Leadership

The First Step in Building Trust

A New York Times/CBS News poll from more than decade ago, publicized that 63% of people interviewed believe you “can’t be too careful” dealing with most people.

According to more recent Maritz Research poll, only 7% of employees trust senior leaders to look out for their best interests and 25% do not trust management to make the right decisions in times of uncertainty.

Trust in business leaders is already low and still falling.

© istockphoto / PhotoEuphoria

The first job of a leader is to be trusted. If others lack confidence in you, then you have little influence.

How do you help others rely on you?

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Posted on February 21, 2012 in Leadership

The Secret of All Great Speeches and Presentations

Nancy Duarte’s mission is to turn presentations into a powerful communication medium. She is the CEO of Duarte Design, the company that helped Al Gore create the dynamic presentation he used in the movie, An Inconvenient Truth. They have also been instrumental in the compelling presentations from water.org.

Nancy has been on a mission to find the DNA of great speeches and presentations – MLK’s I Have a Dream speech, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Steve Job’s iPhone introduction, and more. In the following TEDxEast video, she shares with us her discovery and gives us the pattern we need to follow to become master communicators.

Nancy’s aha is as simple as effectively contrasting the difference between ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’ over and over again before giving the audience a compelling call to action. This is certainly easier said than done, but the insight is as powerful as it is simple.

How are you going to put this elegant pattern to work for you?

Posted on February 9, 2012 in Leadership

5 Things Great Leaders Believe

Strong leaders have long known that leading doesn’t start with actions, or even thoughts. Instead, great leadership starts with what we believe.

© istockphoto / DNY59

Covey calls these beliefs our moral compass. Peter Senge calls them mental models. They are the lens through which we view the world. They influence how we perceive and respond to all that happens.

These beliefs are not corporate values we aspire to, but instead the principles that determine what we think, say, and do. I often think of Enron, and their corporate values of communication, respect, integrity, and excellence. For them and many others, their values represent things that they were have the most difficult time doing.

So what do great leaders deeply believe? What mental models guide them? Here are five principles I consistently see great leaders believe in and act on.

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Posted on February 8, 2012 in Beliefs, Leadership

Transforming Desire into a Hammer

I’m reading a great book, Finding Your Zone, by Michael Lardon. Dr. Lardon’s work focuses mostly on athletes, however the wisdom he shares is as relevant in the office and at home.

Eric Heiden winning the 1,500 meters in speedskating at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y. (Photo: Associated Press via the New York Times)

One concept that is particularly interesting to me is the energy we create as we transform our desire into will. But it has a dark side.

Many of us work endlessly trying to achieve our goals and satiate our desires. However, all too often our optimism and hope decay into feelings of confusion and disappointment.

The upside of is when it becomes our will.

[Desire] is an essential energy that exists in the pursuit of realizing one’s own life dream. However, only when this energy of desire is strengthen and transformed into the energy of will can your goal–whatever it is–be achieved fully and at the highest level.

So what is the different between desire and will?

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Posted on January 27, 2012 in Action, Leadership, Vision

A Powerful Mission Statement

“This is your life. Do what you love, and do it often” is how Holstee’s mission statement starts. These words fill me with passion and inspiration. How many mission statements do that?

Most mission statements describe, but never inspire. They use words like “be the best at…” or “being a leader in the…” They explain the what, not the why. Holstee’s mission is different. It answers the question of “why?” powerfully.

The Holstee mission statement