When you hear or read, do you spend more energy on how to understand or how to label the content? One way of determining if you are a leader is whether you listen more to learn or to judge. When your mind is trying to understand, it is open to all kinds of possibilities. You are trying to make connections with the new information to the information you already hold in your brain. This allows for many new pathways for the information to go. It’s the route of knowledge. If you are labeling, you are making a decision, often quickly, to dismiss new information or hold onto it. You are not processing for further use. While one is an open-door approach, the other is a closed-door approach. Which would you rather be – a leader or a judge?

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Why talk about hiring tips when it seems the job seeker is doing all the choosing during the Great Reshuffle? Because hiring the wrong person, particularly in an executive role, is more expensive than not hiring at all. And if you find the right person, chances are higher they will stay longer. Here are five pitfalls I saw during my tenure in recruiting and coaching that you can learn from to keep everyone happy from operations, to sales, to finance. It all comes down to being clear in what you want so you can hire who you want.

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What actually is standing in the way of reaching a breakthrough with your team? What are team members not responding to in your culture, system, or in working with you? If they have all the technical tools and resources, why isn’t the team more productive, effective or profitable? If you are going to solve these problems, like me, you can see pure brain power and drive alone are not enough.

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Autumn, the season of change has arrived. And with that, a pondering of change, your view of change. What determines your attitude toward change? Beside ease of change, your opinion of change may depend on whether you have control over it, or the degree of participation you have into making that change. And, still there is always choice for a third option, taking control of what you can.

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Have you experienced when people access the specialness and individuality in you and it resonates with them? It occurs when you are authentically you, speaking your truth, being open. You can feel the connection. With you as a role model, it encourages people to be more authentic, do more, be more. When this happens you bring your whole self to your work, rather than the “should be, need to be, have to be” that plays in our minds from things we’ve seen or learned over the years. When you are in the “should be” position rather than the “be” position, you can command people but you can’t reach them. If you can’t reach them, you will not inspire them to reach for their potential.

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Can you laugh with me? The best moments come from laughter: finally seeing behavior that is limiting or counterproductive to your goals, minimizing the challenging tasks ahead of you so they seem less overwhelming, and bringing your true personality into call rather than the serious role you think you have to play. Laughter, fun, and play are crucial to overall well-being for everyone. And, (drum roll), often lead to the biggest breakthroughs. How do you bring your playful side to work?

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“Building people up” (being supportive and offering knowledge) is how people are able to reach their potential. Everyone needs the caring, focus, and teaching during those times of self-doubt, loss of direction, confusion or inexperience, we all have. Support and education are essential for you to fully blossom. Have you experienced training that was helpful to your work and maybe even the way you view the world? Berry Gordy, founder of Motown, used training skillfully within the Motown organization. He knew how to balance rules with growth offering people freedom to change and develop, grooming them to become even better, and giving them a chance to be heard.

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What are the key qualities of a great mentor? Berry Gordy is one. With the young leaders and the leaders who work with me and want to grow, I apply a Berry Gordy similar mix of ingredients: listening, encouraging, asking questions with compassion to arrive at the right strategies and plans specifically for them. I’ve had many mentors over the years and I learned the ones that worked with me the best understood my goals, personality and habits. Of course, I was ready to do the work and open to suggestions and change. You have to be open to change to achieve better results. Gordy’s team of employees at Motown were open to learning or they left the organization because they didn’t fit the culture.
Are you ready to work with a mentor or coach?

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“As a manager, you had to be honest with them, but you had to build them too. Even when they didn’t know they had to be built.” ~ Berry Gordy. Berry Gordy's desire was to bring out the best in people. Then he could reach his potential in some way. Berry's why is the spark in my why. Wouldn't you want to work with someone who recognizes your uniqueness and wants you to reach your potential?

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Conflicts and disagreements were quick to happen with some younger professionals I’ve worked with, not through their wanting to be rude, but in their attempts to jump to connect dots. They wanted to move quickly; on to the next thing and press ahead. In doing that, however, they weren’t realizing they were missing full conversations with people. Instead of waiting, listening and asking questions, they were making assumptions around a conversation. Wanting things to move quickly, they were cutting people off from fully expressing their views. A satisfying conversation never actually happened then. How we worked through this? And, a tip from Tom Hanks.

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