ritz Carlton, Cheesecake Factory and many more. Her expertise in coaching and leadership, combined with her fact based, common sense approach to their application make her a sought after presenter at any event. 

Topics

During this interview Sarah and I discuss the following topics:

• What makes an effective coach
• How to ensure you communicate effectively as a leader
• The 4 Growth Rings of personal and organizational development
• How to coach someone out of their comfort zone
• How to coach an individual to slow down
• How to prepare for a one-on-one conversation
• How to coach a team as a group 
• Common mistakes leaders make in coaching their members

For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:

https://movingforwardleadership.com/198

The pandemic altered not only the way in which we work, but also the relationships we have with coworkers. Now more than ever, both leaders and their teams crave deeper connection and more authentic relationships. But how can organizations accomplish this lofty goal — particularly knowing that it will require a reset of how leaders and teams interact? Leaders and team members must embrace a new mindset. They need to acknowledge that the leader-team relationship is more than a one-way service-oriented arrangement. Both sides need support equally if the relationship and what they do together is to be successful. Creating a new paradigm of partnership is possible through the development of a workplace covenant — consisting of vital behavioral and attitudinal promises that both partners agree to hold themselves to as a matter of personal and professional integrity. This process enables essential dialogue and engagement, which in turn helps create and continuously improve empathy, respect, trust, alignment, and — ultimately — partnership.

Since 1998, Dr. Silver has been the principal of Silver Consulting, Inc., an independent consulting practice, where he has worked with such diverse clients as: Alcoa, Alfred State College, Alstom, American Red Cross, Bausch & Lomb, Bosch Security Systems, Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU), Cannon Industries, Canterbury Woods Senior Living, Cape Cod Healthcare, Charter One Bank, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield, Genesee Regional Bank, Government of Jamaica, Harris RF Communications, Jewish Senior Life Nursing Home, Klein Steel, Manulife Financial, Ontario County Government, Pactiv Manufacturing, Rochester Catholic Diocese, Toshiba Business Solutions, Ultralife Batteries, University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), University of Rochester Medical Center, and Xerox Corporation, to name a few. His work has included consulting to senior management on such topics as cultural change, employee engagement, and customer loyalty; working with leadership teams to increase effectiveness and performance; providing clients such services as executive coaching, strategic planning, and organizational diagnosis; and teaching employees professional skills and strategies for workplace success.

Topics

During this interview Seth and I discuss the following topics:

• Why meaningful partnership is important in the first place
• How leaders can have the difficult conversation of figuring out how to establish a two-way communication stream
• How leaders can use the ERTAP model to level up their relationships
• The impacts of  poor alignment on the organization as a whole
• How organizations who value meaningful partnerships are able to weather crises better

For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:

https://movingforwardleadership.com/197

While leadership can develop to an extent through common sense and good judgement, there are a multitude of skills that must be learned and practiced for one to truly become a competent, exceptional leader. In its earliest stages, it is easy for the aspiring leader or executive coach to create an agenda that builds leadership skills: Take the lead, collaborate, chart a course, follow up, and revise. Be confident but not aggressive. After the leader masters the basics, the agenda gradually becomes murky and hard to detect. 

 For more than twenty-five years, Rick Tirrell, Ph.D., has helped leaders and mentors build their skills in publicly traded companies, privately held firms, nonprofits, and government organizations. His mastery of the art and science of leadership gives the aspiring leader an actionable toolbox for developing effective leadership skills. His seminars convert leadership theory into useful and achievable steps that every leader and mentor can take. His experience comes from working with frontline supervisors as well as the corner office. In his own leadership, he has founded and led two companies himself. His Ph.D. is in Psychology, and he is the author of the groundbreaking 2009 book, “The Wisdom of Resilience Builders.”

 Topics

During this interview Rick and I discuss the following topics:

• The inspiration behind his book
• The different rites of passage a leader will travel through
• What it means to be “all in” as a leader
• How to create followers as a leader
• How to keep up with the changing needs of your employees
• How to become a leader of leaders

For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:

https://movingforwardleadership.com/196

Crafting a clear agenda and attending to people’s states of mind can lead to far more effective meetings and build a sense of resilience and trust.Most team members aren’t fully present at meetings — they’re still processing thoughts and feelings from the meetings before. Creating an agenda that gives employees room to reflect and close is a powerful way to ensure employees are more present.

 Lisa J. Koss is the co-founder and a partner at Ontos Global. She has 25 years’ experience in global leadership, team development, talent management, executive coaching and design and organizational change initiatives. Her proprietary coaching model has been taught in 9 different languages across the globe. Her clients include Kaiser Permanente, ITT, Xylem, British Petroleum, Honeywell, Hewlett Packard, General Electric, Ernst & Young, and many more. 

 Topics

During this interview Lisa and I discuss the following topics:

• How she got into developmental coaching
• How to start becoming a manager-coach
• The difference between mentoring and coaching
• How to be a more empathetic leader
• How to get your subordinates more interested in being coached

For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:

https://movingforwardleadership.com/195