Out Of The Comfort Zone

If you want to make better decisions or if you want to have a set of diverse perspectives around you to guide thinking, then this discussion is vital. How do we frame and then re-frame our points of view to get better results? What keeps us from re-framing? Why is this a unique human skill when so much of what human’s do can be done, eventually, by machines? Listen in for insight and tools.

Getting out of your comfort zone is ultimately about embracing uncertainty. Innovating, recognizing disruptions before they wreak havoc requires some comfort with uncertainty. Why is uncertainty so uncomfortable? Why do we work so hard to eliminate it if that’s where growth lies? What would happen if we allowed more uncertainty into our work places or our lives? More importantly, how can you become more comfortable with uncertainty regardless of your level of intolerance for uncertainty? Listen in for solutions and actions as well as a lively conversation.

When it comes to achieving extra-ordinary results, we have a few myths that don’t match reality. For one, we tend to focus on “the one” person who single handedly accomplished a goal. Or, two, we tend to focus on the larger team involved in delivering a goal. What if neither are correct? What if it’s a small team or two or three that work closely together while others float in and out at different times. Looking at historical accomplishments, e.g., Wright Brothers, Gilbert and Sullivan, Apollo 13, we see exactly this pattern. Furthermore, they don’t always like each other. Listen in for a fun discussion about big achievements from small teams along with implications for how you lead your team.

Your personal brand is your reputation – it is what people think about you. And I will argue it exists whether you shape it or not. From a master marketer and a CEO, what constitutes an authentic personal brand? How do you position that brand for your team and for senior leadership so that it is credible to both? How do you prepare to communicate with your senior most leaders? Listen in for lots of real-world examples and great advice on personal brand as well as managing your career.

Relationships are are greatest asset at work and outside of work. So why do we know so little about how to form good ones and maintain them? What do all the psychological experiments of the last few decades have to say? If you want to know how to build stronger connections with anyone, listen in for critical insights and advice.

We want our leaders to be ethical and to consider the “greater good” in making decisions, particularly big ones. How do you identify ethical leadership and how can you develop it in yourself and in your organization? Listen in a very important debate.

Coaching is everywhere. Everyone, at every level, seems to want a personal coach whether the subject is career, leading or life. While no doubt one-one coaching can be effective, there is a growing interest in a different coaching format: peer-to-peer or even one coach with several coachees. Does this model work? Why? And How? What does it say about how you lead and develop your team? Can these models help us do a better job of building a hybrid team? Listen in for the debate and some solutions.

Based on latest research, a lot of people are feeling lonely, unmotivated and lacking a sense of joy. No, it’s not depression or burn-out. It’s languishing. There are 5 vitamins for flipping the switch back to flourishing. Listen in to hear what languishing is, why it matters to you and to the success of your team along with what you can do about it.

Emotional intelligence is an essential ingredient for great leadership and there is nothing new in that statement. What is new is recent study showing a steady global decline in emotional intelligence – across generations, cultures and industries. If you are leading people, this has big implications for how you manage people, particularly younger talent. And, it has big implications for each of us in being our best selves for all the people that matter in our lives. Listen in to hear the data and a conversation about the implications along with potential actions you can take.

Leaders faced with decisions often ask if they made the “right” call. Winning athletes and coaches make a constant series of calls. What can we learn from studying how they make the “right calls’? What does it tell us about how to be a better leader? Tune in for fun stories and brilliant insight.

I have been saying for a few years that leaders expect themselves to perform like Olympic athletes but do none of the preparation and practices that make today’s athletes competitive. In this episode, don’t take my word for it. Listen in to hear the story of a medal winning Olympic athelete. Learn what she did and how the same practices can apply to you.

Science has given us a window into what the best performers do that sustains and propels their performance. What distinguishes the best from the rest? What practices do you need to adopt for yourself and your team? Listen in to hear the latest advice on the skills you need.

This is a wide-ranging conversation with an entrepreneur. We talk about her big career moves, maintaining confidence, staying centered, taking risks and of course the impact of Generative AI. Listen in for a fascinating exploration of one leader’s career and how she thinks about the future.

Your career matters to you and therefore you are the only one who really cares, who can make the choices that will make a difference, who can define what you should do and when. Listen in for advice about really winning, making mistakes and how to know when it’s time to leave.

Being persuasive, convincing others is tough especially when the people you want to convince are over-scheduled, distracted and have a thousand things going on at any moment. Hostage negotiations and crisis communications have a many good insights for navigating the day-day challenges of persuasion. Intrigued? Listen in to understand 4 skills you can add to your repetoire that will be game changers.

Growth mindset, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks, perseverance, willpower are all adages we hear every day about how to succeed. What if we are thinking about these in the wrong way? How can you think about risk? How do you know if you should preserve at something or change course? How do you keep from burning out? Listen in for how one leader navigates his challenges and what he has learned about success from establishing over 100 companies.

There are many disruptors on the minds of business leaders today. A.I. and automation may be at the top of the list. However, A.I and automation enable something bigger such as a drastic change in when goods are made available to customers making it possible for customers to have anything they want, anytime they want it and anywhere they want it. This is the proximity revolution. What does it mean to you and your business? Listen in insights and steps you can take.

Having great impact is a worthy goal. In fact, I think it’s a better goal than striving to reach a particular title. And it forces you to ask some of the most important questions a leader needs to address like: Where can I add the greatest value and where do I put my efforts to have the greatest impact. What do impact players do that sets them apart? Listen in to find out and stay with us to learn why this is creating a lot of controversy in a “quiet quitting” world? What has happened to our relationship with work?

Conflict is inevitable if you are working on complex challenges. Learning to manage conflict well will be a game changer for success as a leader and in your career. What do you say in the moment? How can you make your point without offending the other party or sounding defensive? Listen in for phrases that help you say no, manage the matrix, deal with complainers, increase accountability and much more.

In almost every aspect of business, great teams outperform individual efforts. Yet creating a ‘dream’ team isn’t as easy as it sounds. What does it take to create a winning team and how can you turn your team into a winning team?