Category Archives: Leadership

BLOG: Speaker Warren Macdonald: Uncertainty & Changing Your Perspective

Warren Macdonald - Motivational Speaker & Change Expert - www.kmprod.com/warren-macdonald

WARREN MACDONALD

Warren Macdonald has climbed over obstacles most people cannot imagine. Having lost both of his legs from a freak accident while he was backpacking off the coast of Australia, Warren not only decided that his injuries wouldn’t slow him down ― he decided they would propel him to new heights. Just ten months after the incident, Warren climbed Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain and later summited both Mount Kilimanjaro and El Capitan. Inspiring audiences to turn challenge into change, Warren’s talks foster the desire to seek opportunities and overcome obstacles.

Below, Warren writes on uncertainty, and how shifting your perspective can change everything:

All of us feel stuck at some point in our lives, and it’s no wonder. The scientific community suggests that the average adult makes approximately 35,000 decisions each day…

Most of those decisions happen unconsciously, but often, bigger decisions have the capability to consume us; to overwhelm us.

So, what can we do about it?
How do we get unstuck?

We can start by asking “why?”.

  • Why do I want this to happen, or not?
  • What’s in it for me?
  • How does this situation affect myself and others?
  • What will happen if I say “no”?

Remember, perception is key. We need to see as complete a picture as possible when answering these questions and that often means looking through a different lens that the one we’ve been trained to look through.

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Ryan Estis – Business Performance Expert

Ryan Estis - Business Performance Expert - www.kmprod.com/speakers/ryan-estis

RYAN ESTIS

Three Things Innovative Leaders Do Differently

Ryan Estis challenges conventional thinking on corporate culture, communication, client acquisition, brand ambassadorship and change. The former chief strategy officer for the marketing division of McCann Erickson, he helps companies, leaders, and sellers more effectively connect to their two most important audiences: employees and customers. Guiding audiences through the realities of the new economy, Ryan blends interaction, energy, and actionable content to transform and elevate your business outcomes. Below, Ryan shares how the best leaders establish a vision and show people how to get there:

Everybody’s talking about innovation. Of course, everybody wants to innovate. We’re living in a disruptive time. Most of the business conferences I attend have a portion of the agenda and content specifically focused around leading “innovation” and unlocking the best ideas to move further and faster toward a vision for 2020.

Our workforce expects different things from their employers and managers. Our customers expect better products and services, faster. Our leaders and investors are looking for growth and returns.

How can we capitalize amid the chaos and lead teams to advance with confidence, commitment and continuous improvement top of mind?

I see three things that innovative leaders do differently.

THEY HAVE A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WITH FAILURE.

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Molly Fletcher – Business Leader & Negotiating Expert

Molly Fletcher - Speaker - Business Expert - http://www.kmprod.com/speakers/speaker-molly-fletcherMOLLY FLETCHER
Speaker & Former Sports Agent

 

MOLLY FLETCHER helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A keynote speaker and author, Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world.

Here, Molly talks about “Why Your Personal Mission Statement Matters”

Recently I was away from home at a personal development retreat, working on crafting my personal mission statement. I was feeling great about my progress when I called my husband, who aside from handling his professional career, was handling all the normal daily issues at home with our three girls.

While I was feeling inspired, rested and focused from my time at the retreat, I could tell my wonderful husband had experienced an exhausting day.  Sometimes those long distance parenting calls can be challenging when you aren’t in the same physical location to support each other.

This call was a bit different, and this moment became a turning point for my work—all because of my personal mission statement. I want to share this process with you so you can see the great value in focusing on your best purpose, the best you, and how it benefits others—especially those closest to you.

In that phone call, I did not default to trying to fix or rescue the situation. I paused to reflect on my 10-word mission statement (To connect, inspire and lead with creative courage and optimism), which guided me to new behavior that was healthier for everyone in my family. Instead of frustration or caving in, I reflected on my mission statement. How could I connect, inspire and lead with creative courage and optimism inside this one conversation with my husband?

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Molly Fletcher – Business Leadership & Negotiating Expert

Molly Fletcher - Speaker - Business Expert - http://www.kmprod.com/speakers/speaker-molly-fletcherMOLLY FLETCHER
Speaker & Former Sports Agent

 

MOLLY FLETCHER helps inspire and equip game changers to dream, live and grow fearlessly. A keynote speaker and author, Molly draws on her decades of experiences working with elite athletes and coaches as a sports agent, and applies them to the business world.

Here, Molly talks about 3  Leadership Lessons from Parenting:

Time passes so quickly that I can barely believe my three daughters are almost teenagers. Seems like they were just in diapers, I was telling my friend Hal Runkel, president of The ScreamFree Institute and a national expert on helping families create great relationships. I love to pick his brain to be the best mom I can be as my children grow more independent.

Hal’s wisdom helps people become better leaders, not just better parents. Hal repeated three simple words to me: love, learn and launch. That’s your role as a parent, he explained.  It stuck and serves a great reminder for building great relationships on corporate teams, not just families.

Lesson 1: Love.
A great leader (and parent) is excited about each team member, their skills and personality, and how they will fit into your mission and team chemistry. This connection remains no matter what the person does. Yes, you may have to have hard conversations along the way—the deep respect that grows from a leader’s care makes those difficult moments easier to navigate.

Here’s a specific example of love and leadership: recruiting and hiring. This is your first step to bringing a new person into your team, and he or she can sense your passion and authenticity (or insincerity). There is no substitute for this gut emotion.

In recruiting and hiring, we only have one chance to make a first impression, which can make or break success. As the keynote speaker at a recent national conference on talent acquisition and the candidate experience, I learned that nearly half of all candidates (47.7 percent) had no previous relationship with a company before applying, meaning that the candidate experience is the first exposure they have to a company’s brand and highlighting the need to for employers to get it right.

Company values are crucial to shaping an employer brand; 41.4 percent of candidates stated that the most important marketing material influencing their decision to apply was the company’s values.

If you are unsure of this person’s qualifications or fit, that can be hard to hide. Great leaders find some level of emotional connection to those who work for them. This can be through a shared passion for the work, for the team, for goals. In this context, “love” is a deep connection that is essential for long-term success.

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Carol Roth – Business Media Personality – 3 Tips to Avoid In Business Meetings

Carol Roth - Business Media Personality - www.kmprod.com/speakers/carol-rothCAROL ROTH
Business Media Personality

 

“3 Tips to Avoid Business Meeting Fumbles”

An authoritative voice in business and news media and an on-air contributor for CNBC, CAROL ROTH is a highly sought after panel moderator and emcee who always ensures that “business is never boring”, making her a time and time again favourite with all audiences.

Here, Carol shares her expertise when it comes to meetings, helping people get more out of them, in less time:

1. Have a pre-game plan.
When expectations and parameters are set up ahead of time, it makes it less likely that somebody will drop the ball. The easiest way to avoid fumbles is to have a pre-game plan set up where it is clearly spelled out what topics will be covered, what needs to be thought out ahead of time, and who needs to bring what (even snacks and drinks- meetings tend to work better when nobody is “hangry”!). Even if one of the main purposes of the meeting is brainstorming, it can help save time if people bring in pre-thought out ideas to discuss at the meeting, rather than sitting there in silence with pen to paper.

Set this pre-game plan in motion with a quick call, group email, group video chat or even with a short prep-meeting. Write up the plan in detail and distribute it so that everyone’s working from the same play-book. Without this pre-meeting game plan, it’s a sure bet that there will be business meeting fumbles.

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