Manager Mojo with Steve Caldwell

Dr. Alvin C. Miles           What is Your Relationship with Near Success?  What is your relationship with near success, almost succeeding, but not quite? You’ve achieved something, but it wasn’t ‘it’. Did you fail? Is this the end or just a stepping stone? Your mindset will control which direction you choose. If you’re not getting the results desired, it’s time to think about what you’ve been thinking about. What happens between your ears is what is driving your success. Having a ‘fixed’ or ‘growth’ mindset could be the difference. Remember when the mile hadn’t been run in less than four minutes? In fact, it was a commonly held belief that four minutes was impossible. Why didn’t Roger Bannister believe that? What is the difference? Whether you think you can or you can’t, your mindset is controlling the outcome. Don’t allow ‘near success’ to be your success. Think about what you’re thinking about, and create the mindset to achieve anything you want. This podcast can help you get started.   Learn more of

Adam Markel                 Use Rituals to Support Resiliency as a Leader  Have you ever had a moment when you realized that everything you’d been taught growing up wasn’t working for you? We’re taught to go to school, get a ‘good job,’ and to work hard.  There’s nothing wrong with any of that, and in fact, it can be good advice.  Sometimes, however, we find ourselves in jobs that, when we wake up in the morning, we feel we can’t go another day.  Overcome the horror of being stuck by creating rituals that support your life and career and allow you to pivot.  The quality of your life depends upon consciously selected habits, or ‘rituals.’  Select the rituals that support the life you love.  None of us is promised tomorrow, so make the most of today through supportive rituals and learn to pivot in your career and life.    To learn more about Adam Markel and his work, you can visit here.  To start your pivot and download the Kickstart Guide, click here.   Click here to check out our newest leadersh

Jacqueline Carter                 They Will Give Up a Pay Increase to See You Fired!  As a leader, you know how difficult that responsibility is. In fact, it is so difficult that 80% of your people think you are doing a bad job engaging them. AND, 65% of employees would give up their next pay increase just to see you fired! Now that’s an eye opener. We’ve lost sight of what leadership is all about. It is not about the managing of people, systems and ‘stuff.’ Critical qualities for the successful leader to embrace are mindfulness, selflessness and compassion. Do you think those sound soft and woo-woo? They aren’t. In fact, they are darn difficult to achieve. Jacqueline Carter pays a return visit to the Manager Mojo podcast to discuss the findings in her new book MIND OF THE LEADER: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results. Check it out – before you get fired.   Learn more about Jacqueline Carter's new book MIND OF THE LEADER: How to Lead Yourself, Your People

Morten Hansen                 Have the Mindset of a Top Achiever – Do the Minimum Necessary What does it mean to work smarter? Does it mean to do each task better than the other person, or could it mean to stop doing it and work less? If you guessed the latter, you would be right. We’ve bought into the notion that hard work is necessary to achieve big results. Top performers aren’t lazy. They are focused on results. What can be eliminated from the work routine that steals time and doesn’t contribute value-added time to the result? It is time to challenge the traditional way of thinking and to consider new conventions of success. What are you currently doing that you should stop doing, that will allow you to focus better and achieve better results? Why do kids have homework in school? Why do hotels check in their guests? Good questions! Start focusing on value and result, and you will be focusing time and attention on the few critical processes that will lead to success.   Learn more about Morten Han

Brian M. Harman                   Don’t Be a Leadersh*t Skid Mark  It is no secret, that with all the training and coaching available today, the world is widely devoid of great management and leadership. Why does the ability of people in supervisory and managerial positions suffer so greatly?  All the circumstances in your life have been and are opportunities to practice good leadership.  Leaders must understand how powerful they can be with a well-planned message.  Is your mojo coming through to the team?  As Brian M. Harman says in his book Learn Laugh Lead – How to Avoid a Hugh Leadersh*t, “Are you going to be a skid mark in the pants of life, or are you going to be the leader needed?”  That’s a great question for all of us to ask, and you can begin with the insight Brian shares in this podcast.   Learn more about Brian Harman and his free storytelling webinars by clicking here.  Check out his book, Learn, Laugh, Lead: How to Avoid a Huge Leadersh*t by clicking here.     Click here to check

