Engaging Leader: Leadership communication principles with Jesse Lahey

What if coaching could become a regular, informal part of your day so you and your team could work less hard and have more impact? That’s the promise Michael Bungay Stanier makes in his latest book, The Coaching Habit. He has trained more than 10,000 busy managers from around the globe in practical, everyday coaching skills. Drawing on years of experience, Michael reveals how to unlock your people’s potential. He unpacks seven essential coaching questions to demonstrate how — by saying less and asking more — you can develop coaching methods that produce great results. Michael Bungay Stanier is the founder and Senior Partner of Box of Crayons, a company that helps organizations all over the world do less Good Work and more Great Work. Box of Crayons is best known for their coaching programs that help time-crunched managers coach in 10 minutes or less. He has written a number of books. Do More Great Work is his best known book, with almost 100,000 copies sold. But the one he’s proudest of is End Malaria, a collection of essays on Great Work from leading thinkers, which raised $400,000 for Malaria No More. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Website: www.boxofcrayons.biz Book: The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever  Twitter: @boxofcrayons Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boxofcrayons.biz LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/michaelbungaystanier Podcast: The Great Work Podcast Subscription Links iTunes Stitcher RSS Your Feedback If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at jesse@engagingleader.com, subscribe to him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.

Some leaders foster a disproportionate share of top talent … the kind of talent that goes on to transform their entire industry. Professor Sydney Finkelstein noticed this and then figured out a way to identify who these “superbosses” are and how they do it. Most of what he discovered is counter-intuitive. In one of the […]

Some leaders foster a disproportionate share of top talent … the kind of talent that goes on to transform their entire industry. Professor Sydney Finkelstein noticed this and then figured out a way to identify who these “superbosses” are and how they do it. Most of what he discovered is counter-intuitive. In one of the most extensive and rigorous research projects of its kind, Sydney spent 10 years systematically studying business legends and pop culture icons like Lorne Michaels, Ralph Lauren, George Lucas, Larry Ellison, Miles Davis, Julian Robertson, and Alice Waters. He found that although they differ considerably in their interpersonal styles, the ways they identify, motivate, coach, and leverage others are remarkably consistent, unconventional, and powerful. In his new book, Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, Sydney explores how the world’s greatest leaders spread their influence by grooming extraordinary talent. Sydney Finkelstein is a professor of strategy and leadership at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He is the author of several books, including the bestseller Why Smart Executives Fail. Sydney is a consultant to senior executives around the globe, as well as an executive coach, focusing on talent development, corporate governance, learning from mistakes, and strategies for growth. He is listed in the “Thinkers 50,” the world’s most prestigious ranking of leadership gurus. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Website: http://www.superbosses.com Book: Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent  Twitter: https://twitter.com/sydfinkelstein Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FinkelsteinSydney LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydney-finkelstein-3900032 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sydfinkelstein/ Harvard Business Review article: Secrets of the Superbosses  Assessment tool: 12 questions anyone can ask themselves Subscription Links iTunes Stitcher RSS Your Feedback If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at jesse@engagingleader.com, subscribe to him on Facebook,

For several years, recruiting has been one of the business processes that has best leveraged the potential of gamification. According to a recent article in HR Magazine, gamification can be an effective strategy for talent acquisition because of the power to: Trigger interest in job openings, Enable (and reward) current employees to easily share job openings with their external network and get feedback on their contacts’ progress during the recruiting process, Project an innovative image of the employer, Give candidates a realistic preview of the job, and Predict applicants’ future job performance. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Previously discussed on GameChanger: Zao Bunchball Badgeville Additional gamification resources profiled by HR Magazine:  Captain Up Games for Business HackerRank mLevel Pymetrics  To stay up on the latest news and trends in employee gamification, join the Game Changer group on LinkedIn. Subscription Links iTunes Stitcher RSS Your Feedback If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at jesse@engagingleader.com, subscribe to him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.

