Top 10 Leadership (and

Management) Tips for All Around Success:-

Popular leadership books often use the phrase “born leader” to describe those who possess a natural ability to lead others. What many fail to mention is the number of “natural” leaders who had help along the way.

It can take years to become an overnight success. If you are willing to do the work and follow this advice, you can certainly cut that time in half.

Here are 10 leadership tips for succeeding all around:

1. Move forward by looking backward. Have you been successful because of your leadership, or in spite of it? I’ve watched time and time again as companies and leaders succeed in spite of poor management skills. Now, imagine the levels of success they could have achieved if those who were in charge had great leadership skills? Or even just good leadership skills? Gather feedback about your management style and adjust accordingly.
2. Lead by example. Behave as you would want your employees to behave, but also understand that your role is different from that of your employees.
3. Surround yourself with the right people. Hire for fit, train for skill, and if the opportunity presents itself, hire people who are better than you. Be prepared for the arrival of new hires so they immediately feel connected to the organization.
4. Stop the blame game. It’s always someone or something that is at fault. But in the end, the buck stops with you. Sure, you may not have inherited a stellar team, but that doesn’t mean you have to settle for mediocrity. You have the power to inspire people to exceed expectations. You also have the power to release people who aren’t making the grade. What you don’t get to do is blame everyone else for your team’s failure to perform.
5. Cut your losses early. Mismatches happen, no matter how good you are at interviewing. Take action quickly to avoid having the rest of the team distracted by a poor hire.
6. Invest in yourself and your people. Can you name one organization that has cut its way to exceptional customer service? I can’t. It’s time to put your money where your mouth is. If your firm prides itself on customer service then invest in more people to reduce the wait times, especially during peak calling hours. And while you are at it, give your employees the tools and training they need to provide exceptional service.
7. Build on strengths. Everyone focuses on improving weaknesses. You can distinguish yourself by paying particular attention to areas of strength, as this is where you’ll receive the greatest return for your investment.
8. It’s better to be respected than love. As human beings, we have a natural tendency to want to be loved. But what happens when your desire to be loved interferes with your ability to lead? Effective leaders recognize it is more important to be respected by their people than adored. They make the tough decisions that are needed to secure the future of those around them, including their direct reports.
9. Your success depends on the success of others. To succeed as a manager, you will need to shift your focus from “me” to “we.” Going forward, your success will no longer be measured by your individual contribution. Instead, you will be evaluated on your ability to create and maintain a highly engaged team that is willing to give it their all.
10. Find a coach or a mentor. You are ultimately responsible for your own success. If you are lucky, you may get approval to attend a training session this year. It’s a start, however training isn’t going to ultimately get you where you want to go. Find a coach or a mentor who can swiftly guide you through the landmines that exist in every organization.

It’s time to try something new if what you’ve been doing all along isn’t getting you the results you are seeking. Choose one or two of the above tips and move those items forward. Then select a few more. Before long, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a natural leader who is succeeding all around.

Interview introductions: how to perfect your personal pitch

Knowing how to pitch your achievements and career goals at interviews, assessment centres and careers fairs could be crucial in landing yourself a graduate job. Read on to find out how to sell your skills with a quick introduction.

A personal pitch is basically a succinct introduction to yourself and your background. Having an outline pitch ready is a great confidence-booster for graduate interviews, networking events and careers fairs. The process of creating one also helps you to focus on what employers want and helps you to filter information such that you demonstrate how specifically you meet their requirements.

60 seconds to change your fortunes

An elevator pitch is the typical example: imagine getting into an elevator and bumping into an influential person who could change your fortunes drastically. How would you sell yourself to them in the 60 seconds it takes for the lift to reach the ground floor and make sure they want to hear more?

In fact, this sort of exercise could crop up at an assessment centre, but here we're talking basics: being ready when an interviewer kicks-off proceedings by asking you to 'tell them a little bit about yourself'.

How to sum yourself up

Introducing yourself might sound simple, but it is easy to get flustered when you’re under pressure. Set aside some time to prepare your pitch in advance.

