I'm a big fan of Tony Robbins who comes up with the best results-oriented advice on how to make the change we want: getting a great job, losing weight, improving our relationships, etc. One of Robbins' core belief is that role models help us to make the change we want by showing us how they did it. If you don't have a role model, not to worry.  Robbins has partnered with NBC to create a show called, Breakthrough (airing on Tuesday nights) where he will profile people who have faced adversity and then he or they will provide tips on how they changed their beliefs about themselves, the situation and others to succeed and live a fulfilled life.

What's wonderful about all of this is that there is a heavy Internet component so you don't have to wait to watch the show to participate.  Robbins is partnering with the Huffington Post to ask viewers to submit  videos and text questions. To get the ball rolling he asks these 5 great questions (You can click on his picture to see him ask them):

Here are the five questions:

1) What was your life right before the challenge or crisis hit?

2. What was the crisis you faced? What happened, and when it did, what did you feel and experience?

3. What pulled you through this difficult, unjust or impossible time? What was the trigger or catalyst for change? What is a belief, a strategy, a faith, a person, a tool? What made the change possible?

4. Once you turned the corner mentally or emotionally, what did you do to turn your life around?

5. How is your life better today because you lived through the crisis? How have you transformed? How are you stronger emotionally, physically, spiritually? What gifts do you have to give because of this?

Click here to submit your videos or blog.

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With the economy coming back to life, you and your team will need the skills to innovate. You’ll need to manage change but do you have the leadership necessary to take advantage of opportunities? Excellent business leaders are like athletes – they must continually work on their game. Yet, a recent study by Bersin & Associates found only half of all leaders receive any leadership skills training. That’s pretty awful news and the feedback from their teams is worst.

Kim Lamoureux, principal analyst of a leadership study for research firm Bersin & Associates, found, 'Leadership development continues to be a top priority within organizations, with 62% of respondents citing it one of the top three talent strategies for their organizations. Yet most leaders – from first-level to senior executives – fall short in many skills and capabilities. Our research shows that only 37% of respondents rate the capabilities of their top executives as excellent. First-line supervisory skills are rated even lower. Fewer than 20% respondents gave first-line supervisors an excellent performance rating.'  Pretty damning statistics!

Join Donald Van de Mark, former CNN anchorman and host of 'The Wisdom of Caring Leaders' and 'The Wisdom of Winning Teams' video trainings as he shares his insights from interviewing hundreds of business leaders on how to build winning teams. Donald will use videos of interviews he's conducted with Jack Welch, Ben & Jerry and sailing champion Dennis Conner in this presentation.

Take this class without ever leaving the office via the New York Institute of Finance's Virtual Classroom (Virtual NYIF) Tuesday January 26th at 12:30 pm EST. Accessible from any internet connected computer - regardless of where you are geographically. All you need is an internet connection, a browser and speakers or audio headphones! Click here to register.>>

What makes one leader more successful than another and how can you benefit? In a webcast on September 2nd (next Wednesdsay) at Noon EST, Success Television and the American Management Association explore the qualities that make one leader more successful than another by looking at the journey and experiences that shaped the careers of Charles Schwab, Anita Roddick, and Richard Branson.

Hear Donald Van de Mark, former CNN Anchor and host of Success Television's video trainings; Dr. Kay Krohne and Rich St. Denis of AMA's Leadership Portfolio Faculty analyze these leaders and the leadership traits that contributed to their success.

About the Presenters

 

Donald Van de Mark is a former CNN anchor, speaker and the interviewer and host of the Wisdom of Caring Leaders and Wisdom of Teams training videos. Donald wrote and anchored two television series, "Great Entrepreneurs" and "Great Leaders," both of which appeared on PBS. He is currently writing a book on the traits of happy and successful people. Much of his material for the book came from the hundreds of interviews he's done with CEOs and founders of companies. Donald blogs regularly on Success Television on the traits of successful and happy people.

