High Impact Leaders

Continuing with our Daily Leadership Tip Series, we are in Week #3 -- Gaining Cooperation from Others. This is principle 18, Ask Other People's Opinions. ASK THE OPINION OF YOUR EXPERTS TO GAIN INSIGHT When we are under the gun, most of us want to take control and begin to order people around. Since time is short, we want to quicken the pace by just telling people what to do instead of asking...

Continuing with our Daily Leadership Tip Series, we are in week #3 to Gain Enthusiastic Cooperation from Our Team. Principle #17 is to Encourage and Facilitate Two-Way Conversation. You can have more influence over others if you create two-way communication. One of the most common complaints I hear from front-line employees is that top management does not take their ideas seriously and does not ad...

Continuing with our Week #3 Daily Leadership Tips, Principle #16 is to Show Enthusiasm and Energy. Have you ever noticed that the most successful people in just about any industry are the early risers? Ben Franklin called this group of people the “Six O’clock Club.” Franklin spent the first hour of his day planning the events of his day (to do this he invented the Franklin Planner) and reading. He...

In our Daily Leadership Series, we are starting Week #3: Gain Enthusiastic Cooperation from Others. Many of this week’s principles will help you gain cooperation from others. The only way to get people to do things for you is to get them to WANT to do things for you. Most people have an eager want to be accepted by others or want to be esteemed by their peers. So, if we can show people how what we...

This principle sounds like common sense, but it’s uncommon in practice. Many relationships have ended with one party feeling slighted by the other, and neither side is big enough to make amends. And the longer we wait, the more the problem festers. Two managers were recently consulted about a very sticky problem that had surfaced. The senior manager offered a suggestion to the boss that sounded re...

In my early days of selling, my mentor was an award-winning salesperson for one of the top training companies in the world. The first day I met her, she told me that her job was to coach me to be a better salesperson. She said that from time to time she would point out some things to me where I could make improvements and that she was only able to do this because she had already made every mistake...

This is day number 12 in our Daily Leadership Challenge. We are continuing this week with seven ways to reduce conflict. Daily Leadership Tip #12 is that If You Are Wrong, Admit It. Do you realize that if we were right just 51% of the time, we’d all be multi-gazillionaires? The truth is that we are wrong much more often than we are right. When you find yourself on the wrong side of the argument, b...

Even if you use every one of the principles in this Daily Leadership Series consistently, the occasional disagreement is inevitable. There are many ways to deal with disagreements but arguing with the other party is one sure way to guarantee that you will not persuade the other person. When we argue, each side will begin to become defensive. A PERSON WHO IS DEFENSIVE WILL VERY RARELY SEE THE LOGIC...

Daily Leadership Tip #10 – Instead of Telling People They Are Wrong, Point Out Mistakes Indirectly In Ben Franklin’s autobiography, he wrote about how in his younger years, he made many enemies because he frequently corrected people publicly when they were wrong. What he found was that although he was very convincing and had facts on his side, he rarely persuaded anyone that they were wrong. “ A m...

Daily Leadership Tip #9-Be Slow to Anger-Especially Over Petty Issues “ Anger is always more harmful than the insult that caused it. ” – Chinese Proverb We must remember that when we get angry, we lose control. We may say or do things that we later regret. When things don’t go our way, someone slights us, or circumstances turn against us, the natural human reaction is to get angry. The longer that...

Daily Leadership Tips Week #2 – Conflict Resolution Skills. Many of this week’s principles will help you create a more positive outcome from negative situations. These principles are excellent when used to calm an angry person or persuade people to see a different point of view. You may not convince the other person every time, but you should see more positive resolutions. Keep in mind, that if we...

This is the last of seven principles in week number one of our Daily Leadership Tip Series. This whole week, we have covered six ways to build trust and build a team environment. The last leadership tip this week is number seven, Practice Good Listening Skills. Don’t look for techniques on how to listen better.  The people who are great listeners do so because they want to be great listeners, not...

