The Unmade Leader: The Preview Book is Available!

Click on this link to purchase our preview book version of The Unmade Leader. This 30-page preview book will introduce you to our new BIG IDEA that leaders are born and then unmade!

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General: 100th Post - 100 Ways to Know You Were a Leader Today...

This is my 100th post on the Personal Leadership Insight blog. Wow! Since starting this blog I have seen the birth of my second beautiful daughter, sold our house in anticipation of building our dream home, and drowned my beloved video iPod in a sad pool of rain water. So, in recognition of the 100th post, here are the 100 ways you know you are a leader...

You know you were a leader today if you...

1. Were thinking more about others than yourself

2. Invested time influencing others

3. Made someone smile today

4. Made someone smile yesterday

5. Made plans for making someone smile tomorrow

6. Solved a problem

7. Solved a problem for someone else

8. Wrote down a dream and turned it into a goal

9. Did one thing today to move you closer to your goal

10. Acted in accordance to your values

11. Helped someone else live up to their values

12. Didn't force your values on someone else

13. Created something new

14. Improved something old

15. Overcame your fear

16. Did something even though it wasn't your job

17. Made a smart choice

18. Reversed a bad choice

19. Learned from a mistake

20. Helped someone without letting them know

21. Took personal responsibility today

22. Learned a new skill

23. Made a small adjustment to reach a goal

24. Practiced patience

25. Did something you loved to do today

26. Helped someone else do what they love to do

27. Took time to think about your strengths

28. Engaged your strengths

29. Took time to NOT think about your weaknesses

30. Stopped doing something that made you weak

31. Thought about how you could improve your work environment

32. Acted on that thought

33. Thought about how you could improve your home environment

34. Acted on that thought

35. Thought about how you could improve your community

36. Acted on that thought

37. Recognized the challenges in front of you

38. Decided to spend more time discovering the solutions to those challenges

39. Recognized the negative side of something

40. Decided to focus on the positive

41. Held your tongue

42. Didn't complain when everyone else was complaining

43. Didn't complain about others complaining

44. Made time for play

45. Made time to reflect

46. Made time to laugh

47. Made time to learn something new

48. Made time to read

49. Made time to think

50. Made time to pray

51. Encouraged a stranger

52. Encouraged a friend

53. Called someone you hadn't talked to in a year

54. Talked with a parent

55. Listened to your parents

56. Talked with your children

57. Listened to your children

58. Talked with your spouse

59. Listened to your spouse

60. Followed up with someone you met yesterday

61. Said thank you

62. Said please

63. Said no to something you knew you couldn't do

64. Said no to something you know you couldn't do great

65. Stopped doing something you weren't doing great

66. Made eye contact with someone important to you

67. Made eye contact with a stranger in conversation

68. Prepared before a talk

69. Asked questions before a presentation

70. Asked questions during a presentation

71. Asked questions after a presentation

72. Used specific language during a talk

73. Used simple language during a talk

74. Used visual language during a talk

75. Helped others close the gap between what they knew and what they didn't know

76. Turned your anxiety into enthusiasm by simply thinking about it differently

77. Listened actively

78. Spoke with respect

79. Played politics the right way

80. Worked hard

81. Listened to great music

82. Watched and learned from a child

83. Stopped doing something that you knew was hurting your integrity

84. Rebuilt trust with others

85. Cancelled a meeting that you knew was a waste of time

86. Called your mentor and chatted

87. Mentored someone else

88. Were totally authentic

89. Did the most important things on your to do list first

90. Did the most difficult things on your to do list first

91. Cleaned out your inbox

92. Called someone back sooner rather than later

93. Called your mother

94. Made the connection between being a leader and a being a good person

95. Forwarded this list to three important leaders

96. Saved this list to read again next month

97. Read John Maxwell or Malcom Gladwell or Seth Godin or Zig Ziglar or the Bible or Dale Carnegie or Brian Tracy or Jefferey Gitomer or Harvey MacKay or Stephen Covey or Norman Vincent Peale or Tom Peters or Max DePree or Marshall Goldsmith or Marcus Buckingham or Ken Blanchard or your favorite author(s)

