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Leadership and Broken Trust

February 21, 2012 in Crisis Management, Leadership, Miscellaneous with 18 Comments

By, Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Broken TrustTrust is not a commodity. Trust is not something to be dismissed as useless or irrelevant. Trust is the cornerstone of leadership. Without trust being given and accepted leaders, teams, and ultimately organizations will fail. Over the years I’ve heard the following statement on more than a few occasions; “I don’t have to trust him/her, I just have to work with them.” My question is this; why would you want to work with someone you cannot trust? My advice on trust is rather simple – if you have someone on your team who you don’t trust, find a way to develop trust or replace them with someone with whom you can establish trust. Trust is far too vital to the health of an organization to be trivialized. The question then becomes why do so many leaders in today’s world seem to believe they can operate effectively in the absence of trust? In today’s post, I’ll share my thoughts on the impact of the erosion of trust on leadership.

This is a preview of Leadership and Broken Trust. Read the full post (762 words, 1 image, estimated 3:03 mins reading time)


 

Why Influence Matters

February 17, 2012 in Leadership with 13 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

The Influence FactorLeadership without influence – isn’t. In fact, understanding how to leverage the influence factor can make a defining difference in your ability to drive change, build cohesive teams, and to successfully implement strategic vision. As a CEO or entrepreneur your “Influence Quotient” is the IQ you need to pay attention to, as it will be a much greater determinant of your ultimate success than your “Intelligence Quotient” could ever be. Innate, raw intelligence while certainly something to be prized, is much more common and much less powerful than real influence. In today’s post I’ll examine the often misunderstood value of influence…

This is a preview of Why Influence Matters. Read the full post (836 words, 1 image, estimated 3:21 mins reading time)


 

Unleadership – A Crisis of Identity

February 13, 2012 in Leadership, Uncategorized with 12 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

The most popular piece I authored last year was a column I wrote for Forbes on the art and science of what I refer to as pursuitology. As of this writing it had been read more than 260,000 times, had more than 5,000 Facebook shares, and more than 3,000 ReTweets – it clearly struck a chord with the leadership community. As I thought about why this short article resonated so strongly with readers, it occurred to me I had awakened people to a simple, yet very powerful realization…

This is a preview of Unleadership – A Crisis of Identity. Read the full post (601 words, 1 image, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)


 

Leadership and Surrender

February 6, 2012 in Innovation, Leadership, Rants, Success, Talent Management with 15 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

You’ll rarely encounter the words leadership and surrender used together in complementary fashion. Society has labeled surrender as a sign of leadership weakness, when in fact, it can be among the greatest of leadership strengths. Let me be clear, I’m not encouraging giving in or giving up – I am suggesting you learn the ever so subtle art of letting go. A leader simply operates at their best when they understand their ability to influence is much more fruitful than their ability to control. Here’s the thing – the purpose of leadership is not to shine the spotlight on yourself, but to unlock the potential of others so they can in turn shine the spotlight on countless more. Control is about power – not leadership. Surrender allows a leader to get out of their own way and focus on adding value to those whom they serve.

This is a preview of Leadership and Surrender. Read the full post (572 words, 1 image, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)


 

Tone Deaf Leadership

February 3, 2012 in Communications, Leadership with 9 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

You’ll rarely come across successful leaders who have a tin ear. The best leaders are tuned in to the emotional needs of those whom they serve.  They engage, they listen, they empathize, and they acknowledge. They treat you as a colleague not a subordinate. They seek to understand not direct. They are the not tone deaf – they are relevant because they show they care. Are you guilty of having a failure to communicate? Here’s the thing - who cares if you possess excellent communication skills if you don’t use them properly. It simply does no good to listen if you don’t hear, or hear if you don’t understand. If your engagement isn’t advancing your vision, developing your team, or otherwise adding value to your stakeholders, then I would suggest your well honed skills are not as refined as you may think. In today’s post I want to address an often overlooked aspect of communications, which if not well understood, can render even the most articulate leaders ineffective – being tone deaf.

