High Impact Leaders

With all the challenges going on in the economy right now, as a business owner or team leader, it's real easy to focus on the challenges and not your team. As human beings, we have a natural talent for reacting to situations versus planning for potential situations that may occur. However, if you do the latter, you can capitalize on these challenges. The company or team that adapts first alwa...

Happy Memorial Day, everybody, and thanks to all those families whose loved one paid the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. On this episode, I'm going to show you how to handle difficult employees. There will always be difficult employees in any organization. Even Fortune 500 companies have rotten tomatoes in them. As a leader, your job is to lead a team. Encourage them to do their work. Do thei...

Our topic today is Complacency in the Workplace. Specifically, I'll cover seven ways that past success can limit future growth.  This is one of those topics that many leaders and business owners overlook. But those who have their pulse on their own complacency, and more importantly, the complacency of their team, can keep their business growing. I'll explain this in the episode, but just...

Our topic today is about how to improve interpersonal relationships in the workplace.  Strong connections with team members make work a happier, more rewarding place. This episode shows you why and how, with practical steps to boost job satisfaction and maybe even your paycheck. Workplace friendships spark joy, reduce stress, and open career doors. I’ll share my story of how avoiding coworkers cos...

Happy Halloween week everyone! Since the holiday season is right around the corner, I thought it might be a good idea to cover a few Christmas team building ideas. We are just a few weeks away from Thanksgiving here in the United States. And then, the hustle and bustle of the Christmas and Hannukah season will sneak up on you if you aren't careful. A lot of team leads and small business owner...

This is part three of a three part series on how to know if someone is manipulating you.  In the first two episodes, I talked about the three steps of manipulation.  Step one is to put the person being manipulated into an emotional state. Typically, the manipulator will get you angry or create fear in the victim. Step two is to create both a villain and a victim. And in many cases, the villain and...

This is part two of a three part series on how to know if someone is manipulating you.  Last week, we talked about the first step in manipulation which is creating and emotional response. So, as you listen to the rest of the series, set your emotion aside. I'll give a ton of different types of examples. Each of the examples that I give are situations where someone or a group of people were tr...

The Presidential Elections of 2024 are next month. And every election year, politicians make a lot of promises and demonize the other candidate. In 2020, just for fun, I did a series on How to Manipulate People and the Signs of a Con Artist.  If you recall, in 2020, there was a ton of political speech, social media, new reports, and the like that, in retrospect, was entirely false. So, just for fu...

This is part three of a three-part series on how to build wealth. If you haven't listened to the first two episodes in this series, make sure to listen to those two episodes first. This week's episode will really give you the meat of how to build wealth. But in the first week, I showed how in order to become wealthy, you have to change your mindset. That step is critical. Last week, I sh...

This is part two of a three-part series on how to build wealth. If you haven't listened to last week's episode yet, make sure to stop the recording and listen to that episode first. Last week, I showed how, in order to become wealthy, you have to change your mindset. That step is critical. As a review, building wealth involves three simple steps. These steps are simple but not easy becau...

A couple of years ago, I covered a topic on the show about how to build wealth. At the time, we were in the process of coming out of the pandemic, and the economy was growing like gangbusters.  The episode series gave three simple steps -- simple but not easy because each step takes a lot of discipline. I covered the topic because I knew that, based on what I was seeing in the business world, the...

This week, I cover a slightly lighter topic. I started researching this topic about a year and a half ago, and what I found out was fascinating.  One of my customers asked me to put together a workshop on the communication styles of the different generations in the workplace.  As I put it together, I started to realize that there is a reason why Millennials prefer to chat or text rather than call...

If you've seen the news or any business publications lately, that impending recession that everyone has been warning about is here. But, you don't have to participate in it.  This is part two of a two-part series on how to find new customers by networking. Networking (word-of-mouth advertising) is the absolute most cost-effective way to generate new business for yourself or your company....

For the last few weeks, I've talked about the looming recession and how you don't have to participate in it. Last week, and the week before, I gave you some tips about how cold calling doesn't work -- especially in a recession. And we talked about a few simple ways that you can generate more customers in a recession. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned an earlier episode cal...

This is part three of a three-part series on how to build small business revenue during a recession.  This series is a follow up to the episode a few weeks ago where I talked about how the recession that everyone has been talking about is already here. And my goal is to show you how you don't have to participate in the recession. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about mistakes that small busi...

In the last episode, I covered a few small business lead generation mistakes that, if you eliminate them, you can increase sales and revenue for your company (even in a recession.) This series is a follow-up to the episode a few weeks ago where I talked about how the recession that everyone has been talking about is already here. And my goal is to show you how you don't have to participate in...

In the last episode, I covered details about how a huge recession (maybe even depression) is not only imminent, but I believe has already started. I even started the episode by talking about how I usually like to be uplifting and positive, but the topic was so heavy that it is difficult, as a small business owner, to keep positive when we are confronting something so negative.  The good news about...

I usually like to cover topics that are uplifting and positive. But this week, I have to spread the word about something very dier. If you are a small business owner or know a small business owner, please, please, please forward this episode to as many people as you can. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but the Department of Labor has just published new rules for overtime payments that are like...

This week I interview a very fun High Impact Leader, Christian Boucousis who is an ex-fighter pilot who now owns a fantastic team building and speaking company called Afterburner. He is a real-life Top Gun. Just like in the movies, Christian's friends and team members call him by his call sign "Boo." After spending some time with Boo, I'm not sure if the call sign was created a...

This is the final episode in our six-part series called  Five Steps to Build a Solid Team from the Ground Up .  So far in the series, we covered steps 1-4 including creating a cohesive vision for your team, building trust, dealing with conflict better, and then, last week, how to build a cooperative team that is synergistic.  Just to quickly review last week's content, we talked about seven p...

This is part five of a six-part series called the Five Steps to Build a Solid Team from the Ground Up .  In the first few episodes, I discussed the importance of having a solid mission and vision for your organization so that everyone is on the same page. Next, we discussed the importance of building solid trust and developing rapport among team members. Last week, we focused on how conflicts, whe...

This is part four of a six-part series called the Five Steps to Build a Solid Team from the Ground Up.  Last week, we discussed how important it is to build trust where your team likes and respects each other. This step is the foundation for building a team culture. If your team doesn't trust each other and doesn't trust management, nothing else that we cover will have any value. This is...

This is part three of a six-part series called the Five Steps to Build a Solid Team from the Ground Up.  Last week, we covered how important it is to create a shared vision and goals for your team. I explained the difference between a corporate vision statement, a corporate mission statement, and corporate values. Each of these has a specific purpose and, if used properly, will help you and your t...

This is part 2 of a six-part series called the Five Steps to Build a Solid Team from the Ground Up. Last week, I gave you an overview of all five steps. If you recall, I mentioned that this five-step process was like building a skyscraper. Everyone wants to visit the Penthouse once the building is completed. But there is a lot of work along the way to make sure the structure is solid. What we cove...

Today, we are starting a new six-part series called the Five Characteristics of Highly Effective Teams.  Today, I'm going to give an overview of the entire process. Hopefully, as we cover the different steps, you'll see a lot of resemblance to what you are experiencing within your own office.  Think of this five-step process like building a skyscraper. Everyone wants to visit the Penthou...