The Secret Groundwork to an Extraordinary 2016

A new year is just around the corner.  Another year is about to end.

Be honest with yourself …

·      Are you feeling tired, stressed or depressed?

·      Are you feeling disconnected from what really matters to you?

·      Are you feeling like you have lost your way, not even realizing it?

In my experience, when December hits, many leaders are burned out and depleted.  They are running on empty.

And understandably so.  The demands on a leader’s energy and attention throughout the year are endless.   I’ve been there myself.  I know.

Since that time, I have learned to make December a transition month.  Not only to prepare for the new year.  Also to revitalize my spirit and reconnect to the fire within.

This article provides you with 3 critical leadership steps for transitioning from the end of this year to 2016.   Let’s first address what are transitions.

What Are Transitions?  Why Are They Important to Leadership Growth?

Think of a transition like the period at the end of sentence.  It’s a pause.  It ends one sentence and creates a bridge to the next sentence.

Transitions are a natural important part of leadership growth, whether you realize it or not.  Some are by choice.  Some come from natural endings – like the end of a year, the end of a project, etc.

The problem is that leaders are often such doers, high initiative individuals, that they ignore or avoid transition periods, even though they are essential to your next level of growth.

Leadership breakthroughs can only happen in the pauses.   In transition periods.

These periods …

·      Provide the needed space for defining new directions in your leadership role.

·      Can revitalize your spirit and leadership fire

·      Reground you to what really matters.

·      Clears out the internal/external clutter that holds you back

3 Steps for Preparing for an Extraordinary 2016

Step 1:  Closures, Completions and Letting Go

Imagine a blackboard cluttered everywhere with writing. Not only will it be impossible to decipher the contents.  There will be little room for anything new.

The same is true with yourself and your organization.   Many leaders start the new year with excessive “energetic clutter” that will hold them back, if not addressed.

Below are 3 leadership areas for decluttering prior to the new year.

1.    Get closure on “unfinished business.”

“Unfinished business” is those items that consume your physical, mental and emotional energy and require closure to free up your wasted energy. For example,

·      What projects or goals have you started this year that you neither completed nor are working on?

·      What communications have you not delivered that needs to be completed– whether it be to a peer, employee, customer, etc.?

·      What clutter do you need to get rid of or file from your desk, office or email box?

2.    Eliminate “energy drains”

“Energy drains” are people, places, activities or procedures that undermine your effectiveness, violate your integrity standards or “cost” you or your company in some fashion.  For example,

·      What boundaries do you need to set with difficult customers costing you excessive time, your values (or company values) or resources?

·      What actions or projects do you need to stop doing and/or delegate to others?

·      Where are you tolerating underperformance or violations in behavior norms that needs to be dealt with?

3.    “What’s wrong with this picture?”

These areas include where you are out of integrity with yourself, your desires or your sense of fulfillment.  For example,

·      What strategies, behaviors, attitudes and/or beliefs that created success in the past are now obsolete and blocking your future leadership growth?

·      What things this year did you want to be that you’re not being?

·      What things did you want to do or start that you’re not doing?

·      What things did you want to change that you’re not changing?

·      What things have you done yet not acknowledged yourself for doing them?

December is a natural transition time to complete, eliminate or take inventory and action around current leadership “clutter” areas.

Whether you realize it or not, the unresolved past will not only weigh you down and undermine your leadership performance.  It is also the biggest contributor of your current stresses, internal conflicts and lack of motivation.

Whether it’s 20 minutes a day till end of the year or taking larger blocks of time away from the office, answer the above questions to start the new year clear, rejuvenated and at the top of your game.

Step 2:  Imagining a New Compelling Leadership Story

With each new year, leaders take time to look at their individual and organizational goals and visions.  There are many positive benefits to doing so.

Where most such efforts fail or are ineffective, however, is in 2 areas.

1.    Visions and goals are often extrapolated from the past and/or present (the known), rather than created from the future (the unknown).

2.    Developing visions and goals is often a forced intellectual exercise, rather than a creative, passionate and emerging exploration of new possibilities.

You will know you are ready for Step 2 when you feel connected to the part of yourself that knows your destiny.  When your mind’s eye starts to give you images, sounds and feelings of the leader you are about to become.

True visions emerge.  They pull your energy forward.  They are neither forced nor what you expect.

Your old way of being as a leader will simply seem wrong.  You are giving birth to a new vision of yourself as a leader.

To get your imagination going, fill out the matrix below for the new year as sequenced as follows.  Think in terms of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, qualities, accomplishments or whatever else is important to you for the new year.

Lower Left Quadrant:  What you don’t want and don’t have

These are your non-negotiables.

Example:  You don’t want to unethical and you currently are not unethical.

 Lower Right Quadrant:  What you don’t want yet have.

These are the things you want to eliminate or let go of.

The trick with this quadrant is to convert all the “don’t wants yet haves” to their opposites (or what you do want instead).  Why?

Because the brain reinforces the very thing you no longer want.  The brain is unable to process the word not.

Example:  You don’t want stress yet you have it.

So what’s the opposite of not wanting stress?  That is, what do you want instead.  Peace?  Calmness?  Focus?  Centeredness?

Incorporate these opposites into the last quadrant (want/don’t have).

Upper Right Quadrant:  What you want and have.

These are the things you want to keep/preserve.  This is your gratitude list.

Example:  I want to start my day with a plan and am currently starting my day with a plan.

Upper Left Quadrant:  What you want yet don’t have.

These are your desires.  Your BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals).

Example:  I want to have strong accountability in my organization yet don’t currently have it.

Once you have filled out this matrix fully, imagine what your days will be like in the new year, having what you want (and eliminating what you don’t want).

This is a critical step.   Write out your new leadership story in present tense.

It should start with the words … “It is now December 30, 2016.  I am/have … (then write your new leadership narrative).

Step 3:  Testing for 100% Congruency.

At this point, you have completed all your unfinished business from the past year and have written a new leadership vision for 2016.

However, you are NOT done yet.  In my experience of working with leaders, Step 3 is the most critical (to realize your new goals and vision) yet rarely done.

The #1 reason why you did not realize your goals and vision this year is because you were not 100% congruent (on an unconscious level).  You wanted the goals yet …

You had your foot on the brake and accelerator at the same time. 

Denise Corcoran

Below are some questions to test for 100% congruency.

·      What might you lose if you achieve your vision or goals?

·      What are the possible benefits or secondary gains of not realizing your vision?

·      What might achieving your vision cost you?  Is it worth the cost?

·      On a scale of 1-10, how strong is your belief that you will achieve your vision?   Or that you have the capabilities to achieve it?

·      Do your new leadership goals conflict with other goals in your life?

·      When, where and with whom do you want to achieve your new goals?  (For example, if you want to be more assertive as a leader, is it ecological to do that in all situations and with all people?)

Without 100% congruency, your leadership vision will not only NOT be compelling.  You will unconsciously sabotage yourself from not achieving it.   Is that what you really want?

Bottomline:  Take time in December to follow these 3 steps to prepare for a groundbreaking new year in your leadership growth.

If you find yourself stuck in the process, click on the box in the right margin and sign up for a complimentary Leadership Strategy Session.  I have only 3 openings in December.  Sign up before it’s too late!

The post Re-Igniting Your Leadership Fire appeared first on The Empowered Business.

Your company is growing and has gained recognition and success.  Your culture and employees are thriving and you are so proud of everyone’s accomplishments.

Yet …

you feel something is missing.  You can’t put your finger on what.  After all, it’s been a challenging journey.  In many ways, you and your organization have arrived at its desired destination.

How could something be missing?

Guess what?

You are not alone.

That gnawing feeling of something missing is a positive thing.  It’s a sign your soul is stirring …

To something greater than your role and your company.  To a grander purpose.

You are becoming an awakener.

In today’s ever increasing complexity and change, you are being called to operate at a new level of consciousness.  To transcend your mission statement, competition and engagement practices.

Are ready to make that leap?

What Is a Leadership Awakener?

