Why do we admire celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer and Bill Clinton?

They make you feel like you’re the most important person in the room.

They excel at listening—a skill that separates great personalities from the near-great. (photo courtesy Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

When you meet Clinton for the first time, he says something positive to acknowledge you. His listening skills are laser-focused on the person he’s with. We spend 80 percent of our waking time on four communications tasks:

1. Reading
2. Writing
3. Speaking
4. Listening

While listening accounts for 50 percent of our communications, we pay little attention to this important process and tend to take it for granted. We erroneously assume that listening is a passive activity and that everyone knows how to listen.

In fact, most of us find it hard to maintain the prolonged concentration required for truly effective listening. To be a good listener, you need to adopt proactive habits.

This article provides suggestions on how to become a better listener.

__________________________________________________________

This is a brief synopsis of an 800-word article and Article Nuggets,*suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete article includes these important concepts:

• Listening, but Not Hearing
• Why Don’t We Listen?
• Test Your Listening Skills
• 9 Keys to Better Listening

_________________________________________ 

If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

Order Links to purchase this article:

1.    Be A Better Listener, 800-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 –

2.   Be A Better Listener, 3 Article Nuggets* with Full Reprint Rights,  $64 –

*Article Nuggets: The same article broken up into 3 blog-style sections suitable for a series of blog posts or shorter newsletter articles.

(Photo by photostock, freedigitalphotos.net)

Baby Boomers are lingering in the workplace. Economic uncertainty has caused many to remain on the job.

The younger Gen X and Gen Y are growing impatient to ascend to leadership responsibilities, and new graduates are knocking at HR’s door in record numbers.

Until we see the inevitable changing of the guard over the next decade, the workplace will be inhabited by a multigenerational stew. Learning how to work, live and play together is crucial.

Baby Boomers occupy most positions of power and responsibility on organizational charts. Most of today’s corporate management practices still reflect the systems and values of their predecessors, the veterans.

Gen Xers and Millennials aren’t interested in “the way things have always been done.” Rather, they’re single-mindedly focused on what it takes to reach their perceived career destination.

This group shuns past definitions of success: climbing the company ladder and earning the rewards that come with greater responsibility. The company ladder, in their view, is irrelevant.

This article summarizes the four main ways generations differ at work, a must-read at any age.
________________________________________________________________________________

This is a brief synopsis of an 1800 & 900-word article suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 1800-word article includes these important concepts:

• Who Are the Generations?
• How Are They Different?
• Clash Point #1: How We View Work
• Clash Point #2: Communications
• Clash Point #3: Meetings
• Clash Point #4: Learning
• Issues You Can’t Ignore

_____________________________________________________

If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

Order Links to purchase this article:

a.   Text, 1800-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $79 –
      Clash Points at Work: Geeks and Geezers – 1800-word article, reprint rights

b.   Text, 900-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 –
       Clash Points at Work: Geeks and Geezers – 900-word article, reprint rights

c.   5 Article Nuggets, a series of blog-style content with Full Reprint Rights, $89 -
      Clash Points at Work: Geeks and Geezers  – 5 Article Nuggets, blog-style,
first-person pronoun, links

“The most important story you will ever tell about yourself is the story you tell to yourself.” ~ Jim Loehr, The Power of Story, Free Press, 2007

Stories that don’t work happen to everybody. Each of us operates with a variety of organizing principles, or “stories,” that swirl around our brains. They often prompt us to work harder and faster, even though we’re not getting any closer to achieving the life we want.

Even the most successful people, with brilliant professional histories, carry old stories in their minds.

One of the most commonly shared (and seriously flawed) beliefs is that simply spending time on something will generate positive results. If you buy into this premise, then you’re probably rushed much of the time.

High-quality, focused energy is necessary to achieving results. As performance psychologist Jim Loehr writes in The Power of Story (Free Press, 2007), “…the key to almost all of our problems, more fundamental even than poor energy management, is faulty storytelling, because it’s storytelling that drives the way we gather and spend our energy.”

Indeed, energy is the most precious resource we possess—the heart of the solutions to our most pressing problems and needs. The stories we tell ourselves, however, cause us to lose valuable energy, leaving us too tired or stressed to perform at optimum levels.

Find a Faulty Story

To generate the energy you need to fulfill your greatest desires and goals, you must identify your faulty stories—the erroneous old chestnuts that you tell yourself over and over again. We rarely examine them or question their usefulness. We simply go about our workdays and lives, telling ourselves these familiar tales to convince ourselves that we’re OK.
—

This article suggests 3 steps to rewrite your faulty stories, to inspire more energy and to create the life you want.