This is day number six in our Daily Leadership Tip series. Today, we focus on improving communication. The tip is to Assume Responsibility for Clear Communication. Communication is a two-way street.  For communication to be successful, we must have both a successful speaker and an effective listener.  If either party is not present, miscommunication may occur.  However, there are things we can do...

Continuing with our Daily Leadership Tip series, day #5 is to Avoid Placing the Burden of Your Problems onto Other People. Have you ever known someone who, after any setback, had an excuse and typically laid the blame elsewhere?    I’m ashamed to say that at one point in my life, I was one of those people.   Luckily, at one point in my career, I had a good friend that sat me down and said, “You ca...

Continuing with day four of our Daily Leadership Tip Series, today we focus on remembering names. Have you ever been in one of those situations where you run into someone that you have met before and can’t remember that person’s name?  It can be an awkward situation for both you and the other person.    When we remember someone’s name, we’re telling him, “You’re important.”  Therefore, when we for...

Many managers and supervisors have an “open-door policy,” but because of the atmosphere that they create, no one ever walks through the open door. When someone has a problem or needs help, they walk up to the door, just about to walk in, and they see the negative countenance. Most people just turn around and decide to come back later. A neutral expression can be just as unconstructive. People don’...

One of the primary desires of human beings is to be understood and esteemed by others.  We want people to see things from our point of view.  Sometimes we want this so badly, that we disagree with and argue with points of view that are also valid. If we want people to like and respect us, do the opposite of what comes naturally. See things from other’s point of view.  When we understand others, we...

My college football team had an offensive coordinator who was arguably one of the most brilliant minds in the game.  However, he used fear and criticism to motivate his players.   If someone missed a block, he’d yell and curse. If a player dropped a pass, he’d shout profanities and ridicule the player.    Consequently, the players were focusing on their mistakes rather than their successes.  The c...

Back when we first started The Leader’s Institute®, we developed processes that help people communicate with, lead, and motivate others more effectively. Since then, we have constantly refined this process. The process covers 28 daily Leadership Principles. When people attend our programs, we encourage them to purposefully apply one principle a day for 28 consecutive days. We created this daily le...

This week, I have another high-impact leader coming for a visit. Jamie Wolf is a writer and publisher who specializes in helping industry experts write and publish best-selling books. She and her team interview industry experts and help them create a single chapter of a compilation self-help book. Then, when they create 20 or so chapters from 20 different experts, they publish the book. The beauty...

This week, I have another high-impact leader coming for a visit. David Oates is a specialist in Crisis PR. In the interview, he covers a number of ideas and solutions that can help you if someone is using social media to harm your brand or your image. He also talks about a few ways to prepare for the inevitable social media dissatisfied person who wants to post negative things about you or your co...

This is part four of a four-part series about the 25 absolute best leadership books ever written. This week, I will end with the last three books, two on how to market your ideas better, and the number one business book of all time. Then, I will give a few books that are great books but that you want to be very careful implementing their ideas into your work or your business because you may get un...

This week, I'm continuing to cover a few of my favorite leadership books and business books. If you recall, I mentioned last week that when I first started out in business, I didn't have mentors to guide me, so I relied on books to help me solve problems. Two weeks ago, we covered a few of my favorite leadership skill books. Then, last week, I focused on a few that can help you create a...

Best Books for Leadership about Mindset and Thinking Like a Leader. The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz. This is one of my favorite leadership thinking books. It gives advice on how to be happier in your marriage, happier at work, and how to achieve fantastic goals. If you want to improve your success as a leader, re-read this book once every couple of years. Here is a favorite quote from...

We have had a couple of new leadership consultants start at our company recently. One of them is an avid reader. Prior to coming on board with us, he had read hundreds of the best books for leadership. Interestingly, in his first week, we were in our corporate library at the office. I began to pull a few of my favorite leadership books off the library shelves. “Have you read this one?” I asked. He...