 

 

Rich St. Denis is a self-employed leadership development consultant who has designed and delivered more than 1,000 workshops, teaching executive leadership, performance management, team building, coaching, problem solving, decision making, and presentation skills. Earlier he served in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. He also served three years as an associate professor at West Point, where he taught writing, public speaking, literature and logic.

 

 

Kay Krohne, Ph.D. is President of The Krohne Connection, a consulting firm specializing in leadership and workplace diversity. Prior to starting her own business, Dr. Krohne completed a distinguished military career as a Navy Commander. She served as comptroller of one of the Navy's largest industrial air stations, managing a budget in excess of $150 million annually, and was an Executive Officer of both a Naval Reserve Officers Training Unit and a Recruiting District.

Successfully navigating your life through smart choices, listening, being honest, having compassion and learning from failure were some of the skills Donald Van de Mark discussed in a webcast with the NY Institute of Finance.  

Donald, who is a speaker and the host of the Wisdom of Caring Leaders video training.  is also writing a book on the traits of highly successful people.  He discussed the wisdom he's learned from the hundreds of business leaders he interviewed: Jack Welch, Anita Roddick, Stephen Covey, Richard Branson,etc.  There are a lot of good tips here for you to use!

You can watch the webcast here.

New York, NY – July 31 2009 – The New York Institute of Finance (NYIF) has signed an agreement with Success Television to sell Success’s line of Leadership Videos to NYIF’s global client base of students, finance, and corporate professionals including HR professionals, analysts, associates, and managers.

Titles to be offered for sale include The Wisdom of Caring Leaders with Donald Van de Mark; Effective Leadership Skills with Marshall Goldsmith; and Success is an Attitude.

"NYIF is always interested in expanding its offerings, and these compelling videos help viewers identify goals, articulate strategies, and communicate those strategies to their organizations," said Pat Sparacio, Managing Director, NYIF. "We are happy to partner with Success Television to help provide inspiration for today’s, and tomorrow’s, leaders."

"Now more than ever, we need sharp leadership skills to innovate, manage risk, and empower others," said Helen Whelan, founder and CEO of Success Television. "We are pleased to work in partnership with the NY Institute of Finance because of its long history in training some of the most successful people around the world."

About Success Television
Success Television is a media company that creates and distributes leadership skills video trainings, self-improvement stories and videos. Success Television also provides coaches and authors for speeches and trainings. Many of Success Television’s videos feature well-known business leaders and best-selling authors such as Jack Welch, "7 Habits" author Stephen Covey, Body Shop founder Anita Roddick and Marshall Goldsmith, who give practical leadership advice. Universities find these videos helpful for teaching ethics and leadership skills. Corporations find the videos jump start their training initiatives with real-life examples of good leadership styles.

About NYIF
Started in 1922 by the New York Stock Exchange, the New York Institute of Finance is the premier financial training organization, serving clients globally. We offer exam prep and over 300 courses in accounting and tax, core finance concepts, corporate finance, credit risk, derivatives, financial modeling, fixed income, investment and portfolio management, mergers and acquisitions, operations and compliance, professional skills, project finance, risk management, core skills analyst programs, wealth management programs, structured products, and technical analysis and trading that are delivered through instructor-led classroom experiences, elearning and our new virtual classroom. The New York Institute of Finance is part of Pearson (NYSE: PSO), the global leader in education and education technology. For more information, visit http://www.pearson.com.

In partnership with the New York Institute of Finance, Success Television presents a free live chat with Donald Van de Mark, the host of "The Wisdom of Caring Leaders," 

              Sign up or send an email to Contact(at)SuccessTelevision.biz with your name and company and any question you would like to ask.

Finding Great Ideas  

When it comes to meetings with staff, colleagues, clients… anyone important to you: Put yourself in their shoes.  Make no assumptions, listen carefully and ask questions so that you truly understand the motivations and circumstances of that person. The more you do this, the more you will be listening empathically. This is very empowering to the person who’s speaking. It also builds great loyalty as it also extends your understanding of differing perspectives. You will get more ideas, more news: good and bad, and you’ll get it faster. Stephen Covey calls this the a “win-win” way to lead. 

