How To Light A Fire Under Your Team When Things Are Going Well

How To Light A Fire Under Your Team When Things Are Going Well: It’s easy to create a sense of urgency among your team when business is tough. It’s harder when you come into a role after your predecessor had tripled business in seven years.

5 Things Highly Successful People Do To Stay Motivated

5 Things Highly Successful People Do To Stay Motivated: We've all been there.  Something we worked hard for, put a lot of thought and effort into, didn't go the way we'd hoped. A job, a promotion, a raise, assignment to a plum project.

6 Ways Effective Listening Can Make You A Better Leader

6 Ways Effective Listening Can Make You A Better Leader: When employees say they want their voices to be heard, they are really saying they want leaders who will not just hear them, but really listen to them.    As employees seek more attention, feedback and support, leaders must become more mindful of individual needs in order to more effectively inspire professional development and overall performance.   Leaders who listen are able to create trustworthy relationships that are transparent and breed loyalty.  You know the leaders who have their employees’ best interests at heart because they truly listen to them.

4 Steps To Find The Right Mentor

4 Steps To Find The Right Mentor: People often say that finding a mentor is essential as an entrepreneur, especially a young one at that. I am a sophomore at Duke University and the co-founder of Star Toilet Paper, so the experience I had prior to starting this company is my camp and caddying experience. So how do I even know what steps to take or how to develop a business?
While many people within the realm of entrepreneurship are willing to be helpful, there is a big difference between someone who answers a few questions for you and someone who is genuinely interested and invested (not monetarily) in both your company and in you. To me, the most important aspect of a mentor is the latter of the two; your mentor must have a vested interest in learning more about you and what you wish to do to change the world with your new company.
But how do you go about obtaining this type of mentor, and how do you know if they are the right person?
Where: In college, I have access to both people and resources. But you don't need to be a student to access the people and resources you need. In any major city, there will be a variety of incubators, accelerators and universities that are hotbeds for innovation and centers of knowledge. That does not mean that you need to find the entrepreneurship professor at the closest university. See what is around you and how you can make the most out of those resources. I have found that it is often the third or fourth degree of separation that leads to the best person for you.

3 Tips for Surviving as a First-Time Manager

3 Tips for Surviving as a First-Time Manager: Your first management job is a big win – a sign that you’ve done something right in your career. It’s also the first time that your success is completely tied to the performance of other people...

5 Ways To Unlock Authentic Leadership

5 Ways To Unlock Authentic Leadership: In today’s culture, where so much emphasis is placed on the superficial, people crave authenticity. Employees today are hungry for real what-you-see-is-what-you-get leadership. The most inspiring and influential leaders therefore don’t lead because of what they do (though they do plenty), but because of who they are. Too often leaders and those who aspire to be, forget that.

How To Be A Great Mentor

How To Be A Great Mentor:

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. - William Arthur Ward

Have you employed a mentor to help you navigate the professional world? Maybe you found her during your first job search; perhaps it was when you transitioned careers. Either way—your mentor most likely provided guidance and helped you overcome challenges. And if you’re really lucky, she inspired you along the way.

3 Tips To Navigate A Leadership Crossroads

3 Tips To Navigate A Leadership Crossroads: Judith E. Glaser (@CreatingWE) and Lori Polachek (@LPolachek1) offer advice to business leaders at a fork in the road.

The Art of Screwing Up

The Art of Screwing Up: I was enjoying breakfast with my good friend, Danny O’Brien, recently, when our conversation moved to the topic of screwing up, making mistakes and the steps we take thereafter.  Danny said, “The quality of our lives is not determined by whether or not we screw up—because we all will.”

Forming Better Professional and Office Relationships

Forming Better Professional and Office Relationships: Whether you are a CEO or entry-level employee, getting along with others is paramount to success and your career is no exception to this rule.  While tenacity, hard work, intelligence and making the right decisions are all significant factors in the equation to achievement, interpersonal relationships can either make an individual's career manageable and more lucrative or set up unnecessary barriers to getting what you desire.

