The coaching mindset begins with viewing team members as being naturally creative, resourceful and whole, and not as broken or in need of fixing. Leaders that adopt a coaching mindset step away from needing to have all of the answers. They start by asking questions, rather than giving solutions. This means less talking and more… Continue Reading The Leader as Coach
READ MOREFor many of us, frustrations at work are limited and short-lived, and simply reflect the ins and outs of our lives and the normal pressures of the job. For others, though, frustrations can mount, particularly when support from the organization appears to be absent or when it seems like whatever we do, nothing ever changes.… Continue Reading Chasing Me Away
READ MOREWhen you are introducing change to your organization, keep the “20-50-30” rule in mind. You can expect that roughly 20 percent of your people will generally resist any new idea or approach. If you’re like countless other leaders, you probably spend way too much of your precious time trying to convince this group to get… Continue Reading The 20-50-30 Rule
READ MOREWhen you take on additional responsibilities, you may also take on a new team. Because you are unfamiliar with the skills your new employees have to offer, you may be tempted to take the “easy” way out and do everything yourself. If you choose this path, you will underutilize the talents of your team and… Continue Reading Don’t Become the Bottleneck
READ MOREAre you mindful? Mindfulness means you’re focused fully on what you are doing in the *present* moment. Since mindfulness is centered on the present, it means letting go of emotions related to the past and the future. It’s about being in the now. Over the next few days, be aware of your mindfulness. If you’re… Continue Reading Being in the Now
READ MORECreativity doesn’t happen in the five minutes between meetings or between reading our emails. If we want to get in the right mood to be creative, we need to create a specific time and identify a specific place where we will focus only on being creative. John Cleese, the famous British actor, of Monty Python… Continue Reading Getting in the Mood
READ MOREBrands are made, not born. A brand is also not a first impression; it is built over time. Leadership brands are built around what is real and authentic about the leaders they represent. In 1997, Fast Company magazine featured a cover story called “The Brand Called You”. This story encouraged individual leaders to find a… Continue Reading Building a Brand
READ MOREWhen developing new habits, it is helpful to understand the four distinct phases of the learning process. Most of us, at any given time, can be said to be “unconsciously incompetent” about a number of skills. These are skills we are not even aware we are performing in a suboptimal way. Hence, this is a… Continue Reading Unconscious Competence
READ MOREAs a regular subscriber to The Fit Leader blog, you know that I am an avid reader, and often make references to books in my posts. As we near the end of 2018, I’m happy to share my favorite reads for the year. The Outward Mindset: Seeing Beyond Ourselves by The Arbinger Institute Mistakes Were Made… Continue Reading My Favorite Reads in 2018
READ MOREPerhaps you’ve heard of the confirmation bias. This is our tendency to look for only confirming evidence of what we already believe. The Lancet, a respected medical journal, reported in 1998 that a positive correlation had been found between autism and childhood vaccines. As a result, many parents stopped vaccinating their children, at great risk… Continue Reading Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)
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