Mike Figliuolo – Page 23 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

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Entries by Mike Figliuolo

The Same Personality Trait Can Define Two Very Different Leaders

June 12, 2017 /2 Comments/in Books, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Personality and leadership are inextricably linked. Two people with the same personality trait can be two very different leaders. Today’s post is by Ron Warren, author of Personality at Work (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Personality and Leadership Personality and leadership are inextricably linked. Think of how many professionals experience your personality through your everyday behavior. Moreover, your personality is multi-dimensional – the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. Two people with the same personality trait can be two very different leaders depending on the mix of their other traits. A perfect story to illustrate this is the two Steves from Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley Grit Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs spent almost ten years in garages working together and tinkering with and mastering electronics projects. What drove them was their shared Grit – a blend of Conscientiousness, Achievement Drive, and Innovation – the behavioral drivers that focused their IQ and intellectual curiosity and was the common denominator on which their relationship and Apple Computer were built. Note that my definition of Grit is broader than Angela Duckworth’s that is much more focused on conscientiousness. Yet historically, psychologists have also used Grit to describe intrinsic drive, achievement motivation, persistence, passion and inquisitiveness. Dominance and Deference Aside from Grit, Woz and Jobs differed in almost every other aspect of personality, which made their overall personalities strikingly different: Jobs wanted to be in control, in the lead. Beside his formidable Grit, Jobs was extremely dominating – inflexible, aggressive, controlling, and competitive. These domineering traits – not his Grit – led Jobs to see a binary world (great or crap, his way or the wrong way), be self-centered and be incapable and/or unwilling to collaborate with others. Empathy is rare in dominating personalities, but Jobs was also hostile […]

How actively do you encourage employees to contribute to their community?

June 8, 2017 /0 Comments/in Communications, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How actively do you encourage employees to contribute to their community? – Very – we even make it part of their work evaluations: 15% – Kind of – we suggest they participate in the community and suggest how to do so: 44% – Not very – if they participate, it’s up to them: 34% – Not at all – we demand so much at work that they don’t have time for community: 7% Get them involved. Getting your people involved in the communities where they work or live can have powerful and positive business impacts. Your employees will have a better view of your company because you encourage giving back. That should drive both engagement and morale which improves performance and retention. You’ll also enhance your brand and customer relationships. Remember – your customers and partners also work and live in that same community. You never know where or when the next big client relationship will begin. It might just be at a community event attended by that prospect and one of your associates. When you look at community involvement more broadly, the business benefits become clear (not to mention you’re making the world a better place and we could really use some of that these days). Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

The Power of the Mind in Decision Making

June 5, 2017 /0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

The inner voice, or what is more commonly referred to as “intuition,” is a powerful tool in the decision-making process. Opportunities open when the guidance of the inner voice is used because it is a reflection and compilation of the knowledge, experience, and conclusions thus far in a career and/or lifetime. Today’s post is by Gabrielle V. Taylor, author of Legacy of Wisdom (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Imagine you lead a $1.5 billion company in the United States that sells financial products and services. The firm offers everything from mutual funds, derivatives and money market instruments to financial management and insurance. There is an opportunity to expand into virtual currency, the most widely known type being Bitcoin. The Blockchain technology, which is the encryption method used for many types of virtual currencies, has come a long way; but there is a trail of investors that have fallen victim to hackers who have targeted Bitcoin-based accounts and investments. Do you take advantage of this opportunity? What does your inner voice tell you? At first, you ponder the expansion into virtual currency. Your firm might be able to position itself on the cutting edge of the virtual currency revolution that is in the nascent stage in the U.S. but further along in other countries such as China, United Kingdom, and Germany. Early entry into this market by a U.S. firm may facilitate new innovations that prepare you to take advantage of opportunities for growth. Then, your inner voice no longer throws caution to the wind and gives you doubts about the viability of this opportunity. There is considerable risk and many financial firms are deferring to the Central Banks to explore this market first. Why should you risk losing share value and possibly customers through increased liability by participating in […]

Does your team work as a collection of individuals or as a true team?

June 1, 2017 /0 Comments/in Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: Does your team function more as a collection of individuals or as a true team? – It’s a bunch of individuals who all happen to report to me: 45% – It’s a true team where the group is more important than any one person: 55% What makes them a team? If you’re struggling with a collection of individuals who don’t function as a true team, the burden rests with you to fix that situation. Have you articulated a shared purpose? Is everyone bought into that purpose or is it just something you put on the wall? Do you praise team successes or do you hold up individual success as a bigger achievement? The way you lead the members of this team drives how close they are. Look for a shared obstacle they can overcome but the only way to do so is by working together. Find a challenge and throw down the gauntlet. A crucible can help forge separate elements into a united entity. Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Building a Great Culture by Using Processes and Behaviors

