Mike Figliuolo – Page 24 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

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Entries by Mike Figliuolo

How well do you handle long-term adversity?

May 11, 2017 /0 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How well do you handle long-term adversity? – Extremely well – I can thrive through years of adversity: 15% – Very well – I can manage through prolonged adversity: 39% – Well – I can succeed for a while, but I lose energy over time: 40% – Not well – I succeed short term but not long term: 3% – Poorly – I struggle dealing with long-term adversity: 2% A tough bunch. Many of you say you do well with adversity even for prolonged periods of time. Just be aware of the risks of being “tough” and ignoring the warning signs of issues. Chronic stress can lead to fatigue, lower job performance, and large health issues. As a guy who’s had two heart attacks, I’m qualified to opine on the subject. When you find yourself in long-term stressful situations, learn how to build your resilience – which is one of the 12 traits of great leaders – through focused efforts on taking care of yourself. While you may get the job done, if you don’t survive to get your year-end bonus, it’s not really worth it. 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!

Leadership Lessons from Google, Procter & Gamble, and a Rock-n-Roll Legend

May 10, 2017 /0 Comments/in Books, Communications, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Great leaders learn from their failures, no matter where they happen. Below you’ll learn what some great leaders learned from losing a wrestling match, getting booed off stage, a discrimination lawsuit, an unflattering article in Business Week, a one-night stand, and a bar fight. Today’s post is by Paul Smith, thoughtLEADERS principal and bestselling author of Lead With a Story and Sell With a Story. Here’s an easy way to learn some new leadership skills – in easy-to-digest podcasts you can listen to at your convenience. These podcasts are based on interviews with 100 executives, leaders, authors, and experts at dozens of companies around the world. Each episode brings you an important leadership lesson through a single compelling story. These next six podcast episodes include my favorite guests from the past six months, including Google President, Kirk Perry, and bestselling authors Todd Henry, Mike Figliuolo, and Jathan Janove. Google President Kirk Perry’s 3 Lessons from Losing a Fight Kirk shares a very personal story about a loss on a high school wrestling mat that has both haunted and blessed him ever since. Bestselling author Todd Henry on Lessons from One of the Worst Failures in Music History Getting a chance to be an opening act for one of the hottest bands of the time seemed like a blessing at the time… until he got booed off stage. 8 Brilliant Counter-intuitive Steps to Getting to Yes

Radically Rethinking the Innovation Essentials Checklist

May 8, 2017 /1 Comment/in Books, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Open offices, ideas boxes and hackathons don’t automatically lead to innovation and how to do it better. Today’s post is by Gaia Grant and Andrew Grant, authors of The Innovation Race (CLICK HERE to get your copy). We were recently given the grand tour of a new office designed to improve innovation. A multinational insurance giant had set up the space on the top floor of a building in Singapore’s financial district, and the standard ‘innovation essentials’ checklist had obviously been consulted. There were trendy co-working spaces with funky seating pods, Foosball tables and ideas boxes. The staff had completed all the right design thinking courses and were being encouraged to join hackathons. Viewing the impressive skyline from this lofty vantage point gave us the impression that we were at the pinnacle of contemporary innovative achievement. Yet although the company had invested millions in the endeavor, something was wrong. At the end of the tour the head of innovation led us into one of the colorful co-working rooms, sat us in a brainstorming hub, and confessed that despite the changes people were not engaged in collaborative co-creation. Everything had normalized. Employees had become just as territorial, individualistic, and competitive as they had been, and the company was not getting the results it had hoped for. Why would an open and apparently up-to-date approach to innovation like this not be working? Just ticking the boxes doesn’t make it right Investment in innovation focused activities in general and in innovation labs in particular has dramatically increased over the last few years. In fact spending on R&D continues to increase by up to 10 percent per year in most regions around the world, and almost 40 percent of the largest 200 multinational companies now have dedicated innovation centers with targeted innovation spaces, strategies […]

What’s the biggest obstacle to you investing in your own development?

May 4, 2017 /0 Comments/in Career, Leadership, Poll, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: What’s the biggest obstacle to you investing in your own development? – I don’t have time: 42% – I don’t have budget: 20% – I don’t need development: 1% – I can’t find any good development opportunities: 8% – My boss won’t let me: 7% – Some other reason/combination of the above: 23% Making time for what’s important. I’m sure some of the 23% of “other/combo of the above” involves not having time to develop yourself. I’d argue you don’t have time to ignore your own development. If you’re not doing your job as efficiently and as effectively as you can, you’re wasting time on rework, fixing problems, or generally not knowing the best way to do something. Unfortunately people don’t plan beyond the week ahead. I challenge you to change this dynamic. Carve out some time every quarter to invest in yourself. Allocate the budget to it. Sometimes all it takes is a day or two for you to build that next level of skills. If you don’t set aside the time or the money, it’ll never happen. It’s sort of like retirement planning. It’s not up to your boss to figure out your development plan or make it happen. It’s purely on you whether you choose to invest in yourself or simply be satisfied with how things are going now. 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!

