Category: Uncategorized
Find Your Purpose
| What is your purpose? Why are you doing this job? These are key, fundamental questions as we ponder our roles as leaders. In the framework I use with leaders in their development, 5 Steps to Leadership Development, it’s the first step. As you grow in your leadership – honing your “Power of One,” this framework can help both you and those you are developing to stay on course. Here is a good article on finding your purpose. Enjoy!
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Secrets to the Good Life
| Thanks to Eric Barker for once again finding a great resource to keep us grounded in what helps us feel successful and fulfilled. This post has some wonderful quotes from Michael Puett and Christine Gross-Loh ‘s book: The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life. As we start the new year and are tempted to set big goals for our work and personal life, this provides insights on the importance of the smaller steps, like paying attention to rituals and cultivating opportunities as they come along.
Enjoy, and Happy New Year! http://bit.ly/23KU5P9 |
The “Be’s” of Leadership
This time of year is a great opportunity to reflect on the type of leader we want to be. The “3 Be’s” of Leadership provide a basis for thinking how to be most authentic in our relationships with our colleagues, team members and customers. Enjoy this holiday season and be sure to rest and rejuvenate as much as possible to prepare the great unknown of 2017!
All the best, Carolyn
Giving Thanks
“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” –Thornton Wilder
This is the best thing about Thanksgiving, the giving thanks part. There’s lots of literature out there now about how gratitude is the foundational element of of a peaceful and contented life. And we have a holiday that provides us an opportunity to stop and think about that! I have begun a daily practice that helps me remember to be grateful. I ask myself three questions:
- What are three things that make me feel good about my life?
- What is a recent event that made me unhappy?
- How can I take that event and find good in it?
Invariably, this exercise helps me to be grateful for my many blessings – my health, my wonderful husband, my dear friends and family, my amazing clients, music in the world, the color of the autumn trees, a warm home to live in with abundant food. Contemplating recent events, and what good I can find in them, is humbling. It helps me to see that even in the midst of illness of friends, an unstable political climate, an imperfect world, that I still can find strength to find good in it, and often, do something about it.
On this Thanksgiving, let’s take it up a notch! Let’s be sure to reflect ourselves on the many blessings we have in our lives – our amazing families, colleagues, organizations, communities, homes, neighborhoods, cities, and recommit to finding the good and light in even the darkest situations. Let’s remember the many courageous people who went before us, Pilgrims, Native Americans, immigrants, and seekers alike, who took those steps forward into an unknown world, doing the best they could, sharing what they had, and giving thanks for it. May we be inspired to do the same, in this day and age, one step at a time, with gratitude.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Leading and Managing
Had a great day with the inaugural class of “Leadership FPRA” of the Florida Public Relations Association, as I presented and facilitated and all day session on “Leading and Managing.” The inspiring, talented PR professionals focused their day on becoming even more effective leaders and sharing their insights and knowledge with one another on topics including leadership strengths, vision, influence and resolving conflict. Terrific day!
Invite Employee Engagement
| One of the most important and challenging, and successful, responsibilities of a leader is to help management and staff believe that they are included and that their ideas are valuable. Here is a quick reference and tool to help implement engagement – a key factor in job satisfaction and retention. Enjoy!
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When Saying No is Better than Saying Nothing at All
| One of the key challenges that I see leaders face is the lack of prioritization. Leaders find it hard to prioritize their own responsibilities, and find it difficult to help others do it. It is especially complex when the organization is under constant change and new challenges and resulting responsibilities seem to come in an unending flood. I like this reminder that it is fine – and often necessary – to say “no.” How powerful is that?! Enjoy! |
Build a Great Culture and Protect It – Advice from KIND President John Leahy
| Hello! Here is a brief article on an inspiring leader who has great advice. KIND Healthy Snacks President John Leahy brings full commitment to whatever he is doing, and with that comes a willingness to say he was wrong. “The first thing that I personally do, and I really encourage my team to do from a leadership standpoint, is ‘the buck stops here,’ ” he says. |
The 6 Roots of a Grounded Leader
| I don’t know about you but sometimes I find it hard to separate the forest from the trees – how to stay focused on the important things and not get too distracted by the multiple mundane tasks that are expected of us every day. The attached article is a great reminder of how to stay grounded, through self-care and putting the “big rocks” (as Stephen Covey says) first. Enjoy!
http://huff.to/2cGZ0j6 |
Desire, Purpose, Talent
| “Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.” Rumi |
| As we take time to celebrate Labor Day and the contributions of the workers to American success and prosperity, I encourage you to contemplate your own desires regarding the work that you do. My hope is that your work is integrally connected to your heart’s desire, your purpose, and your talents. And that you can continue to make these linkages even stronger as you move forward, so that you are an inspiration and light to others, giving them hope that they too can express their desires and talents through their work. And that together we can create organizations and workplaces that are safe and productive, and vehicles for positive change and innovation. Happy Labor Day! |