Boosting Energy

Where you do get your energy? What makes you jump out of bed, ready to meet the day? What do you find worthy of your time and energy, probably the two most valuable assets you have to create the job, career or life you want?  So, what gets you jazzed?  What gets others around you energized? Harkening back to Covey --   What do you want to accomplish, this week, this month, this year… and why, how, with whom, for whom? 

Wisdom of Caring Leaders Webcast  

During these difficult times, we want to help you with your personal and professional leadership goals. Are you finding it difficult to motivate the troops? Yourself? Do you want to achieve successful outcomes but have too many distractions in the way?
 

In partnership with the New York Institute of Finance, Success Television presents a free live chat with Donald Van de Mark, the host of "The Wisdom of Caring Leaders," 

Jack Welch viewed his job and that of his managers at GE… to motivate others with spirit, energy, and to imbue confidence. As he put it, the fundamental purpose of every GE manager was to go around and make everyone feel as if he was “six feet tall with hair!”  

Two Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do to find motivation in yourself and others and build energy. First, realize everything is constantly changing. Opportunties and threats can surface but if you tap your own passions and that of your team, you’ll navigate change well.  That requires listening… to yourself and them. In there, you'll generate and "hear" great ideas. 

Second, you’ll find time to be still and reflect on where you are in your life and where you want to be.  The same can certainly be said for your company. Seek more experiences that excite and delight you.  Remember what the great professor of comparative religion, Joseph Campbell counseled, "It is not so much the meaning of life that we seek, but the experience of being alive." 

Leadership Skill Training DVDs       Wisdom of Caring Leaders DVD    Marshall Goldsmith Effective Leadership DVD     Success is an Atittude! DVD

We are proud to announce that Donald Van de Mark, the interviewer and host of so many of Success Television's videos, including the Wisdom of Caring Leaders, will be speaking at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco tomorrow evening. Here's a link to register and attend the event.

Here's a description of what he'll be discussing:
In a world where success is sometimes narrowly defined, what can we learn from top achievers who seem all-around more complete? Using highlights of exclusive video interviews with business, cultural and political icons, Van de Mark describes identifiable and learnable personality traits that not only inform and fortify top performers' choices but also make leaders powerfully self-directed, empathic, responsible and more effective.

Do you notice when you have a problem the answer often shows up in the people you meet or the experiences you have?  I find if I'm open to this, serendipity, and I'd have to add,synchronicity, are my guides. Let me explain.

Recently, I've been thinking about how I can change myself to create the life I want. You know the feeling. You work at something so hard but the results aren't appearing as quickly as you want. You can waste a lot of time blaming the economy or other people outside yourself.  That's an enormous waste of time and energy. Plus, you can't do anything about "them" or "it."

Instead of looking outside myself, I realized I needed to change something in myself to move forward and experience positive change.  I was introduced to Professor Srikamur Rao who teaches about happiness at various business schools: Columbia, Haas and the London Business School.  His classes are so popular they are over-booked. 

Prof. Rao teaches about how we can create our own reality. Through practicing gratitude of what is working in our lives, focusing on the positive and mentally and emotionally appreciating our progress toward the change we want in ourselves, we will notice the universe and people we meet, "conspiring" toward the outcome we want.( If you want to see a clear "how to" create the reality you want, watch his speech here: Google talks.  It was the clearest explanation of the concept that I've heard yet. )

Coinciding with the concept of creating your own reality, is keeping the courage of your convictions, even when facing failure.  My sister sent me this amazing Harvard commencement speech on failure given by J.K. Rowling the author of the Harry Potter books.   (You can play the video below. Just click on her picture)
Intead of talking about success and all the promise of the future, she talked about the inevitable setbacks and failure we will experience in our lives. She went through this herself in her early twenties.

Here is part of what she says: 

"So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.

So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality." Copyright of JK Rowling, June 2008

You finally scored a job interview in this incredibly bad job market. You want to wow them. What do you do?

Ideally, you've researched the company. You've done a "Google" search on them, you might have networked to find people who work at the company and asked them questions. 