Are You Becoming a Leadership Dinosaur?

May 3, 2017 /0 Comments/in Career, Entrepreneur, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Leadership is a skill that requires constant practice. The world changes and brings new challenges every day. How can you ensure you’re staying fresh as a leader and not going the way of the dinosaur? Leadership abilities can grow stale and out of date. While most leaders have good intentions, and want to do a great job, the early excitement for the position can quickly turn into frustration from the demands. Leadership isn’t for the faint of heart, and it isn’t ‘learned’ once you’ve attended a leadership conference. It is a challenging skill that must evolve with your personal growth and a changing workforce. Make a choice to be the leader who is continually growing and maturing in leadership abilities and new skills for leading the team. This podcast will provide insight on whether you might be going the way of the leadership dinosaur and how you can turn that around. Here at thoughtLEADERS, I’m fortunate to work with some incredibly bright people. Maureen Metcalf is one of them. She recently discussed the topic of staying fresh as a leader with Steve Caldwell at Manager Mojo. They got together on his podcast to discuss how to keep yourself from going the way of the dinosaur. Listen to the podcast here:

Selling by Word Alone Doesn’t Cut It in Today’s Market

May 1, 2017 /0 Comments/in Books, Communications, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

Selling isn’t just about the words you pitch. A much more powerful approach is to show the customer your work and let them interact with it early in the sales process. Today’s post is by Ken Rutsky, author of Launching to Leading (CLICK HERE to get your copy). In an 1899 speech in Philadelphia, Missouri Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver is reported to have said, “I come from a state that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I’m from Missouri, and you have got to show me.” And from that day forward, Missouri has been known far and wide as the “Show Me State.” Today, marketers and sales teams alike should take heed of this advice and move beyond telling and describing their value to showing and demonstrating it to buyers early and often in the buying cycle. After all, what’s really left to tell since the customer has probably already visited your website? There is no shortage of materials and advice out there on the topic of content marketing. Content Rules, by Handley and Chapman—a popular book in marketing circles—spends a lot of time focusing on just that; and it is necessary and recommended reading and table stakes for today’s sales and marketing efforts. However, stopping there would fail to take two critical variables into account: engagement and experience, the “Show Me” factor of modern sales and marketing efforts. One of the hallmarks of breakthrough market leadership is very high levels of engagement and experience delivered in our marketing programs and sales experience. We can look at both engagement and experience as continuums. Engagement measures the level of interaction that the customer has with our content; we are most engaged when we are interacting, least when we are reading. Engagement, through […]

How open are you to learning new ways of doing old things?

April 27, 2017 /0 Comments/in Innovation, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How open are you to learning new ways of doing old things? – Very – I love learning new techniques and approaches: 82% – Kind of – I’ll learn a new way to do things if I really need to: 16% – Not very – There has to be a compelling reason for me to change: 2% – Not at all – Things work just fine the way they are: 1% Learn something every day. Obviously an audience that reads a newsletter focused on new ideas is going to skew heavily to being learners. I encourage you to take your learning further by doing so in a deliberate way. Set a learning agenda for yourself. Start a journal or spreadsheet to track your learning. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Define the topics you want to learn, sources for learning them (books, blogs, online courses, classroom instruction) as well as people you can learn from (boss, peers, team members, mentors, coaches, etc.). Create a section called “what I learned this week” and reflect on it to document your growth. Creating such a vehicle will not only focus your learning efforts, it’ll motivate you to learn more as you see your progress over time. 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!

It’s Called Brutal Prioritization for a Reason

April 26, 2017 /1 Comment/in Balanced Lifestyle, Business Toolkit, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

During times of excessive work and crisis, something has to give. Sometimes brutal prioritization is the only way to make it through those challenging times with your sanity intact. It happens to all of us. The Universe, in its infinite wisdom, determines this month, of all months, is the month to test your mettle. It was a busy month to start. Multiple big project deadlines, a few social events, tax season, and some home repairs, all topped off with a few trips to other cities. Then things blew up. New projects came in. Unforeseen issues on existing projects cropped up. Email went into tsunami mode. You got a nasty stomach flu. The IRS decided to audit you. Your cat died. Your got in a car accident and won’t have your car for a few weeks due to repairs. It becomes tough to breathe. You feel swamped. There’s no way out and there’s no way to get everything done that you need to get done – at least not without pulling all-nighters and putting your sanity at risk. What do you do? Preserve your sanity. Get some sleep. Go into brutal prioritization mode. When a building you’re in is on fire, what do you do? Grab the kids. Grab the dog. Depending on how the kids behaved that week, maybe you grab the dog first. Grab your irreplaceable picture of Nana and Pop. Run for safety. You just brutally prioritized. There was a crisis and you were forced to choose. Some things got burned up. But you’re safe and sound. Give yourself permission to treat your work the same way. Set Priorities