First: ‘tell us about yourself’ doesn’t mean go right back to your earliest childhood memory and regale graduate recruiters with tales of your first love, your favourite band and your obsession with Wolverhampton Wanderers. This question is generally aimed at relaxing you into the interview and gaining a brief overview of your academic and work background and why you want to work for them.

Think about your top three or five experiences, at work, university or in your personal life. Consider the themes, personality traits and skills that come across through these experiences and which are the most important to get across to recruiters. Pick one or two experiences and themes that match the selection criteria for the job and focus on them throughout.

As a general rule, spend 75% of the pitch giving a brief run through of your academic and work history, making sure to highlight those top experiences, themes and skills. Round up your pitch by explaining why you want to work for the company and give some career goals that you could achieve through the position.

Practice your pitch

Find a willing volunteer and practice pitching yourself to them. It often helps to get a second opinion on the way you present as a friend will be able to point out any nervous habits, odd phrases, or achievements that you’ve missed out.

Strike a balance between ensuring you’re well-practised but keeping it sounding natural. You don't want to recite it like a parrot, and being flexible means you can ad lib, should the occasion demand it.

Top tips for pitching:

• Keep it short and snappy.
• Keep it natural: breathe, smile and be yourself.
• Avoid gimmicks: your pitch should reflect your professionalism.
• Rehearse: practice makes perfect.
• Adapt it for different audiences and occasions: tailor it for maximum impact.

The Six Secrets of Self-Control

What is it about self-control that makes it so difficult to rely on? Self-control is a skill we all possess (honest); yet we tend to give ourselves little credit for it. Self-control is so fleeting for most that when Martin Seligman and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania surveyed two million people and asked them to rank order their strengths in 24 different skills, self-control ended up in the very bottom slot (for the record, self-control is a key component of emotional intelligence).

 

 

When it comes to self-control, it is so easy to focus on our failures that our successes tend to pale in comparison. And why shouldn’t they? Self-control is an effort that’s intended to help achieve a goal. Failing to control yourself is just that—a failure. If you’re trying to avoid digging into that bag of chips after dinner because you want to lose a few pounds and you succeed Monday and Tuesday nights only to succumb to temptation on Wednesday by eating four servings’ worth of the empty calories, your failure outweighs your success. You’ve taken two steps forward and four steps back.

 

With this success/failure dichotomy in mind, I give you six strategies for self-control that come straight from new research conducted at Florida State University. Some are obvious, others counter intuitive, but all will help you eliminate those pesky failures and ensure your efforts to boost your willpower are successful enough to keep you headed in the right direction for achieving your goals.

 

 

Self-Control Secret #1 – Meditate

 

Meditation actually trains your brain to become a self-control machine (and it improves your emotional intelligence). Even simple techniques like mindfulness, which involves taking as little as five minutes a day to focus on nothing more than your breathing and your senses, improves your self-awareness and your brain’s ability to resist destructive impulses. Buddhist monks appear calm and in control for a reason.

 

Self-Control Secret #2 – Eat

 

File this one in the counter intuitive category, especially if you’re having trouble controlling your eating. Your brain burns heavily into your stores of glucose when attempting to exert self-control. If your blood sugar is low, you are far more likely to succumb to destructive impulses. Sugary foods spike your sugar levels quickly and leave you drained and vulnerable shortly thereafter. Eating something that provides a slow burn for your body, such as whole grain rice or meat, will give you a longer window of self-control. So, if you’re having trouble keeping yourself out of the company candy bin when you’re hungry, make sure you eat something else if you want to have a fighting chance.

 

Self-Control Secret #3 – Exercise

 

Getting your body moving for as little as 10 minutes releases GABA, a neurotransmitter that makes your brain feel soothed and keeps you in control of your impulses. If you’re having trouble resisting the impulse to walk over to the office next door to let somebody have it, just keep on walking. You should have the impulse under control by the time you get back.