———————

This is a brief synopsis of a 1000-word article suitable for coach newsletters. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 1,000 word article includes the following concepts:

• Find a Faulty Story
• Stories Create Our Reality
• Consequences of Negative Stories
• 5 Kinds of Stories
• 3 Steps to Rewrite Your Story

——————————————————————————–
If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

1. Click HERE:  What’s Your Story? Text, 1000 word article, full reprint rights, $57 -

2. Click HERE:  What’s Your Story? 3 Article Nuggets, full reprint rights, $64 -

Someone in your company may have recently been promoted to a leadership position. This person successfully competed against other qualified candidates, some of whom were probably just as experienced and smart.

As often happens in judging one candidate over another, the decision most likely came down to degrees of “executive presence.”

Presence: Often referred to as “bearing,” presence incorporates a range of verbal and nonverbal patterns (one’s appearance, posture, vocal quality, subtle movements)—a whole collection of signals that others process into an evaluative impression of a person. ~ Karl Albrecht, Social Intelligence: The New Science of Success

In this day and age, executive presence comes in all shapes and sizes, including some you wouldn’t normally recognize. Who would have thought, 30 years ago, that Bill Gates would command it?

Would Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old founder of Facebook, have stood out as a high-potential CEO? But as one of the youngest men ever to be named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, he certainly has presence—albeit a “Gen Y” version of it.

An Internet search on executive presence reveals definitions and advice on everything from dressing for success and patterns of speech to more fundamental issues of emotional and social intelligence.

As it turns out, everyone’s definition of the term seems to differ. But planning your career and determining your leadership development needs shouldn’t be left to guesswork.

11 Aspects of Executive Presence

Most people aren’t born with executive presence. They develop the requisite skills with experience, maturity and a great deal of effort.

This article examines eleven qualities that contribute to executive presence and how you can cultivate your own presence and so that others perceive you as a high-potential leader.

———————————————

This is a brief synopsis of a 2000 & 1000-word article suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials.

You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

•    Searching for Executive Presence
•    11 Aspects of Executive Presence
•    Storytelling for Professional Success
•    What Really Matters
•    6 Steps for Building Executive Presence

——————————————————————————–
If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

Order Links to purchase this article:

a.    Text, 2000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $79 –
How to Cultivate Executive Presence – 2000-word article, reprint rights

b.    Text, 1000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 –
How to Cultivate Executive Presence – 1000-word article, reprint rights

c.   Article Nuggets, 5 Article Nuggets with Full Reprint Rights, $89 -
How to Cultivate Executive Presence – Nuggets 1-5, reprint rights

Competition for top leadership positions is tough. Intelligence and good social skills are the price of admission, but they’re not enough.

A high-potential candidate must master the intricacies of reading people, predicting behaviors and influencing perceptions — advanced communication skills that can be learned.

The effective CEO’s presence and essence have changed tremendously over the last two decades. There’s no hiding behind a title. What propels most executives to the top won’t keep them there for long.

Today’s effective leaders have more than presence, charisma and charm. They are strategic about managing their communication skills and adroit at reading others’ perceptions and values.

Perceptive leaders craft messages that meet their target audiences’ needs. They understand which information will be filtered out, how messages become distorted and disregarded, and how information is assigned meaning.

Psychological Icebergs

The stimuli we hear and see are merely the tip of a complex psychological iceberg. Preconceptions about body language may cause us to miss more important signals. Leaders must learn to identify how people’s values become filters for their perceptions.

Research shows that people are only 20 percent successful at reading body language. Determining the true meaning of visual, verbal and nonverbal cues requires a more complex analysis of other variables.

This article examines situational awareness as one component of social intelligence and suggests five steps to improve one’s ability to read people, influence perceptions and gain executive presence.
———————————————

This is a brief synopsis of a 2000 & 1000-word article suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials.

You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.
The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• Social Intelligence:

o    Situational Awareness
o    Presence
o    Authenticity
o    Clarity
o    Empathy

• Body language
• People-reading
• Flight-plan for Your Career
• The invisible Iceberg
• The Bias Trap
• Optimizing Outcomes
• The Influence of Context
• 3 Context Dynamics to Observe:
  

o    The Proxemic Context
o    The Behavioral Context
o    The Semantic Context

• 5 Steps for Better People-Reading Skills

——————————————————————————–
If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

Order Links to purchase this article:

a.    Text, 2000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $79 –

How to Read People and Influence Perceptions – 2000-word article, reprint rights

b.    Text, 1000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 –
How Read People and Influence Perceptions – 1000-word article,  reprint rights

c.  Article Nuggets, 4 Nuggets with Full Reprint Rights, $89 -

How to Read People and Influence Perceptions – Nuggets 1-4, reprint rights

“Leadership isn’t something you do writing memos; you’ve got to appeal to people’s emotions. They’ve got to buy in with their hearts and bellies, not just their minds.” ~ Lou Gerstner, IBM’s former CEO

Emotions are critical to business success because they drive behaviors. Companies that achieve an emotional buy-in from consumers and employees will have a competitive advantage in a world of increasing commoditization.

