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Global circle-why, how, what

Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action has a simple but influential model for inspiring leadership all starting with a golden circle of why, how and what. The question “Why?” is however, the most important for making a difference. He talks about Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers, arguing that Inspired Leaders, regardless of size and industry; think, act,...

Quick ways your brain can Boost Productivity.

Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/FreeDigitalPhotos.net According to David Rock, author of Your Brain at Work and Founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute and Summit, here are a few ways to make your brain work more effectively to boost your productivity: Understand your energy cycle and complete tasks accordingly Arrange work around your brain’s energy level in order to work productively and effectively. Whenever possible, carve out blocks of time, away from phones...

Quotes of the Week

“Good sayings are like pearls strung together.” ~Chinese Proverb “Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” ~Joshua J. Marine “Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.” ~Jonathan Swift “Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” ~Fyodor Dostoevsky “Human success is a quotation from overhead.” ~ Charles H. “The best way out is always through.” ~Robert Frost...

Work. Life. Balance.

I worked part time during the winter semester with a full course load at school. I struggled throughout the entire semester to keep balance between work, school, and my personal life. Towards the end of an unhappy, rough, and sleep-less semester, I realized that I failed miserably at keeping up with my responsibility for keeping some semblance of balance in my life. It was and is, like everyone’s, my...

Bringing more Balance and Joy into My life

In my July 2nd blog, I talked about bringing more joy and balance into my life so I could live more of la bella vita at home. I mentioned that I was planning on taking singing lessons in the fall. Well its here and I am signed up at a local high school. I’m going to get my Glee on. While I am really excited about starting, I’m fascinated...

Increase Your productivity – Drink Water

Keeping hydrated at work can augment your productivity. According to Eden Springs, drinking water is critical and here’s why: ●  Preserves Energy When the body is dehydrated by as little as 1-2 per cent physical performance declines by as much as 5-10 per cent, draining your energy and making you feel tired. When you feel thirsty that is a sign that you are already dehydrated. You want to drink enough...

Quotes of the Week

“You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.” ~Sam Rayburn “Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.” ~George S. Patton “Leadership is intentional influence.” ~Michael McKinney “Let him who would be moved to convince others, be first moved to convince himself.” ~Thomas Carlyle “He who has learned how to obey will know how to command.”...

Our Gen Y to Gen X dictionary II

Here are more Gen Y dictionary of terms as promised. LI – LinkedIn OH – overheard TY – thank you FB – Facebook FWD – forward GN/GN8 – good night BBS- Be back soon BBT: Be back tomorrow OMG: Oh my God! OOTO: Out of the office Look out for more terms soon.

Leaders – your moods have a huge impact on your Employees & the Bottom-line

Being a leader today isn’t easy.  With greater demands and less resources, it seems that there is never enough time or energy to get everything done.   Deadlines, demands and the resulting stress make work and life a challenge.  In addition to the impact on your personal well being, your mood has a profound impact on your employees. According to a Harvard Business Review article (Goleman, Boyatzis, McKee, 2001), a...

Tips for greater productivity

Image courtesy of sheelamohan/FreeDigitalPhotos.net 1. Take time to Plan– At the end of each day, create a list of your next day’s activities. Make sure to highlight the important tasks that must get done each day. Planning is the difference between reactive and proactive. When you don’t plan, you end up responding to the day’s events as they occur. 2. Ask for input– When you get input from others...

Quotes of the Week

“One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you.” ~Dennis A. Peer “Doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results, is the definition of crazy.” ~Unknown “They can because they think they can.” ~Virgil “Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” ~Dorothy Bernard “Mistakes are the portals of discovery.” ~James Joyce “Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but...

How to deal with a challenging boss

Since we spend most of our day at work, an unstable relationship with our boss can cause a great deal of stress. Here are simple ways to deal with challenging personalities, get the confidence and skills to deal with that challenging boss: 1. Consider rather than confront. If your boss has criticized you, don’t attack him. Instead, look to see if there is any validity to their criticism. Get...

Meditate like the Busy Person You are

I was asked to join a great group of women as they explore spiritual topics.  Since Monday night was only our second meeting, I suggested that we start each meeting with a guided mediation. This would ensure that we leave our stress, worry and busyness behind to be fully present. Luckily everyone agreed.I then lead them through a 7 minute meditation focusing on the breath and relaxing our bodies...

Quick Tips to Improve your Leadership Skills

1. Get a reality check. Get a clear vision of yourself, others, and the world. Find out who you are, what your colleagues think of you, and how you want to influence others. Finding out what others think of your leadership skills and your communication skills can be a real surprise, and is often the most influential driver for change. 2. Listen, listen, listen. Listening is one of the...

Quotes of the Week

“Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.”  ~George Washington Carver “You can not always control circumstances, but you can control your own thoughts.”  ~Charles Popplestown “All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.”  ~Ellen Glasgow “Comedy is acting out optimism.”  ~Robin Williams “You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself.”  ~Nelson Mandela...