 

Self-Control Secret #4 – Sleep

 

When you are tired, your brain cells’ ability to absorb glucose is highly diminished. As I explained in Secret #1, your brain’s ability to control impulses is nil without glucose. What’s worse, without enough sleep you are more likely to crave sugary snacks to compensate for low glucose levels. So, if you’re trying to exert self-control over your eating, getting a good night’s sleep—every night—is one of the best moves you can make.

 

Self-Control Secret #5 – Ride the Wave

 

desire has a strong tendency to ebb and flow like the tide. When the impulse you need to control is strong, waiting out this wave of desire is usually enough to keep yourself in control. The rule of thumb here is to wait at least 10 minutes before succumbing to temptation. You’ll often find that the great wave of desire is now little more than a ripple that you have the power to step right over.

 

Self-Control Secret #6 – Forgive Yourself

 

A vicious cycle of failing to control oneself followed by feeling intense self-hatred and disgust is common in attempts at self-control. These emotions typically lead to over-indulging in the offending behavior. When you slip up, it is critical that you forgive yourself and move on. Don’t ignore how the mistake makes you feel; just don’t wallow in it. Instead, shift your attention to what you’re going to do to improve yourself in the future.

 

Putting These Strategies to Work

 

The important thing to remember is you have to give these strategies the opportunity to work. This means recognizing the moments where you are struggling with self-control and, rather than giving in to impulse, taking a look at the Six Secrets and giving them a go before you give in. It takes time to increase your emotional intelligence, but the new habits you form with effort can last a lifetime.

 

10 Terrific Self Motivating Tips

No one can motivate anyone to do anything. All a person can do for another is
provide them with incentives to motivate themselves. Here are ten very effective
strategies to help you get up and get moving toward actualizing your enormous,
untapped potential.

* Be willing to leave your comfort zone. The greatest barrier to achieving your
potential is your comfort zone. Great things happen when you make friends with your discomfort zone.

* Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Wisdom helps us avoid making mistakes and comes from making a million of them.

* Don’t indulge in self-limiting thinking. Think empowering, expansive thoughts.

*Choose to be happy. Happy people are easily motivated. Happiness is your
birthright so don’t settle for anything else.

* Spend at least one hour a day in self-development. Read good books or listen to inspiring tapes. Driving to and from work provides an excellent opportunity to listen to self-improvement tapes.

* Train yourself to finish what you start. So many of us become scattered as we
try to accomplish a task. Finish one task before you begin another.

* Live fully in the present moment. When you live in the past or the future you
aren’t able to make things happen in the present.

* Commit yourself to joy. C.S. Lewis once said, “Joy is the serious business of
heaven.”

* Never quit when you experience a setback or frustration. Success could be just
around the corner.

* Dare to dream big dreams. If there is anything to the law of expectation then we are moving in the direction of our dreams, goals and expectations.

The real tragedy in life is not in how much we suffer, but rather in how much we
miss, so don’t miss a thing.

Charles Dubois once said, “We must be prepared, at any moment, to sacrifice who we are for who we are capable of becoming.”

10 Steps to Achieving Success in Life

This spring I was asked to give not one, but two, commencement speeches. While I will not be addressing graduates at Harvard, Yale, or MIT, I will be speaking to members of the next generation - our future. And as such, I plan on doing my part to inspire this group of leaders.

Commencement speakers look for nuggets of wisdom that graduates will take with them as they journey forward in their lives. Along the way, speakers hope to inspire a life or two and create reason for a cheer, a tear or evoke fear. My speech will be titled 10 Steps to Achieving Success in Life. The list is by no means all-inclusive. However, I think it provides a very good starting point from which to develop a road map for successful living. I think the graduates will find great value in this list. I only hope that I will be able to live up to my own advice and consistently follow these 10 steps.