I am not a teacher, but an awakener.

Robert Frost

Most leaders’ roles and identities evolve.  Let’s take a look at one natural progression of a leader’s role.  Every role is important.

1.   Coach

Traditional coaching focuses on behavior.  The goal of a leader as coach is to improve the behavior of his/her team.

When leaders assume the role of coach, they are observing and giving feedback.  For example – coaching someone how to communicate more respectfully to teammates.

2.   Teacher

Teaching focuses on cognitive skills and capabilities.

A leader wearing the hat of teacher focuses on building  competencies and thinking capabilities – such as how to read a P&L statement or presentation skills.

3.   Mentor

Coaches and teachers focus on the external aspects of performance.  Mentors, however, focus on the internal aspects – ie., employees’ beliefs and values.

A leader wearing the hat of mentor focuses on influencing a person’s beliefs and values in a positive way – such as, believing in him/herself.

4.   Awakener

While awakening is definitely not a common term within organizations, leaders who operate at a high level of consciousness and being are the awakeners in the business world.

A leader as an awakener operates at the level of spirit or Higher Self.   Such leaders have the capacity to transcend their own mental maps (beliefs, values, identity) and connect with a greater Force within themselves and others.

Leadership Awakeners are the Game Changers of the World.

Are you ready to make the leap?

Leadership awakeners think differently. Perceive differently.  Decide differently.  Here are 3 (among many) distinctions.

As an awakener …

You View the Organization as a Hologram

What the heck is a hologram?!

A hologram is a 3 dimensional representation created with the use of a laser using a process called holography.

The fascinating property of holograms is that you can cut it up in tiny pieces and actually create the whole from a single part.

Not only does the whole contain all the parts.  Every part contains information about the whole.

WOW!!  Isn’t that mind blowing?!

The implications to an organization are huge!   The concept of a hologram says that every function … every product/service … every employee contains within it information about your entire company.

Nelson Mandela used this principle in transforming South Africa. He knew that the greatest chance of unifying the country was not through a top-down approach of sweeping changes.

Rather, that unity (the whole) would come from his relentless support of the country’s all white rugby team (a part) in the World Cup.  He rightly assumed that victory would unify the country.  The rest is history.

Applying the holographic property can accelerate success within your company.  Let’s look at 2 examples.

If you are like most leaders, you use a top-down approach in planning or envisioning your future.  That is, you take the whole and you break it into parts.  That approach has merit in certain contexts.

What if … with your next strategic plan, you instead take a bottoms up approach, using the holographic principle?

What if … you were to improve the weakest link in your organization (eg., competencies or efficiencies) and made that the focus of your strategic plan?

How would that one small change impact the performance of the entire organization?

How about applying the holographic principle to problem-solving?

What if … the next time your team solves a customer service or process problem, you focus on solving the bigger organizational issue – such as lack of cohesive teams? 

What would that do to your profitability, productivity and quality?

You See Competition as an Illusion

In our Western culture, we obsess about beating our competition and becoming the best.

That obsession shows in our love for “Best ____” lists and awards.  Fortune’s Top 100 Companies, 50 Best Places to Work for, Inc. 500/5000 and Top 40 Under 40 to name a few.

While competition can be a blessing, fueling higher standards and innovation.   It can equally be a curse.

It conditions you to think in terms of winning and losing or a zero sum game.  Those leaders who operate from a win/lose paradigm can’t see another way.

The truth is …

Competition is an illusion.

You will never win long term with this paradigm.  However, there is a more optimal paradigm from which leaders can operate.

John Nash –- behavioral economist and Nobel Prize recipient – is best known for advancing game theory and the equilibrium principle.

In simple terms, his work showed that …

the best result comes when everyone in a group (team, market, etc.) does what’s best for themselves and for the group.

His findings say that when your company works TOGETHER with — not against – your “competitors,” you ALL will be better off than if you worked at cross-purposes with each other.

Example:  Toyota and BMW have collaborated to create an environmentally friendly luxury car.  They shared costs and knowledge for electric car battery research.  BMW supplied diesel engines to Toyota.  Everybody won, especially the customer.

How might collaborating with a competitor reduce delivery times and costs, open up new markets or strengthen your position rather than weaken it?

Below are additional resources and examples to delve further about collaborating with competitors.

Collaborate with Your Competitors … and Win, 

Friendly Competition:  Competitors Collaborate  (video)

You Know That Perceived Limitations Are Wake-Up Calls

Stop for a moment.  Take inventory of ways you and/or your organization …

·      Struggle or effort

·      Feel fear when your customers or the economy slow down

·      Have hit a ceiling in growth, profits or performance

·      Don’t have money or time for critical projects

Your perceived limitations are your own creation.  Not consciously though.  You are stuck in the limiting confines of your own thinking.

Attribution: Canstock.com

When you hit such limits, you tend to panic at the edge between the known and unknown.  You fight for certainty and control.  Yet more knowledge, analyses and busyness are NOT the answer.

To transcend these limitations, you must awaken to another reality.  The world of Potentiality.  The world of unbounded possibilities.

In this new awakened state, you tap into a greater Force within yourself and beyond yourself.  You fear no challenge.  You are immune to criticism.  Self-power – or knowledge of Self — becomes your true source of power.

The question is … how do you awaken that part?

Here are 2 ways:

1.  Practice “not knowing”

Exploring the unknown opens the door to unlimited creativity and possibilities.

Start with a question or concern.  Let go of all knowledge, assumptions and ready answers.  Adopt a beginner’s mind.  Openness, curiosity, inquiry, reflection and learning are essential.  Take time to explore what you don’t know.  What new possibilities emerge from “not knowing?”

When practicing “not knowing,” you transcend fear of the unknown and engage in new possibilities.  You are excited about opportunities the unknown presents.

2.  Transcend your own mental maps

Your mental map are unconscious filters – beliefs, values, identity, etc. – that drive focus and perception.  These maps ARE the boundary conditions of your thinking.

When I work with leaders, my first goal is to uncover their mental maps.  Then change them to expand possibilities within themselves and then within others.  Because there is no set procedure, there are no steps I can give you for that change.

However, even if it is for a few brief moments initially, you can learn to transcend your mental maps.

Get quiet.   Go to that place within yourself where there are no fears.   No limiting beliefs.  No internal conflicts.  Trust your higher Self to take you there.  You will know you are there because you feel a sense of peace and ultimately pure silence.  It’s from that place new possibilities emerge.

Summary

The ultimate calling of a leader is to awaken the grander purpose and possibilities within themselves and then their employees.

Becoming a leadership awakener is the highest level of consciousness from which you can lead.  You transcend the mental maps, knowledge and expertise that limit your potential.  You lead from a level of spirit that knows no boundaries.

Life and work take on new meaning.  Struggles become a thing of the past.  You are at peace even in the midst of turmoil.

The question is …

Are ready to make that leap?

The post Real Leaders Become Awakeners appeared first on The Empowered Business.

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities.   Gloria Steinem

When I was a little girl, my mother encouraged me to dream. She would often tell me … “Dream big dreams. It does not cost anything to dream.”

So as a child, I would imagine myself becoming …

possibility thinking

… A gold Olympic ice skater on one day.

… The first woman astronaut on another day.

… Then it was a toss up between a princess, a cowgirl or a Mickey Mouse musketeer on the other days.

Nobody ever told me that anything was impossible. I am grateful for those early days that shaped me to thrive possibilities.

Now that I work with leaders, I find the art of possibility thinking extinct in many companies. If you are a leader that …

• Rarely challenges the boundary conditions of your thinking
• Struggles in creating new visions that fire up you and your organization
• Freezes at opportunities and problems with no precedence,

it is time to thrive in possibilities again.

Before addressing the what and how of possibility thinking, let’s look at how over-focus on accountability is preventing possibility thinking in your organization.

Is Too Much Accountability Stifling Your Organization?

While accountability is absolutely essential to the health of your organization, from a brain perspective, it drives your focus and thinking in an opposite direction to possibility thinking.