Integrating the “i” in Innovation

Be it the lustrous design of Macbooks, the ingenuity of Itunes, the master mindedness of iPhones or the exclusiveness of iPods, Apple without fail has captured and flabbergasted each market it enters by modernizing old ideas. The secret behind the success story lies in the innovative corporate culture Apple has adopted over years. Innovation is indispensable for their economical competitiveness and sustainability. The elemental essence of the company is...

A blackberry free weekend

Last weekend I went on a yoga/meditation retreat. As part of my desire to escape and get a much needed break, I decided to go blackberry free. I actually turned it off for two days. Okay I’ll admit that my thumbs were a little twitchy and I was tempted on more than one occasion to simply check in.  However I remained committed to my goal and resisted.   Instead I...

Quick Stress Busters in 5 Minutes or less from our Stress Busters eBook

Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/FreeDigitalPhotos.net 1. Take a walk– Go for a walk even if it’s for only 5 minutes. It will get you away from your desk, give you an opportunity to view your stress/stressors from a different perspective and allow you to return to work with a fresh perspective. Besides the exercise will do you good. 2. Grab a cup of tea- Certain herbal teas are known...

Quotes of the Week

“People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.” ~Norman Vincent Peale “History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.” ~Bertie Charles Forbes “There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge...

How to Boost Your Optimism

In last week’s blog, we took a look at Optimism in a great book by Adam Jackson called The Flipside. Here are a number of ways you can easily boost your Optimism. 1. Act “as if” you are optimistic. By looking for benefits, opportunities and even trying after failure, we will experience the same results as optimists and then start to feel optimistic (The Flipside, Jackson). 2.Express Gratitude. Gratitude...

Tips for Emergency Energy Boost by Gretchen Rubin author of The Happiness Project

Go outside into the sunlight. Research suggests that light stimulates brain chemicals that improve mood. For an extra boost, get your sunlight first thing in the morning. Act with energy. We think we ACT because of the way we FEEL, but often we FEEL because of the way we ACT. Trick yourself into feeling energetic by moving more quickly, pacing while you talk on the phone, and putting more...

Quotes of the Week

“If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.” ~David Viscott “A goal is a dream that has an ending.” ~Duke Ellington “A friend is one who sees through you and still enjoys the view.” ~Wilma Askinas “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ~Marcel Proust “Anything that is of value in...

The Power of Coworkers for Employee Engagement

In my final year of high school, I was convinced that I would be going into science. Early in the year, I was deeply engaged, was receiving high marks, and had several close friends in the class. As the year progressed my marks and interest began to dip. The reason was that friends began to disappear as university acceptances started to arrive. As a result, the class became boring...

The Flipside: Being Optimistic despite Life’s Greatest Challenges

I was at the airport heading to Italy for vacation when I realized that I needed a good book.  I spent a good half hour browsing the book store looking for the perfect balance of easy read with substance.  I found exactly that in The Flipside by Adam Jackson. The Flipside caught my eye because it profiled people who remained optimistic despite challenging life circumstances.  I was drawn to...

The Importance of Focus Part 2

Recapping on our previous post, The Importance of Focus, focus is extremely important to our productivity and distractions can be extremely costly. Here are some tips to help restore your focus: Concentrate on one thing at a time. Multitasking means you give a task only part of your concentration which results in poor quality work. A University of Michigan cognitive scientist, David E. Meyer, said “Multitasking is going to...

Quotes of the Week

“People want to feel what they do makes a difference” ~Frances Hesselbein “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” ~Winston Churchill “Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.” ~Vince Lombardi...

Innovation at the Speed of Google

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Shannon Deegan, Director of People Operations at Google, speak at the Strategic Capability Network.  Not only is Shannon incredibly personable and energetic (we had a chance to chat before his presentation about our hometown of Montreal) but his presentation was fascinating.  He shared how Google attracts and keeps great talent and encourages them to innovate even if it doesn’t directly impact...

How to Handle an Interruption

Interruptions can be tiresome and difficult to handle.  However, they are critical to manage since research says that it takes 20 minutes to get back to the level of concentration prior to the interruption (Organize your work day  – in no time, Karen McCorry) Here are 3 simple steps, ACT, from Meryl Runion author of Powerphrases to manage interruptions yet avoid conflict: Acknowledge – Let them know that you...

Quotes of the Week

“I would rather regret the things I have done than the things I have not” ~Lucille Ball “Real leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determination” ~Anonymous “If you do not know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.” ~Henry Kissinger “For success, attitude is equally as important as ability” ~Harry F. Banks “A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the...

Our Gen Y to Gen X Dictionary

Having trouble understanding your employees? We understand that their text messages and emails can be cryptic at best. So we’ve decided to help you out with our Gen Y dictionary of terms. We will add more terms as time goes on. Brb – Be right back Lol – Laugh out oud Rofl – Rolling on the floor laughing Tyt – Take your time Cya – See you soon G2g...