Life As Leadership

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Peter Ruppert is founder and CEO of i-Education Group, which operates over 75 Fusion and Futures Academies for grades 6-12 in one-student, one-teacher classroom environments. Over the past 20 years, he has opened over 120 schools and acquired more than 25 others. His experience in education spans president and CEO roles of organizations in the private school, charter school, and early education industries. He also served as a public school board member in his local community. His new book is called Limitless: Nine Steps to Launch Your One Extraordinary Life.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Nine Traits of a Champion: 1.Win the battle in your head 2. Find and follow a passion 3. Dream big… then make it bigger! 4. Find a champion in your life 5. Take the first step 6. Fail often 7. Be courageous 8. Never, ever give up 9. Live As we get older, the negative voice inside our head tends to ha

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Vijay Eswaran is a successful entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and philanthropist as well as the author of the best-selling book In the Sphere of Silence. He is the founder of a multimillion-dollar global business and is a well-known thought leader in Asia who has been listed in Forbes as one of Asia’s Top 50 philanthropists. He is also on the advisory board of the World Economic Forum’s Global Growth Companies and a regular speaker at WEF’s annual meeting in Davos.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Think, observe, listen, and breathe twice as much as you speak. A beggar lives from meal to meal. A farm worker lives from week to week. A landlord lives from month to month. A nobleman lives from year to year. A king lives at least a decade at a time. An emperor lives a hundred years at a time – planning for three generations. Silence helps you differentiate between the important and the

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Paul Napper helps business leaders increase their effectiveness through focusing and strengthening their agency as leaders. His client list includes Fortune 500 companies, financial firms, non-profit organizations, universities, and start-ups. He is the co-author of The Power of Agency: The 7 Principles to Conquer Obstacles, Make Effective Decisions, and Create a Life on Your Own Terms.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Agency is the thing that allows us to make the right kinds of choices in our lives and live life on our own terms. Two primary “buckets” for agency: Our behaviors and our thinking/processing of emotions. 3 Behavioral principles: 1. Control stimuli. To have agency, you must control the amount of stimuli you expose yourself to. 2. Associate selectively. Surround yourself with people who will make you better. 3. Manage yourself through movement. Move, eat, sleep well. 4 Cogn

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Dr. Marilyn Gist is an expert on leader development. Her academic career spans the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Washington, and Seattle University. She speaks and consults with organizations worldwide, including Boeing, AT&T, and NASA. Her new book is The Extraordinary Power of Leader Humility: Thriving Organizations—Great Results.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Three questions people ask you as a leader: Who are you? Where are we going? Do you see me? Great leaders often have steel spines paired with a clear sense of other people’s dignity. Even humble leaders may have an idea of humility that suggests weakness rather than supporting others’ dignity.   QUESTIONS TO INSPIRE US TO ACTION What is some lesson, saying, or experience that continues to influence your leadership to this day? Learning from mistakes by watching other leaders. Use thre

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Sean Fields and Michael Sanders are the authors of Quantum Lean: Taking Lean Systems to the Next Level.   Sean has over 30 years of experience in a variety of industries, working in many different phases of business. He is a network member of the nonprofit organization BeehiveFund, which assists companies with production scheduling, inventory control, and developing quality-management systems.   Michael has worked in every phase of the supply chain, including as CEO and president of food, energy, distribution, and high-tech firms. He is also the cofounder of BeehiveFund. He is sought for his expertise in negotiation, organizational psychology, Six Sigma, quality systems, and regulatory compliance.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Most people use Lean as LAME (Lean as Mainly Experienced). Quantum Lean Lean is system of continual improvement primarily focused on efficiency and e

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Trey is the Managing Director of Trinity-Blue, a consultancy whose clients seek to achieve greater clarity, focus, and results from within the C-Suite. A lawyer by training, a Venture Capitalist by career, and a family man by choice, Trey has a large following in C-Suites around the country. He is the author of A CEO Does Only Three Things: Finding Your Focus in the C-Suite.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Our only moral imperative is to be the person we needed when we were younger. Life provides you teachers when you’re ready to learn. The difference between good leaders and great leaders is that a GREAT leader can see the gifts in others before they see them in themselves. When you can see something on someone else before they set it, it is your responsibility to then call out that gift. A CEO only does three things: Culture, People, and Numbers. You are probably doing things other p

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Jason Lavin is a coach, speaker, and CEO with more than 25 years of experience enhancing the performance of individuals, teams, and organizations. As president of The John R. Wooden Course and CEO of Golden Communications, Lavin helps organizations—from youth sports teams to Fortune 100 companies—refine their values, mission, and vision. Jason is co-author of Coach 'Em Way Up: 5 Lessons for Leading the John Wooden Way.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Most high-performing people can point to that coach or mentor in their life (besides their parents) who showed them they could do something they didn’t think they could do. The five lessons for leading the John Wooden way: 1. The quality of your thinking 2. The example you set 3. How you teach 4. How you lead 5. How you mentor. The quality of your thinking is defined by your values—what are you thinking about when you get up every morning?