10 STEPS TO ACHIEVING SUCCESS IN LIFE

1. Set Goals: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where,” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. - dialogue between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

People who know what they want and have set a course for achieving their goals are generally happier than those that just let life happen to them. This wisdom is not new. Earl Nightingale once said, “Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future.” Ralph Waldo Emerson encouraged goal setting by stating that, ‘Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

2. Don’t Fear Failure: “I failed my way to success.” - Thomas Edison

So often we are taught in our lives that failing is a bad thing. Failure is almost always placed at odds with success. Yet without failure few would know the way to success. No one ever did it right all the time. But most that have experienced some success have failed at some point.

3. Take Risks: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” - Helen Keller

Life is more fun and exciting when we take risks. At the end of the day there is truth to the statement, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” But be calculated - risk should not be taken for risk’s sake. Opportunity may knock, but it may not stand around very long. Be ready to go on an adventure at the knock of a door. A successful life includes not having regrets for not having taken enough risks.

4. Don’t Stop Learning: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” - Mahatma Gandhi

The more you know, the more you realize you do not know. Formal education just scratches the surface and is a drop of our capacity to learn. Knowledge, no matter how insignificant it may appear to be, gives us a reason to get out of bed every morning. Make it a habit to learn something new each day. Treat knowledge like a new friend. Life is so much more satisfying when we make a new friend every day.

5. Do Not Settle: “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs

Success is a process – not an event. Some goals may happen overnight. Others require more time, energy, and alignment of some planets. Do not get discouraged. Keep plotting forward with your plan. Evaluate your progress and make course corrections. Keep your goal top of mind and keep your feet moving. Michael Jordan once said, “If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”

6. Live a Balanced Life: “My point is, life is about balance. The good and the bad. The highs and the lows. The pina and the colada.” – Ellen DeGeneres

In life we are constantly be pulled in many different directions. Family, work, school, faith, community, etc. It is impossible to give attention to all things at once. There are not enough hours in a day to carve out time for each demand. However, over the intermediate- and long-term, we can achieve balance.

A balanced life should include doing a good job at work. Earning an honest pay for an honest day’s work. Balance means taking time to treat the body well and keeping it running properly with good foods, exercise, and rest. Balance means being present for the family. Few can give the family all the time it demands. But giving it “quality time” will keep the family healthy and happy. Balance means taking some time for oneself to recharge the batteries. Balance means being of service to the community and giving back. Balance means feeding the soul through religion and/or spirituality.

7. Seek a Mentor: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” - Benjamin Franklin

While there are advantages to failing, failure for failure’s sake is of limited use. Work towards success and deal with failure as a byproduct of a well developed plan. The best way to achieve success and limit failure is to work with someone that has already been down the same road. There is plenty that can go wrong as we travel down the road towards success. By eliminating the low hanging fruit on the tree of failure we improve the odds of success and ensure that we experience only the most worthy type of failure. And remember to thank your earliest mentors, your parents, teachers, and others, who inspired you to succeed and set you on your journey.

8. Shut Up and Listen: “I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.” – Ernest Hemingway

Too often we spend our time doing all the talking and not doing any listening. Even when we’re listening, we’re thinking about the next thing we’re going to say. By truly listening we can fully understand what we are being told and properly engage in the conversation. If we do not listen we cannot provide what is needed. We cannot give the needed advice, solution, or shoulder to cry on.

9. Network: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou

No one in this world achieved success on their own. Success requires that you lean on someone for support. That’s where the network comes in. True networking means being of service to those in the network – and not expecting something in return. Then when needed, the network will find a way to return the favor.

10. Carry a Notebook: “Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.” – Will Self

Our lives are busy and getting busier. Over the course of a day we’ll have ideas, solutions, and epiphanies. If we do not have a way to capture them we risk losing them forever. A notebook, whether hardcopy or electronic, helps us record our thoughts, release the mental storage, and move on to the next great idea or solution.

7 Tips For Young Professionals Starting A New Job

Starting your first “real” job can be nerve-racking. You’re probably excited to have landed a full-time gig–but also scared about meeting new colleagues, learning office etiquette, and making the transition from your college classrooms to your corporate cubicle (or whatever your new workspace may consist of). The days of slacking off — rolling out of bed and running to class in whatever sweats you can find, taking naps between Spanish 101 and college algebra, and staying up until 2 a.m. doing yesterday’s assignments — are over. That doesn’t fly in the professional world.

