There are many people in leadership around the world but few of them are true “leaders”. Dr. Michael O’Connor? suggests that a compass can be a powerful tool for leaders in these times. To read his full article visit the Training Industry, Inc. site and be sure to read the comments.
Leadership Lessons from the Super Bowl
The Superbowl is over and New Orleans achieved a much needed and long overdue victory. The commercials have aired and the half time show is just a memory but Phil Stott, on CNBC, says that leaders can learn much from the Superbowl. Visit “Leadership Lessons From The Superbowl” to find out how these lessons can help you and the other leaders in your organization.
Press Release: Eileen McDargh Named Among Top 30 Leadership Gurus For 2010
Dana Point, CA, January 30, 2010 – Global Gurus International, a British-based provider of resources for leadership, communication and sales training, named Eileen McDargh, President of McDargh Communications, as one of the World’s Top 30 Leadership Professionals for 2010.
According to Athena Patrizz, Leadership Specialist, the judging focused on practitioners who develop leadership skills in others. LeadershipGurus.net sent e-mails to 22,000 business people, consultants, academics and MBA’s around the world for nominations and a public opinion poll. The list was narrowed down to 60 and rankings were then determined through Google.
Patrizz stated, “Those in the Top Leadership 30 Gurus are the ‘Cream of Crop’. The criteria for judging the TOP 30 focused on originality of ideas, practicality of ideas, presentation style, international outlook, impact of ideas, quality of publications and writings, dispersion of publications and writings, public opinion, and guru factor.”
McDargh has worked with women in leadership as well as leadership teams at some of the largest organizations around the world including Novartis and Procter & Gamble. She’s an in-demand keynote presenter and business consultant and writes frequently on the topic of leadership in articles and in her blog “Plain Talk”.
About Eileen McDargh:
Since 1980, Hall of Fame speaker Eileen McDargh has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as individuals create connections that count and conversations that matter. Her book Gifts from the Mountain-Simple Truths for Life’s Complexities received the Benjamin Franklin Award™ as the outstanding gift book for 2008. Her other books include Talk Ain’t Cheap…It’s Priceless! Connecting in a Disconnected World, The Resilient Spirit: Heart Talk for Staying Rightside Up in a World That’s Upside Down and Work For A Living Still Be Free To Live – Revised for the New Millennium (one of the first books to address the notion of balance and authentic work).
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Contact:
Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE
McDargh Communications
33465 Dosinia
Dana Point, CA 92629
(949) 496-8640
Eileen@EileenMcDargh.com
http://www.EileenMcDargh.com
Communication Skills Rank First for Hiring
Forget the emoticons and the BTW – shorthand of texting. Nearly half of employers say they expect college grads to be able to do more. As to what skills they look for in potential hires, effective oral and written communications ranked the highest for 89% of those surveyed. Second- critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills were chosen by 81%.
So let me ask everyone holding a job right now: how would you rate your skills? When was the last time you critically really looked at your emails or the report you filed? Can you stand in front of a team and clearly, concisely present ideas?
There are a host of young grads waiting in the wings to take OUR job if you can’t meet the expectations of your leader. Experience is a fabulous bonus but if you can’t relay effective messages- beware.
As for up-and-coming grads, don’t get caught up into thinking that Tweets and chats are the only tool for getting across an idea. Better take a writing class and a speech class. It will give you the leg up when the time comes.
Are You Eager For Change?
Employees have been downsized, laid off, given reduced benefits, forced to work longer and longer hours without additional pay. Will anyone be surprised when thousands of these employees ditch their unhappy work circumstances as soon as the economy shows a strong recovery? Anyone who has read the news can see that many companies treated employees miserably when they had the balance of power in their favor. What happens when the balance shifts and employees become the ones in control? According to a survey by CareerBuilder and Robert Half International as many as 45 percent of participants plan on changing jobs and/or industries when the economy swings back to the positive as it always does. This is when companies will really feel the pain as a glut of angry workers march out the doors and the organization is left with huge recruiting and training fees to replace them. When will corporate America realize that the only truly valuable asset they have is their staff? That day of reckoning may be coming soon.
Leaders Are Not Born They Really Are Made: From The Bottom Up
Janice L. Fields began her career at McDonald’s by working behind the counter. Unlike many in her position who left after a year or two Ms. Fields decided that she wanted more. She worked in a variety of positions over the years including Regional Vice President, Senior Vice President in the Central Division and now holds the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, McDonald’s USA, LLC. Her long road to the top honed her leadership skills and nabbed her such awards as: Forbes’ 2008 list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women; Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business for 2007 and 2008; and the Wall Street Journal’s 50 Women to Watch. In our upwardly mobile world with a downwardly mobile economy it seems unlikely that many people will follow the career path that Janice Fields took. Too bad. Tenacity surely paid off for her–along with talent and drive.
Leadership in Life Might Really Be About Letting Go in 2010
On January 1 of this year, Pulitzer Prize winner, Ellen Goodman, posted her final column in The Boston Globe. Since 1967, her words have championed civil rights for many. She has chastised the right and the left and the in-between. Like Bill Moyers of television fame, she’s been honest, compelling, and accessible in her open conversation about trying to make sense of our often-senseless world.