Storytelling is the most underrated skill [among entrepreneurs]. ~ Ben Horowitze, famed venture capitalist Storytelling is the act of framing an idea as a narrative to inform, illuminate, and inspire. From Steve Jobs to Sheryl Sandberg to Richard Branson, successful leaders study and practice the art of storytelling in order to attract top talent, increase […]

Storytelling is the most underrated skill [among entrepreneurs]. ~ Ben Horowitze, famed venture capitalist Storytelling is the act of framing an idea as a narrative to inform, illuminate, and inspire. From Steve Jobs to Sheryl Sandberg to Richard Branson, successful leaders study and practice the art of storytelling in order to attract top talent, increase workforce engagement, and launch movements. In fact, in our work at Aspendale helping clients with their workforce communications, storytelling is almost always a component of the overall strategy. We’ve talked about the importance of storytelling for leaders on three past episodes of Engaging Leader, but this is the first time we’ve ever dug into a whole book that focuses on this topic.   In The Storyteller’s Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch on and Others Don’t, Carmine Gallo explains how to use storytelling and its power to build emotional connections to make a difference (rather than fall on deaf ears). The ability to package ideas into a compelling story is one of the most proven skills that makes leaders successful. While the roots of storytelling are ancient, Gallo shares the latest science that proves its impact, which only became evident in the past decade. The science of storytelling that Gallo uncovers here helps explain why: Some TED talks go viral — and others are forgettable, Some leaders start movements — and others miss the mark, Some companies have high employee engagement — and others see high turnover, Some non-profits raise millions of dollars — and other struggle, Some job candidates stand out — and others can’t persuade recruiters, and Some entrepreneurs change the world — and others don’t. Carmine Gallo is a communication coach for some of the world’s most admired brands, including Intel, Coca-Cola, Cisco, Google, Disney, and more. He writes the Forbes.com column My Communications Coach. He’s the author of seven books, including the bestseller that we discussed in Engaging Leader episode 87, Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Book: The Storyteller’s Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch on and Others Don’t Book: Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds Website: www.storytellerssecret.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/carminegallo Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarmineGalloAuthor Instagram: www.instagram.com/carminegallospeaker/ 087: Talk Like TED: 3 Secrets to Radically Improve Your Presentations 052: How to Use Stories to Engage People | featuring Steve Kloyda from The Prospecting Expert 102: Storytelling for Leaders: How to Influence, Engage & Inspire | with Amanda Marko

Many people in the business world believe that working hard will be enough to move their career forward. But whether you’re trying to advance inside a large organization, or you’re an entrepreneur hoping to make a difference in your community or the global economy, you need to become recognized as an authority in your field. Making that happen is not a matter of self-promotion, but being generous with your unique perspective and knowledge, in a way that inspires others to listen and even take action. As a result you have a bigger opportunity to change the world for the better while also giving you the ultimate job insurance. But becoming a “thought leader” seems like a mysterious process. Jesse talks to author Dorie Clark about how to identify the ideas that set you apart and promote them successfully. “To succeed in today’s economy, you don’t have to be a worldwide superstar,” says Dorie. “But you do have to be deliberate about identifying the place where you want to make a contribution and start to show your ideas. The competition is fierce, but if you even begin to develop thought leadership, you’ll dramatically outpace competitors, most of whom never even try.” Dorie Clark is the author of Reinventing You as well as her newest book, Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It, which was selected as the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc Magazine columnist Geoffrey James. A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, she teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and is a consultant and speaker for clients such as Google, Morgan Stanley, and the World Bank. Featuring vivid examples and drawing on interviews with Seth Godin, Robert Cialdini, and other thought leaders, Stand Out teaches readers how to develop a big idea, leverage existing affiliations, and build a community of followers. Dorie offers not mere self-promotion, but an opportunity to change the world for the better while giving you the ultimate job insurance. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Website: www.dorieclark.com   Books: Stand Out and Reinventing You  Free workbook: Stand Out Self-Assessment Workbook  TEDx talk: Finding Your Breakthrough Idea  Twitter: www.twitter.com/dorieclark Subscription Links iTunes Stitcher RSS Your Feedback If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at jesse@engagingleader.com, subscribe to him on Facebook,

Many people in the business world believe that working hard will be enough to move their career forward. But whether you’re trying to advance inside a large organization, or you’re an entrepreneur hoping to make a difference in your community or the global economy, you need to become recognized as an authority in your field. […]