Starting a new job requires some preparation and lifestyle changes. “A lot of people look at getting the job offer as the finish line, but really it’s the start of another run,” says Rosemary Haefner, the vice president of human resources at Careerbuilder.com.

Here are 7 tips for young professionals starting a new caree

Dress for success. Start by recreating your wardrobe and sprucing up your appearance. Dress appropriately for the job you’ve landed. Remember that first impressions can be lasting. If you’re dressed to impress, you probably will. “One size doesn’t fit all,” Haefner says. “People assume ‘professional’ means a suit, but it depends on the company or industry.” Haefner encourages new employees to ask what people typically wear, before your first day. “You don’t want to show up in a suit if everyone wears jeans,” she says. But it’s better to be a bit overdressed the first few days.

Relax. If you exhibit apprehension, you may not be taken seriously. Be aware of your nervous habits and try to control them. If you ramble when you’re nervous, make it a point to limit your chatter.

Be confident. Don’t be narcissistic, but show your colleagues that you deserve to be there. Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts, and believe in your ability to succeed in your new position. One way to exhibit confidence: invite your colleagues to lunch. Haefner says this tactic shows that you aren’t the typical quiet new employee.

Be innovative. From day one, confirm that you bring something new to the table. If this applies to your new position, be sure to offer your boss or colleagues ideas for how to enhance the product or company. Most young professionals in a new job take the back seat the first few days, but Haefner suggests jumping right in. “Be there to contribute, or to volunteer for a project when nobody else raises their hand.”

Separate your personal and professional lives. Once you’re settled in, avoid making personal calls, sending personal emails or taking long lunch breaks. Show that you are dedicated to your new job and that you want to be there. If you have nothing to do, offer to take on another task or help a colleague who looks overloaded. Not only will you impress the boss, but the days will fly by.

Communicate. Always be in touch and in tune. Speak up and ask questions, make suggestions and periodically check in with your boss. “Listening is just as important as speaking,” Haefner says. “Start a conversation with your boss to ask how you’re doing.”

Challenge yourself. Just because you did some research before your interview doesn’t mean you know enough to be successful there. Haefner says it can take time to get to know the company itself, but it is important to do research, look back at old projects, and find out what has worked for the company or your team in the past. Once you’ve had the opportunity to become acquainted with your new workplace, evaluated the work environment, observed your fellow employees, and surveyed the office protocol, work flow and discourse, you should set goals for yourself.

Getting through the first few days, weeks or months in a new job is tough, but remember to focus on what you want to get out of the experience.

The 7 DO's and DON'T's of Writing a Great Resume

While you might think that, in the year 2014, resumes seem a bit passe and old-fashioned, they’re still the primary means of conveying one’s credentials and accomplishments. It’s very true that business-geared social media sites such as LinkedIn now serve as a proxy for one’s resume; however, the same problem applies to that online form factor: you must write it and it must be compelling.

In authoring a resume, whether for online or offline use, you have three major objectives:

1. You want to be found in a an automated search;
2. You want to be selected for an interview by the recruiter or hiring manager;
3. You want it to convey a compelling picture of your professional value during the interview.

I’ve seen and reviewed thousands of resumes over the past twenty-five years. Below is my frank guidance to anyone who needs help achieving the aforementioned three objectives with their resume. Good luck out there!

The Seven DO's

1. Do customize your resume for your industry, career stage, and personal brand

All rules you hear about resume-writing must be adjusted for your situation: in some industries, being creative and standing out with your resume is expected; in senior stages of one’s career, a bit of formality might be called for given the audience, and in many creative fields, a portfolio-based resume is most appropriate. Don’t be afraid to adjust all rules to your situation.

