As a leader, have you ever gotten to the point where you've said to yourself "My team is no longer engaged" or maybe as an individual contributor you can't get others to do their part, or listen to your ideas. We want people to listen to and act on our ideas, messages, instructions and initiatives. But before that can happen effectively, they need to buy-in into us. People buy into the leader then the vision People buy into the company, then the product Others have to buy int

I was working recently with a client facilitating a strategic planning session for her organization and after going over the action items we came up against an obstacle that would have prevented her from carrying out one of the action items we had come up with to help her organization. I quickly pointed her to the SWOT analysis we had completed earlier. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. A SWOT analysis is a tool designed to help individuals and

Many of us are talented and skilled in our professions but our effectiveness only goes so far if we cannot influence others. Developing and raising your influence results in a multiplying effect on your success, helps you stand out amongst the rest and enhances your ability to have a greater impact. Here are three simple things you can do to raise your influence: 1. Become a person of Integrity - when you don't have integrity you have nothing. This goes beyond being honest an

Are your lack of awareness and blind spots keeping you from achiveing results? In our Leadership Gold program, Lesson #12 says: "Your Biggest Mistake is Not Asking What Mistakes You're Making" As leaders, in order to achieve exceptional results and succeed, so many things come into play and ones we often overlook are our level of awareness and blindspots. Our blindpots are those things we don't see that are affecting our results and our lack of awareness keeps us in the same

Happy New Year and welcome to a new year of possibilities. During my planning for the year, I took a look back at the previous year to reflect on what I was grateful for, what worked, what didn't work and what needed to stop. As you continue on your journey of growth and success, some things have to go and some things have to stop. You cannot attain new heights and achieve new goals with certain things that are still in the way. As I worked with clients and talked to prospect

One day while on my lunch break, I left my phone in plain view on the passenger seat of my car and got out of the car to grab my lunch. As I was walking away a thought popped into my head: "What if someone woke up this morning thinking that they wanted to steal a phone?" I quickly went back to my car and grabbed my phone. Yes, a lot of people would have walk by my car and probably not notice the phone but that one person whose intention was to steal a phone that day would not

Happy Wednesday! Today, I want to share with you one of the ways you can raise your influence and maximize your impact. In our different roles, we want to be able to influence others. You may be a professional, a boss, a parent, or business owner; you are a leader and you need to make an impact and become more effective. One of the ways to do this is to add value to others. True Leadership is success and leaders add value to others. What does it mean to add value? It's simpl

This week, I've been working on finishing up the content for the 5 Weeks to a Better Leader, Better Business training I'll be facilitating for a local organization next month. I'm also offering the class virtually for individuals who want to up level their businesses. In one of the sessions, I will be teaching on the Benefits, Barriers and the Art of Listening for Success. The ability to listen is key to connecting with and gaining influence with others. As a result, you succ

As we enter into a new season, you might be looking back and asking yourself why you are not reaching your goals or why things are not happening for you yet. Did you set SMART goals at the beginning of the year and you haven't achieved them yet? It's one thing to set a goal, but when not properly done, it will be hard to achieve. There are some things that you need to consider before the "S" and beyond the "T" in SMART goals to achieve them. Follow this seven step process and

One is too small a number to achieve greatness. The bigger your dream or goal, the more you will need people to help you. No one ever suceeded alone. Listen and discover what kind of person you need to add to your team. You may be a solopreneur, a manager, a leader or professional. Having these five kinds of people will help take your results to a new level. Enjoy! I hope you enjoyed this short teaching. Please do share. Do you know what it takes for your business to thrive a

Your technical skills, talents and abilities are not enough for success. In order to become more effective and become more successful in your career, business, or in your role as a parent, child or leader, you need to take personal development seriously. Your talent, title, formal education and skilled training are not enough. Personal growth is the foundation for overall growth. How do you build that foundation? Develop your skills and talents futher. Recognize your strength

I know that Christmas is over and I'm really glad it is. Giving my kids Christmas gifts this year did get me thinking and taught me a few lessons about customer satisfaction. We all know that customers make your business and satisfied customers make your business even better. Want to make your customers feel like a happy child does on Christmas morning? Check these out: Lesson #1. Ask Your Customers for What They Want. Just like you ask your kids what they want for Christmas

Image courtesy of rgbstock.com So you want to grow your business. You want to be better, you want to be more successful. Every year businesses set goals and want to grow more than they did the year before, and one of the first things we think about when it comes to growing and making more money is to engage in more advertising, more social media marketing or create more products. All these are great and necessary but how could you give your growth a boost? How could you set y

Embrace a Winning Attitude Have you ever thought about the difference between businesses that fail and those who don't? You've heard it said all the time that a big percentage of new businesses fail within their first year in operation. This keeps people from starting businesses and those who do start give up at the first sign of trouble because they remember that statement. What makes businesses fail is that the people give in too soon. What does it take for your business to

I wanted to grow one of my ventures to yield more income and realized I needed to do something different on the inside of the company to accommodate the influx of customers and additional sales. If as a business owner you’ve decided to grow, get more customers and increase revenue, there are certain things you need to do to fulfill your customers’ needs and sustain that growth. In fact, on the flip side, many companies stay where they are because they do not have systems in p