Posts Tagged "Leadership"

Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker and Superman: Leadership Skills We Can Use

October 16th, 2013 |1 comment

You can use the traits of #HarryPotter, #LukeSkyWalker and #Superman to improve your leaderships skills.

Most are familiar with the stories of Harry Potter, Star Wars and Superman.

If you’re a fan of these stories you might be aware of the striking similarities between the three main characters – Harry Potter, Clark Kent, and Luke Skywalker.

The similarities with these three characters are striking.

All three lost their parents at a young age. They lived their young lives with no idea of their true, remarkable identities.

As each grew older, their true identities were revealed to them. This put the characters on remarkable journeys.

How To Use Presentation Tools To Your Advantage

September 18th, 2013 |2 comments

A poor slide presentation will do more harm than good.

For many years I’ve used presentation tools to help with presentations.

Handouts, slides, props and more have made appearances with me in front of audiences.

There were tons of little devices I used to make the presentation more effective. I, like many others, have even used the overhead projector that beamed images onto a screen from those plastic pieces of paper-looking sheets.

On some levels it seems silly to use presentation tools. After all, if you’re confident in yourself as a leader and speaker you shouldn’t need tools to help you speak in front of people.

In my years of experience I’ve learned that presentation tools not only help the person in front of the audience. When used properly, presentation tools can help those in the audience comprehend what is being presented.

Since that’s the goal of a presentation it makes sense to use tools whenever appropriate.

How To Move Past Existing Business Models To Find New Success

August 28th, 2013 |1 comment

Knowing when to move on from existing business models is a sign of leadership.

Google has retired over 70 products in the last 3 years. That’s a lot of failure for one of the world’s most successful companies. There is an important reason why Google embraces failure.

This is what we can learn from it.

In the post about company culture we examined difficult decisions. Retiring a product is a difficult decision. Google seems to have no issue making difficult decisions when it comes to doing what’s best for the company in the long-term.

In another post we looked at failure and how leaders need to know when to change course when a business model is not working. Again, Google understands how to learn from products that don’t work.

In the article about failures there was a statistic that was quite interesting. The stat was the fact that Google has closed 70 products in just the last few years.

The Power of Failure and How You Can Launch With It

August 21st, 2013 |1 comment

Accepting failure and moving on to greater prospects is a sign of leadership.

In a previous post about company culture it was noted that leaders often have to make difficult decisions.

One of the most difficult decisions leaders need to make is stopping a bad investment.

The examples given included some hyped Google products – Wave and Buzz. If you haven’t heard of these products, don’t worry: Google pulled them from the web almost as quickly as they launched.

It’s a hallmark of strong leadership when a company is able to pull products and services when they see that things aren’t going to work out. The tendency is to try and persevere to make the product work, but those efforts usually result in a lot of lost money and energy.

Developing Self-Belief As A Speaker

July 17th, 2013 |no comments

Building self-belief is key to being a successful business leader.

In a previous article about message management we looked at the speaking skills of professional golfer Adam Scott.

In April 2013, Scott became the first Australian to win The Masters, one of the biggest events in golf.

Even though Scott was 32 years old, the average age of first-time major champions in golf, it was an achievement well overdue for a golfer whom much was expected from a young age.

In the wake of winning The Masters, Scott addressed his poor performance in major champions for years in part due to lack of self belief.

Because Trust Is A Must

June 25th, 2013 |no comments

Building trust with your audience is part of being a strong leader.

People throughout the world are pretty trusting.

When we come into this world we’re very trusting.

As we get older we lose some of that childhood trust.

Life happens. People break promises. Our expectations for things don’t work out.

How To Use Vision Selling To Your Every Advantage

June 11th, 2013 |no comments

Steve Jobs didn’t create the first MP3 player. He may have had the best vision, though.

Throughout history there are examples of products being “ahead of their time”.

We’ll look back on something that was invented that was a breakthrough yet never caught on with the mainstream public.

We call the inventor and the product ahead of their time.

But maybe this explanation is too simple.

Consultative Selling – Partnerships In Action

May 28th, 2013 |no comments

With consultative selling, sales leaders focus on asking the right questions to build relationships.

My last exchange with a car salesman was a reminder of the role sales has in leadership.

After exchanging pleasantries with the salesman he asked the question:

Why are you looking for a new vehicle?

It may seem like a basic question, but the question is a calculated sales and leadership strategy.

In the last few decades there has been a change in the way people interact when making purchases. As more companies have entered the marketplace the landscape has turned in favor of the consumer.

Consumers have more choice than ever and salespeople have had to react accordingly.

The change in the way salespeople interact with consumers today is known as Consultative Selling.

The method works for salespeople on the front lines, but it also works at every level of leadership in any company or group.

The concept is simple, but it does take time to learn.

Just like the salesman I met when searching for a vehicle, you need to understand consultative selling to position yourself as a leader.

Bad Sales Techniques You Still See Today

May 14th, 2013 |1 comment

Bad sales techniques never lead to long-term success.

We’ve all dealt with a pushy salesman.

Whether buying a car or being led into a sales meeting by a friend, it seems everyone has had a poor experience at some point.

An image that comes to mind is the Ned Ryerson character from the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day. He gets a little too pushy with Murray’s character day after day until one day Phil just wheels back and hits him right in the nose.

That image gave people everywhere a reason to cheer. We’ve all been there.

The truth is that selling is important. We’re all selling all the time. It could be selling our kids on the idea of going to bed on time or selling our partners on a new business strategy. The trick is to use good selling techniques, not bad ones.

Every bad selling technique focuses on winning. Salespeople act as if they are competing against the customer. The result is a win for the salesperson, but a loss for the customer. Bad salespeople do whatever it takes to win even if it only results in short-term gain.

The most successful salespeople take a different approach where both parties are winners. They avoid the bad techniques of the past.

Tribal Instinct: Why We Have Meetings and Why We Won’t Stop Them

April 10th, 2013 |1 comment

When was the last time you attended a meeting where decisions were made, business was accomplished and it wrapped up early with everyone smiling? Chances are it’s been a while.

Most people seem to know that meetings can waste a lot of time and effort for everyone involved. Most of us would like to have fewer, shorter meetings — but nonetheless, meeting after meeting seems to just keep happening! Why is that? There is a good reason why we have meetings. It comes down to the way that we are wired. We are social creatures. We like to get together and have social events, and that’s what a meeting is. A meeting is a social function that (should) enable us to achieve a particular outcome.

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