Leadership

Using Emotions As a Leadership Essential
The Prosperity Place interview
Education / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

Using Emotions As a Leadership Essential

Joan Sotkin hosts The Prosperity Show podcast and today posted "Using Emotions As a Leadership Essential," her conversation with me. The show's subtitle is A holistic approach to business and financial success, which is what we covered: business from a holistic perspective---about emotions, motivations, learning, and more. It's what she covers in general, without getting ethereal or too theoretical. As a bonus you get to hear birds chirping in the background since I was at in the yard. Listen to the conversation. Here are the show notes: Joshua Spodek, bestselling author of Leadership Step by Step, is an Adjunct Professor at NYU, leadership coach and workshop leader for Columbia Business School, columnist for Inc., and founder of SpodekAcademy.com. Josh also has a background as an…

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September 8, 2017
Your Employees Are Telling You How to Lead Them. Here’s How to Listen.
Your Employees Are Telling You How to Lead Them. Here's How to Listen.
Inc.com / Leadership / Perception

Your Employees Are Telling You How to Lead Them. Here’s How to Listen.

My post on Inc. Thursday "Your Employees Are Telling You How to Lead Them. Here's How to Listen.," began Your Employees Are Telling You How to Lead Them. Here's How to Listen. People want you to lead them effectively. Here's how to practice listening. Would you like your teammates and employees to tell you how to lead them? They're already doing it. You were probably too busy focusing on yourself, believing leadership was about you, to see. I teach and coach leadership. This point is so subtle that most clients and students take a few times to "get" it. Then they realize how obvious it is despite never noticing it before. Then they start using it. People want meaning and purpose in their work Leadership literature talks about challenges of leading, it…

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September 2, 2017
Education / Exercises / Leadership / Stories

Reviews and reflections from guest speaking recently

I recently guest hosted an online seminar for Park Howell's course in the Executive Masters of Sustainability Leadership program at ASU. The student reviews and reflections touched and inspired me. I can't help sharing them. I described and performed one exercise from my Leadership Step by Step book and course. You can imagine that if these results come from one session, how much doing all the exercises in the book or course would give. Enough from me. Here are the students. I thoroughly enjoyed Joshua Spodek's perspective and angle he took to engage through experience to train leaders. I purchased his audiobook and listened to a bunch of it on the way into work today. He focused on developing empathy. But his method of confirmation…

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September 1, 2017
The Difference Between Leadership and Management
The Difference Between Leadership and Management
Inc.com / Leadership

The Difference Between Leadership and Management

My Inc. post today "The Difference Between Leadership and Management," begins The Difference Between Leadership and Management A common question with a simple answer that will help you with each As a professor of leadership and management and author of a bestselling leadership book, I get asked a lot What's the difference between leadership and management? Everyone gets that each is important. Most people get that they overlap a lot. Not many people can clarify the difference or why it matters. Hence people find themselves leading when managing would get the results they want and vice versa. It's like the difference between running and jogging. They're similar but different, each with advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes either will do, but when it counts, you want to…

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August 30, 2017
Last chance to improve your coaching with free admission to the premier online coaching summit for two readers!
Education / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

Last chance to improve your coaching with free admission to the premier online coaching summit for two readers!

Yesterday I announced that I'm offering two free passes to my readers for the premier online coaching summit---World Business and Executive Coach Summit (WBECS) online summit---which starts TOMORROW. If you're interested in one of those passes, email me how it will help you help others. Please make the subject "Spodek WBECS". I'll pick two people at random today who are subscribed to my newsletter (my page has subscription forms). A random drawing seems the most fair way to me. Click here to learn why WBECS is so awesome (hint: it's mostly the speakers, both quality and quantity). About WBECS: With more than 20,000 attendees from 150 Countries in 2016, WBECS is the world's largest online gathering of business and executive coaches. Our aim and mission…

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August 30, 2017
Want to improve your coaching? I’m offering free admission to the premier online coaching summit for two readers!
Education / Leadership

Want to improve your coaching? I’m offering free admission to the premier online coaching summit for two readers!