One great resource is LinkedIn. More and more this is becoming the place where you not only network but you can join groups that share your interest. Example: I just joined ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) because I want to network with people interested in leadership training.

You can also go online and ask questions. Once person asked,  "How do you Ace a Job Interview"?  There were a ton of answers.

Jim Pfister, Packaging Line "Fixer", whatever that is, gave this incredible advice on what to ask:

1. Why is this opportunity open?
2. What would you like done differently by the next person you hire?
3. What is most pressing? What would you like to have ( or need to have) done in the next few months?
4. What freedom would I have in determining my methods?
5. What kind of support does this position have in terms of people, finances, etc.
6. What are some of the more difficult problems facing someone in this position? How do you think these could be best handled?
7. In what ways has your organization been most successful?
8. What significant changes do you foresee in the near future?
9. What are the most critical factors for success in your business? ( Notice is he/she mentions that people matter?
10. Where do you see your company (or your function) going in the next few years?
11. How do you go about winning support for your new ideas? projects?
12. How would you describe your own management style?
13. What are the most important traits you look for in a subordinate?
14. How do you like people to communicate with you? Orally, in writing, informally, in meetings, only when necessary?
15. What question did you expect me to ask you that I've missed?

Tell me you won't feel smart asking these questions in your next job interview.  Remember, listen to the answers!

Most of you have seen, or, at least heard of “The Secret.”   While I loved the message of “intention”, some parts I found far fetched, like the mailbox that delivers checks instead of bills.

My sister, more optimistic than I, believed in its message completely. My sister is not someone who sits home wishing and praying something will happen. She’s a big “do-er” and successful at that. She owns her own business and lives a comfortable life raising her son as a single mom while still managing to travel and seek self-improvement wherever she can find it, be it in a Barnes and Noble bookstore or with a professional coach. 
At the beginning of this year, after watching, “The Secret”, she decided she wanted to take her physical therapy clinic to the next level. She no longer wanted to be the one providing services; she wanted to be the manager of people who do that. She wanted to get her business to the point where she could travel around the world and take photographs. But, what that meant was that she would have to pitch doctors to work with her. She had to make cold calls and sell, something she loathed because she had such a great fear of rejection.  Who of us haven’t felt that fear?
Enter, the professional coach.
My sister finds a coach knowledgeable about physical therapy. The coach immediately gets my sister to see that it’s not about “selling something” but “helping someone” with a problem.  
Here’s where it gets really good. The coach and my sister agree that she will meet with three doctors this week.  My sister sets up appointments with two doctors. The coach says, “But, we agreed on three.  She asks, “What’s your Intention with the third doctor? This doesn’t mean you have to have a meeting, but what is your intention?” 
My sister thinks of a particular doctor she sees meeting in the future and then proceeds to meet with one of her scheduled appointments.  One particular doctor agrees to meet only if she will bring lunch for this staff.  When she arrives, she is shown the kitchen and he never shows up.
Humiliated and angry, she returns to her office swearing she will never be forced into that situation again.  Later that day, she winds up treating a young girl whose mother is waiting in the lobby.
When my sister goes out to greet the mother, guess who it is?  It’s the doctor she had “intended” to meet!  The doctor tells her how she had been searching for my sister and had to look for her in the phone book.  Pleased with my sister’s services, they connect and start to work together.
When my sister told the coach what had happened that day, the coach said, “Focus on the ‘wins’ and not on the negatives. Think of what you did to create a win and do that over and over. Forget the bad stuff.”  When my sister told me this, I had an epiphany! This was huge for me as I can beat myself up over what doesn’t work and think the solution is in problem solving. To focus on the positive is so much more liberating and energizing.
Actually, I just read a NYTimes article that backs up this thinking.  The article mentioned a University of Toronto study which found volunteers who were in a happy state after listening to cheerful music, found more solutions to problems than if they were sad. It seems their creativity and "out of the box" thinking worked better than when they were sad. 
This seems counter - intuitive when you have a problem but apparently more productive and a lot more fun to do!