The 7 most important words in leadership

November 8, 2012 By

Do you read ebooks? You really should! It’s the modern day’s cliff notes when you’re pressed for time and in need of knowledge. I’ve been going through my virtual bookshelves in preparation of upcoming speeches and workshops and was reminded of the 7 most important words in leadership.

I found it in Terry Starbucker‘s The 5 Lessons You Need to Learn Before You Jump In The Pool. It’s in Lesson #5 that he reveals the seven words that make so much sense, yet hinders leaders to grow.

“I don’t know and I’ll find out.”

This phrase is powerful because not very often are we able to admit that we don’t know something, especially in our professional capacities. Scroll through Starbucker’s ebook to gain more knowledge in improving your leadership skills.

Download (PDF, 2.97MB)

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Being revolutionary requires pissing off some people

August 30, 2012 By

1. If you don’t piss at least some people off, what you are doing isn’t revolutionary.

2. Don’t be afraid to paint your vision as big as you’ve dreamed it.

3. Your investors need to like your idea/business but fall in love with you. Because if they love your idea more than they believe in your ability to adapt and execute, they are the wrong investors.

4. Be proud of your xx chromosomes, but walk into that pitch with balls.

Maria Seidman

CEO & Co-Founder, Yapp

via Secrets for Nailing a Pitch From 7 Female Founders | The Daily Muse.

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How to start your day off right

August 29, 2012 By

Written by Kevin Purdy Freelance writer, former Lifehacker editor, non-disgruntled Buffalo resident, consumer of coffee. Follow @kevinpurdy on Twitter.

 

Gain Awareness, Be Grateful

One smart, simple question on curated Q & A site Quora asked “How do the most successful people start their day?”. The most popular response came from a devotee of Tony Robbins, the self-help guru who pitched the power of mindful first-hour rituals long before we all had little computers next to our beds.

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Top cities for tech startups

August 27, 2012 By

Time to relocate or make it happen your hometown?

via USAToday.

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How to enjoy your vacation

August 27, 2012 By

Preparation Is Key

Train your replacement well in advance. Take a cue from McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner, who requires each executive to train two potential replacements. For many, the idea of having someone ready to take over their job at a moment’s notice can be scary — after all, the company wouldn’t be faced with a long hiring process if they decided to fire you. But the benefits far outweigh the risks. If there is someone else who can do your job, you can take your vacation without worrying about whether your work is getting done. In addition, you are prepared for unexpected time off. If you need to take a few sick days or some time off for bereavement, you’ll know you are covered.

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7 steps to an effective budget

August 27, 2012 By

Steve Wilkinghoff is a leading small business expert and author of the book, Found Money: Simple Strategies to Uncover the Hidden Profit and Cash Flow in Your Business. His experience with hundreds of small business owners around the world has allowed him to create the Found Money Roadmap System, a proven process that gives any small business owner the power, tools, and knowledge to create the financial results they truly want from their business.

Step One

The first step is to create your revenue budget.  The way to do this in a meaningful way is to start with the number of customers you have historically served in your budget period.  For example, if you serve 75 customers in a month, this would form the starting point if you were budgeting for an upcoming month.

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Identifying common leadership conundrums

August 15, 2012 By

 

  1. Process vs. Innovation – On the surface this looks more like a huge battle; the free thinking forces that love chaos and drive change, against the system-driven processors who thrive on order and repetition.  In reality,  under great leadership innovation and process work in tandem, where the more solid the processes, the more time is saved for great innovation.
  2. Openness vs. Secrecy
  3. Risk-Taking vs. Conservatism
  4. Hubris vs. Humility
  5. Talking vs. Listening
  6. Accountability vs. Leniency

More solutions via A Navigational Guide To 6 Paradoxes of Leadership | TerryStarbucker.com.

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14 iPad apps for business owners

August 8, 2012 By
iPad in Hawaii

Photo credit: Ryan Ozawa

Everyday there are new mobile applications seeking to meet a need of the mobile business owners. The following are mobile applications that I use to make me a more efficient business owner (and parent).

Marketing and Content Publishing

Facebook

I use four different applications to manage my Facebook account and pages. The first is the Facebook app, it’s free and allows me to engage and publish content with my family and friends. I am not allowed to create photo albums from this app, so I use the Camera app to accomplish this. The Facebook app runs slow when I’m navigating through my messages, so instead I use the Messenger application to read and reply. And finally, my favorite of the Facebook app suites is the Pages application. I can manage pages that I Admin, plus it pushes notifications when community members contribute content.

Instagram

At this point, I use multiple applications to manage my Instagram content too. The first, is the free original Instagram app. It’s easy to use, however it’s limited in its features. To create layouts with multiple photos I use Pic Stitch and most recently Diptic which offers more photo layouts. To add a layer of text over a photo I use Tiny Post and to manage multiple Instagram accounts, I use Fotogramme. Finally, I use Tweegram to upload “text photos” and refer to InstaCC to join challenges.

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How to build your internal community

July 11, 2012 By

crowd surf

The internal community of evangelists otherwise known as your employees, associates, team members, or whatever term you use in your company is vital. Without your internal community, nothing moves and your external community will dissipate even quicker. No matter how hard you work as an individual, you’re just one person, it takes a community to build a business these days just as it takes a village to raise a child.

Hire from the inside out

A few weeks ago I was asked to provide an honest evaluation and opinion of two individuals vying for a high profile, career leveraging position. One individual looked great on paper and in person. She had the right degrees and work experience, a professional appearance, and was overall well-received by her peers. The other individual didn’t look so great. She had degrees and work experience, however not a tailored fit for the position. She was a bit more outspoken and less “politically correct” in discussions with her peers.

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Entrepreneurs do not operate from victim

June 28, 2012 By

For more than six-months I’ve attended three solid personal and professional development seminars that have allowed me to evolve into a better business owner and most importantly an even better parent, partner, and person. One of the first lessons learned is understanding the dynamics of operating from the victim and responsible perspective.

It’s an experiential exercise that is well, better experienced than written or read. What I can share is that it’s changed my attitude towards all situations past, present, and the promising future. It’s allowed me to think clearer, make strategic decisions, and to empathize with my personal and professional end user. The first step in design thinking — empathy, is very powerful in delivering a better product and service to my clients.

Startup Professional Musings takes an honest look at the perennial victim tossing his hat into the entrepreneurial ring.

“People with a victim mentality should never be entrepreneurs. We all know the role of starting and running a business is unpredictable, and has a high risk of failure. For people with a victim mentality, this fear of failure alone will almost certainly make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

If you operate from the victim mentality, don’t become an entrepreneur until you’ve changed your mind.

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