Tag Archives: Leadership

Take on Your Professional Goals

No Comments By Professional Development

Prepare to break the ceiling on your professional goals using the mental and physical strategies and tactics of the U.S. Navy SEALs with the transcript and audio from Mark Divine’s Social Capitalist interview.

Mark Divine, CEO of SEALFIT, NavySEALs.com, and US CrossFit, is the leader in providing civilians with mental toughness training and Navy SEAL-level fitness. His insights into elite fitness, elite teams, leadership, mental toughness, and warrior spirit development were developed during his 20 years as a SEAL and business leader, 25 years as a martial artist, and 15 years as yoga practitioner. Mark is also a former adjunct professor of leadership at the University of San Diego, and a co-founder of the Coronado Brewing Co.

During the interview Mark discussed how to: Fine tune teamwork and accountability to drive excellence; forge the mental toughness that creates strong presence and leadership; maintain your “positive charge,” not just emotionally, but physically; and to develop your inner “corporate warrior” to excel in all areas of your life.

Click here for the audio and transcript.

I’m a Fraud – Are You?

4 comments By Leadership

I interviewed corporate-trailblazer-turned-business-owner Patty Azzarello this week for the Social Capitalist (transcript to come soon!) and I particularly loved this quote:

“People who achieve success are willing to be scared and uncomfortable to do it. If you try to build your career and be comfortable and confident that you know everything along the way, it just takes too long. You just cannot get there. What I realized is that all executives are bluffing. This actually came to me through an executive coach. I was confessing, ‘You know, I feel like I’m going to get found out, because I don’t know everything.’ And she just laughed at me. She said, ‘Patty, every executive in the world feels the same way.’ And I was like, ‘Really?’ And then I realized, ‘Man, is that ever true.’”

I think this is particularly great advice for women. As Jodi Glickman, another previous SC guest, once told me, “Women tend to round down. Men round up. It’s time to round up.”

In other words, sometimes it’s OK for a little bit of confidence to float the gap between our expertise and our vision. We don’t have to have done something 100 times already to feel we have the right to stand up and say, “I can do this.”

When your work takes you to new places, you’re not a fraud. You’re a bright, intrepid do-er who can roll with a hefty dose of learning. The key is to make sure you’ve got the tenacity, the persistence, and most importantly, the right partners, to follow through with excellence.

Sara Grace is myGreenlight’s Program Director.

Three Terrific Young Bloggers

2 comments By Leadership

Did you know that 53.3 percent of the blogging population is between 21-35 years old?

Here are three terrific bloggers that are at the younger end of that age group, in their early- to mid-20s:

  1. Matt Cheuvront of Life without Pants shares “the message that defines the metaphor behind life without pants – that life, both personal and professional, must ultimately be approached without restrictions.” This blog is able to capture those amazing moments of candor and reflection that we all have and make them an enjoyable read that is relatable and provocative.
  2. Jeff Goins of GoinsWriter.com introduces himself with, “I love compelling stories, worthy causes, and Pez candy. I’ve been writing for most of my life and started this blog in 2010.” With a very honest and no-BS writing style, this blog can be truly inspiring and make you finally take the leap into your next project.
  3. Grace Boyle of Small Hands, Big Ideas offers ” ideas and life as a woman in a tech startup, daily inspirations, career, moving, relationships, and ideas as a 20-something.” Grace wants to change the world, one word at a time.

Have you noticed a trend in the age of the bloggers you read? How does that affect your view of the blog? Please share!

Ritu Walia is myGreenlight’s Member Coordinator.

Relationship Roundup

No Comments By Tips

This week in the roundup: some suggestions for getting relationships off to a great start, managing relationship priorities, and picking the right atmosphere to develop them.

When to sever a relationship – One of my favorite statements about relationships is, “a reason, a season and a lifetime”. As our lives change so do our needs for our relationships, including those that serve as mentors. In this Harvard Business Review article, some relevant tips for establishing goals that monitor when a relationship is past its prime. Read the tips here http://bit.ly/I9KLLK.

Social contracts – Negotiating the terms of relationships at work are a smart way of ensuring that cultural values are adhered to in the workplace. In this HBR Blog, authors Christine M. Riordan and Kevin O’Brien from the University of Denver share some great resources to implement expectations within your organization. Read the blog here http://bit.ly/JfZ2am.

Extraordinary sightings – If you seek an extraordinary boss, or aspire to be one, this Inc. magazine article explores the eight traits that successful CEO’s have implemented to build great teams. Read the article here http://bit.ly/IregYK.

Investing in People – I can’t get enough of Big Think and SmartBrief’s partnership to bring great ideas from industry leaders front and center. In their latest episode of the VIP Corner, Jim Quigley, the senior partner and former CEO of Deloitte shares his thoughts on why companies need to invest in their people. Read and view it here http://bit.ly/K63Ufn.