People CAN Change Their Past -- Put Mistakes Behind You.

People CAN Change Their Past -- Put Mistakes Behind You.: People often think they can’t change their past, but I disagree. Perhaps we can’t change every mistake in our past, but we have to remember that the past is a moving target. Every day that goes by us becomes a part of our past history. Whatever we do today will become a part of our past tomorrow, which means we do have the power to change our past by doing the right things today. Today we have the ability to continue building on our past story, and that gives us the power to modify that story into one we can be proud of.  It’s important to remember that the whole of our past is far more powerful than any of its parts.

In A Daze? Easy Ways To Defeat 'Fuzzy Brain' At Work

In A Daze? Easy Ways To Defeat 'Fuzzy Brain' At Work: Unproductive days at work come in many forms. There are the days when you’re tired (I probably shouldn’t have gone to that midnight movie premier last night), days when you’re distracted (How can I focus on work when my relationship is on the rocks?), and days when you can’t get motivated (Can’t I do the monthly report next week?).

Don't Bring Problems To Your Manager -- Bring Solutions

Don't Bring Problems To Your Manager -- Bring Solutions: In today’s workplace, if you want to stand out as a valued employee, don’t bring problems to your manager -- bring solutions. Why? Because there are too many problems for managers to solve all by themselves; that’s why you were hired. So don’t be part of a problem. Become a solution-generating employee and you’ll increase your value to your manager and to the company.

Pump Up the Volume -- Establishing Your Leadership Presence

Pump Up the Volume -- Establishing Your Leadership Presence: As an executive or want-to-be executive, wouldn?t you love to have presence? Wouldn?t you love to have people drawn to you when you speak and pay attention to what you are saying? Presence is one of the most common characteristics shared by over 150 CEOs that have come to our CEO Insights class or Speaker Series here at McGill. Two in particularly lit up the room, Sir Richard Branson and Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus; very, very different personalities yet both had presence.

5 Habits Of Leaders Who Create Workspace Culture

5 Habits Of Leaders Who Create Workspace Culture: When I was a student (once upon a time I thought I was to be a clinical psychologist), and broke, and spending time in New York City (also about the time I decided I was not to be a performing artist, choreographer for my career after spending years here doing so), I used to make extra money volunteering for psychological studies at Columbia University. I arrived one day and was told to wait in a small room for the study to start. The room started to fill up with other people, also waiting, until it was jammed and people were sitting on the floor shoulder to shoulder. Things got testy, arguments broke out, there was jostling. After 45 minutes the researchers came in and announced that the study was over: they had been measuring how we reacted when we were crowded into a small space.

The Most Powerful Workplace Motivator

The Most Powerful Workplace Motivator: The most powerful workplace motivator is our natural tendency to measure our own performance against the performance of others, according to research by Harvard Business School professor Ian Larkin. He describes his findings in this article, which first appeared on the HBS Working Knowledge website.

Seven Steps to Negotiating Success

Seven Steps to Negotiating Success: Tried-and-true negotiation tactics from author and negotiation expert Selena Rezvani.

Cultivating 'Soft Skills' to Get Ahead

Cultivating 'Soft Skills' to Get Ahead: Personal aptitudes and attitudes like being a good listener and communicator strongly influence likability and workplace relationships.

Seven Customer Service Lessons I Learned in One Day With Richard Branson [Video]

Seven Customer Service Lessons I Learned in One Day With Richard Branson [Video]: It’s rare to find a leader who elevates the experience for employees and customers to such a degree that other brands benchmark against his or her company. I recently had a unique opportunity to spend a day with one such leader, an entrepreneur and billionaire who has built a brand considered the gold standard in customer service—Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson.

How Employees Can Succeed Faster

How Employees Can Succeed Faster: Google used to have a formula for finding the best employees: it screened for high SAT scores and grade point averages. Sounded like a good plan (especially since Google’s two founders demanded it).