In June and July, I posted videos from my participating in the premier online coaching summit: World Business and Executive Coach Summit (WBECS) online summit. They were part of the pre-conference. I'm in touch with the organizers and scored two passes for the full summit, which starts THURSDAY, and I'm offering these free passes to my readers. If you're interested in one of those passes, email me how it will help you help others. Please make the subject "Spodek WBECS". I'll pick two people at random tomorrow at 5pm who are subscribed to my newsletter (my page has subscription forms). A random drawing seems the most fair way to me. I hope it doesn't flood my inbox. Click here to learn why WBECS is so…

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August 29, 2017
Google Revealed Donald Trump’s Favorite Words
Trump's Favorite Words
Freedom / Leadership

Google Revealed Donald Trump’s Favorite Words

My post the other day on LinkedIn, "Google Revealed Donald Trump's Favorite Words," began In leadership, words matter. Leaders care about the people they lead and results, which often means caring about others' interests ahead of their own, even when they disagree. Leaders know others will always have some different values. The challenge is to lead without getting mired in conflict. The most effective leaders influence the people they disagree with most. Consider Nelson Mandela negotiating with the presidents of Apartheid South Africa, Vaclav Havel influencing the authoritarian leaders of Czechoslovakia to resign, or Gandhi negotiating with the King of England. Consider Americans' response to the protests of the KKK and its peers. Actually, consider before, and consider the results of counterprotesters' reactions, particularly on the people they want to influence. Before Charlottesville…

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August 26, 2017
If I led in the environment and no one knew my name, what change I created would be my legacy?
Dov Baron and Full Monty Leadership
Audio / Awareness / Choosing/Decision-Making / Leadership

If I led in the environment and no one knew my name, what change I created would be my legacy?

Following up Dov Baron's questions from yesterday and the day before, the next and last question he recommend me answering was Question: If I led in the environment and no one knew my name, what change I created would be my legacy? Listen to the conversation (on iTunes) My answer: My legacy would be that people will view changing their behavior to reduce their pollution, greenhouse emissions, resource depletion, and the like as joyful fun opportunities for personal growth that they wish they did earlier. This perspective would change for most people from seeing such changes as deprivation, sacrifice, and pointless. This cultural shift would be on the scale of how, in my lifetime, American culture shifted on Smoking Drinking and driving Wearing seat belts We've…

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August 25, 2017
What could make me give up leading in the environment?
Dov Baron and Full Monty Leadership
Audio / Leadership / Nature

What could make me give up leading in the environment?

Following up yesterday's advice from Dov Baron to answer the 5 whys, the next question he recommend me answering was what could make me give up leading in the environment. Listen to the conversation (on iTunes) My first answer is if people changed their behaviors enough that the work was unnecessary. Since the overwhelmingly most common behavior people show when I prompt them to think about changing their behavior is to justify why they shouldn't change, I don't see this change happening without significant leadership. Frankly, I'm disheartened by how much people put their interests ahead of everyone else's... how much they suppress and deny consideration of their externalities and the effects of their behavior on others. That lack of empathy and self-enforced ignorance to maintain…

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August 24, 2017
Read to Lead’s Jeff Brown’s interview on Leadership Step by Step
Read To Lead's Jeff Brown interviews Joshua Spodek
Audio / Education / Leadership

Read to Lead’s Jeff Brown’s interview on Leadership Step by Step

Award winning former radio host for 26 years, Jeff Brown hosts the #3 ranked Read to Lead podcast. His experience and passion show in his interview, as well as his research into my book and the field. He posted the interview today. Here's a highlight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4XFSA9ihsg Listen to the interview Listen to the interview Here are the show notes: There is no shortage of books that talk about leadership. Few, though, actually help you learn how to lead. Fortunately for you and me, our guest today has not only taken on the challenge of solving this problem, he's done so quite successfully. I'm talking about Joshua Spodek, author of Leadership Step by Step: Become the Person Others Follow. The key, Joshua says, is practice. It's…

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August 22, 2017
Did Donald Trump Destroy Godwin’s Law?
Leadership

Did Donald Trump Destroy Godwin’s Law?

