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10 Habits of The Most Successful Leaders

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Being a leader isn’t as simple as being the one who knows what to do and who deploys people to do it. People are the most complex technology in the world and unless we come to leadership with a healthy respect for that complexity and what it takes to have people follow us, things can go awry pretty quickly. In reality, leadership is a form of service and devotion that requires a ton of work to drive truly extraordinary results.

For many years I have worked with and coached successful leaders. They are all different, yet over time, patterns of behaviors that lead to consistent success have emerged. Here are 10 habits that I have observed great leaders embody and that will help you be a memorable and effective leader:

1. Be crystal clear on your vision and use your unique gifts to catalyze beneficial results for all stakeholders.

2. “People are everything.” (Indra Nooyi) Never forget that all success comes through your team. Pay close attention to others. Know what they care about, what they dream of being/doing, what scares them, what makes them come alive. Use this information to support their success and the achievement of mutual goals.

3. Know what triggers you and have strategies to mitigate those triggers so that they don’t negatively impact your decisions, actions or those around you.

4. Be courageous. The most painful failure is one where you stand down instead of standing up.

5. Become a masterful coach to unlock the potential of those around you.

6. Never forget that the world is a system and everything is connected, so think through the ramifications of your decisions.

7. Relentlessly do the right thing and say “No” when something lacks integrity or doesn’t serve the cause for which you are working.

8. Be intentional and disciplined in your thoughts, words and actions. Leadership is explicit not improvisational.

9. Never stop learning and growing. That example will inspire others to do the same.

10. Keep your sense of humor and if you don’t have one, develop one because if you can’t laugh at the chaos and craziness of leadership, it will eat you alive.

Copyright 2019, Sheila Madden, Madden Coaching & Consulting. All Rights Reserved.

 

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5 Ways Super Successful Leaders Operate

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“I want to know God’s thoughts, the rest are details.” Albert Einstein

Einstein believed that God’s thoughts were accessible and that he could hear them if he got himself into a certain state of mind, the mind of imagination. When he said that imagination is more important than knowledge, my guess is that he came to that insight after he experienced what many of us have experienced: Knowledge can only take us so far.
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Seven Things Successful People Do When Interviewing

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From Interview To Conversation

I’ve been doing quite a bit of career coaching in the last three years, particularly working with people on developing their professional brand and their go-to market strategy.

When I coach my clients on how to be their best in interviews the intention is to transform the interview into a conversation.   A conversation is when people, either one-on-one or in the case of panel interviews one-on-many, show up on equal ground to talk about problems that need to be solved, skills required and potential partnerships/opportunities to be had.
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5 Things No One Will Tell You About Being A Great Leader

10871528-leadershipLeadership failures are failures of the soul. They are always the result of people losing sight of who they are, what their real job is and what the right thing is to do. We tend to make leader heroes out of those who have the sexiest products, the most successful innovations, the best financial results or IPO’s. Those are all great results, but they are just that: the results of great leadership.  But what is the actual secret leadership sauce that is the catalyst for creating results like these? There are lots of combinations of things, which definitely include external as well as internal factors. But when you examine those stellar leadership stories, you will generally find individuals who understand that these 5 building blocks are key for creating a foundation for great leadership. 
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3 Truths That Will Make Or Break You As A Leader

Sheila Madden, CEO, Madden Coaching & Consulting
Sheila Madden, CEO, Madden Coaching & Consulting

The Cost Of Leadership Failure

These 3 truths about leadership are important to understand not just because they make for a successful leadership career and joyful experience of work. The fact is there is a staggering  financial reality associated with poor leadership that can mean the difference between enterprise success or failure.

Research done by the Center For Creative Leadership indicates that approximately one-third of new managers and executives will fail within 18 months. The cost of those failures can be as much as 5X the executive’s salary.
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Mastery: 5 Unexpected Characteristics You Need

Einsteinguitarplaying“Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.” Einstein

When someone demonstrates mastery, they have most certainly achieved extraordinary levels of expertise. But consider Einstein’s wisdom on thinking of mastery as a way of being more than a final destination. Think of it as fluid, not stagnant. 
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5 Steps To Achieving What You Want In Your Life

We all dream of things we want to accomplish during our lives. The difference between those whose dreams come true and those whose do not can be summed up in one word: action.

It is true that sometimes we can get bogged down with day-to-day responsibilities and feel that we don’t have the time to focus on what we really want in life. But here is the tough love coaching on that: It’s no excuse.
Continue reading → 5 Steps To Achieving What You Want In Your Life