An 8 Step Guide to Successful Startup Leadership

April 24, 2017 /0 Comments/in Books, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Launching a successful start-up requires more than a great product. It’s about leadership. How you lead your team and develop yourself is a key determinant of success. Today’s post is by Tom Hogan and Carol Broadbent, authors of The Ultimate Start-Up Guide (CLICK HERE to get your copy). After having helped launch over forty startups, we have been exposed to—and coached—a wide range of CEOs. Most are first-timers, others are on their second or third startup. But over time, we’ve culled the following best practices for aspiring CEOs: Hire the core and outsource the rest. Companies should distinguish early what is core to their business and hire to that – outsourcing and virtualizing the rest. These days every new position in a company should have to justify why it deserves a full-time employee in it. Once it passes that test, hire the best and pay appropriately, but stay flexible with the rest of the positions, especially those that can be done part-time (legal and early finance) or remotely (software development: see Ukraine and India). When picking your Board, experience and true partnership trumps valuation. You are going to be with these people for a long time, so be picky. A team of experienced investors and advisors who will help you with your planning, hiring, and early management challenges are worth their weight in gold. That doesn’t mean you should not worry about the structure and valuation of the deal—just don’t let it trump establishing a long-term relationship with someone with whom you would want to be in a foxhole. Leadership often comes with a sell-by date.

How effective are you at pitching your ideas for approval?

April 20, 2017 /0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How effective are you at pitching your ideas for approval? – Extremely – My recommendations always get approved: 5% – Very – Most recommendations get approved but not all: 59% – Somewhat – I get many approved but could do much better: 26% – Not very – I struggle to get my recommendations approved: 8% – Not at all – I rarely get anyone to approve my ideas: 1% Getting to Yes Can be Tough. In a world of scarce resources where everyone is competing for the same budgets, people, and time, the ability to clearly communicate a compelling recommendation is a true performance differentiator. Some people get ideas approved through brute force of personality. Others swamp their audience with data. Still others find dogged persistence is the key to approval. The real secret to getting ideas approved with minimal effort is understanding what your audience cares about and pushing their button. The more clearly you can connect your recommendation to their objectives, the easier it’ll be to get it approved. Spend less time crunching numbers and more effort on understanding your audience. 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!

How Leaders Can Reduce Turnover

April 19, 2017 /0 Comments/in Career, Entrepreneur, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Do you have a problem retaining employees? Many businesses do. One of the best ways to reduce turnover is to improve leadership abilities. Effective leaders inspire others to do things willingly. They encourage healthy disagreement and consequently find commitment. They are leaders who find themselves humble, vulnerable and caring about people. Leadership is like an expedition, one to unearth the great leadership talent that lies within. The more effective you are as a leader, the easier it is to retain your people. It’s often said that people leave bosses, not jobs. If you don’t want to fall victim to being the reason you lose great talent, you might need to change your approach to leadership. Here at thoughtLEADERS, I’m fortunate to work with some incredibly bright people. Jan Rutherford is one of them. Jan recently discussed the topic of these retention challenges leaders face with Steve Caldwell at Manager Mojo. They got together on his podcast to discuss how to overcome these challenges. Listen to the podcast here:

Leading with Trust

April 17, 2017 /1 Comment/in Books, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Building trust is one of the strongest levers you have for improving team performance. There’s actually a simple formula for building the trust your team needs. Today’s post is by Paul J. Zak, author of Trust Factor (CLICK HERE to get your copy). You can’t do it all. But at the same time, leaders are responsible for everything in their domain no matter who actually executes a project. Work is becoming increasingly interdependent on large and often distributed teams in which colleagues need to manage themselves. Marshall Goldsmith has called shared leadership the key business challenge for the twenty-first century. How to share leadership and maintain high performance has been a feat few leaders have been able to accomplish. Now, help is on the way. The explosion of neuroscience research in the last decade has provided new and actionable insights that show how to transform employees into leaders. Just as a basketball player must work effectively passing the ball to others – but sometimes drives to the hoop himself – colleagues at work must be both followers and leaders. The science shows that a necessary ingredient for effective shared leadership is a culture of trust. In work I published in 2001, I showed that trust is a powerful lever to improve economic performance because it reduces the frictions that occur when individuals interact. If I trust you, and you are trustworthy, we are an effective team because we reliably complete our tasks – usually – and that is where things get complicated. I spent the next five years looking for a brain signal that switched on “let’s cooperate” behaviors so I could predict the situations that result in effective teamwork. My research showed that the motivation to cooperate comes from a brain chemical called oxytocin and my team identified a […]