My post on Medium yesterday, "Did Donald Trump Destroy Godwin's Law?," began Did Donald Trump Destroy Godwin's Law? As a nerd who values old school internet memes, I value Godwin's Law — an internet staple since 1990, that as online discussions grow, people become more likely to compare the other side to Hitler. Its meaning and poignancy rests on the accusation having no basis. What if the accusation had basis? Godwin's Law is poignant and meaningful because it reveals how people lose perspective amid the anonymity the internet gives them and their counter party. No matter how much you dislike someone who disagrees that your favorite movie is the best movie ever or whatever your online discussion, that person isn't Hitler, or even comparable. Read the rest at…

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August 18, 2017
What If the CDC Normalized Activity Instead of Inactivity?
Screen shot of my post "What If the CDC Normalized Activity Instead of Inactivity?"
Fitness / Leadership

What If the CDC Normalized Activity Instead of Inactivity?

My post on LinkedIn today, "What If the CDC Normalized Activity Instead of Inactivity?," begins What If the CDC Normalized Activity Instead of Inactivity? This post is about my great passion, leadership—in particular, how beliefs, mental models, and words motivate and influence. I also care a lot about: fitness. America's normalization of sedentary lifestyles Inactivity and diseases of excess are so prevalent in the U.S. that even the Centers for Disease Control's Benefits of Physical Activity page treats inactivity as normal and activity as something to go out of your way for. I find that perspective discouraging so I edited the text to normalize activity instead. Click the CDC page for the original. Read the rest at What If the CDC Normalized Activity Instead of Inactivity?.

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August 17, 2017
The Creative Warriors podcast interview
Creative Warriors' Interview of Joshua Spodek.
Audio / Leadership

The Creative Warriors podcast interview

Jeffrey Shaw hosts the Creative Warriors podcast and he just posted our interview. Twitter Twi Twitter Twitter Twitter Twittertter I enjoyed the interview a lot. He listened and asked meaningful questions that gave me a chance to share on leadership, learning, vulnerability, and more. Listen to the interview Listen to the interview Here are the show notes: When you think of a good leader, what do you think of? A good leader is someone who really knows the people that are following them. The people who follow them also know all about the leader. There needs to be a strong level of empathy. People need that emotional connection, and to feel invested. If you throw your power around, you're only going to get compliance, not…

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August 16, 2017
Leadership / Nonjudgment

I predict Donald Trump will have a Richard III moment

A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! I predict that Donald Trump will, as president, find himself without allies, under attack, and bewildered, lashing out, realizing he's run out of anything to offer anyone. This will come after he's surrounded by sycophants, maybe family, abandoned by anyone who could get anything from him. Without having supported anyone who would help him for reasons other than what he offers and with no way to advance or to offer in a transaction, no one will help him out of empathy or compassion. I hope the others will act in the interests of the Constitution and the people they represent. I'm not talking about good, bad, right, wrong, or evil. People disagree on those things. That's…

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August 16, 2017
Leadership

Another word English is missing

The word leadership is a fine word that describes a practice of influence, persuasion, strategy, vision, and all of what you think it means. It doesn't describe what I teach. It's the closest I've come across, but it's off. The biggest problem is that leadership, in today's world, implies business more than what I teach. Business is just one application. I teach the social and emotional skills underlying the ability to lead oneself and others---skills like empathy, compassion, listening, creating meaning, value, importance, purpose, and passion for themselves and others, responsibility, influence, persuasion, and such. Business isn't essential, nor non-profits, sports, military, or any other applications people associate with leading. An analogy may be sports as compared to fitness, which is more general. If you…

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August 11, 2017
What to Learn from Google’s Missing Leadership on the Diversity Memo
My LindedIn post on the recent Google diversity memo
Leadership