Why?

Accountability is all about …

• Discipline
• Control
• Order
• Measurement and metrics
• Limit in focus
• Here and now
• Excellence in execution
• What is
• Stability
• Norms

Accountability actually trains your brain to think in terms of boundaries … to stay in the box … to limit your focus. That’s a good thing to a point. You need accountability to achieve your company goals.

However, for many organizations, over-emphasis on accountability stifles creative thinking, innovation and visioning. The key for leaders is to know how to intersect and integrate possibility with accountability.

If you are like many leaders, the likelihood is that possibility thinking is the weaker muscle. Let’s look at how you can change that.

What is Possibility Thinking?

The only limits to the possibilities in your life tomorrow are the ‘buts’ you use today.     Les Brown

Interact with a child and you will know what possibility thinking is. For them, the world is filled with new things to discover. Their curious minds want to explore everything around them. Their imaginations fire up as they pretend to be their favorite heroes and villains.

As we mature as adults, we lose that creative spark. We lose our inquisitive thinking. We forget how to create the world around us.   We get stuck in our sense of reality and don’t dare new horizons.

We’ve stopped believing in what is possible.

From my experience, possibility thinking …

• Is a mindset in which, as a leader, you think beyond limits (yours and your company’s).

• Asks possibility questions.

• Thinks BIG

• Challenges status quo

• Creates breakthrough solutions

If you want to see possibility thinking in action, watch this inspiring 90 second video clip.

Noah Galloway – an army veteran who lost both his right arm and leg in the Iraq War – was a contestant on last season’s Dancing with the Stars. He defied the odds in both what he could accomplish (with a metal leg and a missing arm) and how far he could go in the contest.

It’s a must watch video.   It will inspire you to eliminate excuses and reach new heights.

7 Ways to Cultivate Your Possibility Thinking

What we can do or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of true capability.  It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.  Anthony Robbins

Possibility thinking is a brain muscle. If you let yours get flabby, it needs to be strengthened again. Here’s 7 ways how.

Ask Possibility Questions

Possibility questions are critical in your leadership role because they break through the boundary conditions of your (or some else’s) thinking. They transform disempowering beliefs to empowering ones.

Here are examples of possibility questions to get you started.

• What if you could achieve ‘x’ (a seemingly impossible) goal, what would be the first step you would take?

• What leader inspires you the most? What would they do in this situation?

• How do we need to lead differently to double our growth in the next year?

• How do you know “that” (such as belief) is true? Are there any other possibilities?

• What is the ideal outcome you seek?

Find Who and What Inspires You

In NLP, one of the foundational principles is — if one person can do something, anyone can do it (through modeling).

Find the leader who inspires you. Someone whose success and excellence you would like to model. As Isaac Newton said,

“The reason I see so far is because I stand on the tall shoulders of those who have come before me.”

Once you have identified someone, the next question is: what specifically about this person would you like to model?

Externally, it could be his/her behaviors, habits, physiology, etc.  Internally it could be his/her beliefs, values, character traits and more.

For example, if Richard Branson inspires you, you might want to model his beliefs (such as, business is fun) or personality traits (such as, resilience) or values (such as, adventure). The person you pick can be someone you know or don’t know, someone alive or dead.

In a future article, I will address the process of modeling at greater length. The first step is to decide who and what to model.

Creative Destruction 

In 1942 Austrian economist and ardent capitalist, Joseph Schumpeter coined the phrase creative destruction – his theory about what drives busts and booms in the economy.

Creative destruction is the process in which new technologies, new kinds of products, new production methods, etc. made old ones obsolete, forcing existing companies to adapt or fail. Kodak is a good example of a company that failed because of creative destruction.

Given the pace of change in today’s business world, modern leadership must learn to embrace the concept of creative destruction within their companies to create new possibilities. Such as:

• What ways of thinking from your past should you obliterate to make room for a brand new future?

• What systems and structures should you destroy to keep up with change?

• How must you destructively and disruptively instigate change (before needed) to stay ahead of the competition?

“Dream One Size Bigger”

In his book, How Successful People Think, John Maxwell addresses 6 ways that possibility thinkers think. One of those ways is to dream one size bigger.

Are you a leader that tends to dream small? Do your visions and goals fall well below who you can be and what you can achieve?

Challenge yourself to dream more expansively. Push your team to set bigger goals. Ask your peers every time that you get trapped in impossibility or “realistic” thinking to step up your game. Get into the habit of dreaming one size bigger.

Change Your Beliefs

The biggest obstacle blocking your possibility thinking is your beliefs.

• Beliefs about what’s possible
• Beliefs about yourself and your capabilities
• Beliefs about the effort required
• Beliefs about the risks

and more.

Because I have covered the topic of beliefs in great detail in other articles, I recommend that you check out:

• How Leaders Break Through Sabotaging Beliefs … Rapidly
• The Secret to Rapid Leadership Breakthroughs
• Real Truths That Fuel Real Leaders

Cultivate “Out of the Box” or Lateral Thinking

My favorite expert on creative, “out of the box” thinking is Edward de Bono.

My two favorite tools of de Bono are:

• His book, Whack on the Side of the Head
• His creative brainstorming deck of cards, Creative Whack Pack.

Next time you get stuck in your thinking, I recommend the above resources to recharge your creative juices to a whole new level. They are always my “go to” tools for out of the box thinking.

DECIDE Your Leadership Future

While you may not fully embrace this one truth yet,

you are the creator of your leadership future.

 The clearer you are about who you want to become and what difference you want to make in your future, the more power you have to achieve it.

However, knowing what you want is not enough. Deciding your future – even without knowing how – is the catalyst that transforms bold dreams into reality.

Are you ready to give up your old stories that say you can’t?

Are you ready to decide your future story?

In Summary

While possibility without accountability is wishful thinking. Accountability without possibility is a dead end street.

The new frontier in leadership is knowing how to intersect the two.

What are you doing to make that leadership leap?

If you’ve enjoyed this post, I’d be grateful if you’d share it with your friends and network on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook. Thank you!

The post Accountability to Possibility: The Next Frontier in Leadership Growth appeared first on The Empowered Business.

Fears keeping you small

All leaders have fears.  However, not all your fears are created equal.

Some may manifest as low level anxieties.  Some are life paralyzing phobias.  Some may be triggered only by certain events – like fear of public speaking.  Others may be life-long fears.

Then there are the “big guns.”  These are the core unconscious leadership  fears from which all other fears come.  They override every aspect of your being.

In this article you will learn 7 unconscious leadership fears that keep you small.  First, it’s important to understand the nature of fear.

3 Truths About Fear Every Leader Needs to Know

1.     Fear is indestructible. 

Your brain is wired for fear. It is essential for your physical survival.  You want fear to send you signals when you are in danger, in an unsafe situation or about to make a high stakes mistake. Fear is your friend in those circumstances.

2.     Fear comes from a mental construct. 

Fear is a byproduct of your thoughts.  Your fear thoughts are mental constructs – meaning they have no basis in reality. As the saying goes, fear is “false evidence appearing real.”

The emotion of fear is real.  The content of your fear — your thoughts — is not real.  In your mind, though, you believe that your fear thoughts are reality.

To free yourself of such fear, you need to dislodge the mental constructs which drive fear.  Fear thoughts are of your own making and they can be unmade.

3.     Fearlessness does not exist.

Are you a leader that fantasizes about the day when you will be free of all fear?

Guess what?  It’s not going to happen.  Buying into the belief of fearlessness is a trap.  It’s an impossible goal to reach!  Even those who have achieved extraordinary feats have fear.

Your goal should not be to eliminate all fear.  Rather it should be, as one author wrote, to feel the fear and do it anyway.

Below are 7 core unconscious leadership fears you want to know about.  They are hijacking your leadership success and potential.

7 Unconscious Leadership Fears That Keep You Small

As a leader, you will be plagued by thousands of fears in your role.  You will have surface fears – such as fear of public speaking or holding employees accountable.

Then there are the deep unconscious leadership fears that enslave you until you break free.