Colleen DeBaise                   Do you Have a Brilliant Idea Worth Millions?  Do you have thoughts of one day becoming an entrepreneur and owning your own business? Turning your brilliant idea into a successful business sounds exciting, but it also requires the necessary skills and abilities to go from an idea to thriving. That being said, you don’t need months of market research or writing business plans behind you before hanging your shingle. Get started right away with minimal product and make tweaks as you go. Colleen DeBaise, a business journalist and author of Start a Successful Business: Expert Advice to Take Your Startup from Idea to Empire has spent a career covering entrepreneurship and small business. She shares some of her insights in this podcast, and those insights could be the impetus for you to turn your big idea into a successful enterprise.   Learn more about Colleen DeBaise and Inc Magazine by clicking the links.  You can also check out Colleen's new book Start a Successful Bus

Lisa Nirell                   Start Designing a New Future for Customers and Teams Technology has taken over how we live, work and play. While we often think of tech as the norm, a new future has arrived, one where self-awareness is a critical component that leaders should bring to their teams, customers and board. As a leader, each day you make choices with your time to deal with chronic issues, respond to problems or create a new future for customers and teams. In an age of transparency, customers can write and comment about us anonymously, both positively and negatively. Be willing to ask customers questions and be prepared for good and bad news. Appreciate your customers’ willingness to be straight with you. Unfortunately, less than 8% of leaders choose to design new futures and it’s time to consider priorities. Listen to what Lisa Nirell, author of The Mindful Marketer, has to say in this podcast.   Learn more about Lisa Nirell and check out her book The Mindful Marketer: How to Stay Present a

Cort Dial                   Great Leaders Focus Less on Strategy and More on People  “I have a strategic plan” is not a quote we remember Martin Luther King, Jr. saying at the Lincoln Memorial. Great leaders focus less on strategy and more on people.  They understand how affecting the feelings of people can inspire others to climb the mountain with them.  Have you ever been told that your ideas weren’t welcome and to focus on your job?  That’s likely because you are a heretic (soon to be hero), who is on the way to becoming a great leader.  The world needs you!  In his book, Heretics to Hero: A Memoir on Modern Leadership, Cort Dial discusses, through storytelling, the leadership lessons he learned throughout a career on skyscrapers and in South American jungles.   To learn more about Cort Dial, his work and his book Heretics to Hero: A Memoir on Modern Leadership, click here.       Click here to check out our newest leadership development tool – LEAD – Leadership Education and Development  

Is Fear Keeping You From Planning?                   Is Fear Keeping You From Planning? PLANNING – Can you feel your skin crawl? Why is it that most of us dislike planning?  Are we afraid of not achieving our goals?  Or, are we afraid we just might succeed in achieving those big, fat, audacious dreams?  Either way, it stops us, and we let life drift by, going with the flow, not feeling the success we desire, but not feeling like a total loser either.  Kind of blah.  Limbo land.    Are those the things you hope to achieve in your life?  As we begin a new year – or at any time – listen to these inspirational thoughts from Steve about why a little planning can make a world of difference in your happiness and fulfillment.   Click here to check out our newest leadership development tool – LEAD – Leadership Education and Development             Steve Caldwell is an executive mentor and coach to managers and leaders who desire to excel in their career and become the leader others want to follow.