Gamification concepts continue to be integrated as part of normal business practices; sometimes it’s as subtle as taking inspiration from certain game elements when tweaking a business process, and at the other end of the spectrum, sometimes it’s literally creating a game for people to play. For one growing company, they not only have created a game that tens of thousands of people have played, they are changing the overall “game” of business itself — to transform corporate culture, education, and entrepreneurship. As long-time listeners of Jesse’s podcasts know, he’s passionate about the power of business and communication to make a positive difference in communities and in individual lives. FreshBiz Global is a “For-Benefit” training company with a mission to infuse fun, multidimensional winning, and smart thinking into organizations around the world. They accomplish this through workshops based on their award-winning FreshBiz board game (also soon to be released in digital format), the book The New Entrepreneurz, and the plug-and-play FreshBiz Training Kit for trainers and managers to take teams through transformational learning experiences. The FreshBiz game creates a business simulation where players create “Smartnerships,” play Action Cards, learn to leverage their strengths, and use other principles that help them embody a “For-Benefit” approach to business, where success is when everyone wins. The intention is that playing the game helps people rewire their brain to a mindset that is more collaborative, open, creative, and daring, so they not only sharpen their entrepreneurial skills but also experience an approach to business that maximizes benefit for everyone playing rather than just maximizing profit at all cost. Currently, over 35,000 people across 20 countries — from business students and entrepreneurs to executives and teams — have gone through the FreshBiz experience and are now smarter in business and life. Simcha Gluck is the chief trainer and co-founder of FreshBiz Global. He is also co-author of the book The New Entrepreneurz: Changing the Way You Play Life, and he hosts the radio talk show Innovation Nation on Voice of Israel. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Website:  http://www.freshbizgame.com/ Twitter:  @FreshBizGame GameChangers500: www.freshbiz.gamechangers500.com Book: The New Entrepreneurz: Changing the Way You Play Life Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/simchagluck Facebook: www.facebook.com/FreshBiz/ To stay up on the latest news and trends in employee gamification, join the Game Changer group on LinkedIn. Subscription Links iTunes Stitcher RSS Your Feedback If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes.

Most business leaders today realize that a strong organizational culture is critical to success. However, culture tends to feel like some magic force that few leaders know how to control. So most leaders try to shape culture based on their intuition, leave it to chance, or try carrot-and-stick approaches to drive performance. To find a systematic, data-driven approach to shape culture, former McKinsey consultant Lindsay McGregor and Neel Doshi surveyed over 20,000 workers around the world, analyzed 50 major companies, and conducted scores of experiments before arriving at one major conclusion: Why people work determines how well they work. In this episode, Lindsay and Jesse talk about: Why our natural (but mistaken) inclination as leaders is to hope that indirect motivators like pay, incentives, and perks will positively shape culture, How great organizations inspire the three most powerful motives for work — play (enjoying the work itself), purpose (valuing the work’s impact on others), and potential (believing it moves you toward your personal goals) — and eliminate the three most destructive — emotional pressure, economic pressure, and inertia, How leaders can use a predictive new tool to measure the strength of their culture, The keys that shape culture to increase total motivation, and How to define and strengthen the organization’s identity, which is one of the most powerful keys to culture. Many of these concepts aren’t new — McGregor and Doshi are very clear that they are building on over a century of academic research. Previously on Engaging Leader, such as in episodes 20 and 23, we’ve discussed ideas and keys for building or changing the culture of your organization. And we’ve discussed the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of work in episode 10 regarding Daniel Pink’s book DRIVE. But this is the first time we’ve discussed such a systematic, data-driven approach to shaping a culture that drives performance. Lindsay McGregor is the co-founder of Vega Factor and co-author of Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation. Previously, Lindsay led projects at McKinsey & Company, working with large Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, universities, and school systems. Primed to Perform builds on over a century of academic thinking as well as the authors’ original research. It introduces a predictive new measurement tool, the total motivation factor, which allows leaders to measure the strength of their culture and understand how it changes over time. It gives leaders the tools to transform their own workplaces. Resources Mentioned in This Episode Website: primedtoperform.com Book: Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation  Survey: Total Motivation Factor LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaymcgregor Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcgregorle Subscription Links

Most business leaders today realize that a strong organizational culture is critical to success. However, culture tends to feel like some magic force that few leaders know how to control. So most leaders try to shape culture based on their intuition, leave it to chance, or try carrot-and-stick approaches to drive performance. To find a […]

Visual communication always gets more attention than written or verbal alone. And with the information and media-overload that everyone now experiences, visual communication is no longer an option when you are trying to influence, lead, or even simply inform people. You can’t assume that sharing information is enough. Even Steve Jobs, when presenting to already-passionate […]