1.     Fear of fear itself

Being a leader is demanding, high stakes work.  It stretches every ounce of your being.  It tests your strength of courage, perseverance and resilience.

The demands can be so great and the fear so paralyzing that the only way of getting relief is to put your head in the sand and pretend fear does not exist.  In those circumstances, your dominating fear is of fear itself.

In the short term, pretending you have no fear to move forward with your goals and actions can actually be a healthy choice.

In the long term, however, the fears you are avoiding will sabotage your every attempt to play a bigger leadership game.

2.     Fear of (owning your) power

All leaders are powerful yet few know how powerful they really are.  True personal power (or lack of it) determines whether you show up on the cause or effects side of your outcomes equation.

Being at the effects side means you believe that things happen to you.  That you have little or no control on your outcomes.

When you own your leadership power, you believe that …

You are at cause for all the results in your life.

If you fear power, it is because you are conflicted about it.  You have negative associations or beliefs about what power means.

The truth is that you can’t fully contribute your leadership gifts and talents if you fear owning your own leadership power.

3.     Fear of “being found out”

Within every person, there are 3 selves — a Pretend Self, a Feared Self and an Authentic Self.  Your Pretend Self  is that part of you that feels a need to hide behind an imaginary mask.

You don’t want others to know that you feel inadequate in your leadership role.  You don’t feel as though you’re smart enough, experienced enough, confident enough (fill in the blank) to be in your leadership role.

You take on other personas out of fear of being “found out.”  You put on a strong face – pretending to have it all together – when deep inside you feel like a fraud.

When you pretend to be someone you are not, you can never be your authentic powerful self.

4.     Fear of sharing your power

The world of leadership is filled with paradoxes.  One of those paradoxes is about power.

To be an exceptional leader, you must own your personal power (as addressed in #2).  Doing so allows you to take charge of your own individual outcomes and be an example to others.

However, once a leader owns their power, he/she tends to hoard it – such as making all the decisions, resolving all conflicts, leading all meetings, etc.  You hoard power because you fear loss of importance and lack of control if you share it.

Yet for a company to flourish, power must be distributed and shared throughout the organization.  This means developing employees as personal leaders within their own roles and teams.  Allowing them to make decisions within their own scope.  Giving them the tools and know-how to resolve their own conflicts.

5.     Fear of Truth

Reality is truth.  Yet our brains are not capable of knowing 100% reality.  The reason … your brain can only process less than 1%  all the sensory data at any moment of time.

Your sense of reality — or perceived reality – comes from your beliefs, your sense of identity, your model of the world and so forth.  You become so attached to your own sense of reality, that you avoid new information (truth) that conflicts with your current (limited) thinking.

By no means is fear of truth exclusive to leaders.  However, avoidance of  truth can have dire consequences to leaders and their organizations. Your actions and decisions are driven by cognitive biases and those biases can be costly.

For example, success often blinds leaders and prevents them from seeing the truth of a looming future ahead.

6.     Fear of losing the known

For your company to grow, leaders must move into foreign territories where they have no prior experience.  In those situations, you don’t have a mental flashlight to guide you.  That can be scary.

In reality, it’s NOT your fear of the unknown that stops you.  After all, how can you fear something you don’t even know about?!

What you really fear is …

Fear of losing (or letting go) of the known

As you grow to new leadership levels, the new possibilities can be endless.  Yet seldom does your mind see these new changes as amazing opportunities.  Instead, you …

·      Fear losing your sense of safety when making a leap

·      Fear letting go of current routines and habits that give you predictability

·      Fear letting go of who you are for who you can be

7.     Fear of your own brilliance

While it is a rare leader who hasn’t dreamed of standing on the shoulders of giants, boldly stepping out and realizing your own greatness is a scary proposition.

Yes, the majority of leaders fear their own brilliance.

How do I know?

I observe it in such behaviors as …

·      Getting caught up in distractions – such as, always looking at your cell phone

·      Mindless activities

·      Chasing the externals to make you feel good about yourself.

Being visible in the world … rising above mediocrity … standing in the light of your authentic self, that takes radical courage.

Fear does not have rule you.  The key is to know how to dislodge it.

Dislodge Your Unconscious Leadership Fears in 5 Minutes 

Step1:  Name your fear.

To break the hold of your fear, first name it.  Boil it down to a single word – like SeenAsFake.

Step 2:  Personify your fear.

For example, if you fear fear itself, perhaps you personify it as a big black monster.  If you fear power, perhaps you imagine it as Hitler or mean sergeant.

Step 3:  ID visual and auditory associations with your fear persona (identified in #2).

When you think of your fear persona …

·      What’s the characteristics of the picture?  Black and white or colored?  Large or small?  Near or far?

·      What does he/she/it sound like?  Deep or high voice?   Fast or slow pace?  Loud or soft?

Step 4:  Change the identified associations above to their opposites to transform your fear. 

For example,

·      If your fear picture is black/white, large and near, change it to color, small and far.

·      If your fear voice has a low pitch, loud volume and slow pace, change it to high pitch, low volume and fast pace.

That’s it!  With this simple 4 step process, your fear will transform from a roar to a whisper.

Want to know more secrets how to rise to the top of your leadership game? 

Sign up for our free report below — Wired to Win Big:  7 Inner Game Leadership Strategies to Rise to the Top and Stay There.  The only game you ever need to win is the game within your mind!

The post 7 Unconscious Leadership Fears That Keep You Small appeared first on The Empowered Business.

If you are a sucker for great leadership movies like I am — Invictus, Coach Carter and Moneyball just to name a few, it’s easy to assume that all leaders embody the same qualities as those in the movies.

Afterall, who hasn’t idealized business leaders to be strong, confident, make tough decisions and stand their ground no matter what?

While those leaders do exist, they are a minority.  In working with leaders for 30 years, I have found that the reality is shockingly different.

Most leaders take on their roles with the greatest of positive intentions.  Yet, along the way, they get lost.  Not by conscious choice.  Rather they are derailed by an underlying dysfunctional pattern called Codependency.

Codependency is a set of beliefs and behaviors that prevent individuals from having healthy, mutually beneficial relationships.  At first glance, the term “co-dependent leader” seems like an oxymoron, yet this dysfunctional behavioral pattern is rampant within the business world.

The question is …

Why does leadership codependency go undetected?

Let’s look at the top 3 reasons why.

1.     Codependent behaviors get masked by a company’s values and practices. 

The post Are You Addicted to Codependent Leadership? appeared first on The Empowered Business.

Does any of these sound familiar?

• You aspire to achieve great things, yet stay “small” for fear of failing.

• What about the thousands of dollars you’ve invested in leadership books and training, yet still find yourself stuck in the same rut and don’t know how to get out?

• Are you continuously swamped by the endless hours that your role demands, yet get diminishing returns from all your efforts?

You are not alone.   Most leaders harbor fears, negative thoughts and emotions that seriously undermine their achievements.  Here is one such story.

How One High Performing Leader Was Sabotaging His Own Potential 

About 10 years ago, I worked with a leader being groomed to become President of a fast growing company.  He was ambitious, smart and a quick learner.  He thrived on achieving big goals and was the high performing potential that every CEO dies for.

From outside appearances, there was nothing stopping him to take the company to the next level.  Or was there?

The CEO asked me to coach this new leader around becoming a team player.  His behaviors at executive meetings gave the appearance that his personal agenda was more important than the team/company agenda.

The truth was …  his personal agenda was more important at that time. In his mind, sacrificing his desires for team goals meant not achieving personal success.  He was stuck in “either-or” thinking and that was preventing him from gaining the trust and credibility of his team.

While your limiting leadership beliefs may be different, what you do have in common is that nothing will change unless you change on the inside first. External change by itself – ie., behaviors, actions or skills/knowledge — is never the solution.

While change is a multilevel complex process, this leader needed to change on the belief level to realize a rapid breakthrough. 

Because beliefs are powerful thought patterns that drive your emotions, behaviors and action, this article will focus on belief change, although it’s not the only type of change that may be needed.