Relationship atmosphere – If you’ve ever taken Keith Ferrazzi’s advice on initiating a long slow dinner and using meal time to advance relationship intimacy, you know that atmosphere is a key attribute to consider when making a restaurant selection. New website Hoppit aims to help diners filter choices by environment style. Read the Springwise article here http://bit.ly/JKpZk1.

Kibibi Springs is myGreenlight’s Community Director.

Relationship Roundup

No Comments By Tips

This week in the Roundup, the focus is on behavioral traits that create the type of productive, deep, and meaningful relationships you want in your life. Take it all in, then take the steps to practice those behavioral traits that will get you where you envision yourself.

Perspectives on acts of kindness – Taking in a variety of perspectives makes learning richer. Learning to take in a variety of perspectives is a habit worth practicing. Even if you disagree with an opposing opinion, the opportunity to listen to, discuss, or read someone else’s point of view on a topics allows you to better understand the complexity of humans. Read this author’s experience with taking in others’ perspectives on kindness here http://cbsn.ws/JGvXBJ.

MISS perceptions – Without a willingness to practice empathy and an awareness that perception is dictating our reality, we misperceive the actions of others all the time. You know what they say about assumptions. This Linked 2 Leadership blog sheds a deeper light on the natural tendency to judge and how to develop behaviors that create more teamwork in the tribe. Read it here http://bit.ly/IV8JxL.

Influence with integrity – Integrity can be difficult to maintain when met with opposition and maintaining it can require making some decisions not in your immediate favor. However, from the outside looking in, a lack of integrity can speak volumes about your leadership ability.This SmartBrief blogger shares their view on how leadership can die on the vine when behaviors that lack integrity are displayed and how to keep your integrity in tact in tough situations. Read it here http://bit.ly/Jd2905.

Transferring culture – There is a lot that can be learned from brands with strong cultures that have a lot to share about replicating their brand experience in ways that resonate with employees and consumers. Big Think’s latest episode on leadership featuring Whole Foods CEO John Mackey provides some lessons on culture transference. Read and watch it here http://bit.ly/ILxKdw.

Kibibi Springs is myGreenlight’s Community Director.

We Have a Winner!

1 comment By Professional Development

We are pleased to announce the winner of our second scholarship contest. John Shelton has received a free one-year unlimited membership to myGreenlight. The prize (worth $699) includes unlimited access to all of myGreenlight’s resources.

John’s membership package includes all three of myGreenlight’s courses, three bonus courses, access to myGreenlight’s thought leadership series’ archived and live events, and access to the program’s alumni directory.

John’s entry submission was selected by myGreenlight’s Community Director, Kibibi Springs and Program Director Sara Grace because of his well-defined goal for the program. As a nonprofit manager for the Brewery Arts Center in Northern Nevada and a consultant for more than 30 years, John intends to use the program to help maintain his local non-profits’ donor base. He will apply the training towards strengthening critical relationships to the organization’s continued existence in the community it serves. Fully understanding the recent economic landscape and the shift in priorities for many towards self-preservation over altruism, he sees relationship building as an essential component for driving and managing the non-profits patrons and members.

“As the leader of this institution, I have to look beyond simply providing cultural services to the community and must work to find improved ways to connect personally with our citizens, creating partnerships that approach community problems collectively, and that build up all of us towards living and working in our community together,” says John.

MyGreenlight is happy to award this resource to John to use with his staff and board to serve a catalytic role in rejuvenating the community through cultural awareness and deeper relationships. We look forward to hearing John’s progress locally and how their successes can provide a model for the national nonprofit community.

Relationship Roundup

No Comments By Tips

This week in the Roundup we’re addressing habits, email timing, gender balance in the workplace, our desire to “pin”, and gifting that can increase intimacy. Enjoy the variety!

Habitual behaviors – All habits aren’t good for us personally or for the organizations we work in. In this very promising new video blog series between SmartBrief and BigThink, author Charles Duhigg shares his studies on habitual behaviors and how a closer look at them can reveal some opportunities for change within organizations and ourselves. Read the blog and view the video here http://bit.ly/HHjIEu.

Email timing – We’ve tackled the question of email timing at myGreenlight in the past through general crowdshare. In this CBS Money Watch article, author Laura Vanderkam shares what her studious observations on open rates have revealed about the best day and time to send email. Read the article here http://cbsn.ws/HyMJoo.

Gender diversity in leadership – Consultant Dana Theus presents the business case for gender balanced leadership in this SmartBrief blog. Read the article here http://bit.ly/HrkOVI.

How pinteresting – Recently Pinterest was named the #3 most popular social network. I haven’t started pinning yet so I can’t attest to the rage. However, I can foresee many ways it might help me connect in more deep and meaningful ways with those in my network and those I wish to be in my network. Find out why “pinning” is the new “like” here http://bit.ly/HsOTTV.