Even as she departs to an ACT II that initially will be marked by freedom from deadlines and summers on a porch in Maine, her very description of “retirement” sets the stage for my entry into 2010.
Here’s what she wrote: “The trick of retiring well may be the trick of living well. It’s hard to recognize that life isn’t a holding action, but a process. It’s hard to learn that we don’t leave the best parts of ourselves behind, back in the dugout or the office. We own what we learned back there. The experiences and growth are grafted into our lives. And when we exit, we can take ourselves along quite gracefully.”
Having gone through two horrific years, many of us are in Ellen’s same position: looking to “retire” from a set way of living and doing business. We want more. We have no intention of leaving behind our experiences—we just want a future that acknowledges every exit as being an entrance. (Ok—I admit I’d love a summer off on a porch in Maine ) but I am also ready to see what this decade can bring. I must close doors for new ones to open. I am winnowing away files, papers, products, books, clothes, and possessions—“stuff” that no longer serves. Yep—letting it all go. The recycled trash can is filled and four huge black lawn bags await Thursday’s pickup. Three bags sit at the library’s donation center. Two more bags are aimed for Goodwill. Retire. Retire. Let it go.
Ellen is.
Frankly, I will miss her honest, succinct and always thought-provoking words. At a time with the limited character count of Twitter is passed for conversation, I think we need more people to fill her role. Umm… maybe I will have to do my level best to be one small voice in the landscape, making sense of the often senseless. It will take many of us to fill her shoes. Why not let go and come walk empty-handed with me into this new decade? Better still, let’s hold hands together, take off our coats, and make dust. It’s how the world began anyway.
World’s best companies for leaders according to Fortune
Fortune Magazine has compiled a list of ten companies who make talent development a priority and ranked them by who does it best. It’s no surprise the Procter & Gamble comes in at #2. In November, I had the wonderful opportunity of sharing a stage with Bob McDonald, the new P&G CEO. He isn’t just concerned with developing talent– he is also concerned that people find a reason that is bigger than themselves for working. Purpose is a huge word in his life and leadership philosophy. In fact, he is so devoted to helping people reach their potential and purpose that he gave out his personal email to 500 conference attendees, inviting them to email him if they wanted some guidance around the notion of “purpose”. WOW! (And, if you think he is joking, Bob answered my email the next day in about 5 minutes!) To read the full article visit http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/fortune/0911/gallery.leadership_top_ten.fortune/index.html
Terrorists Win if We Fail to Talk and Listen to Each Other
Have we learned nothing from the disasters that hallmarked this last decade? Beginning with the horror of 9-11 through the disaster of Katrina right up to the Bernie Madoff madness (despite a 10-year warning from securities executive, Harry Markopolos). The information was there all along but the agencies did not share information. Egos got in the way. Old procedures hammered efforts and too many people wanted to blame others instead of actually create an information system that works.
Now we discover that a failure to communicate allowed the Christmas flight of Northwest #253 to almost go down in flames. God forbid that the CIA and the FBI should share information with each other. Why learn from the mistakes of 9-11? How foolish it would have been for the US embassy officials to have put alleged terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on an immediate No-Fly list. Of course, it would have done little immediate good as the lists are sent to the airlines by snail mail. SNAIL MAIL!!!!! This last piece of information just puts me over the edge.
I have zero pull with government leaders but I sure as heck can influence corporate leaders who do not want to see their departments or companies go down in flames. The secret (which is actually NO secret at all): START TALKING!!!
(1) Bring together the heads of every department and have them talk about what information they need to help them do their job better and what is the MOST EFFICIENT way to get that information.
(2) Make heroes of people/departments who pass along information.
(3) Find out what information is no longer necessary and get rid of it (50 page reports are a waste of time if all that is needed is a summary).
(4) Teach everyone the words to Harry the Happy Hoarder (sung to the tune of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer).
Harry, the Happy Hoarder
Harry the Happy Hoarder had a very shiny case.
He never shared his data. He was out to win the race.
He kept his people guessing. Just so he could call them wrong.
“Policy” was the answer — he thought it made him strong.
Then one day he passed away. All just shook their heads.
No one knew the full “to do”, now that he was dead.
So then the company folded. Went into oblivion.
Smart people got the message. Now they share with everyone.
P.S. Just hide behind “our policy” and never question why.
Ruts will stay. It’s been that way. Who knows? It came from “on high”.
And lastly, Consider buying a copy of my small but to-the-point little book “Talk Ain’t Cheap” at http://eileenmcdargh.com/shop_books.html#talk
Strange musings in a disconnected world.
PARENTS: How to make teens faint—
Tell them you LOVE reading their posts on Facebook. It’s the only way you know what they are doing.
TEENS: How to make parents faint—
Tell them you can now instantly chat with 128 new friends in your IM Buddies list while they can NOT get two words out of you at the dinner table.
MANAGERS: How to make your customers faint—
Let them talk to a human being after being caught in an automated doom loop system for an hour.
HUSBANDS: How to make your spouse faint—
Tell her she can have total control over the TV remote.
WIVES: How to make your spouse faint—
Tell him you don’t WANT the TV remote. Besides, you can watch whatever you want on your laptop. Na na na na na.