Leadership

Writing a book is work!

Writing a book is work!

I can't believe how much time and how many steps go into writing a book: Ten or twenty years to develop the ideas enough to have the nerve to put yourself out there to try it Six months to a year to write a book proposal, itself 45 pages Months of talking to editors to solicit bids Months to negotiate a contract Months to write the book Editing Editing More editing Type setting And so on... The above just leads up to the marketing, which is where I am now because on Monday my book went to print! That's right. Somewhere in a warehouse or book printing building is a pile of thousands of my book. Actually, I don't know how long it takes to…

November 24, 2016

Entrepreneurship / Leadership

Another difference between management and leadership

"What's the difference between leadership and management," people often ask. Here's one difference I often illustrate with. Most people I know haven't sold things and are afraid of selling. They fear rejection, failure, putting themselves out there, bothering people, and those parts of selling. They know most people feel the same. A great manager can create incentives for someone to sell, like with big commissions, training, resources, and a clear job description, but it's almost impossible to get someone who hasn't sold to sell successfully, putting their hearts into it. A great leader can inspire someone to feel such ownership of a project that they want it to succeed so much, that they'll do what it takes to make the project work. If that means…

November 23, 2016

Leadership / Nature

Two big problems with how we work on global warming, and solutions

I recommend Before the Flood, a documentary on global warming by Leonardo Di Caprio, Martin Scorcese, and others, including music by Trent Reznor. It's free on YouTube [EDIT: it keeps getting removed, though people seem to repost it so if you search you may find it]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxGOQDiWImA Two big problems Problem #1: the people who know what's happening---the scientists---are unskilled at influencing others and the people skilled at influencing others, like Di Caprio, don't have credibility as actors and celebrities. The result is that the most influential people come from neither group, but from groups with personal interests, like the Koch brothers and Donald Trump. Sadly, they are the main leaders in the field. As a result, as sea levels rise to submerge homes of…

November 21, 2016

If you voted for Hillary Clinton, face it, you lost.

I'm sympathetic to people who wanted Hillary Clinton to win. I didn't want Trump either. But I've read the Constitution and it's very clear. If you believe Hillary Clinton was the most qualified candidate, I suggest you read the Constitution, Article 2. It clearly states the qualifications for the office---mainly to be A naturally born citizen, at least 35 years old, having lived in the country for 14 years, not having served two terms already, and having won the electoral college vote. That's it. We all knew the rules before. Hillary Clinton got four out of five of those qualifications, but not the fifth. Donald Trump got all five. Everyone who talks about her being more qualified for having spent so much time in the…

November 17, 2016

Inc.com / Leadership

How Donald Trump Can Make Himself One of the Greatest Presidents in History

My Inc.com article yesterday, "How Donald Trump Can Make Himself One of the Greatest Presidents in History," began How Donald Trump Can Make Himself One of the Greatest Presidents in History He is uniquely positioned to advance America as much as anyone before, in 2 steps. A man who ridicules global warming won the presidency. Being miserable doesn't help, so while some protest and others counter-protest, I look ahead to what is to come and what can be done about it. I believe global warming is the biggest threat to our future. And I fear a president's disbelieving it will be the greatest threat to working on it. It may also be one of our greatest opportunities. How? Read the rest at How Donald Trump…

November 15, 2016

New email provider means you might be getting my newsletter for the first time

Blog / Leadership

New email provider means you might be getting my newsletter for the first time

Hello all, I'm changing the email provider for my newsletter. It turns out the old one was hitting some filters, so some of you may be getting my newsletter for the first time. So if you signed up a long time ago and are just seeing your first newsletter from me, welcome aboard! ... and sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoy the newsletter. Why I changed I changed because I'm starting to get the word out about my book, Leadership Step by Step, to launch in February. Here's a blurb from the back cover: Joshua is changing the game for leadership development and creating positive change. His insight to give a progression of exercises to practice is a once-in-a-lifetime game-changing advance in our…