No leadership or organizational goal can be achieved without the right beliefs in place.   First, let’s take a quick look at the basics of the inner change.

A Simple (but not easy) Formula for Leadership Change

When addressing limited beliefs, the goal is to move you from your present state (problem) to your desired state (goal).  However, inner interference – your internal terrorists — hijack your best efforts to achieve your desired outcome.

Present (Problem) State  +  Resource  =  Desired Change

  ↑   ↑   ↑

Interference

                               (Limited Beliefs or Inner Conflicts)

For you to achieve your desired state/change, the following conditions must be present:

• You must want to change.  

This condition relates to desirability and confidence.  You must be 100% congruent with the change or goal you are seeking.

• You must know how to change.

You must believe that you have the capability to produce desired results.

• You must believe it is possible for you to achieve your desired state and that you deserve to achieve it.

You need to be willing to give yourself time for the change to happen and to integrate the learnings.   You must also believe you are worthy of achieving this outcome.

When these 3 conditions are present, leadership breakthroughs can happen … in an instant.  When one or more conditions are absent, then  you must change some aspect of your mental map to achieve a breakthrough.  That’s where belief work comes in.

How Changing Your Leaders’ Beliefs Changes Company Results

Beliefs are not innocent things.  They are unconscious strongly held convictions that you believe are true and fact, yet they are neither.  They are judgments about yourself, about others and about the world.  They are the lens through which you view everything.  They …

• Influence your perception
• Skew your perspective and decision making in positive and negative ways
• Direct an/or limit your actions
• Shape your character in effective and ineffective ways
• Create the boundary conditions of your thinking
• Drive all behaviors, emotions and subjective experiences

“If you want to uncover your beliefs, just look at your results. “

Your leadership beliefs are the power source for your company’s results and for the culture you’ve created in the present. 

The question is: are those the results and culture you really want?

You say you have a compelling vision.   Do you believe it is possible?

You say you have core values.   Do you have beliefs conflicting with those values that drive different choices and actions?

You say employees matter.  Do you make them feel appreciated, recognized and heard?

You say that you put customers first.  Do they believe it?

 Are your results matching what you say you want?   If not, it may have nothing to do with the words you are saying; it could be that your employees may not believe them.

In the end, you have one of two choices.

Either you can keep going as you are and live with your current problems OR you can kick those sabotaging beliefs to the curb for good.  If you chose the later, read on.

Types of Beliefs Every Leader Needs to Know About

All beliefs can be categorized into one of three types.  Knowing how each type effects you and your organization is crucial to the change process.

1. Beliefs about Cause

We all have beliefs about cause.  They are reflected in your goals, plans, actions and decisions.

Beliefs about cause are implied in the form … “X” causes “y.”  Let’s take a look at examples.

What do you believe …

• Are the traits of great leaders?
• Drives high performance in an organization?
• Motivates employees?
• Is the reason for your unrealized goals?
• Makes your company successful or not successful?

Whether you realize it or not, these are all beliefs.  Not facts.  Not truth.  Simply beliefs. 

They may not even be your beliefs.  Many of your leadership beliefs, especially about cause, come from books, workshops, other leaders, etc.   Taking on those beliefs may or may not serve you and the results you want.

The point is … as a leader, you must challenge every belief about “what causes what” to realize different outcomes.

2.  Beliefs about Meaning

Our brains are meaning-making machines.  We give meaning to past and current experiences, behaviors (ours and others’), communications (words and non-verbal), etc.

Beliefs about meaning are implied in the form … “x” means “y.”  Let’s take a look at examples.

• What does it mean that your profits have declined for the last 3 months?
• Does it mean you have to cut staff?
• Does it mean you’ve failed?
• What does it mean that an employee has not met your expectations?
• Does it mean they are unmotivated?
• Does it mean you did not communicate clearly?

Beliefs about meaning result in behaviors congruent with that belief.  For example, if profits fell and you believe it was from a bad decision, you will hold back in future decisions or taking necessary risks.

3.  Beliefs about Identity

Beliefs about identity include cause, meaning and boundaries.  When you change beliefs about your identity, it means that somehow you are/will be a different person.

Changing beliefs at the identity level is one of the most profound breakthroughs you can experience. It transforms who you are at your core and every aspect of your life.

Let’s look at examples.

• What causes you to do something as a leader?
• Do you see yourself as competent leader?
• Do you believe you don’t deserve to succeed?
• To hold your employees accountable, do you believe you have to become a dictator or control freak?
• Do you fear that you won’t be liked by your employees if you take tough actions or make tough decisions.

To summarize … beliefs may be beliefs of cause, meaning or identity.  They may be about the world around you (eg., experiences or other people) or about yourself and your identity.

Beliefs are unconscious habitual thought processes that either undermine you or enhance you and your desired outcomes.

Nest step … Read the companion article — How Leaders Breakthrough Sabotaging Beliefs … With Velocity –  to learn how to detect limiting beliefs and simple ways for changing them to experience a rapid leadership breakthrough.

The post The Secret to Rapid Leadership Breakthroughs appeared first on The Empowered Business.

I know this statement may sound harsh at first.  I ask you to hold your judgment until after you’ve finished the article to understand why.

For example, when a company is stuck or has plateaued, I often hear reasons like …

• Our company did not grow because of the economy.
• We need more knowledge or technology to beat our competition.
• We have to seize every revenue opportunity as it comes our way or we won’t survive.
• The marketplace is an unfriendly place.

Do any of these sound familiar in your company?

The GRAND illusion is … those outside factors are NEVER the reason.   As soon as you justify outside factors for lack of growth, profitability and/or performance, you are lying to yourself.  You are buying into your own story.

That is not to dismiss the importance of knowledge, systems, the timing of opportunities and other factors that leaders believe with all their hearts are the reasons for their success or failure.

The Real Problem Is Your Leadership “Map.”

I don’t mean the kind of map you stick in the glove box of your car or get from your GPS system.  I am talking about a different kind of map.

In the 1930’s, Alford Korzybski, in his book “Science and Sanity,” made a profound statement about human nature.  A statement still widely used in many contexts, including management.  That is …

The map is not the territory.

This statement says it all … how and why your mind plays “dirty” tricks on you.  That is, your perception of reality is never reality itself.  Rather it is your version or internal representation of reality (or mental map).

100% of your experience of the world is being generated by your mind, not outside events.

Due to your brain’s limited processing capabilities, your mental maps filter out over 99% of external information coming from your five senses.  Your mind attempts to fill in the massive information gap with its own “spin,” story or interpretation about what it perceives.

Not only is your conscious awareness limited.  You also filter every experience through your own learned behaviors, experiences, beliefs, values, interests and states.  As a result, this filtering process distorts, deletes and generalizes your sense of reality.

How Can Your Mental Maps Cause BIG Trouble to Your Organization?

The distortion in thinking and perceptions –based on mental maps – creates over 80% of the problems at a leadership and organizational level.  While your leadership mental maps can actually create many problems in your organization, let’s look at 2 common examples.

Mind Trick #1:  You rationalize away outside circumstances (or your perceptions of those circumstances) as the reason for your organizational failures or lack of results.

Projecting outside circumstances (eg., the economy) as the cause for companies’ lack of results is so rampant in today’s business world.  Yet this one mistake alone is costing companies billions in lost revenues, profits and new opportunities … and leaders don’t even realize it!

The truth is … you either fight for reasons OR you fight for results.  Your brain is not capable of holding two opposing thoughts at the same time.

You can’t fight for growth and fight for the reasons for lack of growth at the same time.  When you focus on the latter, you are reinforcing in your brain why you can’t have growth.

Doing so has a domino effect.  On your attitudes, you become a victim.  On your beliefs, you convince yourself again that “outside circumstances drive your fate.”  On your behaviors, you focus your actions on survival, and ultimately, all this drives results or more lack of growth

Do you see how your perceptions of reality (your mental maps) determine your outcomes?

