So let's say you followed all my advice in episode 51 last week, but still have more to do than you can manage. 

Don't worry, I'm not going to blame you or tell you to "hustle harder".

I totally believe there are organizational and systemic factors beyond your control that have left too much on your plate.

I also believe there are things you can control to prevent those factors from burning you out.

I'll share some steps you can take today.

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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!

Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!

Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.

So, we’re getting into late January. For those of you like me whose work is based on the educational calendar, the spring semester is in full swing. If you’re doing well, you’re still hanging on to the word of the year you picked after listening to episode 47, However, even if your goals and good intentions are still on your mind, they are slowly but surely being crowded out by the dozens of crises and projects that sprout up like weeds in the second half of January. So in the interest of my word of the year, clarity, we’re going to talk about how you can get clear about what really matters in the heat of the moment.

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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!

Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!

Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.

So, stop me if you’ve ever believed one of these toxic leadership myths:

• Good Leaders have all the answers.
• Good Leaders can look at any situation and immediately know what to do.
• Good Leaders have a clear vision at all times.
• Good Leaders know what to say in any conversation.
• And that’s why Good Leaders never, ever ask for help.

Yeah, that’s all a load of bull. 

If you're ever scared to ask for help, this episode's for you.

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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!

Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!

Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.

One of the things I talk about a lot on the Kind Leadership challenge is the way in which leadership is a team sport. 

Creating collaboratively is one of the three core skills of kind leadership, because all of us need people who can help us get out of our own heads and expand our perspectives. 

However, there is also such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen, and too many perspectives can just leave you in a muddle. When a hard decision needs to be made but you’re not sure you’re seeing the whole picture, what do you do? 

I’ve had success over the years by identifying a very small set of trusted advisors who I know beyond any doubt have the same goals as me, even, or perhaps especially, if they might have different ideas about how to get there. And today, I’ll share a great way to figure out which of your colleagues would be a good addition to your inner circle.

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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!

Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!

Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.

So I left you on a bit of a cliffhanger in episode 47, when I discussed my opinions about new year’s resolutions, and how I found it much more productive to instead pick a word of the year. I try to keep that word in mind for making all of my big decisions, and handling whatever opportunities the coming year may throw at me. Last week I shared some of my previous words of the year, but I made you wait until 2023 proper for this year’s word, which is…Clarity. In today’s episode I’m going to explain what I mean by clarity, how I determined clarity was the concept I want to focus on this year, and more specifically how I hope to bring more clarity to this podcast and the Kind Leadership Guild in 2023. 

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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!

Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!

Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.

Pretty much every year around this time, I sit down with a notebook or Word document and make my goals for the new year. For many years this planning session would yield a long-ish laundry list of personal and professional resolutions, half of which would be abandoned by Valentine’s Day. However, the last few years I’ve taken a different approach to this new year’s ritual, one which actually has helped me accomplish some pretty cool stuff! And today, just in time for your new year’s planning, I’m going to share my new approach with you. 

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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!

Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!

Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.

I talk a lot about establishing boundaries in your own leadership practice, and how to use them to protect your team as a whole. And everyone listening to this probably agrees that boundaries are a good thing. But HOW do you set them when asserting your boundaries means saying no to a team member, a community member, or even your boss? Well, today I’ll use a passage from the best selling Mafia novel of all time to walk you through a few steps that will help you learn how to say no well, or even, if you’re very good and a little lucky, talk the other person around to your point of view.

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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!

Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!

Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.

I hate to say this, but you probably delegate a lot less than you think you do. Now, I’m sure you regularly find items on your to-do list that can be done by another team member or members, and assign those tasks to them. But after you pass those tasks along, do your really let go? Or do you Hover, or provide unsolicited advice, or take back over because it’s not being done right? Or, and this is nearly as bad as those more obvious pitfalls, do you manage to let go on the surface, but find yourself fretting away in your office over whether it will be done as well as it could have been done?

If you’ve never committed any of these delegation errors, you’re likely a saint, and certainly a better leader than me. This episode is for us mere mortals, who want and maybe need to delegate more, but struggle with the mechanics of delegating successfully. 

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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!

Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!

Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.

Greetings Kind Leaders! I hope you’re all hanging in there during this hectic time of the year, when many of us are juggling holidays, family commitments, work commitments, and all the craziness that early December brings. This week’s episode is a little different, as I’m presenting my recent guest appearance on the Common Stacks podcast. Host Heather Teysko is also Director of Engagement at Library Lever, a new library buying consortium. Library Lever’s aim is to de-silo the consortia experience, so that public, academic, and special libraries can all share resources, discounts, and learn from each other. If you’d like to learn more about Library Lever or listen to more episodes of the Common Stacks Podcast, head over to librarylever.com for more information. I’ll be back next Monday with our usual weekly challenge, so until then, enjoy my chat with Heather, and stay kind now!

Check out more episodes of the Common Stacks Podcast:  https://librarylever.com/common-stacks/

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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!

Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!

Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.

Seems like every day I’m seeing more job openings on linkedin and the other boards I follow. Between COVID hiring freezes thawing and a wave of retirements, a lot of us are bringing on new team members right now! I’ve been training new library workers for the better part of 20 years at this point, and it occurred to me that I’ve learned a lot from those experiences, both good and bad. So since a lot of us are hiring now, or will be soon, it’s time to talk about how to set your promising new hires up for long term success! 

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To listen to more episodes, head to kindleadershipchallenge.com!

Ready to Take Today's Challenge, but not sure where to start? Download the free Next Steps Checklist!

Want a likeminded community of leaders who'll have your back through thick and thin? Learn more about the Kind Leadership Guild.