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Molly McGrath is a podcaster, decade-long blogger, and two-time Amazon #1 Best Selling Author. Since the late nineties, Molly has coached, consulted and directed presidents and founders of national organizations and over 4,000 small business owners in executive-level leadership, continuous improvement, and team empowerment initiatives to infiltrate new markets, leveraging partner ecosystems and producing profitability.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS An intrapreneur is someone who comes with proposed solutions rather than constant problems. They have ownership in their bones, even if they don’t have an actual stake in the business. People often have a “sleeping giant” in their business. If you have an open culture where people have the permission and platform to speak up, be sure to search for high-potential people you may have overlooked. When looking for intrapreneurs, ask powerful q

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Joseph Fung is the CEO of Uvaro, a tech sales career accelerator and Kiite, a sales enablement platform purpose-built to provide sales teams with the information they need when they need it. Joseph is a repeat founder and CEO and speaks frequently on the topics of sales leadership, diversity, and corporate social responsibility. He is an active early-stage investor who ensures that the majority of his investments are into women-led companies. Joseph also sits on the boards of Communitech, the Golden Triangle Angel Network, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Ask questions to help people reframe their assumptions about what is possible. Think about what’s important early on because it will have an impact on your future. Early on, it’s tempting to piecemeal. Do things right from the beginning, and you won’t have to worry about negative long-term effects o

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Minter Dial is an international professional speaker and multiple award-winning author specialized in leadership, branding, and transformation. He’s a three-time entrepreneur who has exercised twelve different professions and changed country fifteen times. Minter's core career stint of 16 years was spent as a top executive at L’Oréal, where he was a member of the worldwide Executive Committee for the Professional Products Division. He’s author of the award-winning WWII story, The Last Ring Home (documentary film and biographical book, 2016) as well as Futureproof (2017) and Heartificial Empathy (2019). His latest book on leadership is You Lead: How Being Yourself Makes You a Better Leader.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Find a balance between the life of work with a tie and the life after work with tie-dye. The more you know your weaknesses, the more you embrace them rather than seek

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   For over a decade, organizational development coach Benny Ausmus has broken the mold of executive coaching and management consulting. Refusing to limit his methods to a one-size-fits-all formula, he approaches each new project by merging hard data with strategic development initiatives, tailoring transformation programs for companies, teams, and individuals using his dynamic TLC coaching system. In his new book, The Transformational Leadership Compass, he lays out this dynamic system of transformation to help leaders create the big changes required to adapt, thrive, and shape the future.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Transformational leadership is where a leader works in tandem with their team to identify and execute change. Transformational leaders have the “Four I’s”: Idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. Transformati

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Tim Carlin is a retired military Colonel and a Certified Financial Planner at V Wealth Advisors. He is a West Point graduate who commanded at the Company, Battalion, and Brigade levels. Tim is a versatile leader with past responsibility at some of America's best companies including PepsiCo and Conoco Phillips 66 Company. In his book An Extraordinarily Ordinary Life, Tim shows you through his personal story how to continuously reinvent yourself through job loss, family hardship, and a cancer diagnosis to prosper and give back to others.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS The sooner you go through a tougher time, the more prepared you are fore future difficulties. Put yourself in situations where you will be uncomfortable as a way to improve yourself. Put your ego on the shelf – especially when transitioning to something new. Get yourself to the next level by pushing yourself just a little

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Kevin Eikenberry is coauthor of The Long-Distance Teammate: Stay Engaged and Connected While Working Anywhere. He founded the Kevin Eikenberry Group in 1993 and is the cofounder of the Remote Leadership Institute. Kevin has twice been named one of Inc.'s Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts in the World. He is also the author or coauthor of three Amazon bestsellers: Remarkable Leadership, From Bud to Boss, and The Long-Distance Leader.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS There is a big difference in working from home and being an effective remove teammate. The longer we work alone, the more likely it is to become insular. Connecting our success to the team’s success is important. To be a teammate is to be connected. Having clear expectations across the team helps the team to function more effectively when working remotely. When working remotely, communication becomes more transactiona