How is it that at times you become prisoner to your own reasons (and don’t realize it)?  What are the telltale signs?

Level of believability:  Your reasons seem plausible. 

So much so, you perceive your reasons or beliefs as true … as facts.  Those reasons then drive your focus and preclude you from seeing other possibilities.

Because blaming the economy for company failures or lack of results is a common rationalization, let’s use that as an example. 

You speak that rationalization, think it, believe it, feel it, and act consistently with it and then have evidence to back it up that it’s true. You are so identified with your mental map or mind that to you it is not your mind at all, it is the unvarnished truth.  In this case, you believe that the economy is the reason.

Consensus:  Your team, industry peers, the media, etc. all validate your reason. 

They buy into the same reason.  “Of course, the economy is to blame.”   Consensus grows and resignation becomes contagious within your company and industry.  This meme  …. aka thought virus … becomes the norm and goes viral.  Your thinking is infected and you can’t see causes within your control or other possibilities for a different outcome.

That one thought (or mental map) is the real cause for lack of results, not the economy.

That’s not to negate that economic downturns exist and can impact how a company operates and grows.   Your response to a down economy is completely within your control however.

It’s within your control to look for market segments or industries still in a growth mode.  It’s within your control to identify new strategies for seizing opportunities. It’s within your control to focus on your most profitable offerings during downturns.

You get to choose.  Are you going to fight for reasons or fight for results?

Mind Trick  #2:  You believe/assume that your plans and strategies, as long as followed,  (“the map”) will take your company to its desired destination (“the territory”).

Developing strategies and plans is a healthy practice for leaders to do.

However …. and this is a BIG “however” … it is often assumed that if you follow your strategies and plans (“the map”), you will successfully navigate the path (“the territory”) to get to your company’s destination.

There’s something to be said about staying the course and sticking to your strategies.  Yet your strategies often create blind spots that underestimate the impact of external changes on your business.

The issue is not about the content of your strategies and plans.  The issue is the unconscious belief or assumption that you have the right roadmap.  That one belief will cause you to filter critical external information and cues that may be signaling you have the wrong roadmap or you need to change it.

Example: A common blind spot is to overestimate your company’s strengths and capabilities.  If you perceive customer service as a strength, you are apt to assume that “strength” as the basis of your strategy and your differentiator.  That blind spot, however, may cause you to miss other emerging competitors who are better able to service your customers and are threatening your business.

• Where are you missing critical external cues that your strategies (maps) need to be changed?  
• Where are you over-estimating your business capabilities and strengths?  
• To what extent are you attached to your own strategies as being correct that you cannot perceive better ways of reaching your destination?

The above are 2 manifestations of the grand leadership illusion that can sink organizations and performance.  Your mental maps are driving your outcomes, not external circumstances.  The more you understand as a leader how your mind works, the less trapped you will be by your own thoughts and mental paradigms.

Changing Your Leadership “Maps” Can Change Your Results & Performance … At Lightning Speed.

Let’s take a moment to summarize what you need to remember from this article.

Key Points Summary

• The map is not the territory.
• Your mental maps of reality are NOT 100% accurate.  Your mental maps distort reality through your brain processing and filtering systems.
• We react to our own mental maps, not reality. Our maps are affected by our own interpretation about what is happening.  Your negative interpretation of the same event can be another person’s optimism.
• Your territory is constantly changing, so don’t overlay today’s experiences with what happened yesterday. After all, the surroundings were different.  Just because sales slowed or profit margins declined last month does not mean your growth or profitability can’t be stellar this month.
• No two maps are the same. Everyone creates their own maps, each is unique and no two are the same. (Your map is not the same as other leaders on your team.  In fact your maps may be opposite of each other.)

The good news is … your mental maps can be changed.  New mental maps can catalyze your company to its next level of success, just as much as the old ones can keep you stuck in molasses.

The first step to change is to question everything.  Challenge every thought, assumption, belief (disguised as fact) and point of view with which you currently identify.  Especially the ones you believe are right :)).

In future articles, I will be addressing the concept of constrictive minds and their impact on your leadership and organizational performance.  To be notified of those and other articles, sign up for our monthly newsletter and free report at Wired to Win BIG.

The post The One GRAND Leadership Illusion That Sinks Organizations appeared first on The Empowered Business.

Most leaders’ looming questions during this time are …

•    Where do we go from here?
•    What can we do to get to the next level?
•    What are we not being that we need to be?
•    What are we not doing that we need to do?

While there are many classic leadership books that are still relevant today – like Good to Great and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – and a flooded market of other business books, I wanted to share …. My Top 12 Favorite, Hidden Book Gems that are a “must read” for every leader for 2014.

Drum roll please …

LEADING YOURSELF … LEADING OTHERS

1.  Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership

Synchronicity is an inspirational guide to developing the most essential leadership capacity: how we can collectively shape our future.  Through his own life story, Jaworski posits that a real leader sets the stage on which “predictable miracles, ” seemingly synchronistic in nature, can – and do – occur.

He speaks of proper timing — that situations unfold at their own pace that is impossible to rush. He shows that this capacity has more to do with our being and consciousness, than with what we do.

2.  Quiet Leadership: Six Steps to Transforming Performance at Work

I recommend this book for any leader who wants a better understanding of what makes himself/herself tick, as well as the same for their employees.

As David Rock points out, improving human performance involves one of the hardest challenges in the known universe: changing the way people think.

In this book, he outlines the 6 Steps to Transforming Performance by utilizing a discovery, question-based coaching approach in simple, yet powerful, 30 minute lessons to becoming a better leader.  A must read for leaders who want to take their coaching capabilities to the next level.

3.  The 60 Second Leader: Everything You Need to Know About Leadership, in 60 Second Bites

I love this book!  Sometimes books make leadership so complex.  No wonder leaders feel overwhelmed with so many leadership approaches, philosophies and “how to’s.”

This book is the distillation of 30 essential elements of leadership into 60 second digestible chapters. There are also 30 true 60 Second Leader Tales in between the chapters to help bring the leader learning points to life.

Stuck with a challenge or want a leadership focus for the day?  Pick a lesson at random or do one lesson per day for a month.  This book makes growing as a leader an enjoyable process.

4.  100 Ways to Motivate Others: How Great Leaders Can Produce Insane Results Without Driving People Crazy

Another book gem comprised of 100 short, yet powerful leadership ideas for inspiring the best from others.

Sample of topics include:

•    Be the Cause, not the Effect (a core focus of my work)
•    Refuse to Buy their Limitations
•    Get some Coaching Yourself
•    Come from the Future

GROWING YOUR COMPANY

5.  No Man’s Land: Where Growing Companies Fail

If starting a company is difficult, leading a company once the business has caught fire is infinitely more so. It’s what I call “the double edge sword of growth.”

Thousands of emerging and mid-size companies each year approach the dangerous transition that Doug Tatum calls “No Man’s Land” … when they are too big too be considered small but still too small to be considered big.

Tatum discusses the 5 critical success factors for managing, driving and sustaining growth, along with case studies of companies that succeeded or failed during No Man’s Land.

6.  Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm

What are the underlying handful of fundamentals that haven’t changed for over a hundred years?  Harnish outlines eight practical actions you can take to grow your company and strengthen your culture, based on best practices adapted from best-run firms on the planet.

It’s an easy read.  Because there are so many valuable insights and best practices that have worked in other companies, this is a book you want to read over and over again.

7.  Guts!: Companies that Blow the Doors Off Business-As-Usual

Kevin and Jackie Freiberg’s previous book, Nuts!: Southwest Airline’s Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success, described the unconventional leadership that made Southwest an airline industry dynamo. In GUTS!, the Freibergs look at twenty-five extraordinarily successful businesses and introduce the chief executives who are creating a new corporate ethos that blows the doors off business-as-usual.

The leaders in the book share a common vision: They see business as a heroic cause and understand that good leadership isn’t a matter of position, but of influence. Unconventional wisdom for unconventional times.