Visual communication always gets more attention than written or verbal alone. And with the information and media-overload that everyone now experiences, visual communication is no longer an option when you are trying to influence, lead, or even simply inform people. You can’t assume that sharing information is enough. Even Steve Jobs, when presenting to already-passionate followers about Apple gadgets they craved to know about, was very deliberate in using visuals to engage them. You must be intentional to engage your audience for maximum impact. Often leaders feel tired after compiling all the information, and they don’t want to think about how to “get creative” in the way they communicate to their workforce. But without this extra 10% of effort, the communication effort is often a waste of time. 5 Reasons Visual Communication Is a Must When your message includes the right visuals, people will be more likely to:  NOTICE it. The average person reads between 200 – 300 words per minute, but less than a second to process an image. Eye tracking studies also show that people gravitate immediately to images. * BELIEVE it. I recommend always telling the truth, but a science shows people will believe even a lie — if it’s accompanied by the right image. To make it more likely that people will believe and trust you, include a helpful image.  * REMEMBER it. The human brain can remember thousands of images, with a surprising level of detail. And according to MIT neuroscience research, images with people in them are the most memorable. * SPREAD it. For example, on Facebook, photos get 7 times more likes and 10 times more shares than links. * ACT on it. On the photo-sharing site Pinterest, users don’t just view and share photos, they buy stuff — spending about twice as much as Facebook and Twitter users. 6 Engaging Ways to Use Images * Graph or diagram. The best time to use a graph or diagram is when this format tells a story. In a quick glance, the viewer should be able to get the main point. * Short video. Motion pictures were first produced in the late 19th century, and people have been addicted to movies ever since. A 1 – 3 minute video to illustrate a point does wonders for sucking everyone in. However, regardless of how powerful and popular videos are, there are a few reasons why a video platform alone is insufficient to achieve all of your workforce communication objectives. * Picture. The easiest way to make it visual is to use a large, eye-catching photo — as this post does. Remember, an image that somehow involves human beings will be the most eye-catching and memorable. * Photo or illustration with a single sentence and a link. The thermometer image above is one example. Another example is the approach used by Clash of Clans to introduce changes to its popular online video game. * Infographic. This requires more effort to create, but people just can’t help stopping to look at a poster or online piece with a puzzle-like visual that uses data to tell a story.

Holacracy is a fundamentally different “operating system” for organizations. Holacracy revolutionizes how a company is structured, how decisions are made, and how authority is distributed. Perhaps the best-known examples of companies who have adopted Holacracy are Zappos and David Allen Company. “No one reports to anyone anymore,” explains The Washington Post about Zappos. “Instead, employees self-manage and belong to different decision-making circles that keep the company operating.” On Engaging Leader, we’ve often discussed how 21st-century teams require going beyond traditional command-and-control leadership (which I call Influence 2.0) to a more interactive mode that I call “engagership” or Influence 3.0. One crucial principle of Influence 3.0 is delegating authority for planning and decisions. There are many reasons this is critical; for one, today’s business environment is so complex and changes so rapidly that organizations lose if  they rely on a “heroic leader” or even a group of senior leaders acquiring information, attempting to predict the future, and cascading decisions to the rest of the organization. For most leaders, this is an ongoing challenge, because authority seems to keep ending up back in our lap; perhaps it’s the micromanaging inclination of the leader to take charge, or a team member’s fearful or lazy inclination to pass the buck — or is it actually the result of traditional top-down organizational structure of authority? But if we simply eliminate hierarchy altogether, we find that “flat-management” alternatives … well, they fall flat. For example, a lack of clarity encourages people to avoid making decisions, or else to seek only decisions that have a full consensus, slowing everything down until there is a crisis that prompts the big boss to momentarily return to command-and-control leadership. Holacracy proposes to be a third way: it promises to bring structure and discipline while distributing authority and accountability where it’s most effective. If that’s the case, then Holacracy could be a tremendous opportunity for us to practice Influence 3.0 in our organizations. According to HolacracyOne, the key components of Holacracy are: * Flexible organizational structure with clear roles and accountabilities * New meeting format geared toward action and eliminating over-analysis * More autonomy to teams and individuals to solve issues themselves and cut through bureaucracy * Unique decision-making process to continuously evolve the organization’s structure Here are some phrases that have been used to describe Holacracy: Peer-to-peer workplace — as opposed to supervisor-employee workplace Distributed-authority management system — versus centralized-authority or top-down authority Self-managing employees organized into decision-making circles Constitution-based management or “playing by the rules of the game” — versus management based on the leaders’ prerogative (Authority and decisions are based on transparent policies, similar to a game of chess or football where the game functions based on agreed-upon rules rather than the whim of a referee.) As described on Wikipedia, the advantages of Holacracy include: Increasing agility, efficiency, transparency, innovation, and accountability within an organization; Encouraging individual team members to take initiative and give them a process in which their concerns or ideas can be addressed; Reducing the burden on leaders to make every decision...

Holacracy is a fundamentally different “operating system” for organizations. Holacracy revolutionizes how a company is structured, how decisions are made, and how authority is distributed. Perhaps the best-known examples of companies who have adopted Holacracy are Zappos and David Allen Company. “No one reports to anyone anymore,” explains The Washington Post about Zappos. “Instead, employees […]