A Good Leader Knows The Team’s Colours

Leadership can be a very challenging task. As leaders we don’t always get to choose who is on our team. In fact very often a leader inherits a team, of which most of the members have been there far longer than the leader, and may even know more about the work than the leader. Whatever the situation, one of the responsibilities of a leader is to motivate the team to all work together towards the common goal. This can be a daunting challenge. So often the team is comprised of very diverse members, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and work styles. The team dynamics are also often complicated by internal disagreements and personal conflicts. The leader, not only has work with this group of people, but also needs to achieve the results expected by their superiors.

Leaders can greatly benefit by being able to identify the types of personality characteristics of team members. By understanding the basic personality types, Continue reading

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Are You a Leader or a Slacker?

Do you claim to be a Leader in your business or your field of expertise?

I have noticed that many people claim to be Leaders, but I consider them Slackers instead.  A Slacker is someone that basically likes to give instruction or direction, but takes no action on advancing themselves or their business.

Does this describe you, your up-line or someone else on your
Mastermind Team?  Here are some clues that might help you out.

Leader:  Praises his/her team and offers encouragement
Slacker:  Quick to find fault and slow to give praise

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“He Hate Me”: Turning Their Bad Attitude Into Your Great Leadership Results

“He Hate Me” was the nickname of Rod Smart, a leading rusher in 2002 for the Las Vegas Outlaws of the now defunct XFL pro football league. Looking for an edge, the XFL allowed players to put nicknames on their uniforms.

“I was always saying, ‘he hate me,’ all through camp in Vegas,” Smart said. “If I didn’t get the ball, I’d talk to the other running backs and say, ‘He hate me, man; this coach hate me.’ I was always saying that.”

Smart put He Hate Me on the back of his number 32 jersey, and now the name lives in lore, though XFL has been out of business for years.

When I first saw Rod Smart play and his “He Hate Me” jersey, I thought, “Forget about football. That’s a leadership lesson!”  That’s because “He Hate Me” and leadership often go hand-in-hand.

Clearly, leadership is not about winning a popularity contest, it’s about getting Continue reading

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Anchoring with NLP

There was some sunshine this weekend while I was writing this! At least here on the sunny south coast of England there was. I went out walking along the sea front with my partner Sara on Saturday morning and it was wonderful; the feeling of sunshine on my face, the smell of the air, the sites of other people out and about and happy, the local land train was shuttling people and their excited children back and forth from Bournemouth pier to Boscombe Pier and my senses were filled – a major event for human neurophysiology (mine anyway!)

The funny thing is, later on that evening when my friends were joking about my pink coloured forehead, I told them that I was really looking forward to summer and as I spoke, I felt the sun on me, imagined the fun I was going to have on the beach, remembered the smell, the amazing feeling of joy that I get from being there, just by anticipating it all.

A natural phenomenon we can replicate with NLP techniques. NLP stands for Continue reading

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A Creative Journey – Using a Magazine to Heighten Creativity and Learning

Read essays, articles, or books on creativity and you will more than once you will read that you can heighten your creativity and create new ideas by reading magazines that you wouldn’t typically read.  The suggestion is to go to your local newsstand and pick up magazines you wouldn’t ever read and read them for ideas, connections and trends.

This is an often repeated example of using outside stimulus as a way to jumpstart our creativity.

I have read this suggestion many times.  I’ve suggested it myself.  I’ve even done it a few times.  But I’ve never seen anyone show someone an example of doing it.

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