November 14, 2016

Inc.com / Leadership

This COO Shares His No. 1 Best Way to Advance

My Inc.com post today, "This COO Shares His No. 1 Best Way to Advance," begins This COO Shares His No. 1 Best Way to Advance Nothing moves you up faster than moving your team up. To advance yourself, advance your team. I noticed the conversations with one of my clients--Scott Moody, COO and CFO of the Bonten Media Group---often included discussions on his efforts to help his team with their professional development. He believes any business should invest in this process, and I interviewed him to share with others some of his most effective yet simplest practices. When he told me how much support he gave his team, I could see where the loyalty and teamwork came from. So I interviewed him to share with…

November 11, 2016

Education / Leadership

A student review: “I love this course… It is the wave of the future”

As part of teaching my leadership course at NYU, I give out a mid-semester evaluation. One student gave me permission to quote her evaluation. Here it is, unedited, besides my making the name of the course a link and making some text bold: What I like about the course, Leadership Step by Step, is my understanding of the decisions I make and why I think the way I do. From emotions to feelings to acting on a belief. Through work, friends and family my direct interactions with people have been enriched. I adjusted my speech and I chose to use different words. I am learning that communication is an effective tool and can be productive when used correctly. Why I choose certain paths and how…

November 11, 2016

Inc.com / Leadership

Why She Lost

My Inc.com post today, "Why She Lost," begins Why She Lost A two-part lesson in leadership we can all learn from Two glaring reasons explain Hillary Clinton's loss. We can all learn from them. First: Emotional Skills What makes someone a leader? More than anything else, they must motivate others to achieve a goal. Motivation means emotions. As carpenters work with saws and tools on wood, surgeons work with scalpels and their tools on the body, and plumbers work with wrenches on pipes, and leaders work with emotions on people. Read the rest at Why She Lost.

November 9, 2016

Education / Leadership

The core of my leadership technique

I've been refining how to describe my technique in leading others succinctly: Leading others is about behaving and communicating so the other person feels comfortable sharing their vulnerabilities. Their vulnerabilities tend to be their greatest passions and strongest motivations. Their sharing their passions makes them feel understood and open to being led to act on it. In fact, they crave being led by their passions. With experience, their sharing their motivations with you feels like them asking you to lead them with them. Connecting their passions to the team task imbues their work with meaning and inspires them. You supporting them for their passion creates loyalty and makes their motivation endure. Most of your time leading, and then managing once they start, is about support.…

October 29, 2016

Leadership Step by Step: first sightings of my book!

Education / Leadership

Leadership Step by Step: first sightings of my book!

Over the weekend I got the first printed copies of my book! I've been working on it intensely for months, and building up to that intensity for longer than that. I've been developing the content and my practice for the better part of a decade. Some parts more. It feels great to hold it in my hands. I couldn't help take a few pictures with my phone, damn the torpedoes on the picture quality. I had to share! I'm still editing and ramping up the marketing, but the first physical copy feels like a major milestone. Stay tuned! More to come!

October 24, 2016

Spodek Academy on Facebook!

Education / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

Spodek Academy on Facebook!

See the new Spodek Academy Facebook pageâ€¦ My courses (available now!) and book (launching in February!) are growing beyond this blog and deserve their own site. Yesterday I announced the new Spodek Academy web page (despite my aversion to Facebook and LinkedIn). Today I'm announcing the Facebook page, which will host forums, discussions, and more on leadership, entrepreneurship, active learning, hustling, The Fundamentals of Hustling, and more. As subscribers, would you please click here or the image below and like the page? You'll be glad you did as the community there grows with alumni of my courses and other skilled, passionate leaders and people who get the job done with empathy, self-awareness, meaning, value, importance, and purpose. Please also connect to the Joshua Spodek LinkedIn…

October 21, 2016

Announcing Spodek Academy!

Education / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

Announcing Spodek Academy!

See my new web page... My courses (available now!) and book (launching in February!) are growing beyond this blog and deserve their own site. Click Spodek Academy or the image below! You'll see videos, fuller explanations of the courses, testimonials, and more. ... And new social media sites! To create business connections with customers (and in contrast with my aversion to Facebook and LinkedIn), I'm creating Facebook and LinkedIn pages. So... Please like Spodek Academy's Facebook page Please connect to the Joshua Spodek LinkedIn page And connect to @spodek on Twitter You'll probably receive LinkedIn connection requests anyway.

