Life As Leadership

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Kevin Oakes is the author of Culture Renovation: 18 Leadership Actions to Build an Unshakeable Company. He is also CEO and co-founder of i4cp, the leading HR research firm that discovers the people practices of high-performance organizations. Kevin has been a pioneer in the human capital field for 25 years and is an international keynote speaker on culture, talent management, leadership, innovation, diversity, metrics, and strategic learning in organizations. He founded and served as President of SumTotal Systems, one of the largest providers of talent and learning solutions in the world, a company originally founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Only about 15% of companies that attempted a culture change succeeded. Most organization talks about culture transformation. The best ones renovate—maintaining what made them great to begin with while making themselves

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Jill Ratliff is an author, executive coach, and leadership speaker. Prior to starting her own leadership consultancy, she served as Executive Vice President at Assurant Specialty Property, a $2B financial services organization. She also held key senior positions such as Executive Vice President of Human Resources for ING North America, Director of Leadership Development for ADP, and Director of Corporate Human Resources for PepsiCo’s Taco Bell Corporation. She has recently released a new book, Leadership through Trust & Collaboration: Practical Tools for Today’s Results-Driven Leader. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Lessons from Jill’s brother before he passed away: 1. Less is more; simple is better, 2. Be kind, 3. It’s supposed to be fun, 4. You don’t really have any problems (solving problems is your job!), and 5. Joy is all around you. We know more than we can do. It’s not that we don’t know.

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Kris Plachy is considered THE thought leader and expert for entrepreneurial management. Kris has poured her life’s work into learning about - then teaching - how to lead a team. In a space where there is a lot of noise and advice, Kris has designed the "how-to" of team leadership through her “Five-Step Management System." Kris knows without a doubt, there is no challenge you are facing as a leader that she can’t help you solve. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Knowing your vision helps in the hiring process. We all have values and expectations. You need to know how to communicate them and develop them within your business because your values and common sense are not always the same as others. In a traditional business, job/role descriptions are common, but they don’t mean much. In smaller businesses, people may be hired, but their role is not particularly clear. After establishing expectations, integ

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Charles Vogl is an award-winning author, speaker, and executive adviser. For the past decade, his work has focused on advising leadership within global organizations including Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, Airbnb, and Twitch. He is a regular guest lecturer at Yale School of Management and a founding member of the Google Vitality Lab, a collaborative partnership focused on the world’s most pressing health and well-being challenges. He is the author of the international bestseller The Art of Community and co-author of the new book Building Brand Communities: How Organizations Succeed by Creating Belonging. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS A brand community needs to serve both the individuals and the organization. A brand is any organization that promises value. A mirage community is something that a brand calls a community but has no substance or connection. Seven areas where communities can serve organi

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Chris Sajnog was a Master Training Specialist in the Navy and was hand-selected to write the US Navy SEAL Sniper Manual. He used this experience, plus four years of studying neuroscience and elite performance, to develop the SEAL Training System (instead of Sea, Air, and Land Teams, this SEAL is Science-based Education for Accelerated Learning), which he uses to help others learn, live, and lead like warriors. He is a proud father, the author of three bestselling books, and the owner of Center Mass Group, a 100% Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business in San Diego, CA. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS What you teach is less important than who you teach. Most people think teaching marksmanship is about technique. But in order to hit the target, the person is more important than the gun. Said another way, the weapon (you) is more important than the tool (the gun). It is important to turn people i

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! David White is a partner and co-founder of Ontos Global. He has spent more than 25 years helping organizations manage and sustain transformation. As a cognitive anthropologist, his research and practice focus on new approaches to organizational culture and change. He focuses on designing and implementing successful, large-scale organizational transformation programs, as well as developing adaptive leaders who can do the same. His newest book, Disrupting Corporate Culture, focuses on how cognitive science alters accepted beliefs and impacts leaders and change agents. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS A pervasive myth in leadership is that leaders set the culture. Cultures form just as well in any group without a nominal leader. Culture is a reference system – a shared mental operating system – we use to make sense of the world. If culture is a “given,” how do leaders work with it? Their power. Power sh

