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
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:...
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Want to Build Unbeatable Mental Toughness? Here Are 5 Surprisingly Effective Ways

by murika Comment Closed
Just one week after he graduated from Yale Law School, while he was training for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Seun Adebiyi was diagnosed with lymphoma and leukemia. This forced him to put his Olympic dreams on the back burner as he rethought his life plans. Adebiyi knows all about mental toughness and resilience. After experiencing firsthand the difficulty of finding stem cell donors (the odds of finding a genetically compatible donor is less than 17 percent for those of African descent, compared to 70 percent for Caucasians), Seun took it upon himself to found Nigeria's first national bone marrow registry--the second ever in Africa....
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Highly Confident People Avoid These 14 Behaviors

by murika Comment Closed
An organization is never more confident than its leader, which accentuates the importance for leaders to display unswerving confidence in themselves, their vision, their strategy, and their people. Leading with confidence involves important nuances like avoiding the opposite (leading from a place of fear) and learning how to handle criticism. It also involves knowing not only what traits to project but what behaviors to avoid. Having seen a multitude of leaders over a 30-plus-year career, from über-confident to the point of arrogance down to timid and unsure, I've developed an eye for what constitutes highly (but not unjustifiably) confident leaders and the behavioral traps they avoid. Here are the 14 behaviors the self-assured self-select out of....
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10 Exercises That Will Help You Develop the Mental Strength You Need to Crush Your Goals

by murika Comment Closed
If you want to lift heavier objects, you need more physical strength. Large biceps and a strong back will go a long way toward helping you do the heavy lifting. Well, the same can be said for your mental muscles. If you want to be able to tackle bigger challenges and overcome more obstacles, you need more mental strength. Like physical muscles, your mental muscles require a good workout. And these 10 exercises can help you start developing the mental strength you need to crush your goals....
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A Navy SEAL Commander Says Persevering Through the Toughest Challenges Requires These 4 Actions

by murika Comment Closed
When it comes to getting through difficult challenges, there are certainly people who handle it better than others because they're tough. Then there are Navy SEALs. I'm a professional speaker and after my keynotes I quite often get the chance to talk to the audience. After a recent keynote where I preceded a Navy SEAL who spoke on succeeding under extreme pressure, I was engaged in a discussion with a group of leaders from a utilities company that were enthralled with all things SEAL. They told me about a Navy SEAL commander by the name of James Waters. He granted an interview to theweek.com on October 2015 on how to tackle brutally tough challenges with extreme determination and perseverance....
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7 Signs That Say You Have the Mindset of a Great Leader

by murika Comment Closed
One of the things I love doing as an Inc.com columnist is being able to share compelling stories. Especially stories of extraordinary leaders who overcame unthinkable challenges to now teach us lessons of resilience, hope, and a new way forward. Kevin Hancock, sixth generation family CEO of Hancock Lumber, is one such person. Hancock was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a rare neurological disorder that makes speaking difficult. Two years later, he began traveling from his home in Maine to the remote Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. There, he encountered an entire community that did not feel fully heard....
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Elite Military Mind Tricks to Reframe Uncertainty

by murika Comment Closed
Uncertainty is a business killer. As a business owner, you're already dealing with many unknowns. To successfully navigate them, you need to be able to rely on some future projections that represent a sense of stability. The current coronavirus pandemic has just about made that impossible. While some companies can get around that uncertainty through the use of advanced technology, others are caught up in the current crisis. This is where leadership is needed. Leaders, however, are subject to the same level of uncertainty as everyone else. To guide others through the crisis and make better business decisions you have to be able to successfully manage the uncertainty you feel....
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How to Run a Successful Online Meeting: 6 Effective Strategies

by murika Comment Closed
With the current COVID-19 epidemic still ongoing, many businesses have gone remote. More employees than ever before work entirely from home, and that’s bound to be the case for some time yet. In times like these knowing how to run a successful online meeting is essential. Team communication is more important than ever to keep everyone on track. Video conference software allows you to meet up with your team and employees over the Internet and talk to them live. But if you’re the one in charge of hosting a virtual conference, and this is your first time dealing with it, you might not have the first clue where to begin. That’s where this post comes in....
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Psychologists Say There Are Only 5 Kinds of People in the World. Which One Are You?

by murika Comment Closed
Your personality influences everything from the friends you choose to the candidates you vote for in a political election. Yet many people never really spend much time thinking about their personality traits. Understanding your personality can give you insight into your strengths and weaknesses. It can also help you gain insight into how others see you. Most modern-day psychologists agree there are five major personality types. Referred to as the "five factor model," everyone possesses some degree of each....
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8 Reasons Why Exceptional Employees Quit Their Jobs

by murika Comment Closed
To have exceptional success in business, you need to have exceptional employees. However, hiring them is only half the battle. Unfortunately, it's easy for A-players to find another opportunity, and they'll be the most motivated to find the best job possible. It's no wonder that more than one in five employees were searching for greener pastures in 2017. The good news? Most of the slip-ups made by bosses that motivate rock stars to leave are completely avoidable....
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The Best Way to Beat a Bad Mood, According to Psychology: The 3 M’s

by murika Comment Closed
Happiness makes your brain work better, Harvard researcher Shawn Achor once told Inc.com. All of us, especially hard-pressed business owners, could definitely use our brains to be at our sharpest in the midst of the current crisis. But let's be honest, now isn't the easiest time to stay positive. For some folks with mental health issues, the challenges go way beyond cabin fever and everyday anxiety. But for those of us lucky enough to be dealing with garden-variety grumpiness, science has good news. Simple interventions that are doable for nearly everyone can have a profound effect on your mood. Psychology writer Nick Wignall brilliantly summed them up on Medium as the three M's....
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6 Things Left Unsaid in an Interview That Could Indicate a Bad Hire

by murika Comment Closed
There are plenty of articles about how to spot a good hire based on what a candidate says in their interview. But what about what they don't say? I find that it's just as informative (maybe more) to listen to what's left unsaid. Here are six unspoken things that raise red flags about a candidate. 1. Anything about the company. I'm guessing you want your employees to do what's best for the company over themselves personally. With that in mind, it sounds alarm bells in my head if the candidate's questions or examples are all focused around themselves vs. the company. This speaks volumes about how they will approach problems and prioritize....
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What a Chess Grandmaster Can Teach You About Emotional Intelligence

by murika Comment Closed
Garry Kasparov is regarded by many as the best chess player of all time. At the age of 22, Kasparov earned the title of youngest world chess champion. He went on to break multiple records and dominated the world of competitive chess for 20 years, before retiring in 2005. Kasparov's an amazing chess strategist, but he's also a brilliant thinker whose insights can be applied to the world of business, and really any type of decision making. This fact became strikingly clear to me as I recently took an online course from Kasparov, hosted by Masterclass....
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