See it as an opportunity to expand your network and build your personal brand
The Wall Street Journal says that the reunion season is about 25 per cent busier this year due to the class get-togethers postponed during COVID. Here’s the story With this larger-than-usual attendance, a pent-up desire for in-person connection, and an increase in social anxiety, comes a wonderful opportunity to expand your network and build your…
Your audience isn't only evaluating your words; it is also “reading” your voice
In 2002, a Stanford University professor made audiotapes of physicians and their patients in session. Half of the doctors had previously been brought to court for malpractice. She then played the tapes for her students, who were able to determine which physicians had been sued. But here’s the catch: The recordings were “content-filtered.” All the…
Charismatic leaders utilize a powerful combination of confidence and warmth communication cues
As a leadership presence coach working with an array of talented clients, I was surprised to find how many people believed they lacked personal charisma. They believed, instead, that charisma is a talent granted to a few special people. I disagree. According to the “Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance,” a 900-page academic book,…
A lack of eye contact indicates a lack of interest
You were having an intense conversation with a woman you met at a networking event when she began to shift her gaze from your face to look around the room. Did that make you feel as if she’d stopped listening? If so, it wasn’t a logical reaction. You know that a person doesn’t have to…
Own your success, take your place at the table and power up your body language
Sandra was introduced to me as a highly successful business professional with exceptional leadership skills. She was being groomed for a top executive position and she sounded perfect for my favourite kind of coaching assignment: I love working with accomplished women who are looking to become even more effective. It should have come as a…
Here are my top four strategies
Because I’ve trained them to do so, I know that many negotiators have learned how to read body language and use the resulting insights to their advantage. But I also know that other negotiators miss valuable opportunities simply because they don’t pay attention. They get so wrapped up in what’s being said or in the…
Treat them the way they wish to be treated
Bill Toppeta, a former executive officer of MetLife, Inc., once told the Fordham Leadership Forum, “What you need to know as the leader is what motivates your people, not what motivates you.” To bring this philosophy into reality, here is the simple yet revealing exercise Toppeta used: He would distribute a questionnaire to managers and…
10 sneaky tricks people can use to raise their credibility and lower your guard
During my years as a therapist, it became second nature to notice the body language of my clients. During our conversations, I would sit across from people and try to infer how they really felt about an issue from their nonverbal signals. When clients were authentic, their expressions, gestures, and expressions were aligned with their…
You’ve got to get out there and make sure your colleagues know who you are
There is no doubt that women face unique challenges in being promoted to leadership roles. One of them is the unconscious bias that results in fewer such opportunities being made available to them. In a New York Times article, Isabelle Kocher, former CEO of the French energy company Engie, talked about how sexism in the…
Whether you feel secure or think your job may soon disappear
While we can't control the economy or the other forces of change, we can position ourselves to survive and even thrive in challenging times. Here are a dozen tips to consider, whether you feel secure or think your job may soon disappear: 1. Don't get caught unaware. Too often, workers fail to recognize the early…
It doesn’t take much to make people feel left out
Naomi Eisenberger, a social neuroscience researcher at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), designed an experiment to find out what goes on in the brain when people feel rejected by others. She had volunteers play a computer game while their brains were scanned by fMRI machines. Subjects thought they were playing a ball-tossing…
Self-starters don’t wait to be empowered
After my speech on Building Leadership Presence for a large business organization, an audience member raised her hand to comment: “I’m new to the company, but there is one change that I wish we’d make. I think we need a mentor program where we’d be paired with an experienced manager to have someone ‘show us…
How skilled are you at expressing your authentic self?
You are talented, skilled, and highly competent, with positive business results that have been responsible for your career progress to this point. What more could you possibly need? At a certain level, the force that will catapult you to more senior positions of leadership may have less to do with the abilities that got you…
Learn to unlearn to detach yourself from the status quo and move forward
Want to add real value to your team, your company, or your profession? Want to stay influential and relevant? Want to enhance your reputation as an effective and transparent leader? Then learn to unlearn - and share those lessons. Not that it’s easy to do so. We become psychologically attached to the status quo because…
But stay open to the unpredictable and exciting opportunities life has in store for you
Working with clients as a therapist in private practice and now as an executive coach, I’ve learned some valuable but unorthodox lessons about goal setting: Don’t focus on building up your areas of weakness. Talents overlooked may atrophy, and weaknesses – regardless of how much effort is put into trying to improve them – will…