In the Right Direction with Deb Elbaum

Leaders are committed to supporting those they work with to achieve goals. One obstacle that can get in the way is the stress of other people. If you work with people who get stressed, you know the negative impact it can have on productivity, working together, and conversations. Other people are not in your control, AND it is in your control as a leader to try different strategies to invite your t...

Having more peace of mind allows our body to relax and our thoughts to quiet. Calmer, clearer thinking helps us move forward more easily and live more intentionally. Too often, though, everyday stresses undermine our ability to connect to this place of calm. If we care about how we show up for ourselves and others, we need strategies to help us shift out of stress and into a more peaceful brain. O...

Relationships need trust to thrive. When there's trust, relationships are easier, lighter, and more collaborative. When there's a lack of trust, misperceptions and misunderstandings can take root. Building trust takes clarity around expectations and perceived roles and responsibilities. While this often comes with time, there's also a way to accelerate this clarity in a relationship – and that's t...

Innovating, taking on challenges, and partnering effectively with others requires a growth mindset – a perspective of resilience and seeing "failures" as learning opportunities. Yet, too often, stress and frustration can send us into a fixed mindset. What if you had an easy brain-focusing tool to help you and others shift seamlessly from fixed mindset to growth mindset? You'd probably give yoursel...

Most leaders are committed to their personal and professional development. We get in our own way, however, when we operate from a fixed mindset and continue to hold and perpetuate old "stories" and negative limiting beliefs we have about ourselves. Growth and learning require a growth mindset, especially around how we talk to and see ourselves. The good news is that there's a powerful and easy str...

What are the most helpful things people have said to you during your life that you still carry with you and recall when you need that wisdom? Taking the time to reflect helps us better understand the beliefs and ideas that guide us and help us make sense of the world. What if we made sure to take the time to reflect, think about those who have helped us, and share our appreciation? We'd be spreadi...

We have a fundamental need to be understood by others. We also want to understand those around us, and how they truly feel or think about something. Yet, too often, there's a lack of clarity all around. If we want to more deeply understand how others are thinking and feeling, we need a coaching tool. The good news is that there's an easy-to-remember tool to help drive conversations that are cleare...

Most of us are goal-driven people. There are things we want to achieve at work, and there are things we want for our lives. Sometimes, we know what to do to achieve these, and sometimes we don't. We feel stuck and unsure about what next step to take. The good news is that there's a strategy that can make it easier to feel excited and confident about what you can do next to create a path to achievi...

Most leaders appreciate feedback so they can continue to learn and grow -- to serve their team, their stakeholders, and their organization. They want to know what they're doing well and what their opportunities are; yet, too often, they receive feedback that is vague and nonspecific. If we want to receive actionable and relevant feedback around our presence, communication, and work, we need to ask...

With so many expectations on us, we need to make sure that we are using our time wisely and efficiently. Yet focusing solely on our thinking and forcing our brain to stay on task for too long can undermine our productivity. If we want to be productive and efficient, we need to expand our awareness to focus on the body. The brain and body are intimately connected; when we take care of our body, we'...

We all want things, for our relationships, our career, and our life. We want love, we want to grow, and we want to thrive. Yet, too often, our thoughts are about what's not going well – the challenges, worries, and problems. What if you had a way to shift your thinking from what you don't want to what you do want? There's a simple question that can help get to the heart of the matter. This questio...

We want to know that what we're doing OK in life, that we're making good decisions and choices. Yet when we start comparing our accomplishments and lives to what others have achieved, it's easy to doubt ourselves and hear only our inner critic voice. If we want to stay centered and confident about who we are, it helps to have a strong sense of our values, purpose, and priorities. Standing in our p...

In our personal and professional relationships, we want connection, collaboration, and understanding. Yet, sometimes, we get the opposite: hurt feelings, frustration, and misunderstanding, especially when expectations are not met. The key to creating more understanding is communicating – telling people what matters to us, how we see a situation, and what they can count on us for. In other words, w...

We have a lot to think about, and sometimes thinking about our lives, families, and work can evoke strong negative emotions. When a situation has a big negative emotional charge, it can keep us feeling stuck and going around in circles in our mind.  Fortunately, there's a strategy that can help bypass the negativity more quickly to get unstuck from a challenge more easily. This strategy – drawing...

Most of us want to feel happier, productive, and more fulfilled. Personally, we want to know that we're living a life that matters. Professionally, we want to feel confident that we're being an effective colleague and leader. One way to do this is to use the powerful communication and cognitive tool of questions. We ask questions all the time – in our heads to ourselves and out loud to others. Yet...

Most leaders want to inspire others. They want to share ideas and stories that motivate people, and maybe even invite others to think and behave differently. But what specifically inspires others? In addition to a speaker's energy and stories, there's one other piece. Inspiring leaders have clear and confident leadership beliefs. They share what they know to be true about relationships, work, and...

Metrics are how we measure success. At work, we use metrics to evaluate projects we're working on and to better understand how we're doing in our job. It's the same with coaching. When you work with an executive or leadership coach, how do you know that you're making progress and investing your valuable time and resources wisely? There are different ways to measure personal and professional growth...

Many of us are self-critical and see all the things we have to do and need to do. When we talk to ourselves in this way, though, with the pressured have-tos and need-tos, it can keep our thinking constricted and in a more negative frame of mind. Being hard on ourselves can be draining. How can we ease up on how we see and talk to ourselves, to think more positively? The words we use in our thinkin...

We all fall into habits of thinking, where we think about life, work, and our relationships in the same way. While this might be fine most of the time, there will be times when we are ready to think differently about our goals, our commitments, and our purpose – times when we're ready to clarify who we are and what we really want. How can we invite our brains to think more creatively in an easy wa...

We all have an inner critic, the voice that causes us pain and keeps us from thinking big, speaking up, and going for what we really want. Our inner critic can be exhausting and demoralizing to listen to! Although we might want to tune it out, it can be hard, because it's so familiar. What if there was a way to lessen the sting of the inner critic and not let it affect us as much? Your inner criti...

We all want to build new habits. Maybe you want to exercise more, or create time for strategic thinking at work. It can be hard building a new habit because it takes lots of brain focus and energy. What if there was a brain-friendly tool that could help your brain more easily create a new habit that sticks? Building a new habit takes thoughts, energy, and intention, and the brain-friendly personal...

Coaching expedites personal and professional growth because it helps create clarity, build confidence, and determine the next action steps to take. Unfortunately, even though most leaders know they should coach more, they too easily fall into the habit of advice giving and problem solving, or they ask a coaching question when they're really wanting to be directive. The good news is that anyone can...

When information comes at us – such as in an email, message, or feedback – our brain can get activated and we can end up reacting in ways we later regret. When we react instead of thoughtfully respond, it can cause misunderstanding, hurt feelings, and damage our professional reputation. The good news is that there's a simple leadership tool that can help you put space in between the information co...

Executive presence is not just for executives. It's for everyone, because people notice what we do and say. And if we are doing and saying things that leave a negative impression, it can undermine our relationships and influence. Being aware of and intentional around how you show up helps you create the impression you want to make. It helps you be seen as the leader you want to be and have the imp...

When people share their solicited or unsolicited opinions about your work, your style, or how you communicate, they are giving you feedback. While some of this feedback is hopefully positive, other times it might feel negative. It might really hurt. When we receive negative feedback, we're often quick to discount it because we don't trust the giver or it doesn't fit with our self-view. We might no...