October 20, 2016

Inc.com / Leadership

Marshall Goldsmith: How to Become More Than Just No. 1

My second Inc.com piece from last Monday, "Marshall Goldsmith: How to Become More Than Just No. 1," began Marshall Goldsmith: How to Become More Than Just No. 1 Faced with the challenge of nowhere to go but down, Marshall Goldsmith offers the world his wisdom, and keeps going up Successful leaders know how to keep leading. We can learn from them. Inc. has written about Marshall Goldsmith many times. He writes here. With good reason: he's written #1 bestselling books, been named #1 leadership thinker, coached clients named #1 CEO, learned from other #1 leaders, and so on. That's a lot of #1's. Most people wouldn't see it as something you need to solve, but he wrote the book on it, literally: What Got You…

October 4, 2016

See me on an entrepreneurial leadership panel, October 13 in Manhattan

Education / Entrepreneurship / Events / Leadership

See me on an entrepreneurial leadership panel, October 13 in Manhattan

See me on a panel on entrepreneurial leadership with the Columbia Business School Alumni Club (all are welcome, membership not required), Thursday, October 13, 6pm-8pm at Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, 1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY. Register Here! I look forward to seeing you there. From the event page: Entrepreneurial Leadership: Leadership in Starting a New Business Effective leadership is of vital importance at all stages of a business. Particularly to a new venture, have you thought of the impact of leadership on transforming an innovative idea into a successful business? Do you know what particular leadership skills are key to building a start-up? Are you curious about what leadership lessons successful entrepreneurs have learned from their own experiences? This event provides…

September 26, 2016

Op/Ed Fridays: Why do the candidates want to be President?

A major point of leadership as I teach and practice it is to learn the interests of your teammates and to share yours with them. If you only care about and focus on behavior and external incentives, you're stuck leading by authority. You can't create meaning or purpose in the work you lead people to do. Meaning and purpose come from connecting people emotions to their work. Even if you aren't leading someone, knowing teammates' motivations helps teams function more like teams. Sharing your motivations, especially strong ones, makes you vulnerable but also creates intimacy, which creates trust, predictability, and other elements of effective teamwork. Have the two current presidential candidates revealed why they want to become President? I don't mean, have they revealed their…

September 23, 2016

What are vulnerability and intimacy?

To develop trust, for someone to have your back, or for you to have someone else's, which means for teams to work optimally, people have to allow themselves to be vulnerable to each other. People throw the term around a lot. How precisely can you define it? To be vulnerable and to make others feel comfortable around you, it helps to know the word's meaning precisely My working definition of vulnerability is openness to being hurt. You can be vulnerable physically, emotionally, and intellectually, among other ways. People who have gotten hurt often protect their vulnerability to avoid becoming hurt again. Being intimate with someone means you're allowing yourself to be vulnerable with them. People often associate intimacy with physical intimacy, which they associate with…

September 22, 2016

Inc.com / Leadership

How leaders get followers

My post on Inc.com today, "How Leaders Get Followers" begins How Leaders Get Followers Getting promoted or starting a venture so people get paid to do what you say doesn't make them followers. Here's what does. Most people think to become a leader, you just get promoted or start a venture until you have a team below you: the bigger the team, the more people reporting to you, the more of a leader you are. That's not leading, that's authority. They aren't necessarily following, they might just need the money your authority controls. Read the rest at How Leaders Get Followers.

September 15, 2016

Education / Leadership

How world leaders learn

I'm reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography, which I find fascinating and highly recommend, even if you know a lot about him already. Teaching and coaching at NYU and Columbia, speaking at Harvard, Princeton, MIT, INSEAD, and so on, I see a lot of what many would consider the pinnacle of our educational system. Teaching a non-lecture-based non-test-based style shows me the flaws in this system, how much of it is designed for administrators more than students, and why so many leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, and such exited it. By contrast to what our society holds as elite, read how Mandela finished college after he ran away one year before finishing. He was living in a slum in Johannesburg, working at a law firm, finishing his degree by…