This is a preview of Tone Deaf Leadership. Read the full post (937 words, 1 image, estimated 3:45 mins reading time)


 

Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?

January 30, 2012 in Leadership, Rants with 7 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Why should anyone be led by you? This is the seminal question for all leaders. People arrive at a position of leadership in many different ways – some individuals openly and aggressively seek out positions of leadership, while leadership is thrust upon others. Whether leaders are elected, appointed, anointed, or self-proclaimed, and regardless of whether it is by design or default, once in a position of leadership they nonetheless carry the burden and responsibilities associated with being a leader. So back to the original question – Why should anyone be led by you?

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Leadership: Blinded by Success?

January 16, 2012 in Leadership, Success with 7 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Blinded by Success?Can leaders be blinded by their own success? You bet…While success is what all leaders strive for, unless you’re prepared to handle it, success can quickly complicate your life. As strange as it may sound, success can often times be the precursor to failure. So my question is this: Is your success serving as a springboard toward significance, or is it merely a temporary state, precariously positioned and ready to implode with the slightest change in circumstance? Success without perspective, purpose, and focus can actually cause more harm than good. In today’s post I’ll discuss how leaders can either leverage success into significance, or if they’re not careful, have it serve as a catalyst for a rapid downward spiral…

This is a preview of Leadership: Blinded by Success?. Read the full post (801 words, 1 image, estimated 3:12 mins reading time)


 

Leadership and Resourcing

January 5, 2012 in Leadership, Operations & Strategy, Talent Management with 9 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Resourcing for CEOs
It’s not what you have, but what you’re able to make out of what you have that matters. Every great leader understands the importance of creating leverage via proper resource allocation. The best leaders possess an innate understanding of how to create resources where none exist - they know how to deploy and redeploy resources to maximize opportunities and to minimize risk. So my question to you is this; are you over-resourced, under-resourced, resource aligned, or do you even know? In today’s post I’ll look at the topic of resourcing as a key success metric for anyone in a leadership position.

This is a preview of Leadership and Resourcing. Read the full post (624 words, 1 image, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)


 

Leadership and Opportunity

January 2, 2012 in Crisis Management, Leadership, Operations & Strategy, Success with 14 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

What better time to discuss opportunity than the start of a new year? Opportunity and timing are inexorably linked. So much so, that if you don’t think timing is everything - think again. Anyone paying attention to current events has recently witnessed that it doesn’t really matter whether you’re a politician, investment banker, CEO, or just an average citizen, when it comes to making a simple decision, managing a crisis, or attempting to exploit an opportunity, timing is everything. I’ve often heard people quip that they would rather be lucky than smart. While intelligence and good fortune are certainly both valuable traits to possess, neither of these traits holds a candle to having a great sense of timing…Luck is a hit or miss proposition, and we’ve all known many a brilliant underachiever. However it has been my observation you’ll rarely come across someone who possesses a great sense of timing that is anything other than successful. In today’s post I’ll take a look at opportunity as key success metric…

This is a preview of Leadership and Opportunity. Read the full post (991 words, 1 image, estimated 3:58 mins reading time)


 

The Disconnected Leader

December 20, 2011 in Leadership, Miscellaneous, Rants with 19 Comments

By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

Even though few would dispute the value of being an engaged leader, many still do not practice what they preach. The harsh reality is that great numbers of leaders continue to operate in a vacuum by sequestering themselves away in the corner office and attempting to lead from afar.  Trust me when I tell you that being out of touch is never a good position to find yourself in as the CEO. I rarely come across leaders who couldn’t benefit from being more meaningfully engaged on both a broader and deeper basis, and hope that today’s post will encourage you to do just that…ENGAGE.

This is a preview of The Disconnected Leader. Read the full post (984 words, 1 image, estimated 3:56 mins reading time)


 
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