Mike Figliuolo – Page 57 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

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Entries by Mike Figliuolo

How do you deal with team members who disrupt the team dynamic?

September 18, 2014 /1 Comment/in Leadership, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How do you deal with team members who disrupt the team dynamic? – Coach them and better integrate them into the team: 65% – Remove them from the team for the greater good: 18% – Accept it and work around them: 17% Disruptive team members can be more destructive than your competitors. Simply accepting the negative impact they cause isn’t acceptable as a leader. Those of you making the hard choice to coach and integrate those folks into the team should be applauded. And for those of you taking the most difficult step of removing a problem team member once coaching stops working are performing admirable work. It’s unfair to let others suffer because of a disruptive team member who doesn’t respond to coaching. 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 Keys to Successfully Allocating Work Across Your Team

September 17, 2014 /3 Comments/in Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

As the leader of a high-performing team, how you distribute and balance work across the members of that team is a critical success factor. It needs to be done fairly. Note, I didn’t say equally. Work allocation needs to be done fairly because you want your team to operate on the basis of equality. You want people to work on things they’re good at but also that they’re excited by. There are five criteria to think about as you think about distributing work. 1. Priority Consider the work’s priority. Priority needs to drive everything. If you’ve been rigorous in your prioritization process, start at the top of the list and begin allocating work from there. That list should be based on the team’s and the organization’s goals. This has to be the first consideration in terms of how you distribute work. If a project is a top priority and somebody is available to do that work, they should be tasked with that work. 2. Skill Sets Evaluate the skill set of the people who you’re thinking about distributing the work to. If they have the right skill set, you’re going to get a high quality result. The end product will be something that meets your customer’s needs. This also reduces the likelihood of people failing because you’re not giving them work that they don’t have the skill set to perform. You’re giving them something they can be successful with.

How Embracing Risk is the Key to Business Success

September 15, 2014 /0 Comments/in Books, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s post is by By Tom Panaggio, author of The Risk Advantage: Embracing the Entrepreneur’s Unexpected Edge (CLICK HERE to get your copy). The time has come for the reprogramming of American business leadership. No longer can companies simply “play not to lose” by anchoring to the archaic habit of detailed five year planning, staunchly imposing boundaries by way of organizational charts or the avoidance of any risk lest we kill stockholder value. An entrepreneurial tsunami must wash this academic corporatism out to sea and replace it with a new paradigm, an entrepreneurial mindset. My advice, do not get out of its way. Let this massive wave of uncorrupted idealism and purposeful enthusiasm wash our corporate minds clean of the sludge of bureaucracy, fear of risk, and the clinging to irrational formalities. Market supremacy will be achieved by those who recognize that risk holds the key to long term success and is not to be avoided, minimized, or mitigated but instead embraced. How I envy the newborn entrepreneur. In the face of incredible odds and with little chance of survival they blindly press on with a singular focus that sees nothing but opportunity. How refreshingly naïve and idealistic, yet profoundly visionary, in a business culture in desperate need of change, the student should be educating the teacher. The lesson to be learned is today’s business leaders need a new mindset, an entrepreneurial mindset where they have the courage to step outside their comfort zones and embrace risk each and every day. Success comes from identifying a worthy risk and having the courage to embrace it.

How would you describe your organization’s culture?

September 11, 2014 /0 Comments/in Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How would you describe your organization’s culture? – A great deal of talking, very little doing: 43% – A good balance of talking and doing: 37% – Too much doing without talking about it enough: 20% A significant portion of you find your organizations are talking too much and not doing enough. It’s a classic risk-averse behavior. This happens when folks are afraid to make a decision because they fear the repercussions (both for the organization and for themselves personally). Try breaking the big decisions into smaller, less risky ones and try to push forward smaller actions faster rather than larger actions more slowly. It’ll help you gain momentum and build a bias toward doing. For those doing too much without enough talking, be a little more rigorous on understanding the risks you’re taking and be clear that they’re acceptable. Communicate those risks and your willingness to take them, and your teams will be more comfortable. 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!

Think Like a Senior Executive and Ask More Questions

September 10, 2014 /3 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Innovation, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Do you know the difference between a “worker bee” and a senior executive? Have you ever wondered what it takes to move up in the world to those loftier roles? It’s pretty simple. You need to move from a world where you provide all the answers to a world where you ask all the questions. I know there’s a cheeky clueless executive joke in there somewhere but I’m actually not joking around (which I know comes as a shock to you longtime readers). As we enter organizations and rise through the ranks, we’re expected (and trained) to have the answers. We, after all, are the front line. We do the work. When someone more senior asks us for information, our job description is to provide it. And provide it we do. We become experts in our field. We know all the answers. We become that “go to” person Scott Eblin describes in this post. And every day we kick butt. We know everything that’s asked of us. Heck, we get to a point where we’ve created everything around us. But one day we wake up wondering why we’re not getting promoted. We can’t figure out why we, the expert of all experts, isn’t rising to the executive ranks. After all, those guys are clueless. All they ever do is ask questions that we have to provide the answers to. And that my friends is the key to the paradox of advancing to senior management. Questions.