98. Thought about yourself as a leader

99. Acted upon that thought

100. Made today a story you can be proud of

Goal Processing: The Art of Learning

Josh Waitzkin, the chess wunderkind who was the subject of the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer", has written a groundbreaking book on learning called The Art of Learning. This is a 10-minute clip of the now grown Josh being interviewed about the book, chess, success, and learning.

Masterful Communication: The Language of Leadership

Leadership is influence. Your language determines your influence. Digest this article to super-charge your leadership, your influence and your language...





The Language of Leadership

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Goal Processing: 3 Mind-Altering Excellence Tips

For those students experiencing defining moments this month (and for those of us who need a defining moment), here are three mind-altering excellence tips...

1. If you can't be excellent at IT, don't be IT at all.
2. If you aren't failing, you aren't pursuing excellence. If you aren't learning from your failures, you will never be excellent and you should re-read number one.
3. If you aren't excellent today, there is a reason. Something needs to change, improve, or be gone. This is going to require you sacrificing something very, very important to you today. If you don't want to sacrifice, then re-read number one and find something else to be excellent at that are willing to sacrifice for.

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Integrity: 9 Ways to Keep Commitments

Doing what you say you will do is at the heart of living with integrity. Here are some commitment-keeping thoughts…

1. Know when to say no

2. Stick to a list of priorities

3. Under-promise and over-deliver

4. Gain clarity on all time and duty expectations

5. Apologize when necessary

6. Remember that you aren’t what you do once, you are what you do repeatedly

7. Respect people’s time and show up early

8. You make time for the important things

9. If you add a commitment, take one away

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Emotional Maturity: The Dip Manifesto by Seth Godin

There are a handful of current authors that I admire above others for their creativity, relevance and focus on discussions that interest me: thinking differently, leadership, marketing and sales. This short list includes Jeffrey Gitomer (sales guru), Marcus Buckingham (leadership guru), Malcolm Gladwell (thought guru), John Maxwell (leadership guru), Marshall Goldsmith (leadership guru) and, the marketing guru himself, Seth Godin. Google any of these guys' names and do some reading of their stuff. And click on the following link and download Seth's new manifesto on ChangeThis about his new book The Dip...


Seth's Dip Manifesto

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Fostering Relationships: Networking the Right Way

Click over to Jugglezine and read their current article about making networking work for you. Also, if you are interested in time management, working from home, technology or lifestyle issues, I highly encourage you to subscribe to Jugglezine. It only comes out once or twice a month and I always find it creative and informative!

www.jugglezine.com

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Wise Judgment: Quotes

“Fortune truly helps those who are of good judgment.”
Euripides

“If you're not learning while you're earning, you're cheating yourself out of the better portion of your compensation.”
Napoleon Hill

“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”
Albert Einstein

“The key to wisdom is knowing all the right questions.”
John A. Simone, Jr.

“The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.”
John Foster Dulles

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Wise Judgment: The Stop Light Principle

The Stop Light Principle

"Great decision making is an act of getting emotions and systems to play nice together."

The Stop Light Principle allows millions of drivers to operate safely and securely every day. Every driver that pulls up to an intersection with a stop light instantly knows the recognized protocol for how to make their next decision - red light means stop, green light means go, yellow light means punch it! Effective leaders learn, practice and implement a system for making simple, daily decisions and for making huge, defining-moment decisions.

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Masterful Communication: The Name Tag Guy's Speaking E-Book

Click over to my speaking blog - http://speak.terapad.com - to view a link to a phenomenal (and free) E-Book from Scott Ginsberg, the Name Tag Guy, about writing, delivering and marketing speeches...

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