The Leadership Shot

In this episode I'm sharing the 20 top things that executives coaches do.

If you've ever wondered what working with an executive coach looks like, then today's podcast will give you an inside look at the most common benefits and outcomes you can expect. 

Transitioning from being a peer to becoming a manager of your former friends can be a delicate process, a bit like navigating a minefield of inside jokes and shared memories. 

I’m going to highlight the common pitfalls as you navigate this transformation because let's face it, you don't want to be the manager who's known for the wrong reasons. 

As a leader, you spend a good amount of time talking. But likely (or should) spend even more time listening. And being a good listener doesn’t come naturally to many of us. We think well if we can physically hear--we have the ability to hear--then listening is pretty darn easy. I bet you’ve been in situations where you’ve been passionately speaking, and the person opposite you is there, but you get the sense they’re not listening at all. Let’s talk about how to become a better listener. Better listener--better leader!

Optimism fuels motivation, fosters resilience, and inspires innovation. On the other hand, realism encourages prudent decision-making and helps you and your team manage expectations.

Can you be enthusiastic and realistic at the same time? And be yourself? Yes, you can, and I’ll help you prepare to be optimistic when coaching your team. I’m not going to tell you to fake it until you make it, either. I’ll be realistic about what you can say to cheer on your team and yet remain true to yourself, to your personality and conscience. 

Does venting have a place at work? Is it productive? As a leader, should you encourage or discourage it?

In this episode I'm talking about the positives and negatives of venting in the workplace, what to watch out for, and how it can be done productively.

As a leader, you can strike a good balance when it comes to venting. You want to set boundaries. You want to encourage open communication and expression of feelings and also establish clear guidelines to prevent venting from spiraling into negativity or becoming personal.

It can be really easy (tempting) to dismiss AI as something you don't need to worry about or something that won't impact you or something that can't help you in your role as a leader. In this episode, I ask my friend and collaborator Rick Crisci to start us off on a journey of learning about AI. Rick defines key terms and puts AI in perspective for those of us who aren't technical experts. Rick is an expert in cloud computing and AI and has trained over 300,000 students and is the owner of TrainerTests.com. 

I’m not going to convince you 1:1 meetings are important. You know that.

Instead, I want to share with you 5 mistakes leaders commonly make when they arrange or hold 1:1 meetings. Changing your approach after learning these mistakes will help you hold more impactful meetings. You’ll save time and you’ll feel better about your leadership and work. While there’s a lot you can probably change with your 1:1s, I want you to start by learning about these mistakes. 

Have you ever left a meeting--walked out the conference room door or clicked “End Meeting”--and groaned to yourself about something you said or did? “I can’t believe I said that!” or “Oh my gosh, why do I do that?” or “Wow, I looked so stupid.”

This is self-talk. You talking to yourself. And while we ca tell ourselves anything, the vast majority of us have negative self-talk. We harp on ourselves. We beat ourselves up but expressing what we did wrong or what we don’t like about our behavior, experience, even appearance.

When you learn to recognize your self-talk and understand why it’s there, you’ll be a better leader. So, let’s talk about your self-talk.

Do you have an employee or a peer who is in pain and needs some very honest advice? You want to have a talk with them, a heart-to-heart. But having an effective heart-to-heart conversation is not something most companies provide on-the-job training for. 

Knowing when and how to have a heart-to-heart talk is critical to your success as a leader and to helping your employees stay focused and engaged. 

Don’t wing these conversations! You need to prepare. And I’m going to help you do that. 

Each workday in September 2023, I shared a short video lesson. And I’ve been summarizing lessons in podcasts. So, here’s a chance—a choice—for you to lead by listening.

I want you to move willingly towards and into leadership on the outside and the inside.

It's Back to Leadership) School. 

This is the final episode in a series of three, sharing quick insights on how to get you back into your leadership Instead of going back to school as you did many years ago and maybe your kids in September, I want to take you back to thinking more consciouslu about being a leader leader.