Business has a long tradition of ignoring emotions in favor of rationality. But a growing body of scientific evidence reveals that subconscious feelings drive decisions, up to 95% of which are made through the brain’s emotion centers and only then filtered into its cognitive parts.

Psychologists, neuroscientists and behavioral economists now agree that leaders who fail to understand how emotions drive actions will ultimately fail.

Emotionally astute leaders leverage feelings to gain employee commitment, engagement and performance, according to Dan Hill, CEO of Sensory Logic and author of Emotionomics: Leveraging Emotions for Business Success (Kogan Page, 2008).

However, there are two barriers that create a trust gap between leaders and their staffs:

1. The financial chasm that results from large pay disparities
2. A disconnect between verbal and nonverbal communication

While there is an inherent desire to identify and bond with one’s leader, people exercise caution before committing their careers and livelihoods to anyone. No one wants to commit to the wrong cause or person, thus the importance of leaders’ honesty and authenticity.

Evolution gave us feeling before thinking. Leaders must quell fears before expecting employees to embrace the cold, hard facts. Facts are malleable, but our gut instincts are unyielding.

• The human side of business consumes most of a company’s operating costs. Failure to be emotionally adept is counterproductive—perhaps even suicidal.
• Employees are the players who turn their CEO’s dreams of progress from a nuts-and-bolts strategic plan into reality—an outcome that requires emotional commitment.

This article examines several important factors to consider for any leader who wants to achieve emotional buy-in and commitment.

———————————————

This is a brief synopsis of a 2000 & 1000-word article suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations.

It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• 3 Keys to Leadership Success
• The Greater Good: Character Matters
• The Leadership Trust Gap
• Pay Disparities
• Nonverbal Communications
• Clear Vision
• Cohesive Culture
• Emotions Matter: An Action Plan

——————————————————————————–

If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

Order Links to purchase this article:

a.    Text, 2000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $79 –
Emotions: Leadership’s Secret Weapon – Dec10-108a  – 2000-word article, reprint rights

b.    Text, 1000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 –
Emotions: Leadership’s Secret Weapon – Condensed Dec10-108b  -   1000-word article,  reprint rights

What can we learn about inspirational leadership from successful start-up companies? Conversely, what can failed corporations teach us?

Think about the inspirational leaders of Apple, Amazon and Southwest Airlines. You can probably name them: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Jeff Bezos, and Herb Kelleher.

Next, try to name the leaders of General Motors, TiVo and AOL during the same period. Some were good, but very few left a leadership legacy that was strong enough to ensure future success.

Hundreds of newly published business books attempt to define the qualities of great business leaders, while claiming that leadership can be learned. But can it? Why do CEOs at top-notch companies fail to provide truly inspirational leadership?

Apparently, leadership is not easily learned or practiced, even though myriad resources—from leadership development programs to executive coaches—exist.

The situation is truly puzzling: We know competition is fierce, and most candidates for senior leadership positions are highly qualified, experienced and deeply engaged in their work. Lousy bosses are commonly weeded out in the long run, and competent bosses are usually promoted. Why, then, do so many good managers lack the requisite leadership skills?

There are as many different formulas for leadership development as there are brands of cereals at your local supermarket.

One consultant suggests it is rare for leaders to start with “why,” but when they do, they inspire people to follow them with unprecedented loyalty and passion.

Here’s how leaders should start with why they believe in what they do.

———————————————

This is a brief synopsis of a 2000 & 1000-word article suitable for consultants’ newsletters for executives and leaders in organizations. It is available for purchase with full reprint rights, which means you may put your name on it and use it in your newsletters, blogs or other marketing materials. You may also modify it and add your personal experiences and perspectives.

The complete 2,000 word article includes these important concepts:

• Leading with Why
• The Why of Apple
• Creating Loyalty
• Creating Dream Jobs
• The Brain Science of Inspiration
• The Shift from Why to How and What

——————————————————————————–

If you are a Content for Coaches client and your account is current, no need to order. Send me an email to confirm that you wish to use this article for your next newsletter.

All others please use the order links below.

Order Links to purchase this article:

a.    Text, 2000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $79 –

Inspirational Leadership – 2000-word article, reprint rights

b.    Text, 1000-word Article with Full Reprint Rights, $57 –

Inspirational Leadership -   1000-word article,  reprint rights