Gifts that give great impressions – At certain points in a growing relationship, we are all faced with the “gift conundrum”. Everyone knows that what you choose to give shows another how thoughtful you are and how much you really are paying attention to their interests. Smart gifting can be challenging so I was pleased to see these two services that provide some assistance so you can make a big and positive impression. Read about them here http://bit.ly/Hl3Eyc.

Kibibi Springs is myGreenlight’s Community Director.

Do You Have What It Takes To Win? On the Next Social Capitalist, Mental Toughness Training from a Navy Seal

No Comments By The Social Capitalist

Prepare to break the ceiling on your professional goals using the mental and physical Mark Divinestrategies and tactics of the U.S. Navy Seals.

Join us Wednesday, March 28th at 12pm ET for our next Social Capitalist Live Event with Mark Divine, CEO of SEALFIT, NavySEALs.com, and US Cross Fit.

–> Click here to register!

Mark is the leader in providing civilians with mental toughness training and Navy Seal fitness. His insights into elite fitness, elite teams, leadership, mental toughness, and warrior spirit development were developed over his 20 years as a SEAL and business leader, 25 years as a martial artist, and 15 years as yoga practitioner. Mark is also a former adjunct professor of leadership at the University of San Diego, and a co-founder of the Coronado Brewing Co.

From Mark, you’ll learn how to:

  • Fine tune teamwork and accountability to drive excellence
  • Forge the mental toughness that creates strong presence and leadership
  • Maintain your “positive charge” – not just emotionally, but physically
  • Develop your inner Corporate Warrior to excel in all areas of your life

To Learn More:

Learn more about Sealfit: http://www.sealfit.com/about-us/news/
 See the program in action: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Hell_Week_Boot_Camp_San_Diego-130847008.html

I hope you’ll join us Wednesday, March 28th at Noon ET for what’s sure to be an energizing discussion.

Again, here’s the link for registration.

Enter-Prize 2.0

No Comments By Tools & Tech

How much easier would it be if you had free-flowing information within your company?

In this article Andrew McAfee, principle researcher at MIT’s Center for Digital Business, sheds some light on the way business is evolving around us every day and tries to answer this question. In order to take advantage of the easy accessibility of knowledge, years ago he started investigating the ways in which to make businesses have a free flow of information and communication. “I wanted to think about what these tools and the communities and processes and philosophies that came along with these tools meant for good old-fashioned companies trying to get their widgets out the door every day. So I used the phrase “Enterprise 2.0″ as the shorthand for what the Web 2.0 tools and that world meant for enterprises.”

When asked about his elevator pitch, McAfee uses this impactful quote: “So I’ve had to come up with a different way to get at this knowledge challenge in the company. One useful trigger is to use a quote that I first heard a while back that is attributed to Lew Platt, who was the old CEO of Hewlett-Packard. He looked around his organization, which is a big, very well-run, hugely respected company in America for decades. This is not a poorly run company. He looked around Hewlett-Packard and said, ‘If only HP knew what HP knows, we’d be three times more productive.’ Whenever I say that to a room full of executives, you can see the heads nod.”

Although Enterprise 2.0 can be accurately described as social, McAfee avoids it. The reason he cites is “because it has primarily negative connotations, especially for a really hard-headed, pragmatic manager in a business, decision-maker in a business, who just wants to get more stuff done. When that person hears ‘social,’ he thinks of happy hours after work and the corporate softball league. I thought the word ‘social’ would be not just neutral, but actually a bad way to do that.”

Being able to find a way to communicate information that the individuals know to better serve and unify the company can be highly effective and have long term impact.

How do you circulate knowledge in your company? Are you using Yammer, Chatter, or some other Enterprise 2.0 tool?

Ritu Walia is myGreenlight’s Member Coordinator.

Create Meetings that People Don’t Want to Hide From

2 comments By Leadership

“Most inventors and engineers I’ve met are like me … they live in their heads. They’re almost like artists. In fact, the very best of them are artists. And artists work best alone …. I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: Work alone… Not on a committee. Not on a team.” – Steve Wozniak

I’m a natural introvert – a social introvert, but an introvert. And so the Steve Wozniak quote above and the article I pulled it from, “The Rise of the New Groupthink,” play right to my instinctive bias.

But I know the value of collaboration. In the past couple of years, my work has become more about orchestrating a team than sitting in the corner pounding a piano. If you’ve got a grand vision, at some point, you’re going to need a team to carry it out.

So as a manager, I’ve put some thought into how to make the most of a collaborative environment – and in particular, how to help meetings be a place where both introverts and extroverts can flourish. “Meetings” have become synonymous in many offices with “massive soul-deadening time suck,” which is really too bad, because they can be fun, social, creative, and productive. I wouldn’t say I’ve got the formula mastered, but our meetings have produced consistently useful, actionable results.

A great team that likes and respects each other and the work they do is probably the biggest prereq for great meetings, so we’ve got it easy at myG. But a little planning wizardry helps too.

Here’s a few things I like to do: Continue reading →