Learning to Achieve Success through Failure

September 8, 2014 /0 Comments/in Books, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s post is by Lori Ann LaRocco, author of Opportunity Knocking: Lessons from Business Leaders, (CLICK HERE to get your copy) and producer on CNBC’s Squawk Box. Every leader, no matter what industry they operate in, has had a moment when they either rise to the occasion or fail. Wall Street is littered with the carcasses of corporate casualties, but what sets the spectacular success stories apart from the failures is the ability of leaders from both successful and failed companies to learn from their mistakes. In order to not repeat mistakes, you need to reflect on, analyze, and accept what went wrong regarding execution. Failure can be an important piece on the journey to success. The lessons you learn after each setback will help fortify your knowledge and approach future problems confidently by learning what you should — and shouldn’t — do. Reflection Steve Case, the co-founder of AOL, would say that he is an example of such a journey. During his long career, Case has tasted both the sweetness of success and the bitterness of failure. While many people are familiar with the spectacular failure of the AOL-Time Warner merger, Case faced challenges even before that ill-fated corporate marriage. Years before AOL, Case left his safe and dependable job with a Fortune 500 company for Control Video, an up-and-coming technical disruptor. But his expectations of greatness quickly turned into a nightmare. At his first board meeting with Control Video, he found out the company was collapsing. Instead of declaring failure, Case and some of his colleagues chose to view the closing of Control Video as a learning opportunity.

Which promotion system seems fairest to you as a leader?

September 4, 2014 /3 Comments/in Career, Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: Which system of promotion seems the fairest and most just to you as a leader? – Seniority-based meritocracy –people should pay their dues for a time, then be promoted based on ability: 51% – Meritocracy — people should advance as quickly as their abilities allow: 48% – Seniority — people should pay their dues and demonstrate loyalty if they want to advance: 1% Clearly, all of you place a heavy emphasis on merit-based promotions, but there’s still that “paying your dues” requirement in there. I’ll bet when you’re the one getting promoted, you want it to be all about meritocracy, but when others seek promotion, that’s when the “you have to pay your dues” component kicks in. Yes, seniority is important, but it is merely a proxy for determining whether someone is committed to the organization and whether they understands the nature of your business. Once people have achieved those two requirements, meritocracy should truly kick in as the deciding factor on a promotion. 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!

7 Steps to Building a High-Performing Team

September 3, 2014 /0 Comments/in Entrepreneur, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

We all want to lead high-performing teams but where should one begin? Not every team has the ability to be high-performing but I guarantee it won’t be high-performing if you don’t focus on getting it there. In my experience, there are 7 steps to building a high-performing team. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been a member of and to have led high-performing teams over my career and they all share the same seven characteristics. If you’d prefer to watch a full video course on how to build your own high-performing team, you can do so by CLICKING HERE and checking out the course over on lynda.com. There’s over 2 hours of explanations and stories on how to build your own high-performing team. In the meantime, here’s an overview of the seven steps you need to consider when building that team. Under each step are some thoughts on the things you have to do or be able to do to achieve the goal of that step. 1. Setting Direction for a High-Performing Team – Know the difference between a vision and a mission. Understand techniques for crafting them and sharing them. – Translate a vision and mission into a shared purpose for the team and drive behavior through that shared purpose. – Link the vision and mission to priorities and translate priorities into projects/initiatives. Use initiatives to drive resource planning and focus because focus leads to success.

