Leadership and Storytelling

May 11, 2012 in Communications, Leadership, Miscellaneous with 6 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Leadership and storytelling go hand-in-hand. In fact, leaders who lack the ability to leverage the power and influence of storytelling are missing the very essence of what accounts for compelling leadership to begin with – the story. If you’ve ever been captivated by a skilled orator whose articulation and eloquence has influenced your thinking, you understand the power of the art of story. I refer to story as an art form because it is. Storytelling requires talent and practice, but as with any worthy discipline, the investment yields great benefit.

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Leadership & The Power of Listening

May 7, 2012 in Communications, Leadership, Rants with 9 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Great leaders are great listeners, and therefore my message today is a simple one – talk less and listen more. The best leaders are proactive, strategic, and intuitive listeners. They recognize knowledge and wisdom are not gained by talking, but by listening. Take a moment and reflect back on any great leader who comes to mind…you’ll find they are very adept at reading between the lines. They have the uncanny ability to understand what is not said, witnessed, or heard. In today’s post I’ll quickly examine the merits of developing your listening skills. Warning: this post isn’t going to coddle you and leave you feeling warm and fuzzy – it is rather blunt and to the point.

This is a preview of Leadership & The Power of Listening. Read the full post (1113 words, 1 image, estimated 4:27 mins reading time)


 

Is Blogging Dead?

April 30, 2012 in Blogging & Social Media, Communications with 12 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

I read an interesting article in Inc. Magazine entitled “Where Have All the Bloggers Gone?” If you read this article it would lead you to believe blogging is in decline and on it’s way out as a marketing tool. The article cites a study from the University of Massachusetts in which the respondents (170 executives from Inc. 500 companies) indicated the use of blogging was down 13% from the prior year. Before you draw the conclusion blogging is dead, you might want to read the text that follows…

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Leadership – It’s About The People

April 24, 2012 in Leadership with 18 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

If you think leadership is about you, your ego has led you astray. Leadership has little to do with you and everything to do with those you lead. If you think leadership is about the bottom line, think again; it’s about the people. Without the people there is no bottom line. Closely examine the core characteristics of great leadership, and you’ll find it’s not power, title, authority or even technical competency that distinguishes truly great leaders. Rather it’s the ability to both earn and keep the loyalty and trust of those whom they lead that sets them apart. Leadership lives and dies by it’s ability to engage, influence, and care for the people. Are those you lead better off for being led by you?

This is a preview of Leadership – It’s About The People. Read the full post (715 words, 1 image, estimated 2:52 mins reading time)


 

The Myth of Potential

April 18, 2012 in Leadership, Productivity, Success, Talent Management with 32 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer,N2growth

Here’s the thing – we all have potential, maybe some more than others, but we all have it. Potential is easy to recognize, but not so easy to realize. Most of us intrinsically recognize the gift of potential, but many simply choose to do nothing about it, and sadly, it’s the rare few who will maximize their potential. The problem with potential is society has deemed it to be a fungible commodity. People in today’s world trade on potential as if it were performance – it’s not.

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What Would You Do?

April 10, 2012 in Leadership, Success with 22 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer,N2growth

What would you do if you didn’t need to work? Golf, travel, volunteer, spend time with family and friends, teach, go into politics – the list of options are virtually endless. A friend of mine called me today, told me the sale of his business had closed, and then informed me he had enough money to never need to work again. He told me he was calling to ask what I would do if I didn’t have to work again. I was impressed with his logical pursuit of advice and counsel, but wasn’t at all surprised that he was searching for a bit of direction. While many entrepreneurs tirelessly seek their exit by disposition, few have spent a great deal of time planning what life after work looks like. In today’s post I’ll ask a few questions and share a few thoughts with the goal of causing you to think about what defines you.

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Leadership Is About Leading

April 2, 2012 in Leadership, Talent Management with 6 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Leadership is about leading. Leadership is a 24-7-365 endeavor. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the best leaders view what they do as a calling and not just a job. If you’re a leader, what you do in public or private, in silence or in word, and in thought or in deed will be observed, evaluated and critiqued – count on it. There are simply no free passes for leaders. Don’t believe me? Just look around – the news is littered each day with examples of people in leadership positions who ignore or forget what I’ve just espoused. In today’s post I’ll examine the fallacy of leading by not leading.

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Leadership and Self-Awareness

March 26, 2012 in Leadership, Personal Branding, Success, Talent Management with 29 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Leader Beware – ignorant bliss, no matter how enjoyable, is still ignorant. If you’re in a position of leadership and don’t feel you have any blind spots, you’re either very naïve or very arrogant. All leaders have blind spots – the question is what are they doing about them? The reality is most leaders invest so much time assessing the cultural and functional dynamics of their organizations they often forget the importance of critically assessing themselves – big mistake.

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Can Leadership Be Too Smart?

March 20, 2012 in Leadership, Miscellaneous, Rants, Talent Management with 4 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

My question is this: Is your intellect an asset or liability? All one has to do is watch a very bright person defend their position to understand what I’m driving at with today’s post. Observing intelligent people lecture, spin, posture, position, cajole, argue, rationalize, or justify their beliefs in order to “get the win” is often times entertaining, but it can also be exceedingly frustrating. I’ve come across more than a few self-proclaimed “intelligent” people who believe their intellectual acuity is far superior to the discernment ability of their peers and co-workers. Not only are these intellectual giants usually wrong, but sadly, by the time they awaken to a state of reality it is already too late. In the text that follows I’ll share the keys to leveraging your intellectual assets as opposed to having your intelligence serve as a barrier to your success…

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Efficient vs. Effective

March 15, 2012 in Leadership, Miscellaneous, Productivity, Success with 8 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Leadership has far less to do with efficiency than effectiveness. Nobody other than perhaps you really cares how efficient you are, but then again leadership isn’t really about you is it? The simple reality is everyone cares how effective you are. Not only do they care how effective you are, but they also care about the effectiveness of those whom you lead. Remembering leadership isn’t about how neat and tidy things are, but how successful you are at scaling effectiveness will help keep you focused on the right target.

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