Positive Leadership with Dr. Dave Martin

In every work environment, there is a subtle dynamic at play: power dynamics. Commonly referred to as 'office politics', power dynamics refers to the distribution and exercise of power within any organization. Understanding the nuances of power dynamics and, more importantly, how to use that knowledge is a key part of making any organization run smoothly. On the other hand, the misundersta...

It has been just over one year since I started the Positive Leadership Podcast. This is just a shoutout and a “Thank-you” to all of my listeners and subscribers. This podcast has proven more popular than I ever thought possible, so thanks to everyone and I’m all ears for ways to make it even better in the year ahead.

When I talk about leadership, many people I talk to don't think the topic relates to them because they mistakenly believe that to practice leadership, they have to be 'in charge;' they have to have an official title to practice leadership. Nothing could be further from the truth. At its core, leadership is about influence. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less. I have witnessed far...

Cybersecurity - that is the security of your digital assets - is important for every organization. In this short podcast, I talk about how the leader sets the tone for creating a culture of cybersecurity within their organization.

In today's ultra-competitive corporate and organizational environment, leaders need to develop a laser-like focus on their customers, clients, and the markets they serve. Leaders must also be flexible, open to change (often at a moment's notice), and also be concerned with always improving their efforts to develop products and services. This is where agile leadership comes into play. Agile...

In this final podcast on Emotional Intelligence, I take an in-depth look at some advanced soft skills that are an important part of the emotional intelligence equation; teamwork, problem-solving, and building professional relationships with all of your professional contacts. These more advanced soft skills are often underrated by leaders of all professions, especially the skill and time that it ta...

I apologize for taking such a long time off between podcasts; I had some personal and health issues to attend to. I'm glad to be back. I want to continue on with our Emotional Intelligence series by talking about the 4th element of EI; empathy and compassion. I've recycled an earlier podcast I did on this subject that is very relevant to our discussion of Emotional Intelligence. Sit back a...

The internal motivation that drives a leader is an important part of emotional intelligence.  In this episode, I talk about how to improve your own internal motivation and why that is so important to leadership, and why it is such an important part of the emotional intelligence equation. 

Just another shout-out to my continued listener support. Positive Leadership has now been heard in: - 28 Countries  - 34 of the 50 United States (and Washington DC) - 96 US Cities We are up to 56 episodes and they've been downloaded 1526 times.   Again, thanks for your listening support, and as I always say when I sign off, I'll talk to you again ... real soon!

The last time we talked about Emotional Intelligence, we talked about the need for a leader to have a strong emotional self-awareness, especially about being self-aware of how their emotions affect others in the workplace. Well closely tied to this need for self-awareness, Is the need to control your emotions in your interactions with your subordinates, peers, and even your bosses. It does one lit...

In this episode, we are traveling down the path of trying to improve our own emotional intelligence.  How do we do that?  It starts with a desire for self-awareness that comes from our desire to also be spiritually aware - that is, our drive to understand the higher purpose for life outside of ourselves.   I make the argument that if we don't start from a place of our own spiritual...

In the last episode on emotional intelligence,  we developed a good operational concept of emotional intelligence.  We said that emotional intelligence was this capacity that someone had to “be aware of, control, and express their own emotions” in such a way as to create positive interactions with people that led to positive relationships.  Then we took a deeper look at what this me...

Daniel Goleman, a well-known author and psychologist who did some of the best-known research on emotional intelligence (or EI), found that “truly effective leaders are distinguished by a high degree of emotional intelligence.” Goleman says, “without it, a person can have first-class training, an incisive mind, and an endless supply of good ideas, but he still won’t be a great leader." Many studies...

In the last episode, I talked about the importance of lifelong career development. At the end of the episode, I promised to talk about leadership's role in career development. It’s an important role, but unfortunately, few managers and leaders actively engage in this vital role. Professional development matters to employees because they know how vital good career development is to help them improv...

Everyone needs to approach their career development from a lifecycle perspective, rather than narrowly focusing on a specific career or industry. Why? Well, it’s always been the case that an individual’s career can be somewhat in flux. However, in the last 20 years, with the extremely rapid development of the Internet, and as we approach what many people call web 3.0, this idea of managing one’s c...

Welcome to my 50th episode of Positive Leadership and my first one of 2023! I thought a good way to start the New Year would be to talk about the importance of innovation. Innovation is a key driver of economic growth and is essential for businesses to stay competitive in today's rapidly changing world.  But driving innovation in large organizations and large corporations is usually a tall or...

Dr. Dave disagrees with those who don't believe encouragement is an important attribute of leadership, but with those respected leadership experts who say it is a core element of leadership. In this episode, Dr. Dave uses the stories from some of the legends surrounding General Ronald Fogelman and President George Bush Sr as examples of leaders who were known for their eagerness to encourage every...

Just a quick shout out thanking everyone for their interest and support.

You just got that new promotion or the new job that you always dreamed of getting one day.  But now that you're in the job, you have some real anxieties that perhaps you're in over your head and you're not ready to take on that new position.   These are quite normal feelings to have.  It's a phenomenon called the imposter syndrome.   In this episode of positive leadership, I ta...

Unfortunately, what often passes for leadership is nothing more than positional power.  A charismatic business entrepreneur who has positional power can often achieve great results. Still, it comes at a horrible price for their subordinates, the organization, and even the country as a whole.  After taking Elon Musk to task for his 'hard-core' work philosophy, Dr. Dave makes a case for re...

This is a self-awareness podcast - something important to every aspiring leader.  If you are frustrated with your position in life, move on to more exciting opportunities - but close the door on your current situation first.

Far too many organizations today lead by "exception management" because they have lost the focus on their primary mission and goals. In this episode, Dr. Dave explores why organizations lose their focus and discusses some practical ways for leaders to refocus their organizations.

In the competitive global marketplace, you must add value to your work. Don’t be shy about telling people how you contribute.  Great products and services don’t ‘just happen.’ They require as much planning, leadership, and shepherding in the implementation process.  As a leader, hat’s the value you add to the process – make sure everyone else knows it. The survival of your career may dep...

Over the many years that I have been in the workplace, I have observed a lot of really bad - I mean awful - management practices.  Whenever I observed something bad, I would make a mental note to NEVER, EVER be guilty of it myself.   I have shared some of my worse observations, so you can also learn to be an observer of bad management just so you won't ever be guilty of it yourself. &nbs...

Creating a professional, studio-quality podcast can seem like a very intense, time-consuming process.  That's why I think many people who would like to create podcasts don't do so - they don't think they have the time. It certainly doesn't have to be that way.   I want to show you my process for creating very professional, studio-quality 8 to 10-minute podcast episodes in as little...