September 12, 2016

Take my Leadership Course this fall at NYU, Wednesdays starting September 21

Education / Events / Leadership

Take my Leadership Course this fall at NYU, Wednesdays starting September 21

I am offering my leadership course at NYU this fall at NYU's School of Professional Studies Wednesdays 6pm - 9pm September 21 - December 13 (12 sessions, no class Thanksgiving) Here is the syllabus Register here! Limited seats available (9 last I checked) Student reviews from my courses The course will show you why my courses get reviews like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxo-msa9dGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnblmP_VlHg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzm7iL6reFY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoL4zWav8Hw Register here! Limited seats available (9 last I checked) "This is one of the greatest classes I have ever taken. It was engaging, thought provoking, challenging, and fun. Josh is an incredible teacher, mentor, and friend to everyone in the class who is passionate about the subject matter. If I could take this class all over again, I would" — "10/10 would…

September 9, 2016

Looking for a mastermind group?

Creativity / Entrepreneurship / Events / Leadership

Looking for a mastermind group?

Do you have ideas or potential you're looking to develop? Do you find having others help while you help them spurs more creativity and action? Then you may want to work with a mastermind group. My friend and fellow coach, Silvia Christmann, is leading two eight-week curated groups, one starting September 15, the other September 20. While I coach, I don't have any stake in her work. I can tell you that if you like my perspective and how I work, you'll like working with her too. She has helped me through difficult times with sensitivity and caring. She has effective entrepreneurial, coaching, and leadership skills. Click here to learn more and sign up Click here for a webinar to learn more Click here to…

September 3, 2016

Influence and persuasion: What academia since Aristotle missed

I don't study philosophy, but I've been reading up on Aristotle and his Rhetoric, which is about persuasion. I'd rather put myself out there and have someone call me ignorant and foolish and set me straight than remain blissfully ignorant. I teach and write about persuasion. This stuff is interesting to me. Aristotle's Rhetoric treats three main modes of influence, mostly based in words: Credibility (ethos) Emotions and psychology of the audience (pathos) Patterns of reasoning (logos) I learned techniques rooted in this theory in college---how to write an effective essay. The problem is that most academics aren't persuasive and don't know how to persuade. Leaders do. How many professors do you consider effective leaders beyond their classes? I've found "To convince" means "to provoke…

September 2, 2016

Leadership / Relationships / Tips

How off-the-mark gifts destroy relationships, what to do about it, and how it helps you as a leader

Do you ever get a gift that's almost what you want, but not quite? People who know me know I don't like books, as I wrote about in "Less, please". Sometimes someone gives me a book. I don't want it. I can get it from the library across the street from me. Now I have to feel weird selling to a bookstore for $5 something you paid $25 for. What do you do about the mismatch? You feel awkward, they see you as ungrateful... If you thank them, they may buy you more of what you don't want. Others may see and think you want more of what you don't. You risk getting attached to this thing you don't want. You want to thank them…

September 1, 2016

Leadership / Relationships / Tips

Start conversations and relationships with “passion”: vindicated by Fast Company

A reader and former NYU collaborator sent me this article from Fast Company under their "Leadership" heading: "27 Questions To Ask Instead Of "What Do You Do?" She knows my passion for effective and meaningful conversation, making people feel comfortable sharing their vulnerabilities, and supporting them on things they care about. Longtime readers will remember how I disparage "So what do you do?" as a leach that saps passion from conversation in favor of boring small talk that, by not risking hitting a vulnerability, avoids hitting what the person cares about. In my post "How to stop boring everyone you meet" I describe alternatives. My favorite conversation starter is "What's your passion?", which many people push back on. I read their concern as coming from…

August 31, 2016

Inc.com / Leadership

Why This Ivy-League Physics PhD Teaches Leadership, Not Science

My Inc.com article today, "Why This Ivy-League Physics PhD Teaches Leadership, Not Science," begins Why This Ivy-League Physics PhD Teaches Leadership, Not Science The world's big problems come from our behavior. Science doesn't change behavior. Leadership does. Another week of hot, humid summer weather (sorry Australia) means more freezing offices where I have to bundle up. Might as well learn a lesson from it in the differences between science, engineering, and leadership. I got my PhD in physics from Columbia. But I teach leadership now. Here's why I moved away from teaching science. Read the rest at Why This Ivy-League Physics PhD Teaches Leadership, Not Science.

August 15, 2016

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