Your Personal Brand Is Just as Important as Your Business Brand

by murika Comment Closed
So, you’re a founder and you’ve created a brand for your company that you’re proud of. But what about your personal brand? Many founders hide behind their company, but consumers are responding more than ever to founders who share their personal lives on social media, and it’s translating to sales. One report from the Impact Learning Center found that consumers are 82 percent more likely to trust a company if the CEO is active on social media, but as it stands now, only one in five CEOs use social media to connect with their consumers. While building trust is the core benefit of creating a robust personal brand, the implications ripples far beyond increased sellability. Here are four reasons why personal branding is critical for founders....
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How Brené Brown Runs Emotionally Intelligent Zoom Meetings

by murika Comment Closed
Now that many meetings have quickly gone virtual, there's no lack of advice about how to run them productively and efficiently. But there's an emotionally intelligent step that can easily be missed. Have you checked in with your teammates to ask how they're feeling? Since you can't check in with your team in-person or read body language, it's important to ask. Brené Brown, the vulnerability researcher and professor whose TED Talk is one of the most-viewed in the world, has a masterful way to ask this question so people will give an honest answer....
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Why the Most Successful Leaders Don’t Care About Being Liked

by murika Comment Closed
There's nothing wrong with wanting to be liked at work. According to Tim Sanders, author of The Likeability Factor: How to Boost Your L-Factor and Achieve Your Life's Dreams when your colleagues, direct reports and bosses like you, you have a better chance of getting promoted, being assigned special projects that interest you, having people go above and beyond for you, getting timely responses and feedback, and having the kind of social capital that you draw on to get what you want and need from others....
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How Color Theory Can Influence Your Customers

by murika Comment Closed
There's more to color than meets the eye. Top brands leverage color theory -- the science of how different colors mix, match and contrast -- to shape our emotional responses and persuade us to trust certain products. This matters because some studies suggest that people subconsciously make a judgment about a product within 90 seconds - and up to 90 percent of that assessment is based on color alone. So, how do you use color theory to rise above the competition? I built an agency that uses color theory and design psychology to help some of the world's biggest brands succeed. Here are four simple tips all entrepreneurs and business leaders can use to leverage color like a pro:...
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90 Percent of Remote Workers Are Now Ignoring the ‘First Things Rule’

by Judith Kiruja Comment Closed
This is a story about the difference between working from home in theory and working from home in practice--and a key rule that everyone is now ignoring. But to put it in context, we need to acknowledge two big things. First, while employees have been asking for more flexibility for years, there's been a lack of good research on remote work productivity. That's because, historically, it's been hard to find groups of workers who do the exact same jobs--but where a significant number work from home, and a significant number work in an office....
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A New Study Reveals What Workers Really Think About HR (and It’s Not Good News)

by murika Comment Closed
Throughout our careers, most of us have encountered workplace issues that were either plain annoying or downright criminal. The question is: Do workers have confidence that HR will iron out workplace issues when things get serious? Or do most Americans view HR departments as being inconsistent, unhelpful, and determined to follow draconian policies? The career experts at Zety decided to dive into the topic and polled 926 employees across the U.S. to see what they think of HR, whether or not they trust HR professionals to fight their corner, and what issues they are or aren't willing to report to them. Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace For starters, it turns out that a full 37 percent of workers wouldn't report sexual harassment in the workplace, and another 43 percent would hesitate to report discrimination. The reason?...
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There Are 2 Types of Leaders: Water and Rock. Here’s Why Both Are Important

by murika Comment Closed
Researchers are keen on the idea that there are different leadership styles--autocratic, visionary and servant, for instance. Arguably, however, no matter which style you lean on most naturally, when it comes to flexibility, I've come to believe through my personal experiences that there are just two main types of people. You are either a rock or water leader. The traits of rock leaders. Rock leaders, as you might guess, are overwhelmingly firm in their decisions. What they do often serves as a foundation for the behaviors of everyone else, and others recognize their exceptional strength....
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3 Major Opportunities That Will Come From This Pandemic

by murika Comment Closed
What good can come from all this bad? There’s reason to be optimistic. Throughout history, terrible events have led to great transformations. The bubonic plague of the 1300s led to the modern employment contract. Cholera epidemics of the mid-1800s gave us urban parks and radically improved infrastructure. The 1918 Spanish Flu revolutionized healthcare. What are we in for this time? I started calling some smart people for a podcast titled "The Good That Comes From A Pandemic", and their answers thrilled and inspired me. Here were three big things I learned: 1. Crisis will pop our bubble — in a good way!...
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10 Habits Stunting Your Productivity

by murika Comment Closed
If you've ever felt like it's becoming increasingly difficult to have a productive workday, you aren't alone. With so many events like coronavirus and the effects it is having on our lives, as well as getting used to a new kind of work environment, everything may feel like it's in flux. However, there are a few things that we tend to do on a regular basis that may be contributing to our disruptive workdays. Fortunately, these actions and habits can be changed once we recognize them. Acknowledging if and when we do them can help us take notice of how they affect our work. Here are a few habits that may be sabotaging your work and productivity....
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4 Strategies to Actively Get Ahead of Burnout

by murika Comment Closed
As business ebbs and flows, we all go through periods that require more energy and attention from us than we're used to giving. A problem arises when this period extends over the long term, requiring us to overwork ourselves with no end in sight. I like to think of burnout as the complete extinguishing of the candle within you that fuels your daily work. When we're exhausted and overworked, it's almost impossible to revive the same sense of creativity, productivity, and strategy that we have when we take care of ourselves....
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How to Manage a Stubborn, Defensive, or Defiant Employee

by murika Comment Closed
Some of the hardest employees to manage are people who are consistently oppositional. They might actively debate or ignore feedback, refuse to follow instructions they disagree with, or create a constant stream of negative comments about new initiatives. Most often, these behaviors are meant to make the employee look strong and mask a fear of change, an aversion to anticipated conflict, or the worry that they will look stupid or incompetent. I’ve found in my 30 years of consulting for both public and privately held companies, that there are three distinct approaches that can help you get the best from oppositional employees....
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6 Reasons Improving This Leadership Skill Should Be Your Top Priority

by murika Comment Closed
As a leader, directing and delegating may come naturally, but listening has become a lost art. Perhaps it's because we're all running in high gear, productivity is paramount, and we simply don't take the time to slow down and truly hear what's going on around us. For leaders, this can be risky, because it could mean missing out on vital cues that impact performance, and even your own effectiveness and career growth....
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How to Tell Your Boss That You’re Not Engaged at Work

by murika Comment Closed
Many people think of employee engagement as a relatively new idea, but scientists have been studying it for years. William Kahn first introduced the term in 1990, defining it as “the degree of psychological identification employees experience with their job role or work persona.” He noticed that organizations tended to overlook the influence that everyday experiences have on people’s work motivation, focusing instead on their talents, skills, and expertise. Although such qualities are no doubt critical, they are not sufficient to account for the wide range of subjective experiences employees have at work....
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