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Darren Dahl has written more than one million words across his career as a writer in the worlds of business and entrepreneurship. Darren teamed up with Jack Stack on his newest book, Change the Game: Saving the American Dream by Closing the Gap Between the Haves and the Have-Nots.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Share information and work together so that you can fully people can make the best decisions from the bottom up rather than just those at the top. Sharing information should build understanding and trust rather than create barriers. If you have people who want to make a difference fast, give them an appropriate runway to do so. Withholding information because of fear is a prevention (as opposed to a promotion) mindset (https://www.lifeasleadership.com/episode/lal-113-four-mindsets-to-unlock-success-with-ryan-gottfredson/ (listen to this podcast on mindset for more)) Be sure to

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   David Taylor-Klaus is a speaker, author, and leadership coach on a mission to unearth and unleash the personal mastery of entrepreneurs and senior executives. Since 2008, DTK has empowered his tribe to take an active, intentional, and dynamic role in their development and create the kind of life-work rhythm enabling them to build profitable businesses, raise thriving families, and live wildly fulfilling lives. His best-selling new book Mindset Mondays with DTK: 52 Ways to REWIRE Your Thinking and Transform Your Life is available on Amazon worldwide.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS The REWIRE framework (replacing an unhelpful behavior with a helpful one): 1. Reflect 2. Experiment 3. Write 4. Investigate 5. Revise 6. Expand (to other areas) Of these six areas, people tend away most from writing and expanding. Watch out that you don’t fall into the same trap! Expand your influence by usin

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!   Kelley Powell is CEO and partner of MacLaurin Group, a company providing technology operating partner services to portfolios of private equity companies. Supporting companies in growth and merger and acquisition activities, Kelley brings a unique experience from founder-led organization to multiple private equity-led cycles. Kelley is an avid mentor, angel investor, and chairwoman for the da Vinci Center for Innovation Angels Advisory Board at VCU. She’s also a board member of the Richmond chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. Her new book is Courage to Lose Sight of Shore: How to Partner with Private Equity to Grow Your Business with Confidence.   LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Think about a “reverse due diligence”—a look at your business from an outside perspective. Value alignment is unbelievably important. If you do not have this with those you partner with, it can be gut

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Warwick Fairfax is the founder of Crucible Leadership, a philosophical and practical breakthrough in turning business and personal failures into the fuel for igniting a life of significance. He was the fifth-generation heir to a media empire bearing his family name and at 26 he led — and lost — a multibillion-dollar public takeover bid. The company founded by his great-great-grandfather slipped from family control after 150 years, leaving him to examine not only his own shortcomings and losses but also his life’s principles and the lessons he learned from those who came before him. Now Fairfax helps others to learn from what he describes as their own “crucible experiences” and emerge to lead a life rooted in who they are and to become the leaders they were born to be. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Live and lead in light of your design (e.g. a reflective leader or a take-no-prisoners leader?). Most

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE!  Ira Wolfe considers himself a “Millennial trapped in a Baby Boomer body" and the world’s first Chief Googlization Officer. He’s recognized as one of the top 10 Global Thought Leaders in Future of Work, HR and Leadership by Thinkers 360. He is president of Poised for the Future Company and founder of Success Performance Solutions. Ira has presented on the prestigious red carpet of TEDx and is the author of several books including Recruiting in the Age of Googlization, selected by Book Authority as one of the all-time best HR and Recruiting books. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS In the last year, what seemed “far out” became the present reality. Everything from a technology standpoint accelerated. We don’t know what the “new normal” will look like, but YOU have the chance to shape it. What if life moving forward is as continuously uncertain as 2020? We continue on a path of trying to make a shor

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) FREE! Luis Gonzáles is a communications consultant, coach, and trainer with more than 25 years of experience in helping improve business outcomes for organizations. Currently, he works closely with CEOs, leaders, and individuals, positively impacting business outcomes through effective communication in global, multicultural, and remote work team settings. Luis has lived and worked in India, México, and Brazil. He is a keynote speaker and a member of the Association for Training and Development (ATD), Association of International Educators (NAFSA), and the Society for International Education, Training, and Research (SIETAR). LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Ask yourself (and help others ask), “Given the current reality, what can I do to get a different result?” How you look at things matters: Life is either a bowl of cherries or the pits! Accountability can’t be trained. But having conversations with those

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Sean Ryan is a world-renowned business consultant, speaker, trainer, and executive coach. As the founder of Whitewater International Consulting, he has worked internationally with companies such as Disney, Nucor Steel, FedEx and Nestle Waters of North America/Perrier Group of America. With more than two decades of industry experience, Sean is highly regarded for his ability to guide organizations through complex transformational change in what he describes as “a world of perpetual whitewater.” His new book is Get in Gear: Seven Gears that Drive Strategy to Results. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Foundation/environment gears of the SXR Strategy: Gear #1: Right, right, right: The right people in the right roles with the right capabilities. Gear #2: Align organizational architecture (systems, structures, and processes) to strategy Gear #3: Create a culture of communication Performance gears of the SXR