Ed Eppley                   The Higher Up the Ladder, the More the Game Changes  Leadership is one of the most arduous challenges you will ever accept. On its surface, leadership is thought of as directing people to a common goal. It is, yet so much more. In today’s podcast, Steve has a conversation with Ed Eppley, the author of Let’s Be Clear: 6 Disciplines of Focused Management Pros, who discusses six management disciplines that are essential for every leader who moves up the ladder to understand and master. Mindsets need to change, mature and evolve time, as does the leader’s skills, efforts and results. Focus is on outcomes, not on how hard everyone is working. How effective are you being as a leader? Listen to the two men talk and decide for yourself.   Learn more about Ed Eppley and his work by clicking here.  You can also download the first chapter of his book, Let's Be Clear: 6 Disciplines of Focused Management Pros, by clicking here.     Click here to check out our newest leadership d

3 Steps to Win in a World of Mediocrity                     3 Steps to Win in a World of Mediocrity  As we approach the end of the year, listen to this podcast to get you focused for 2018 -- Remember when your Mom or Dad used to say, “If your friend jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?” Many of us have a desire to follow the crowd. We don’t want to stick out and appear ‘weird.’ The problem is that excellence never follows the crowd and mediocrity is what’s normal. That’s what the crowd pursues. Pursuing excellence means that we will stick out and be made to feel weird. But don’t let that stop you! The world needs people of excellence who are willing to stick out and be counted. Remember that guy you saw on headline news last night, the one who hasn’t done anything yet? Only the people who are willing to do something and who are willing to stick out are the ones who will win in a world of mediocrity. If you need inspiration to stay on the road to excellence, you’ll find it in this podcast.  

Robert MacPhee               How to Make Excellent Decisions  We do it every day, but for many it is difficult – decision making. Too many are stumped by different options. Like the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, they could go this way, or they could go that way. Either way is just fine. But which way is the best? Who’s to know? Today’s hectic business climate requires leaders to make decisions quickly, and to do that you need a framework, a guide to facilitate those choices. For businesses that operate with a Mission/Purpose Statement, that should be the guide. If that is lacking, there are other options you can follow. Whether you struggle with decision making or not, this podcast will provide thought-provoking ideas for guiding the choices you are making for the organization.   Learn more about Robert MacPhee by visiting www.ExcellentDecisions.com.     Click here to check out our newest leadership development tool – LEAD – Leadership Education and Development              Steve Caldwe

May McCarthy                 PURPOSE and WHY Lead to Greater Success Are you crystal clear about the purpose and why of your business? Does it mesh with your personal purpose and why? When a business has clarity, employees are more engaged and productive. When you are personally clear, your work offers more meaning and you do it for more than a paycheck. Clarity about a business’s purpose can provide the fuel and impetus for customers and other stakeholders to support you. Loyalty increases and so do referrals. Being focused solely on the financial reason of why we work leads to a shallow dead-end. Combine the financial reason with a purpose, and your business is more likely to thrive as is your personal satisfaction. Get on the road to clarifying your purpose and why by listening to this podcast. Learn more about May McCarthy and her work by visiting www.MayMcCarthy.com.     Click here to check out our newest leadership development tool – LEAD – Leadership Education and Development        

Mediocrity and the Crab Effect                   Mediocrity & the Crab Effect How do you react to change? Are you allowing the status quo and complacency to pull you back into mediocrity? It is natural to have dreams and goals of success, yet it is also natural to allow those around you who are comfortable with the status quo and mediocrity to pull you back. Don’t allow that to happen! Success requires energy. It takes a lot of mental fuel to keep pushing forward and to not allow those around you who would bring you back if you let them. That’s what crabs do. They will crawl over one another to get to the top, then one from the bottom will pull the top one back so the others can attempt the same journey, only to be pulled back too. Your success requires a plan. If you haven’t developed one, listen to this podcast to refuel and energize your journey toward the success you desire.     Click here to check out our newest leadership development tool – LEAD – Leadership Education and Development    

Jeff Hyman                   90% of Business Problems Stem from Recruiting  One out of every two new hires fail. Make the choice of either putting the work in on the front end of hiring, or on the back end of constant follow up and getting results. If you are a leader willing to be challenged by members of the team, you need to fill the hiring pipeline with rockstars. When leaders hire rockstars, they are hiring people who love to be challenged, and consequently they may challenge you. Rockstar leaders don’t shy away from being shaken out of their comfort zone. They welcome the new ideas, creative thoughts and work an “A” player brings. Ping pong tables and Friday cookouts aren’t inspiring or motivational to a rockstar. Just give them a good challenge. There is no question that an assortment of talent is required to be successful, yet when the leader focuses on having a pipeline of “A” players, they will have a resource of rockstars ready to fill a key slot when the opening occurs. Or better yet, be