EXECUTING YOUR PLAN & ACHIEVING RESULTS

8.  Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done (2011 edition)

A book that shows how to get the job done and deliver results . . . whether you’re running an entire company or in your first management job.

Larry Bossidy is an acclaimed CEO with few peers who have a track record for delivering results as he has. Ram Charan is an advisor to senior executives with insight into why some companies are successful and others not. Together they’ve pooled their knowledge and experience into one book on how to close the gap between results promised and results delivered that every business needs today.

9.  Ruthless Execution: What Business Leaders Do When Their Companies Hit the Wall

Success can be blind, even for the best companies. Such companies will eventually hit a performance wall … in some cases, many times.  To survive this phenomenon, today’s business leaders must know how to manage through adversity while preparing their companies for a new rebirth of success.

In Ruthless Execution, Amir Hartman identifies the central ingredients that help certain companies to get beyond the wall and thrive.

You will learn when and how to recalibrate the balance between performance and growth; how to define a coherent, tightly-drawn business philosophy that maps to specific actions; new ways to promote accountability and alignment; and how to use performance metrics without burying people in meaningless trivia.

ACHIEVING THE IMPOSSIBLE BY UNLEASHING THE POWER OF YOUR MIND

10.  E-Squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality

Funny, uplifting and profound …

E-Squared is a “do it yourself” manual with simple experiments to prove once and for all that reality is malleable, that consciousness trumps matter, and that you shape your life with your mind. Rather than take it on faith, you get to prove for yourself, through nine short experiments, how the power of intention can change yourself, your world and your outcomes.  Yes, you read that right. It says prove.

A must read for anyone who wants to experience powerful breakthroughs in 2014 … with less effort and in less time.

11.  Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges

In this ground-breaking book, C. Otto Scharmer invites us to see the world in new ways.  What we pay attention to, and how we pay attention, is the key to what we create.

What often prevents us from ‘being present, ‘ is what Scharmer calls our blind spot, the inner place from which each of us operates. Becoming aware of our blind spot is critical to bringing forth the profound systemic changes so needed in business today.

By moving through the “U” process we learn to connect to our essential Self in the realm of ‘presencing’ – a term coined by Scharmer. When ‘presencing,’ we are able to see our own blind spot and pay attention in a way that allows us to experience the opening to new possibilities — and realizing them.

12.  Biology of Belief:  Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles

Now you may be wondering … what the heck does a book written by a renowned cell biologist and former medical school professor have to do with leadership and business?

This is one of my favorite books about the science of how our thoughts control our life.  Bruce Lipton, through his own scientific experiments, shakes up conventional medical thinking with his findings that genes and our DNA do not determine our biology (or disposition to certain diseases).  Rather our DNA is controlled by signals outside the cell, including our positive and negative thoughts.

Through simple language, humor and everyday illustrations, his findings have revolutionized our understanding of the link between mind and matter and the profound implications to our lives.

The implications are equally important to organizations where the focus is primarily on the tangible, yet it is the intangible  (eg., our collective thoughts, emotions and beliefs) that drive your company’s outcomes.

Enjoy the holidays and happy reading!

P.S.  Share your favorite leadership and business books in our comments section!  We’d love to hear from you.

_______________________________________________

Denise Corcoran – CEO, The Empowered Business^TM – helps growth-seeking companies develop game-changing leadership teams and organizations that drive and sustain profitable growth by design.   Denise can be reached at denise@empoweredbusiness.com or www.empoweredbusiness.com.

The post My 12 “Must Read” Best Leadership Books for 2014 appeared first on The Empowered Business.

• Aspires to accomplish great things?

• Is always seeking to raise your bar higher?

• Continually searches for an edge in personal performance?

• Gets diminishing returns from your efforts?

• Is fired up to take things to the next level, but doesn’t know how?

For a moment, put aside the stresses of your day and shift your focus from what is to what can be.  It’s time to enter a world of new possibilities for yourself and your future.  It’s time to play a new Leadership Game.

Imagine  …

Photo Credit: David Niblack

• You could be at the top of your mental game with volition

• Instantly elevate yourself into a peak emotional and mental state within minutes

• Fuel your confidence, passion and motivation on a daily basis that moves you to action

What would that do to your leadership performance, success and results   in the future?

Ninety percent (90%) of your leadership success boils down to one critical factor: your psychology.  Great leaders who achieve their extraordinary visions and success share one fundamental power: the ability to harness their emotions and transform them into focused, self-directed actions and accomplishments.

Shifting your psychology is the quickest, most profound strategy for realizing peak performance. Let’s look at what you can do to master your state and ultimately your outcomes.

The State–Success Connection: 

“How are you feeling at this moment?”  Whether you realize it or not, right now your state is running your performance.  If you are depressed or fearful, you will experience low motivation, focus and/or productivity.  If you are in a positive state, you will feel a sense of vitality, direction and momentum.

No matter what your state, there is great news!  Unlike goals which take time to achieve, your state can change instantly.  Below are 7 key strategies for changing your state and rising to the top of your business game … starting now.

1. Lead From Your Peaks

An important presupposition about all humans is that people have all the resources they need to achieve success.  Our mental images, self-talk and feelings are the foundations of our “inner” resources.  We can use those resources to build any thought, feeling or skill we want.

To build those inner resources, practice leading from your peaks.  Imagine a defining moment in your past when you overcame fear or a setback. Notice your physiology at that time.  Recall what you said to yourself as you triumphed.  Reconnect to that feeling of determination and courage. Anchor those inner resources by “stepping back into those memories” as though they are happening now.  If you have done this process correctly, you will have ignited the same emotions in present time as you felt from your past peak moments.  Now ask:

• From what peak moment(s) can you lead? 

• What past triumph inspires you to realize your vision and to overcome any obstacle?  

• What higher peaks can you climb?

2. Re-Engineer Your Brain For Bigger Goals and Visions

Have you ever noticed when you are flying into the vast skies, how small a car or house look from above?  Likewise, in a vast world of endless possibilities, our norm is to pursue teeny, tiny goals that are the size of specks compared to our potential.  These goals often lack fire and excitement are driven by “shoulds” and “needs” rather than “wants” and “desires.”

Big, bold visions are the fuel of every great achievement.  They are the catalysts of magic.  Walt Disney – the ultimate dreamer – had one directive for his project managers in building theme parks:  “Build the castle first.”  He knew that getting the castle in place was where the magic was.   If you could feel the magic, you could go the distance and do the hard stuff.

• When was the last time you felt excited about your own personal leadership direction and that of your organization?

•   How can you re-engineer your leadership visions to ignite the magic?  

• What “castle” must you build first to go the distance?

3. Upgrade Your “Inner Rule Book”

Your “inner rule book” – namely, your beliefs and convictions — drive all your leadership behaviors, actions and decisions, as well as your state and emotions.  They make up the boundary conditions of your thinking and form the parameters of your Inner lLeadership Game.*   When your beliefs are based on a mindset of limitations, you narrow your possible outcomes.  When transformed into new empowering beliefs, they ignite potential and allow you to soar.

Warren Buffet believes that it is easier to create money than spend it.  Richard Branson believes that business is fun and creative and anything is possible.  The only difference between you and Warren Buffet or Richard Branson is your “inner rule book.

• What “inner rules” are keeping you back from playing a bigger Leadership Game? 

• Who is producing the leadership results you want?  What is that person’s beliefs or “inner rule” book?  

• Which of their beliefs could you adopt to realize a breakthrough in your own performance?

4. Make Supreme Confidence a Deliberate Choice

In my 28 years of transforming leaders, I have found that more than 70% of all leaders are victims of “backwards thinking.”  That is, they believe that confidence is a by-product of success, rather than the driver of success.

According to Bill Gates,  “supreme confidence is a choice.”  You choose it first; then the proof appears later.  To cultivate it, you must declare victory before you even step out on the battlefield.  Certainty will propel you to victory.

• What would it take for you to feel supremely confident as a leader?  

• What leadership victories are you ready to declare now? 

