Whether you're an executive or starting your first job, we all struggle with leading effectively. This is a show where you will get ideas, inspiration, and practical advice you can take action on today to become a darn good leader. My mission is to creat
Feeling overwhelmed in life and work is a common experience for any leader. It can be caused by having too many responsibilities, not delegating enough, having a tight deadline, or having unclear or unrealistic expectations set on you. In today's show we are talking through 6 simple steps when you feel overwhelmed so you can take control of your day and your head:Acknowledge it Step back and assess it Prioritize it Practice positive self-carePractice effective time management Communicate Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
When was the last time you've been face-to-face, in-person with your employees or team? I'm a huge supporter of virtual work, asynchronously work, and empowering individuals to get work done at a time and place that fits their needs…but working this way is only effective when teams have high trust and strong rapport. This is where face-to-face onsites comes into play.Join me as I share the benefits of bringing your people together and outline 5 steps for creating a successful onsite:Make the objectives, agenda and pre reads available to everyoneGet cross-functionalBake in breaks and funStart start and end the day strongShare your outcomes, outputs, and next steps with everyoneContact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
Who doesn't love a good story?! Today's show centers around several of them. The first story is about one of my professional heroes...Josh Kerievsky. And then 6 quick stories that tie back to the 6 Agile mantras outlined in Josh's new book, Joy of Agility. (Spoiler alert- I love this book!)If you've struggled with understanding Agile, this show will help you move from Agile as just a buzzword, to discovering how you might put agility into practice. Join me as I review the 6 Agile mantras from Joy of Agility:Be quick, but don't hurry Be balanced and gracefulBe poised to adaptStart minimal and evolveDrive out fearBe readily resourcefulShow Notes:Joy of Agility bookCNN Article - What to Expect from Work in 2023Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
It doesn't matter what stage you are in your career, you can start laying the foundation and the groundwork for being a darn good leader today! All of us can be leaders at any point in our career. Today we're discussing eight practices I personally use to maintain and grow my proficiency as a darn good leader:Find a mentorGet involved with the communityRead, read, and read some moreBuild strong rapport with your peersTake care of your peopleBe transparent about your work and your valueMake a difference and get involved at workTake ownership of your brandShow Notes:How to be a great mentee (Forbes article)What Mentors Wish Their Mentees Knew (HBR article)Finding your Personal Leadership Style (DGL podcast episode)Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
How often do you think about future you...and not future you in 5-10 years, but future you as in 1 week from now or at the end of the day? Are your daily habits and practices helping your more immediate future or hurting it? And what about your teams? Intentionally thinking about the future can help you and your teams make better decisions in the here and now.In this episode we will:Reflect on our habits Discuss 2 futurespectives for your teamsLearn a daily practice you can implement today to help improve and shape the life of your future-selfContact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
Want to be more productive but not sure how to focus your time and efforts? Just ask yourself "what would Vilfredo Pareto do?"In this episode I'm taking about the Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. I'll review what the principle is all about, how you can leverage it to become more productive, and how you can use it with your teams to enable them to become more productive as well.Show notes:The 80/20 Principle: Achieve More with Less: The NEW 2022 Edition of the BestsellerContact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
Who's ready to be happier at work?! If you are, then join me as I discuss 6 areas that can help you take control of your own happiness at work...and in turn hopefully have much more good days:Take charge of your professional development & responsibility for knowing what is going on what workMake progress on the things that matter mostHave a great work life balance Recognize & praise people for their good work Have an organized workspaceBe socially connectedShow notes:How to Be Happy at Work: The Power of Purpose, Hope, and Friendship, by Annie McKeeThe longest study on human happinessThe Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, by Teresa Amabile and Steven KramerContact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
Let me ask you as question...do you swoop and poop? Join me as I answer what that means and take you through five evaluations areas to help you reflect on how are you showing up as a leader:How do you work with teams? Are you a swoop in pooper, or an aligner and calibrator. What's your typical energy as a leader? Are you a bring- it-downer, or a lift-it-upper How do you communicate with teams? Are you talking at your people or are you actively listening and having conversations with them? How do you operate as a leader? Are you a complain, blame and ignore, or are you coming with constructive honesty and solutions? What results are you generating with teams? Are you a waster, or a creator? Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
