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The Secret Weapon of Great Leaders.
Have you ever experienced in a meeting where a seasoned leader listened intently and then, with exquisite timing, asked one question that shifted the direction, focus and thinking of the entire team?
That is the magic and power of questions!
To move the needle in your organization in 2016, the first place to start is by asking thought-provoking questions. The 7 questions below are by no means exhaustive. They serve as a starting point to stimulate your own questions.
These (or comparable) questions can make the difference between a successful 2016 and a disappointing one.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on January 27, 2016 in Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation, Organizational Performance, Strategic Thinking.
Guest article by Marcella Bremer
How are you?
Busy? Relaxed? Energized? Tired?
I notice a pattern in modern life. I’m going too fast and packing too much in my days. I’m hunting for 
stimuli – or at least I’m distracted by them. I notice restlessness when I’m already tired. I see most people around me living by schedules that don’t leave space to slow down and to be mindfully aware of what really happens. How do you wake up to the present?
I’m lucky, though. Since I am self-employed, I can schedule time for contemplation. I know that I need some time for silence – to be my best self again when I work with clients.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on September 29, 2015 in Emotional Mastery, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation.
What if…
- You could easily predict the performance of your leaders, your teams and your organization?
- You could gain access to the underlying motivators that drive a leader or employee to do their best work?
- You could eliminate costly hiring mistakes and determine in advance to what extent a candidate will perform well in a role?
Such a solution exists and can unleash the potential and performance within your organization.
It’s called motivational profiling. Your underlying (and often unconscious) attitudes and motivations determine what you pay attention to and focus on in your leadership role.
These deep motivation and attitudinal patterns (MAPs) ultimately drive – yours and others’ –
- Behaviors
- Decision making style
- Requirements for change and variety
- Dominant motivation driver
- Levels of strategic and visionary thinking
- Relationship to norms/rules
- Orientation toward innovation and creativity
- And much more
Drawing on recent evolutions in cognitive science research, motivational profiling is a state-of-the-art assessment tool that provides a window into yours and your employees’ intrinsic motivations and attitudes at work.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on July 14, 2015 in Assessments, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation, Organizational Performance, Top Talent.
Which keep you small?
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.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on June 17, 2015 in Beliefs, Emotional Mastery, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation.
Even Before You Speak
In 1987, I flew to LA to a women’s leadership conference for one reason only. To meet Anita Roddick, founder and “then” CEO of multi-billion dollar franchise,
Photo by David Niblack
The Body Shop, and asked her to write the forward of my book (to which she did say yes).
When I met her, I was stunned how amazingly small she was (even smaller than myself J). Yet her commanding presence was so powerful, 30 years later, that memory is still vivid in my mind.
Leadership presence includes character, charisma and self-confidence YET is much more.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on April 14, 2015 in Emotional Mastery, Employee Engagement, Influence, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation.
5 Power Words That Persuade
Influence is not something tangible, physical or material. Yet it’s real. You know when you are in the presence of it. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Steve Jobs just to name a few.
The Power of Words
There is no leadership without influence. You can have a leadership title, yet have no influence. How influential are you? Does your team listen to your every word with attention, openness and trust? Is your team inspired to take action simply by what you say and do?
Influence comes from the latin root “influere” meaning to flow in.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on March 11, 2015 in Employee Engagement, Goal Achievement, Influence, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation.
From early childhood, we were all taught never to lie. That was drilled into our psyche with such stories as Pinocchio and George Washington and the Cherry Tree
I learned growing up, however, that not lying is NOT the same thing as admitting and telling the truth. The former prevents us from making false statements; the latter has the generative power to change individuals and organizations.
In my decades of working with business leaders, I have found that there is one trait — above all others – that transforms mediocre leaders to extraordinary ones. That one trait is …
Rigorous truth-telling
Real leaders have backbone.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on November 11, 2014 in Accountability, Beliefs, Emotional Mastery, Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Organizational Performance.
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.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on June 4, 2014 in Beliefs, Change Management, Emotional Mastery, Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset.
The Bonus Question Is The Punch Line.
At the end of every year, I take a personal private retreat to clear my mind, take inventory of the past year and create a new vision for the new year. Knowing the power of questions, at the start of each retreat, I ask myself …
What are the 10 most important questions to ask myself in this retreat to take my business (and life) to a more meaningful, impactful and prospering level in the new year?
For 3-4 days, I spend time by the ocean simply reflecting, letting go of any goals, plans or expectations.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on March 4, 2014 in Change Management, Fast Growth, Goal Achievement, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Organizational Performance, Strategic Thinking, Vision.
“Leading From Guts” drives extraordinary organizations and a company’s distinctive edge in the marketplace.
The inspiration for this article was the movie “The Rosa Parks Story” – a story about a simple seamstress and civil rights activist with unwavering toughness of character that, in 1955, changed the course of history and segregation in the U.S.
Her unwillingness to relinquish her seat on a segregated bus to a white person set in motion a whole chain of catalyzing events – including imprisonment, a boycott of the Montgomery Bus, a new civil rights organization led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a repealing of the segregation law on buses in Montgomery.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on February 4, 2014 in Fast Growth, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Organizational Performance.
That is the magic and power of questions!