What to Learn from Google’s Missing Leadership on the Diversity Memo

My post on LinkedIn yesterday, "What to Learn from Google's Missing Leadership on the Diversity Memo," has 683 upvotes so far. It begins What to Learn from Google's Missing Leadership on the Diversity Memo When I was in graduate school, my university, Columbia, was considering changing its policy on allowing ROTC on campus. The university president, Lee Bollinger, scheduled a town hall to hear views from the community. Young, self-righteous, and angry, I went, intending to let Bollinger have a piece of my mind: how could he consider changing a policy students fought so hard to establish, that has stood so long?!? At the town hall, some people shouted one way, others in others. Bollinger did something I'd never seen before. Instead of supporting one view or another,…

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August 9, 2017
Join my workshop at the New York Public Library, Saturday September 9
Education / Events / Exercises / Leadership

Join my workshop at the New York Public Library, Saturday September 9

You've heard about my book, Leadership Step by Step, its 60+ 5-star reviews, and how its exercises change lives. I may have told you about the standing ovations I get at workshops. Now you can see me at a public workshop where I'll cover one of my book's most popular (and fun to learn) exercises. Here are the details. Be sure to register! (You can buy a copy of Leadership Step by Step first to prepare for it and for me to sign there.) Meaningful Connection: A Workshop Time: Saturday, September 9, 2017, 3 - 5 pm Location: Tompkins Square Library, Basement   Register Now for: Meaningful Connection: A Workshop   Meaningful Connection: this workshop practices the skills of creating a meaningful connection with anyone…

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August 8, 2017
See my interview on the Transformative Leadership Summit TODAY, for 48 hours only
Joshua Spodek on the Transformative Leadership Summit
Education / Leadership

See my interview on the Transformative Leadership Summit TODAY, for 48 hours only

My webinar on leadership, education, and learning to lead is on the Transformative Leadership Summit TODAY. It's valuable, but is a teaser that will only be free for 48 hours. I recommend watching. No obligation to participate in the summit, buy you may find you want to. I'm very impressed with Jethro, who is running it. I'm doing it as a friend who likes his work. I don't get anything out of it. Here's the link, featuring my video TODAY and TOMORROW.

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August 3, 2017
Audio / Education / Leadership

See me tomorrow on the Transformative Leadership Summit, for a limited time only

      My webinar on leadership, education, and learning to lead will appear on the Transformative Leadership Summit tomorrow. It's valuable, but is a teaser that will only be free for 48 hours. I recommend watching it. No obligation to participate in the summit, buy you may find you want to. I'm very impressed with Jethro, who is running it. I'm doing it as a friend who likes his work. I don't get anything out of it. Here's the link, featuring my video starting 8am August 3.        

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August 2, 2017
Unleashed – How to Thrive as an Independent Professional, Will Bachman’s elite podcast
Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional, the Joshua Spodek interview
Audio / Leadership

Unleashed – How to Thrive as an Independent Professional, Will Bachman’s elite podcast

Will Bachman hosts the podcast, "Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional." He also co-founded the tremendous online community of top-tier management consultants, Umbrex. Will and I have known each other online for a decade as Columbia Business School alumni active in leadership. We recorded this conversation in-person at my apartment. Listen for an intimate, unfiltered inside view of my life as we walk around my place and Will asks me to describe various things---my garbage, my blackboard and what's written on it, and inside things like that. If you read my stuff and want an inside view, this is your chance. Here are Will's episode notes: Our guest today is Josh Spodek, the author of Leadership Step by Step. Josh is an…

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July 31, 2017
My interview on the It Will Come podcast
Joshua Spodek and Geoge Samuels on the It Will Come podcast
Audio / Leadership