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D. is a cutting-edge leadership development consultant, author, trainer, and researcher. Ryan is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of Success Mindsets: The Key to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work, & Leadership. He is also a leadership professor at the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Much of leadership research over the last 70 years has focused on what leaders need to do to be effective. But who a leader is – the being element – shapes everything that person does. And mindsets are foundational to our being. Most people think of mindsets as the “way of thinking.” In reality, they are the neural connections in our brain that are effectively our circuit board for how we process information and make decisions. The four mindset frameworks are 1. Fixed/Growth 2.

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Jason Treu is a coach who works with executives, entrepreneurs, and rising stars to maximize their leadership potential and performance. He's the best-selling author of Social Wealth, a how-to-guide on building extraordinary business relationships, which has sold more than 45,000 copies. He was a featured speaker at TEDxWilmington 2017, where he debuted his breakthrough team building game Cards Against Mundanity. He also hosts a podcast called, Executive Breakthroughs, bringing game-changing CEOs, entrepreneurs, and experts who share their breakthroughs and breakdowns. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS When you can create an environment where people are doing their best work in collaboration and teamwork, you can create insane results. You can no longer be good at just one thing. In order to do your job well, you have to be able to operate effectively in multiple arenas. Get frequent and consistent fe

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Dr. Vince Molinaro is a global leadership adviser, speaker, and researcher on leadership accountability. As founder and CEO of Leadership Contract Inc., Vince travels the world helping organizations build vibrant leadership cultures with truly accountable leaders at every level. His unique combination of provocative storytelling, evidence-based principles and grounded practicality has leaders at all levels stepping up to fulfill their obligations to drive the success of their organizations. His newest book, Accountable Leaders: Inspire a Culture Where Everyone Steps Up, Takes Ownership, and Delivers Results, is available now. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS When you stumble on a problem, you begin seeing it everywhere. There’s always an implicit contract that leaders sign when they take a role, but a lot of leaders don’t realize this. Leaders are held to a higher standard of behavior – to be better

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Jodi Hume had a 15-yr career as COO of a growing architecture firm, but she has made a name for herself over the last decade providing on-call decision support and facilitated leadership conversations for startup founders, entrepreneurs, and executives throughout the country. Each week, Jodi hosts So Here’s My Story…, a podcast built from real stories to share poignant business takeaways with plenty of humor. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Leadership should never be lonely at the top—include others in the conversation. Leaders need someone to talk through issues connected to their work. It’s okay not to know things in your position. There’s a story we tell ourselves that everyone else has it all together, and we don’t. But that’s not true. Build the skill of having smaller conversations earlier, rather than waiting till the issue becomes major. “Just say that…” is a phrase to use when trying to fig

Download a year’s worth of https://www.leadershipactionlist.com/ (weekly action steps to improve your leadership) for FREE! Aaron Walker has founded more than a dozen companies over the past 41 years. He attributes much of his success to having surrounded himself with his mastermind counterparts. Aaron spent a decade meeting weekly with Dave Ramsey and other amazing entrepreneurs. Aaron is the founder of Iron Sharpens Iron Mastermind that now hosts 20 groups with national and international members. Aaron is the author of View from the Top and The Mastermind Blueprint. He is also the founder of The Mastermind Playbook – an incredible resource for starting, running, and scaling masterminds. LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS A mastermind is a peer advisory group – a “board of directors” – of people who know you intimately. Operate your business according to your core values, but don’t use your core values against anyone. When you are sharing resources with other growth-minded individuals, you will all grow together, creating

Carter Phipps is a visionary writer and business futurist. He is an award-winning journalist and writer, popular speaker, and sought-after teacher, advisor, and consultant. Along with Steve McIntosh and John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, he has just released a new book called Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity Through Business. He is co-founder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution and hosts the Thinking Ahead podcast.