To be the savviest of leaders we must refuse to just be busy, we must push back on burnout, we must say no to the things that aren't enabling our goals, and we must be unapologetic about it. If you want to work savvier in 2023, then you need to understand the importance of strategy and time management. Join me as I break down these areas and offer tips on how you can lead and win in 2023.Show notes:The 7 Habits of Highly Effective PeopleMental toughness challenge: 75-hardContact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
It's a new year and in 2023 we are taking the driver's seat, we are taking extreme ownership, and we are going to hold ourselves accountable for our own happiness, our own growth, and we are setting the example for those around us. In today's episode we are discussing why you work, where you work. Maybe you just started somewhere new and it was a great opportunity, maybe you've been at your company so long, you can't even remember why you started in the first place.You owe it to yourself to answer that question...why do you work where you work? Join the conversation so you can reflect on your why, and determine if your work is enabling you to thrive and helping you moving towards the best version of your professional self. Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
As 2022 is coming to a close, I've reflected on Season 1 and I'm bringing you my most important leadership takeaway of the year: strong leadership requires you being comfortable in the uncomfortable. Life is always gonna throw you curve balls, so finding ways to master the art of uncomfortable is important, and better yet, can set you apart from the pack. I'm sharing 3 ways you can embrace being comfortable in the uncomfortableness in your workplace and how you can set yourself up for success as you head into 2023. Wishing you the brightest of new years ahead!Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
Seasons greetings friends! We all have our favorite Christmas movies, but have you taken the time to analyze the critical leadership takeaways from each one? Well if you haven't, that is exactly my gift to you this holiday. So what can Clark Griswold, the McAllisters, and Buddy the Elf teach you about leadership? Well join the merriment as I review the best holiday films and the leadership lessons you want to take note of. Wishing you all a bright and joyous holiday season!Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
Raise your hand if you've ever struggled with understanding the difference between OKRs and KPIs. It's ok. You're not alone. Figuring out when to use them and how to use effectively together can be quite confusing. But today, I'm sharing 3 words and 3 quick stories that will make the relationship between OKRs and KPIs incredibly clear. Additional Notes:ADAPTOVATE- A consulting company that helps organizations transform at scale to meet changing market conditions and increasingly sophisticated customer demandsPrevious episode on OKRs- 3 Stories to Better Understand the Power of OKRsContact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
Got 10 minutes? How about a little tune-up to evaluate if your daily consumption of information and time spent with people is helping you reach your goals or not. It's free, fast, and is composed of just 3 easy parts: the gut check, the goal check, and the reflection. Let's take a look under the hood so you can take the drivers seat in cruising to your outcomes successfully.Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
How would you describe your leadership style in 3-words? What words do your peers, co-workers, and stakeholders use when describing your leadership style? Do you know? If you do, do you like the words? If you don't, no worries...I got you! Join me as I discuss how you can take ownership of crafting your personal leadership brand and ensuring that you are being intentional with how you show up to the world. Show notes:More about Allison Bornstein 3-word approach: https://theeverygirl.com/three-word-method-style/Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
Change is inevitable, but with change comes opportunity. Today I'm discussing how you can embrace change by becoming a professional shapeshifter. Join me as I share 5 ways I'm currently honing my craft as a shapeshifter, and how you too can be in control of what shape you choose to shift into next.Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
We've all experienced personal heartbreak, but what about professional heartbreak? With the economy the way it is today and many businesses forced to make difficult business decisions, how does one deal with professional heartbreak? Today is personal and a little more raw than my usual episodes, but I invite you to join me as I share some advice on how to cope with professional heartbreak and rise into something much shinier and brighter.Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
What if I told you, you could help make your work environment (and the world) a better place with just 3 practices? As leaders, the behaviors we display is what we are showcasing to our teams as what is appropriate, what is tolerated, and what is expected. Join me as I share how you can model strong leadership using the practices of grace, accountability, and gratitude...making your work environment, and the world, a better place!Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
Not sure how to build community and connection with your team this Halloween? Witch, please...I got you! I'm sharing 2 Halloween retrospectives and lots of great icebreakers to get teams talking, engaging, and on their way to working more effectively. Tune in, it's going to be wickedly fun!This is part 3 of 3 in my Halloween-themed series.Show Notes:Part 1: https://www.darngoodleadership.com/1998001/11466995Part 2: (this show goes with the Halloween Bingo Retro) https://www.darngoodleadership.com/1998001/11506299Download your Halloween retrospective and icebreaker cards here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6988391989201301504Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