The Importance of Being an Improvisational Leader

September 1, 2014 /3 Comments/in Books, Career, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s post is by Fred Cook is the CEO of Golin and author of IMPROVISE: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Every night at clubs like the Improv in Los Angeles and Second City in Chicago, aspiring comedians make improvising look easy. Drawing from the archives of their own experiences, these professionals use cues from the audience and their fellow performers to craft a coherent narrative that leads to a logical conclusion and entertains along the way. Improvising requires skill and practice, especially in the business world. I should know. I’ve been doing it all my life. Today, I am the CEO of Golin, an award-winning public relations agency with 50 offices around the globe. I have worked with some of the country’s most fabled business leaders, such as Apple’s Steve Jobs, Disney’s Michael Eisner, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. I have introduced the world to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pokémon and seedless watermelon. But my career was not always so glamorous. Before joining the corporate ranks at the age of 36, I talked my way into a job as a cabin boy on a Norwegian tanker; peddled fake Italian leather goods to unsuspecting tourists; ran a rock-and-roll record company; started a service chauffeuring drunks home from bars; worked as a doorman at a five-star hotel; substitute-taught in Los Angeles’s worst schools; and winged it as a novice tour guide. These jobs taught me how to improvise. Improvisation, like evolution, is a critical survival tool. Based on prehistoric genetics, evolution has allowed us to adapt to long-term changes in the biological world. Relying on present knowledge, improvisation enables us to adjust to real-time changes in the modern world. Life is too fast and too complicated for strict ideologies to determine our fate. Our future leaders […]

How well-known are your emergency recovery procedures?

August 28, 2014 /0 Comments/in Poll /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How well-documented and well-known are your company’s emergency recovery procedures? – We’re ready for anything, and everyone knows exactly what to do in a crisis: 28% – We’re generally prepared, but it takes us time to get our act together: 42% – We’re not very well-prepared, and our procedures aren’t well-known: 18% – We’re not prepared at all, and our procedures are virtually nonexistent: 13% It’s called an emergency for a reason. Not being prepared at all can be catastrophic. Even if the emergency isn’t life threatening, it can be business threatening if you’re not prepared to respond. Poor crisis planning and basic procedures will cost you customers and put your business at risk. It doesn’t take much time and effort to lay out the critical points of your business, contingency plan, and occasionally rehearse those procedures. Failure to do so only benefits your competitors. 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!

10 Things that Took Me 10 Years to Learn

August 27, 2014 /5 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Career, Communications, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Sales, Social Media, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Happy Birthday to me! No, it’s not my birthday (although you can send me gifts if you like). It’s thoughtLEADERS‘ birthday and the firm just turned 10. 10 years old. Mind-boggling. In those 10 years I’ve had ups and downs. I’ve learned a great deal as an entrepreneur, an executive, a leader, and a person. Good times, bad times, y’know I’ve had my share… (yes… Zeppelin). I’d like to share some of those things I’ve learned with all of you. My hope in sharing these things is that you’ll avoid mistakes I’ve made, be more successful than I’ve been, and enjoy your life more. Before I launch into that top 10 list, I’d like to thank everyone around me who has helped me succeed with this business. My wonderful clients who make it all possible. The awesome participants in my classes (except that one guy that one time… you know who you are). The fantastic colleagues who do such amazing work. My friends and professional contacts who recommend me and my work. My family members who have supported me throughout this crazy ride. Without all of you, thoughtLEADERS is just a cool website. Thank you for everything from the bottom of my heart. Shutting up now. Time to drop the knowledge. Within each of these tips is a link to another post I’ve written on that topic so if you want to learn more about that particular topic, click on through to the other side (Jim Morrison… kinda). 10. Jump in with both feet. If you’re considering starting your own business (or you’re taking on a major new project or role), you have to go all-in if you want it to succeed. You can’t be half-pregnant. When I first started the business, I ran it part time while I held […]

How to Emotionally Jazz Up Your Technical Presentations

August 25, 2014 /0 Comments/in Books, Communications, Guest Blogger, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s post is by Dr. Vikas Jhingran, author of EMOTE: Using Emotions to Make Your Message Memorable (CLICK HERE to get your copy). ‘The Crime Scene’. My first slide, certainly not the norm for a technical paper on Vortex-Induced Vibrations. I could see the confusion and surprise on the faces of the audience. This was going to be very interesting. A few years ago, I was presenting a technical paper at an international conference. The paper was about experiments that had been performed by our group, and the results had been rather surprising. After months of work, our team had come up with a controversial explanation – one that most researchers would not have intuitively guessed. My paper that day was about those experiments and the unusual results. I wanted to introduce a story into my presentation and after some thought, decided to relate the presentation as a Sherlock Holmes mystery case. This controversial and hugely popular character seemed a good fit. I planned my presentation like a Sherlock Holmes case and it began at the crime scene, which was our lab. The data that we collected was the evidence. In my presentation, I shared our struggles to find a solution, which were eerily similar to what Mr. Holmes goes through in his cases. Finally, the famous quote associated with Sherlock Holmes, “Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,” provided the perfect setup to introduce the controversial and unexpected hypothesis proposed to explain the experimental data. Like all Sherlock Holmes cases, once the observations were explained, it seemed obvious. Scientific presentations, especially those that involve data, are difficult to present in an interesting manner. Among the sea of good research and interesting ideas, only a few stand out as memorable. Why do some […]