Posted: November 26, 2014 | Categories: Leadership, Management

Humility:  “To refrain from boasting.  To minimize personal accomplishments in favor of building others” (Webster’s definition)

Put yourself in this scene:  You are interviewing someone for a key leadership position in your company.  The person you are interviewing is poised, confident,  and articulate.  When you ask a question, they are sure-footed and think quickly on their feet.  Everything looks and sounds good, but in the back of your mind something doesn’t feel right.  In spite of this “bad vibe” you hire the person anyway because you are anxious to fill the position.  What happens when we ignore that “little voice”?  It usually ends up being a disaster.Read More…

Posted: November 13, 2014 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement, Team Building

Are you the easy going, “don’t worry” type?  If so, you probably need to give some credit to those who surround you – particularly those of the strategist style.  It is almost painful for me to write about these folks.  They demand so much of themselves.  They are thorough, painstaking, hard-working tacticians who are very structured and instinctively good at analyzing people and solving problems. They believe in following the rules and are thoughtful and deliberate in their actions.  They evaluate everything and everyone.  A passion for accuracy is their driving force and they are particularly hard on themselves when they make mistakes.  They are usually diplomatic and communicate clearly.Read More…

Posted: October 23, 2014 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement

Now it is time to explore the 3rd style of communication – the mediator.  If all the world were completely of this style, there probably wouldn’t be any wars.  I doubt that hockey or football would have ever been invented either.  Those who are of the mediator style tend to be gentle, subtle, indirect, and inclusive.  They seek to understand others and built bridges of good will.  They are well-liked and seldom “ruffle feathers”.  Rooting for the underdog comes naturally to the mediator because of their innate compassion.  They show appreciation and are creative with lots of ideas, and do so with a “laugh-at’life” sense of humor.  Unlike the “presenting” style, they are not motivated by being in the spotlight and are quite comfortable doing their work on the sidelines.Read More…

Posted: October 14, 2014 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement, Team Building

Today I would like to talk about the first quadrant of the four personality types listed in the last blog – the “Driver” (choleric).  Before I begin, I want to emphasize that this is not one of those personality tests where someone tries to categorize us or put us in a box.  The purpose here is to improve our skills in communication and managing relationships.  In the roles we play each day, the understanding of ourselves and the basic personal style of others can create more quality conversations.Read More…

Posted: October 8, 2014 | Categories: Leadership, Sales, Self-Improvement

“If out of reading this book you get just one thing – an increased tendency to think always in terms of other people’s point of view, and see things from their angle – if you get that one thing out of this book, it may easily prove to be one of the building blocks of your career” -Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends and Influence People)

I read the above words for the first time about 40 years ago.  In my years of managing and coaching since then, I have found this to be an absolute truth.  Since I read that book, I have been on a never-ending search on ways to keep growing in my ability to understand and positively influence others.

I want to share with you one of the most useful tools I have learned in keeping communication and understanding strong.  I call it the four quadrants.  Their origin goes back to ancient Greek/Roman times.  They have been used as the foundation of personality profiles in modern day.  Here they are:Read More…