Monthly Archives: August 2014

How to handle leadership issues when you don’t have authority

on August 24, 2014 in Education, Leadership, Nonjudgment, Visualization

What do you do when you see ineffective or counterproductive leadership of a group you’re in and you’re not one of the leaders? Do you just let it happen? Do you act? Do you talk to the leader? Usually I don’t step in if I’m not in a position of authority and no one asked me to act. Rarely I step in. In 2008, I spoke up on a mailing[…] Keep reading →

Want to start a habit? Here’s the best instruction to start — SIDCHA style

on August 23, 2014 in Fitness, Tips

I visited a site designed to help people start new habits called lift.do. You would choose one of the many habits from their list and they’d support you with instruction, pairing you with other people starting the same habit, sending you graphs of your progress, and things like that. A lot of hand-holding. I get their intention, but I find it counterproductive. I think it’s effective at getting people to[…] Keep reading →

The incredible value to a leader of making people feel understood

on August 22, 2014 in Leadership

If someone doesn’t feel understood, they will not listen and will do what they can to feel understood until they feel understood. Or until they give up on you understanding them, in which case you’ve lost your credibility and ability to influence them. Want to break up with someone? Intentionally misunderstand them. They’ll lose patience with you, feel increasingly frustrated, and want to spend increasingly less time with you. If[…] Keep reading →

Advice I ignore. Advice I take.

on August 21, 2014 in Blog

Yesterday at a dinner party someone heard me describe my work and started giving me advice. It sounded like something that would take resources to act on and it didn’t sound better than what I was already doing. I politely told him so many people offer me advice, I find the only advice worthwhile is when the person offers a contact where everyone would benefit from the connection. He didn’t[…] Keep reading →

How to get the body you want, never buying another fitness or diet book

on August 20, 2014 in Awareness, Fitness, Tips

Since I work on motivation, I’ve read a ton of diet and exercise books. They generally try to fill you up with information. While filling your head with information doesn’t necessarily hurt your fitness efforts, it won’t likely help either. And any book claiming any latest and greatest methods can’t get over that countless people before that book created fit, healthy bodies for themselves. Information doesn’t make you fit. Behavior,[…] Keep reading →

How inspiration feels, in depth

on August 19, 2014 in Leadership

My seminar, “How to lead people so they want you to lead them again,” and the General Assembly seminar coming up August 23, “Lead the way: Effective Leadership Techniques,” teach you how to inspire people. I talk about it in a work context, but the principles and techniques apply everywhere. Last week I outlined how inspiration feels. As a leader, inspiring people raises morale, loyalty, productivity, efficiency, and more. It[…] Keep reading →

Learn more leadership, motivation, and influence Saturday!

on August 18, 2014 in Education, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Tips

This Saturday, August 23, 10am-5pm, I’ll lead a seminar with General Assembly on leadership in New York City. Register here, you’ll be glad you did. This is the seminar that led to this testimonial: Josh, you may be interested to know I took out an Associate who will be working on my team and used your technique. She teared up, saying, no one ever asked her these questions and she[…] Keep reading →

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