My interview on the It Will Come podcast

George Samuels hosts the It Will Come podcast. Its subtitle, "A philosophy of success through patience, persistence and momentum" is right up the alley of someone like me with my years of daily burpees, blog posts, cold showers, and other sidchas. He posted our conversation, "How To Become The Leader Other People Will Follow." I'd write how much I enjoyed the conversation and how I recommend it, but his comprehensive show notes, below, tell you enough already. I like his thoroughness. I also liked his disarming friendliness. Listen to the conversation. The episode notes 👤 About Joshua Spodek Joshua Spodek is the bestselling author of Leadership Step by Step, an Adjunct Professor at NYU, leadership coach and workshop leader for Columbia Business School, columnist for Inc., and…

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July 31, 2017
Zuckerberg and DiCaprio Take Heat for Flying Too Much
"Zuckerberg and DiCaprio Take Heat for Flying Too Much," my Inc. post today
Choosing/Decision-Making / Inc.com / Leadership

Zuckerberg and DiCaprio Take Heat for Flying Too Much

My Inc. post today, "Zuckerberg and DiCaprio Take Heat for Flying Too Much," begins Zuckerberg and DiCaprio Take Heat for Flying Too Much There is no half-integrity. Do it all the way or it undermines your leadership. Mark Zuckerberg announced a few months ago his plan to visit every state to learn more about people who use Facebook--people who struggle to make ends meet or fall through the cracks. Leonardo DiCaprio was named United Nations representative on climate change in 2014, which he followed up with the movie Before the Flood and many statements on slowing climate change and reducing pollution. Criticism Next thing you know, Zuckerberg faces criticism for not seeing the people struggling to make ends meet on his payroll, in his back yard. As the Guardian reports, Read the rest at Zuckerberg and…

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July 27, 2017
My C-Suite TV interview! [video]
Joshua Spodek on C-Suite TV
Leadership

My C-Suite TV interview! [video]

C-Suite TV released its interview of me on Leadership Step by Step for the show Best Seller TV. Click here for the hosting site While there, please click to share the link. I'm very happy with how it turned out and hope to spread the word. As you know, the book gets phenomenal reviews, now at 98% 5-star reviews, but people still have to hear of it. Here is the press release: July 25, 2017 10:06 ET Performance Based Leadership: Are People Born Leaders? The Latest Episode of Best Seller TV's Features Author Joshua Spodek And Kicks Off The Show's Fifth Season NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jul 25, 2017) -   Best Seller TV, one of the top online business shows on C-Suite TV, is announcing its latest…

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July 25, 2017
Transformative Leadership, a guest post from Jethro Jones
Education / Leadership / Stories

Transformative Leadership, a guest post from Jethro Jones

Jethro Jones is hosting the Transformative Leadership summit. I know him because he hosts the Transformative Principal podcast. Here's my conversation with him, "How You Learn Is As Important As What You Learn." I'm participating in the summit. We recorded part of my session, and if you want to improve your leadership, you'll benefit from the summit. I recommend signing up! There are many short recordings of what you'll hear at the online event so you can learn and find out more. Longtime readers know I barely promote anything that isn't my book or courses, but I'm promoting Jethro. Jethro is guest posting the following: Leadership, education, and you When a principal cares Jonathon was a 7th grade student who moved from Florida to Alaska.…

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July 21, 2017
Leadership and the Environment podcast overview and structure
Audio / Leadership / Nature / Podcast

Leadership and the Environment podcast overview and structure

Overview Leadership and the Environment features influencers who care about the environment leading by example by taking on personal challenges to live by their values---a challenge in today's world. Guests have loved it for showcasing them as authentic, empathetic leaders and giving them a chance to act on values that they've put on hold. Guests don't need environmental expertise. They including luminaries such as Dan Pink, multiple #1 NY Times bestseller, over 40 million TED views Marshall Goldsmith, multiple #1 bestseller, #1 rated leadership coach Frances Hesselbein, Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, CEO of Girl Scouts, named "Best leader in America" by Peter Drucker John Lee Dumas, Founder and host, Entrepreneur on Fire Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New Yorker writer Michael Bungay Stanier,…

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July 20, 2017

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