Rajeev Peshawaria                 Learn the Dance of the Naked Autocrat Successful leaders are not people pleasers. They are future-creators pursuing the right purpose backed by the right values. People desire strong leaders. They want to understand where they are going and that it is a better place than where they are today. To be successful at managing that dance, leaders must be autocrats. But today’s autocrat doesn’t bury the team with rules, procedures and policies, they give them the freedom to operate within a set of values. Be autocratic about values and purposes while remaining super humble and respectful of people. Rajeev Peshawaria asked 16,000 people in 28 countries, and without exception autocratic leaders were preferred. Does that surprise you? Learn more about Rajeev Peshawaria’s research findings and find out why you need to stop trying to please people. Hold them accountable and find those who will follow in your footsteps.   Learn more about Rajeev Peshawaria by visiting his websit

Ron Carucci                   Do You Feel Like a Leadership Imposter?  Leadership is a truly unforgiving and ruthless role and not easy to achieve successfully. That is why more than 50% of leaders fail within the first 18 months. If you are going to lead, you are going to suffer. That is the reality. The good news is that leaders can learn four recurring patterns that research shows, when executed well, are indicators of leadership success. It is cruel to put a person in a leadership position and demand success when the characteristics of excellence haven’t been developed over years. Every level of development should include a focus on context, breadth, connections and choice so that future leaders are skilled in all of them before their leadership opportunity arises. The best leaders are the most predictable. Set the example before the team that you are willing to look at your weaknesses and take steps toward improvement. Successful leadership will require you to improve continually throughout your

The Formula for Success is Easy                 The Formula for Success is Easy  Let me get right to the point – As the great (and direct) coach Nick Saban challenges each one of us, “If you didn’t show up today, would anyone miss your a--?”  Would they?  Would your team miss your presence and leadership? When you follow this fundamental and simple formula for success, you will be missed if you don’t show up. What are the five fundamentals of leadership success? Vision, decisions, discipline, focus and accountability are key basics to success in leadership that are explained in this podcast. Leadership will never be simple, but it can be easy when you practice these five fundamentals.  Lead on!   Looking for an awesome location for your company's next leadership meeting?  Check out The Coeur d'Alene Resort in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  You can also arrange a golf outing at their picturesque golf course with the world's only floating green.  I have been here numerous times and always leave looking forwar

            When Micro-Managing is Appropriate  Micro-managing gets a bad rap. Sometimes it is appropriate to be a micro-manager. Does that surprise you? In today’s business climate, political correctness can lead to a misunderstanding of what micro-management is and how to use it strategically. In this podcast, Steve clarifies that subject for the confused manager, when it is appropriate to micro-manage and how to use it. Micro-managing isn’t only an obsessive attention to detail. It has to do with understanding the results you need to deliver, when you need to deliver them and the need for achieving excellence. Learn how to use micro-management for the benefit of the team and the business.   Check out The Coeur d'Alene Resort in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, for your next special get-away or business meeting.     Click here to check out our newest leadership development tool – LEAD – Leadership Education and Development             Steve Caldwell is an executive mentor and coach to managers and l

Linda J. Popky                 Do You Have Marketing that Matters?  A lot of noise is being created in the marketplace from vendors trying to make their product or service stand out. With more ways to market than ever before, it is extremely difficult to be heard. While we may get enamored by all the new tools of marketing, they won’t make a difference if we aren’t focused on our customer. If you want to get above the noise and find a way to be heard, consider talking directly with your most prized clients. Why are you special to them? What could you be doing for them that you aren’t currently? Sit down with them and ask. Facebook ‘likes’ make us feel warm and fuzzy, but they don’t pay the bills. Consider going back to the basics to get above the noise.   To learn more about Linda Popky's marketing work and her new book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters, click here.   You can connect with Linda on Twitter by clicking here. If you'd like to check out