I'm leaning into one of the best parts of October...movies that give us all the Halloween-feels. I've done the hard work, watching and analyzing, and now I'm ready to treat you with the top 10 movies that give off major Halloween vibes and their respective leadership takeaways. Grab your candy of choice, a pumpkin beer or apple cider, and prepare to be spookily entertained! This is episode 2 in a 3-part Halloween-themed series. Show notes:Episode Part-1 of the Halloween themed series Contact Darn Good Leadership: Email contact@darngoodleadership.com
Whether you're a scary movie fanatic, a pumpkin latte lover, or you hate the season altogether...Halloween is here and has so much rich history that there are several treats we can takeaway beyond candy. I'm passing out 3 lessons Halloween can teach us about about leadership and community. This will be the first episode in a 3-part Halloween-themed series. Show notes:Maryland street Halloween extravaganza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww51X7GAI-E
If you're interested in learning how to roll out a movement challenge at your place of work; and you want to keep it easy, budget, friendly, fun, and engaging. ..well look no further. I got ya! In this episode I share 10 tips to roll out an internal movement challenge at your workplace.This is part 2 of the 'Fit to Lead' series. In part 1, I overviewed the importance of exercise and how it can help you build critical competencies that can make you a stronger leader. I also covered some ideas to bring movement into the workplace. And one of the ideas I spoke about was starting an internal movement challenge at your company. Show notes:Fit to Lead- Part 1: https://www.darngoodleadership.com/1998001/11182422-fit-to-lead-part-1-strengthen-your-leadership-skills-through-exercise
OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a goal setting framework for teams and companies. OKRs drive focus, clarity, and alignment; and foster a cultures that is results and outcome oriented. One of the best ways to better understand, get buy-in and help those around you with OKR concepts is through storytelling. I'm dishing out 3 stories to help anyone better understand the power of OKRs. Join me as you hear what Usain Bolt, Oreos, and conversations have to do with OKRs!
In this episode, I'm spilling the tea on why behind this podcast. I'm sharing a little more about myself, my motivation, the mission for starting the show, and my ultimate goal of creating an interactive and engaging community of strong leaders that can create positive impacts on the world. Tune in to learn more about the Darn Good Leadership podcast!
Have you ever wanted insights and consultation from a group of Agile coaches? In this show, I'm sharing five lessons learned from a team of agile experts. Now, who is this team of agile experts you ask? Well, it's none other than my very own. For those of you who don't know, I'm a VP of agile at a global software company and my team is composed of some of the brightest, boldest, and most bad-ass in-house agile coaches out there. These lessons contain valuable takeaways for any leader looking to create positive improvement in their own place of work. Consider this your free agile consultation!Links to items referenced in this episode https://futureforum.com/pulse-survey/, https://www.amazon.com/How-Future-Works-Leading-Flexible/dp/111987095X, https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/48902744-competing-with-unicorns,https://www.darngoodleadership.com/1998001/11104769
Being physically fit enables you to be more resilient and confident as a leader, and as a result, you can help build stronger and healthier teams. In this episode I'm sharing 4 leaderships skills you can improve through physical fitness, and 3 ideas of how to bring exercise into our work environments.
Learning is usually a core value of any business, but leaders will have a difficult time with this if they aren't modeling learning themselves. A lifelong learner refers to someone who makes a long-term voluntary commitment to learning new skills or acquiring new knowledge. To be a great leader, making learning a lifestyle choice is necessary because the world never stops changing and the way we work is constantly evolving. Join me as I share five common habits of lifelong learners, so you too can curate a lifestyle of learning and become an even better leader.
The way we're working, isn't working. Low-value meetings and constant interruptions is causing content switching, lack of focus, and is eating away at productivity. As leaders, we have an important role to play in stopping the madness and starting to influence and model a better way of working. This is why asynchronous collaboration matters. Join me as I discuss the benefits of async collaboration; and share my three favorite async activities to try and my five favorite async behaviors to model. Show notes and links:https://hbr.org/2022/03/dear-manager-youre-holding-too-many-meetingshttps://miro.com/blog/hybrid-collaboration-field-guide/
In today's episode, we're talking about becoming a better leader with KYP practices. KYP is what I lovingly refer to as know your people. If you're looking to be an effective leader, and if you want to lead in a work environment where people have high psychological safety, it starts with knowing your people. How well do you know your employees and boss? Your teams? Your work community? Join me as I share and discuss the three most powerful practices for building KYP.
Whether you're an executive or starting your first job, we all struggle with leading effectively. This is a show where you will get ideas, inspiration, and practical advice you can take action on today to become a darn good leader. My mission is to create a community of strong leaders, who support each other to positively impact their teams, work environments, and the world. Email contact@darngoodleadership.com for feedback on the podcast.
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