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I am a student of leadership. First of all, I love the concept of inspiring, developing, and challenging others while imagining and driving towards a future state. But mostly, the dynamism of leadership and the continual advancement that takes place in the study of leadership challenges me to stretch and grow myself as new facets of leadership are advanced.
When talking with clients about various topics such as work-life balance, productivity, stress management, meeting management, or overall exhaustion, the discussion often morphs into one about time, and how we effectively manage it or not.
Currently, I am coaching a few engineers and other professionals who are on a journey to learn how to better connect with people. While that might sound peculiar, not everyone has the innate talent to strike up a genuine conversation with new people.
The holiday season is a wonderful time of year on many levels, but it can also be quite daunting. Recently, I spoke with a small business owner who was feeling overwhelmed by the negative energy that seems to be all around us. While there are many reasons for this, I won't go into them here. Instead, I'd like to remind us all that we have a choice in how we approach each day.
While it does not surprise me, it saddens me that so many of the my clients and so many of my workshops include some discussion around listening. Overall, I would say that most of us are terrible listeners. When I led national sales teams, it was apparent that my sellers were lousy at listening and often missed the opportunity to connect with their clients. They thought that they knew better. The sellers would smile politely and nod, but then they would jump into their sales pitch, often ignoring what the client just said.
Stories are powerful. We all know that, and can easily recall a favorite movie or video, a song or book. So how come, in business, we rarely use storytelling techniques? We regularly talk in business speak, using a dry vocabulary and lots of facts to sound smart and impress our colleagues and clients.