Do you ever feel like your business is running you instead of the other way around? Have you ever wondered how to find balance between work and home? Do you find yourself swinging between burned-out and completely energized and passionate?
One of the things I’ve heard from many business owners over the years is their desire for work/life balance and their search for the secret to achieving balance once and for all. However, balance doesn’t come from outside us.
Posted in Business and Leadership
One of the greatest challenges of business is knowing when not to follow an idea. A mistake many business owners make—even large companies—is trying to do too much at one time.
When was the last time as a business owner or executive, you were able to follow an initiative through to its completion without at least a few of the following challenges?Posted in Business and Leadership
Whether you consider yourself an entrepreneur, a business owner, or a CEO, there are few things more valuable in business than emotional intelligence. What might come to mind are emotions and empathy but what many people often don't realize is that emotional intelligence (also called EQ) includes scores of competencies: problem-solving, conflict resolution, forecast thinking, resiliency, visionary leadership, prioritizing, and the ability to respond instead of reacting, to name only a few.
Posted in Business and Leadership
From the time we are children, we are taught appropriate emotional responses. Depending on how you were reared, you may have been taught to suppress “negative or bad” emotions and hide these away. For instance, boys are often taught they should not cry in front of others, as this is a sign of weakness, while girls are taught that it’s okay to cry anywhere they want, yet, if they get angry, they should suppress this inappropriate emotion.
On the other hand, concerning good emotions, we are taught to embrace these and experience them to the fullest. Happiness, joy, and pleasure are all types [...]
Posted in Business and Leadership, Emotional Intelligence
Differences of all types are a touchy and fiercely relevant topic right now. Amidst the hubbub and debates, the discussions of sexism, racism and ageism—people still have to work. And it’s in the workplace that most people encounter people different than themselves.
Age in the workplace is one decisive topic. Whether you have a traditional 9-to-5 job or own your own tech firm, you will almost inevitably end up working for, managing, collaborating or communicating with someone of a vastly different age than yourself.
Posted in Business and Leadership
“You’re a tour guide on the process, not trying to pull a cat on a leash.” I laughed out loud when sales coach and author Kim Orlesky said that to me.
Orlesky was talking about closing a sale in the business world, but she just as easily could have been talking about being a mom. Being a mother and an entrepreneur are not dissimilar, it turns out.
Posted in Business and Leadership
The concept and practice of mindfulness is becoming all the rage. Our fast-paced, high-tech lives have left many of us too stressed out to be happy. And it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find meaning and purpose in what we do, something becoming increasingly important for future generations. Mindfulness at work is a recipe for productivity and can enhance a sense of purpose.
Mindfulness can be summed up as “present moment awareness.” It’s the practice of being in the “here and now.” Most people practice mindfulness with meditation or another mindful sitting so that they can [...]
Posted in Business and Leadership, Brain Fitness, Mindfulness and Perspective
This was not advice. This was instruction. “Take care” was right there on page 5, just after the table of contents and mission statement.
Posted in Business and Leadership
We’ve all seen it happen: A worker is excelling on the job. Her skill set is an ideal match, she understands and excels at her tasks; she takes initiative, actively furthers company goals, and genuinely seems interested in the work. Then she leaves. Everything seemed like a wonderful fit, and at the same time, no one feels they can fault her for wanting to explore her potential elsewhere.
As an employer, employee attrition is a hard—and often discouraging—situation to watch happening inside your company. Whether you run an industry office, cutting-edge software company or a startup, hiring [...]
Posted in Business and Leadership
“Great things in business are never done by one person.”
In 2003—the year Apple launched the iTunes music store—Steve Jobs went on 60 Minutes and explained his view of leadership.
Again and again throughout the history of effective leaders, a similar sentiment is echoed: to be an authentic leader is not to lead the most people, wield the most power, or even achieve the most outcomes. To be an authentic leader lies deeper than those surface measures, in character and emotional intelligence.
Posted in Business and Leadership