May 31, 2017 /2 Comments/in Communications, Entrepreneur, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Great culture doesn’t just happen. Building a strong culture requires planning, effort, and incorporation into your daily processes and behaviors. If culture is the sum of our daily actions, then people and teams are the true drivers of culture. The people you choose to be leaders, the individuals you promote, the way you organize teams, and who you decide to hire all send strong messages about your culture. Ensure cultural fit is an evaluation criteria for selecting leaders or employees. Make cultural fit part of your design considerations for organizing a team. At one consulting firm whose culture is very strong, they focus on being a meritocracy. People are valued about all else. Selection to lead teams and become a partner at the firm is based in large part upon people leadership and cultural fit for their behaviors. One candidate to become a partner used to beat their teams up. He would overwork them, not show appreciation for their work and, in some cases, be disrespectful to team members. During the partner evaluation process, 360 evaluations were conducted. This person received very strong negative feedback about their behaviors. They weren’t promoted that cycle. He was given a clear development plan to behave in a more culturally appropriate manner. He did change his behaviors and eventually got promoted to partner. Let’s look at tying culture to organizing your teams. There are several techniques for building teams that will support your culture: Leadership Role Selection When selecting someone for a leadership role, assess their prior efforts and how they’ve strengthened or weakened culture. Have the strength to pass over someone who gets results at the expense of the culture you’re trying to build. Promotion Selection

How Good Leaders Keep Their Top Talent

May 29, 2017 /2 Comments/in Books, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Retaining top talent should be at the top of a leader’s priority list. Doing so requires engagement, recognition, and caring. Those investments pay off in improved performance. Today’s post is by Jill Lublin, author of The Profit of Kindness (CLICK HERE to get your copy). High-performing employees contribute extensively in achieving business results. Hence, companies have designed programs from benefits and compensation to training and development to retain them. Despite this, according to the Harvard Business Review article by Jean Martin and Conrad Schmidt, 12% of all the high potentials in the companies they studied were actively searching for a new job. What should a good leader do, then? 1. Good leaders connect to their employees. Good leaders know how to communicate the mission of the company and its importance to the employees’ daily work. They can articulate how the workers’ functions consequently impact their stakeholders. They give their staff a sense of autonomy by letting them make decisions and offer solutions, create a challenging atmosphere. And in doing so, they pay attention to their people and ultimately make them engaged—they become productive, provide better service and stay longer. The Corporate Leadership Council learned that highly engaged employees were 87% less likely to leave their companies than their disengaged counterparts. 2. Good leaders are grateful to all. A study conducted by the American Psychological Association, which observed 1,700 employees, concluded that half of them intended to look for new jobs because they felt underappreciated and undervalued. Good leaders, then, must know how to praise their subordinates—whether with a simple “thank you” sent through an email or written on a post-it note, to huge gestures like providing support in time of need or public acknowledgement of the worker’s contribution. They know how to recognize people based on their personalities and character […]

How well do you communicate major organizational changes?

May 25, 2017 /0 Comments/in Communications, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How well do you communicate major organizational changes? – Very well – Everyone knows what’s going on and why in a timely manner: 19% – Well – We get most of the information out but occasionally miss some things: 44% – Not well – We could do a much better job of communicating the reason for change: 24% – Poorly – People find out about change as it’s happening to them: 13% Tell them what’s going on. If you don’t tell people what’s going on during a major change effort, they’ll fill in the blanks themselves. Invariably the answers they fill in will be full of doom and gloom. That kind of forecasting on their part hurts morale and distracts them from their job. And don’t just tell them what’s going on – tell them why it’s going on too. If they don’t understand the rationale, they’re less likely to support rolling out your changes. That’s the biggest key to reducing execution risk. Just because you’ve made a decision, that doesn’t mean it will happen. Up your game on communication if you want things to go smoothly. Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Build Your Business Like an Architect

May 24, 2017 /1 Comment/in Innovation, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Building your business requires a balance between creativity and pragmatic planning. Architects can serve as a useful metaphor for the skills and techniques required to build a bold and innovative business. At some point in our careers we’re all responsible for growing our business in some fashion. Whether it’s driving revenue growth, building your team’s capabilities, expanding facilities, or any other techniques for growing your business, we’ll all do it at some point. When you face the task of growing your business, tackle the challenge like an architect. You know, those people who design buildings, draw blueprints, and use all sorts of sciency-looking devices to make sure their right angles are precisely 90 degrees. I’ll bet the majority of folks reading this post are thinking “but architects are so boring. All they do is draw straight lines on two-dimensional blue paper. What can they possibly teach me about growth?” A lot. The Creative Side Have you ever looked at a building and thought “Wow! That thing is freakin’ cool! How did they come up with that awesome design and actually build it?” Answer: a creative architect. It’s easy to get sucked into seeing architects as boring, rigid blueprint designers. The thing is, they have to be creative and dream up their designs in the first place. I’d venture to guess that when they’re building something bold and innovative, they start with concept drawings that push the boundaries of the possible. For example, check out this one from Singapore:

Why Equilibrium is the Key to Achieving True Negotiating Success

May 22, 2017 /0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

Maintaining your cool and being in a state of equilibrium is a huge asset in a negotiation. When the other party loses it, you benefit by staying calm instead. Today’s post is by Corey Kupfer, author of Authentic Negotiating (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Most negotiating articles, books, training programs and other resources focus on techniques, tactics and counter-tactics. These, however, are often ineffective, manipulative and inauthentic and, even when good, are not the key to true negotiating success. Authentic negotiating is the secret to true negotiating success and there are three keys to authentic negotiating: Clarity: Authentic negotiators know what will and won’t work for them on every significant term, and what their true bottom line is – from a place of clarity, not ego. Detachment: Authentic negotiators can walk away from a negotiation with no hesitation – not from a place of anger or upset, but from a place of detachment with no judgment or hard feelings. Equilibrium: Authentic negotiators don’t let emotions dictate their actions. Instead, they maintain equilibrium during the heat of tough negotiation to stay present and preserve their clarity and detachment. Although each of the components of this CDE core framework are important, in this post, I am going to focus power of equilibrium – the third key to true negotiating success. Several years ago, I received a telephone call from an attorney, Henry, who was representing clients on the other side of an unhappy split of a business partnership between three guys. I represented one of the three partners, and he represented the other two. Henry called me up, yelling and screaming and threatening my client with all sorts of dire consequences. My client happened to be a lawyer, although the business he was in with the other two was not related […]

How do you view your need for skill development?

May 18, 2017 /0 Comments/in Career, Leadership, Poll, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How do you view your need for skill development? – I’m good to go and don’t need to spend time on my development: 5% – I have a couple of focused areas I need to develop: 76% – I have several areas in need of a lot of development: 15% – I have a huge need for development across many areas: 5% You don’t grow without investment. The vast majority of you state you’ve got at least one or two focused development needs. The question is what are you doing to grow in those areas? The only way you develop rapidly is through focused efforts. Don’t make the biggest mistake leaders make with respect to their development: they don’t focus their investment. Choose some specific areas to invest in. Lay out a plan to grow. Whether it’s on-the-job training, conferences, books, or training classes, you need to be deliberate about how you’re going to build those missing skills. Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

5 Strategy Mistakes That Will Derail Your Business

May 17, 2017 /0 Comments/in Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Dealing with rapidly changing markets makes strategic planning challenging. You don’t need to make it more difficult by making five common strategic planning mistakes. Know the symptoms of a defective strategy to avoid making a mess in the market. Today’s post is by Paul Petrone, editor of The Learning Blog for LinkedIn. Once a year (at least), the leaders of an organization usually meet to set their strategy for the next 12 months or so. These are important conversations. Because the decisions that come out of those meetings will directly impact the day-to-day life of nearly every employee within the organization, as well as where resources and new headcount will be allocated. So you want to get these strategic planning sessions right. But, too often, these sessions devolve into analysis by paralysis or become too cumbersome or, worst of all, a plan is created but never actually followed. How do you ensure that doesn’t happen? It comes down to recognizing when your strategic planning is becoming unproductive and then course correcting. To help you, instructor Mike Figliuolo, in his LinkedIn Learning course Strategic Planning Foundations, listed five telltale signs that your strategic plan is getting off-track. If your strategic plan has any of these five qualities, it might be time to rethink things. Those signs are: 1. Initiative proliferation This can be summed up as trying to do too much. Is the list of initiatives you want to accomplish for the year longer than a page? Than you are almost certainly trying to accomplish too much, which will likely mean you’ll accomplish nothing at all. That’s not to say there aren’t many areas your organization could improve in. But the reality is your organization can only take on a handful. So it comes down to ruthless prioritization. Which are the absolute most important […]

A Little Learning is a Powerful Thing

May 15, 2017 /1 Comment/in Books, Career, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

Training is great as long as you apply it. By taking learning and breaking it up into daily applied tasks, you’ll learn more rapidly and more effectively. Today’s post is by Wally Bock, author of Become a Better Boss One Tip at a Time (CLICK HERE to get your copy). “The training was great! But there’s a ton of stuff to remember. I don’t know if I can do it. Was it like that for you?” I knew that Robbie was just back from his company’s management training program, so I asked him about it when I ran into him on my walk. His comment took me back to the time my company sent me to similar training. It was a two-week program. The days were long and the training was good. But I’d been in exactly the position that Robbie was in. There was so much stuff, I didn’t know what I should do first. One of the good things about being my age is that you’ve learned some things along the way, so I could share some things with Robbie. Here’s how he and you can get the most out of those formal leadership training programs. The Problem with Classroom Training Most corporate leadership training is pretty much like what Robbie and I went through. It lasts several days. The training covers a broad range of things and, even if it’s good, is entirely in a classroom. That’s not how human beings learn best. We learn best when we’re learning to solve a problem that’s part of our everyday work. We learn best when there are a few specific things to learn. So, for most of us, becoming great at something means becoming a little bit better every day. Here’s how to turn that classroom training into little […]