2. Do make the first page worthy of standing on its own

Perhaps the most frequent question I get asked is, “should I force my resume onto one page?” My answer is that while a one-pager isn’t plausible in mid-to-late stages of one’s career, I strongly recommend that the first page of any resume be worthy of standing on its own as a summary or overview; details can follow in successive pages with a total of no more than four or give pages for the most seasoned of executives. Just as you know the home you will buy once you enter the front door, your resume’s first page should make a strong first impression that will tell the interviewer whether or not you’re going to be on his or her short list of candidates.

3. Do make your first section a quick summary of who you are

The first section should provide, at a glance, an overview of who you are: your specialties, current roles you play, sizes of teams you manage, scope of business you oversee, and so on. It should adhere to all of the rules that follow this one and should serve as a compelling introduction to the rest of the first page.

4. Do use bullets instead of paragraphs

Concise bullets are the very best way to convey high-level information; the interviewer can find out more talking to you in-person so there’s no need for you to list every single detail of an accomplishment or role. Verbs typically make the best first word in a bullet point and can help you get to the point quickly.

5. Do use a lot of white space

I can’t overstate the importance of white space in a great resume; those of us who aren’t artistically-focused tend to underestimate the visual benefits of white space and how much it contributes to readability. A great resume has effective use of white space both between and within sections.

6. Do ensure your resume is machine-readable

Most resumes these days are found by machines that index keywords within large volumes of electronic resumes. For that reason, it’s important to account for the kinds of keywords that human resources personnel as well as recruiters might be looking for. Moreover, it’s important to ensure that those keywords are not embedded in non-character elements (e.g., images or other non-character formats) that cannot be indexed and found during both automated and manual keyword searches.

7. Do understand and leverage your digital footprint

Just as important as your resume is your digital footprint. The first thing I do before interviewing finalists is to search for their online presence as it gives me some quick context in addition to their resumes. Be aware of what your online footprint says about you, especially if your name is quite common and you could in any way be confused with someone else. If that is the case, make sure to stress your middle name and/or other attributes of yourself to make sure that the correct footprint is found. One great way to do this is to have your own blog which provides you a sponsored location on the Internet in addition to having the traditional social media presence (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, and so on).

The Seven DON'T's

1. Do not exceed three to five bullets per section

While bullets are so much better than paragraphs in a resume, too many bullets can be even worse. I strongly recommend trying to stay to three to five bullets per section. Any more than that and they’ll likely not be read at all.

2. Do not have a single typo or grammatical mistake

A typo or grammatical mistake on a resume paints such a negative impression; it sends the message that the author didn’t care enough to double-check their work when it really counted.

3. Do not bother with high school if you have any college experience

If you’ve attended some college, be sure to include that and, in doing so, exclude your high school experience. Listing your high school experience typically detracts from the credibility of your education section unless the high school was a college preparatory high school with name recognition (note: very few of that caliber exist).

4. Do not use a funny yet controversial email address

Of late, I’ve noticed a lot of younger candidates using witty or clever e-mail addresses that could be seen as taking it too far. While such e-mail addresses are just fine for personal use, a good, old-fashioned business-sounding address is probably the best idea if you don’t know the interviewer.

5. Do not bother with an Objectives section

I’ve never really understood the seemingly useless “Objectives” section that appears all too often on resumes. It always contains nearly identical content with something like, “seeking a challenging position with a great organization that’ll leverage my experience and expertise.” I know your objective: it’s to get an interview and ultimately get the job. Enough said.

6. Do not use proprietary acronyms or jargon

Especially with technical resumes, all too often, I find them filled with acronyms that are proprietary to a certain company or industry. Make sure your resume is readable and understandable by your target audience and don’t assume they know the acronym your last employer used to refer to their customer database.

7. Do not have multiple personalities

While a lot of people advise having multiple resumes, one for each job application, I disagree. Be proud of your background and your accomplishments and don’t be tempted to create “multiple personalities”. It’s one thing to “tailor” a resume slightly for a job by removing sections that may not matter to one position or to provide more details for a job that is especially relevant. It’s completely another to have multiple versions of your resume with different titles on each, none of which reconcile with your online resume available for anyone to see. Be confident but always be honest.