5. Distinguish Between Fact and Interpretation

In the world of NLP (NeuroLingusitic Programming), a core theme is:  “the map is not the territory.”  Your perception of reality is only a representation of reality.  It’s never reality itself.  No more than the map of California is California itself.

Einstein said that ‘there are very few facts,” yet we treat everything as fact.  We believe our perceptions are “truth,” when they are really subjective experiences.  The meaning you give to an event … your “story” … rather than the event itself will drive your state, your response and your outcomes.

I recently heard a cancer patient say that “she did not see cancer as killing her, but rather it gave her permission to live more fully.”  How many people do you know that would respond accordingly?  While we may not have control over the events in our lives, we do have choice in how we respond.  Our state depends on how we interpret events in our lives.  Our interpretation and ultimately our response will drive every outcome.

• What negative “story” are you telling yourself as a leader when revenues drop or a major customer is complaining about poor service?  

• What might be 3 positive interpretations of any current business challenge or setback you are experiencing personally or in your organization?  

• Given those new interpretations, how might you respond differently in terms of actions, behaviors and outcomes?

6. Amplify What Is Excellent

NLP is the study of human excellence.  It provides the tools, technologies and processes for leaders and organizations to achieve rapid breakthroughs and unleash greater potential.

In this spirit, one of the best ways to rise to the top of your game is by amplifying your excellence so much that the roadblocks seem like little bumps in the road.  How do you amplify your excellence?

One of my favorite processes is called The Circle of Excellence.  The process anchors into your neurology your state of excellence so you can access it on demand when needed.  To do something similar, think of a time when you excelled and relive it.  Amplify that memory by making it bigger, brighter, more colorful and compelling.  Put yourself into that memory as though it is happening now.  Imagine utilizing this excellence resource state in future situations when you need/want it.  Recall another memory of excellence and repeat the process.  Taking a few moments to stack and amplify your excellence memories will increase your performance exponentially.

• When in the past have you excelled in your leadership role or even personally? 

• In reliving those memories, what did you see, feel and say to yourself in that experience?  

• How can you use those images, feelings and self-talk as an excellence resource state in future situations?

7. Stay Committed To and Aligned With Your Core

Goals by themselves do not motivate actions.  They are merely the stepping stones to realize what we deem important: our values.  When identifying goals, we answer the question “what do we want?”  With values, we answer the question “why?”

Values act like superchargers on our motivations. Strong values ignite strong motivation.  When we disconnect from our values, we become de-motivated, feel empty and depressed, and cut off from  “our souls.”

Our values are our compass, steering our course based on our own sense of personal integrity and what we consider important.  Staying committed to our values drives authentic power, momentum toward  goals and experiencing meaning and fulfillment in your role and life.  True success and emotional mastery cannot be obtained without this alignment.

• What’s most important to you in your leadership role?  

• What recent actions, decisions or behaviors are out of integrity with your core values? 

• What new choices must you make to get back to your core? 

In the words of Thoreau, “For things to change, we must change.”  One new thought, one new decision, one new belief can change the size and direction of your entire Leadership Game.*

Applying the principles and exercises in this article can be that one thing that changes everything.  Learn how to master your emotions and your state and you are on the path to mastering your leadership destiny.

For more information about mastering your Inner and Outer Leadership Game,  click here.

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The post How to Rise to the Top of Your Leadership Game appeared first on The Empowered Business.

Accountable Leader

Today’s most successful companies all have one trait in common.  Their high performance organizations are driven by a strong accountability culture.  Yet despite many companies’ well-intentioned efforts to create strong accountability, leaders still struggle to make it a reality.  Mediocrity, lack of execution and operational breakdowns are hallmarks of poor accountability and an out of control, under-performing organization.

The REAL Truth Why Your Leaders are Struggling with Accountability and Under-performing Teams:

• As a leader, you can’t develop strong results-driven accountability with your team unless you have strong personal accountability with YOURSELF.  This capability is part of self leadership.  You can’t hold others accountable if you don’t take responsibility for your own actions, behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, choices and results.  Because employees model what leaders do, a leader’s weak personal accountability perpetuates a cycle of poor  organizational performance.
• As a leader, you lack critical “soft,” people skills — such as addressing interpersonal conflict, and engaging and motivating employees — that drive organizational accountability and performance.
 Employees follow you and are motivated to perform for their reasons, not yours.  For this reason, weak leadership “soft” skills cripple employee engagement and performance and is a costly epidemic in today’s business world.
• Most leaders lack the necessary mindset, capabilities and practices to drive strong accountability – a “must” for high achieving organizations.  Strong accountability starts first with the right mindset.  No performance system, set of metrics or people practices by themselves can make up for a lack of understanding what healthy accountability is and is not.  Lacking the right mindset perpetuates accountability breakdowns and a low performing organization.

The Accountability Mindset Your Leaders and Employees Need Instead to Drive Growth and Profitability

Your mindset is your mental map, cognitive filters and internal glasses that color your view of yourself and the world.   These mental filters drive your thoughts, feelings, motivations, behaviors, communications and, ultimately, results …  without your conscious awareness.

From a leadership standpoint, I call these mental filters your inner leadership game.   As a leader, the most important game you will ever play is the game within your mind. 

Let’s look at the components of your inner leadership game for building strong accountability and a high performance organization.

Grand Purpose/Vision

Often organizations treat accountability as an end in itself, rather than as a means to an end. Such organizations narrowly focus on the how of accountability and forget the why. 

Grand Mission

Accountability means more than achieving performance goals.  To motivate your employees to deliver results, accountability requires a profoundly deep understanding why and for whom your employees perform.

Zappos credits its multi-billion dollar success and organizational passion because every employee knows his/her significant role in keeping the Zappos vision alive.

• As a leader, for what grand purpose does your organization exist?  
• To what extent do your employees know that purpose?  
• To what extent are you reinforcing  each employee’s vital role to that purpose?

Values

Values are the qualities and principles you most value.  Your top 3 values drive 90% of our focus, decision-making, time usage, behaviors and outcomes.  If accountability is not amongst those, your attempts will be undermined and lack sustainability.

Important values considerations as a leader for cultivating a strong accountability culture  include:

•  Is accountability an explicit core or operational value for your organization?  is it a top personal value for you?
•  Do you have an agreed upon definition as to what healthy accountability is and what critical behaviors will drive it?
• Are there other values that are perceived by you or your employees as conflicting or competing with accountability in your organization?  If so, how will you resolve that conflict?

If any of the above are not addressed, accountability efforts will suffer.

Beliefs

Beliefs are thought patterns, convictions or judgments about yourself, others and the world around you.  They make up the boundary conditions of your thinking and the parameters of your inner game rule book. 

Most organizations struggle with accountability because of the unconscious negative beliefs their leaders and employees hold about accountability. Those beliefs are often the byproduct  of past negative experiences with accountability during upbringing, with a former employer, etc.  To assess the impact of these beliefs on accountability, ask yourself:

• When you think of  accountability, what associations, emotional reactions or thoughs come up?  Are these associations positive, negative or neutral? 
•  If any negative associations about accountability, how can you redefine it so there is emotional buy-in, organizational alignment and it motivates employees to drive their own results?

This article covered 3 out of the 6 factors of your inner game and its relationship to accountability.  Part 2 will cover the remaining 3 factors: your leadership identity, motivational patterns and emotional state.  Part 3 will cover leadership practices and culture changes critical for a strong accountability organization.

The single most important takeaway is to understand that your inner leadership games drives 90% of your performance and results, including accountability.

If you would like more details about your inner leadership game, I invite you to download a complimentary report:  Wired to Win Big;  7 Inner Game Leadership Strategies for Rising to the Top and Staying There.

Denise Corcoran – CEO, The Empowered Business^TM – helps growth-seeking companies develop game-changing leadership teams and organizations that drive and sustain profitable growth by design.   Denise can be reached at denise@empoweredbusiness.com orwww.empoweredbusiness.com.

The post The Accountable Leader: Developing the Right Mindset That Ignite Performance (Part 1) appeared first on The Empowered Business.