Tony Guarnaccia is widely recognized as an authority on digital marketing and has grown over 10,000 small businesses and a dozen Fortune 500 companies, including ADP, Ford, and AutoNation. He has managed over $400 million in advertising spend and in 2009 earned the prestigious title of Google Partner of the Year. He has returned to his entrepreneur roots and founded Big Fish Results, RESULTS Trained, and the RESULTS Club to bring the same strategy, tactics and resources normally reserved for larger enterprises to small business. He believes that by growing small businesses, together we can impact not just our local communities but also our world.

Siimon Reynolds is one of the world’s leading business coaches. He is the winner of over 50 business and industry awards and the founder of numerous highly successful companies. His last company grew from zero to a stock market valuation of over $500 million in just 8 years. Siimon coaches entrepreneurs and CEOs from all over the world, from start-ups to companies grossing over half a billion dollars a year. He is also a multi-award winning business author. His previous book won the Silver Medal for Best Business Success book at the Axiom Business Book awards. Siimon’s latest book is titled Win Fast: Quick Ways to Achieve More, Earn More and Be More.

Mike Goldman is the best-selling author of Performance Breakthrough and Breakthrough Leadership Team. He is also a nationally recognized speaker and leadership team coach. He founded Performance Breakthrough in 2007 to help mid-sized companies achieve dramatic business growth by working with leadership teams to ensure they have the right people, strategies and execution habits for growth. Mike has over 30 years of experience consulting and coaching companies from the local entrepreneur to the Fortune 500. Throughout his career, he helped companies like Verizon, Disney, Polo Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Dillard’s, Liz Claiborne and Levi Strauss.

Doug Holladay is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University School of Business, co-founder of Park Avenue Equity Partners and founder of PathNorth, a networking organization for executives. He was also an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and worked for the White House as a Special Ambassador coordinating international relations. Holladay holds degrees from the University of North Carolina, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Oxford University. He has just released a new book called Rethinking Success: Eight Essential Practices for Finding Meaning in Work and Life.

Dr. Marisa Porges is known for her work on leadership, education, and national security. She is the head of The Baldwin School, a 130-year-old all-girls school outside of Philadelphia renowned for academic excellence and for preparing girls to be leaders and changemakers. Prior to joining Baldwin in 2016, Marisa has served at the White House, was a visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School and at the Council on Foreign Relations and served in the US Navy as one of eight female aviators in an air wing of about two hundred. She has just written a book called What Girls Need: How to Raise Bold, Courageous, and Resilient Women.

Dan Bruder is an international strategy and leadership consultant who believes that businesses have the ability and responsibility to substantially impact communities through their products and people. With this idea in mind, he created the Blendification® System which activates potential by connecting culture, strategy, and execution. The Blendification® System is documented in the book by the same name and is delivered through a series of online and face-to-face workshops. Dan serves as CEO of Fusion Dynamics Group, a Colorado-based strategy and leadership firm.

Andy Goldstrom is the founder of Midcourse Advisors, a rapid growth coaching and consulting company for business owners, entrepreneurs, and executive leaders. As a two-time Inc. 500 business owner, Andy has leveraged this experience to create a proven set of tools and methodologies to help small to medium sized business leaders focus on the right approach to scale their businesses, grow rapidly and avoid costly mistakes. Andy teaches a course in entrepreneurship at Georgia State University and is the author of a new book, Grow Like A Pro, which can be found on Amazon.

Gary Heil is an internationally acclaimed expert in the fields of leadership, management, and organizational culture. His work has helped some of the most prominent leaders and companies in the world—including former presidents of the United States, Fortune 100 companies, and professional sports coaches—to become more innovative and culturally vital. He and his son Ryan have recently released a new book called Choose Love Not Fear: How the Best Leaders Build Cultures of Engagement and Innovation that Unleash Human Potential.