If you read, follow or subscribe to any leadership or business blogs or magazines, you know that there is a common consensus that organizations understand the importance of self awareness for leaders. Former Forbes contributor, Victor Lipman, states that “you can’t be a really an effective executive if you’re not fully aware of the effect your actions and personality have on others”. Though Lipman focuses on executives, his statement applies to leaders in the home, work, and community. As mentioned by Randy Grieser from The Ordinary Leader, “Strong leaders must know and understand themselves.” If there is a consensus that organizations require self-aware leaders, then we should assume that most leaders out there are genuinely self-aware. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, at least not according to Tasha Eurich, who discusses self-awareness in her book Insight. Her studies and research found that 95% of people think they’re self-aware, but only 10-15%…
My twin sons are entering their 3rd year in the Army, and as a result, they are receiving their first glimpse of leadership. If…
Organizations need emotionally intelligent leaders. As a leader yourself, you want to employ other leaders who possess high emotional intelligence or EQ in your organization. So, what benefits should your team or organization expect to reap as you hire more emotionally intelligent leaders? Here are five benefits of having an emotionally intelligent leader within your organization First, you must understand what emotional intelligence is and how it can benefit your organization. Next, what characteristics should you expect to see in an emotionally intelligent leader? What is emotional intelligence? In the recent blog, I explore what emotional intelligence or EQ is. Many leaders believe emotional intelligence (EQ) is limited to the ability to control and manage your emotions. Though this definition is technically is correct, Daniel Goleman, a bestseller author on numerous books on EQ, breaks emotional intelligence down into five key components of emotional intelligence. So what are the characteristics…
Weekly team meetings are a necessary evil for most organizations, both small and large. When leaders run them correctly, they can benefit and foster…
Great leaders are usually moved up the promotion ladder rather quickly. With these promotions come the expectation that the now experienced leader is responsible for choosing their replacement. There’s only one you, and unfortunately, we can’t make copies of ourselves. Therefore we have to work with the options available and make the right choice for the organization. Here are a few tips to ensure you choose the next great leaders for the team. I’m a Warrant Officer in the U.S. Army. In most military services, warrant officers are highly respected due to their ability to strike a balance between technical expertise and leadership. As you can imagine, they make up a tiny population of our military. In the active-duty U.S. Army, we make up less than 3% of the entire service. As a result, we have an unspoken responsibility to mentor, recruit actively, and eventually choose our replacements and progress…
For those leaders who have teenage kids or big kids themselves, you probably remember the 2005 cartoon series, “The Avatar: The Last Airbender.” The…
Why you need to center yourself? As leaders, we seldom have enough time to take a breath, relax and center ourselves. Maybe it’s because we think it takes days or even hours to clear our minds and refocus, but that’s not the case. My wife and I have recently been exploring Buddhism. We are not at the point where we are ready to give up all our worldly possessions and meditate longer than a few minutes a day, but we have been doing some preliminary reading on the topic. Despite our interest, we have failed to devote any significant amount of time to learn more about the subject. This lack of effort is mainly due to a lack of time between family and work. However, I recently discovered a podcast that I could fit into my busy schedule, called the Buddhist Bootcamp. The Buddhist Bootcamp is about a five-minute podcast that focuses…