Monthly Archives: September 2015

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How To Create The Culture Within Your Organization

Lots of people are talking about corporate culture and how they want their organizations to be known for theirs.

After all, companies like Google and Amazon are known for the culture their company permeates.

But how does an organization create a corporate culture when one has never been defined? It’s difficult because there’s been a culture that’s evolved since no one stepped up to direct the culture.

It’s now your duty to create the culture you want.

This is how you do it:

Model the behavior you want to see: Do you want the culture of your organization to be laid back and easy going or do you want your organization to look like it’s worth a million bucks?

You have the power to shape the culture. To do so, you must model the behavior you want seen.  Read more...

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10 Leadership Lessons And Quotes From The Intern

A Reel Leadership Article

I loved the idea for the new Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro movie The Intern. In it, Hathaway’s company wanted to infuse old-school wisdom into their budding internet business.

They do this by bringing in new interns. These interns aren’t what we normally think of when we think of an intern. Rather, these interns are older individuals looking to contribute to the success of a new company, About The Fit.

Learn leadership lessons in The Intern

The only problem with this is that the founder of About The Fit forgot they had discussed this program. When it came time for her to have an intern, she wanted to push him off on another department.

This is where the movie excelled and where the leadership lessons started.  Read more...

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The Importance Of Emotional Intelligence In Leadership

In order to lead, one must first look within.

Good leaders can be defined by their emotional intelligence, which according to Psychology Today, requires an individual to manage both their own emotions and the emotions of his or her team. It might sound easy, but it’s not.

A December 2014 report in Forbes magazine explains that emotional intelligence is the act of understanding and responding to one’s own emotions and dealing with and overcoming stress, while knowing that their words and actions at a critical moment will directly impact the overall composure of the team.

Essentially, there are four key components of emotional intelligence: Self-assessment, self-management, empathy and/or social awareness and relationship management.

Self-awareness might seem like an intangible quality, but it’s actually a cornerstone of success, according to Mark Connelly, a counseling psychologist and certified life coach based in Cape Town, South Africa.  Read more...

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What Are You Willing To Do To Get Ahead?

Blogging can be very competitive. We want to grow our audience. We want to impact lives. We want the chance to change the world.

The question, though, is how far are you willing to go to succeed in blogging?

A listener on Pat Flynn’s Ask Pat Podcast recently asked the question of

How do you stay true to your morals while making business decisions?

This question really got me thinking about my morals and how they relate to my blog and my leadership.

Morals And Blogging

I created this site to help young leaders navigate the dangers of leadership. Especially when they’re young.

There were many missteps I made when I was young and leading. I know where you’re coming from and I want you to be able to skip the pain I felt when I led poorly.  Read more...

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When’s The Last Time You Rested?

The last year has been filled with a lot of hard work.

I’ve been crushing it at work. I’ve continued a rigorous writing schedule. I’ve filled my life with exercise and sports.

And then it hit me..

I haven’t taken a good rest in quite some time.

That’s a problem. Especially when I look at the vacation days I haven’t used.

We Forget To Rest

My vacation days were piling up. Mainly because of a major project launch within my organization.

This project has required a lot of preparation and setup. It’s also required a lot of travel.

Then, add in all the other activities in my day to day life and there wasn’t a lot of time for rest.

All of these activities I’ve been doing are good. Some are even great. But it’s come at a cost.  Read more...