Coach John G. Agno is your own cultural attache; keeping you abreast of what's effective in leadership. People learn better and are positively motivated when supported by regular coaching.
PERSONAL COACHING Leadership onboarding coaching helps the executive adapt to the employer's culture, create rapport with their team and develop productive ways to achieve necessary goals.
SELF ASSESSMENT CENTER Leadership skills and style testing. Know how you motivate and coach people to gain success at work and in life.
WHAT IS LEADERSHIP? Leadership is an interactive conversation that pulls people toward becoming comfortable with the language of personal responsibility and commitment.
LEADERSHIP TIPS “The crux of leadership development that works is self-directed learning: intentionally developing or strengthening an aspect of who you are or who you want to be, or both.” Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee (Harvard Business School Press)
We are called to conduct leadership in government, commerce, schools, neighborhoods, families, parachurch ministries and a myriad of other contexts.
The foundation for those who want to conduct leadership in a manner consistent with their faith in both religious and nonreligious organizational context is described in "Organizational Leadership: Foundations & Practices for Christians." In this book, the authors have been able to take a theory base that is indifferent to the Christian worldview and construct a theory of leadership that is planted firmly on a Christian theological foundation.
As we are living in a world of unparalleled religious wars and corporate greed, our world is in desperate need of a new leadership model inspired by the Law of Love (www.LawofLove.com) shared with the world.
The people who study leadership are action-oriented and want to learn skills they can use to fix the problems they see in their organizations. Action-oriented people often act as if theory should be relegated to the ranks of academics because it is irrelevant for those who are doing the hard work of conducting leadership in organizations.
The leadership literature is vast, and for decades scholars have experimented with ways to organize the literature into some sort of coherent form. Students learn theories best when they are able to assign discrete concepts to similar families of ideas. These families of ideas can be described as "leadership schools."
Leadership schools are not bound by discrete epochs, but have continuously ebbed and flowed over the ages with regard to their influence. To address the limitations of timelines, a river metaphor has been used successfully as an instructional tool in leadership courses and workshops for more than a decade. This book uses the metaphor of "the leadership river" for understanding the historical emergence of leadership theory.
John G. Agno has personally coached executives and business owners during the last decade; after a successful corporate executive and management consulting career. Agno is also a keynote speaker on the importance of personal leadership and facilitates management team development seminars at corporate locations.
You may be asking, what is professional coaching and how does it differ from management consulting? Download and listen to this MP3 recording of an interview for Coach Agno’s answer to that question.
Professional coaching is effective and powerful, however less than one percent of the workforce can afford it. That is why Coach Agno has written a number of self-coaching books and blog posting at little or no cost—so as many people as possible are able to afford and use these self-coaching tips in their personal and work lives.
Each generation living today has come of age with profoundly different experiences concerning mass communication, and these differences directly affect how they give to nonprofits.
Baby Boomers are young enough to be experiencing the rise of new media in their daily lives, which consequently is affecting their life-long giving habits. Gen X and Gen Y both came of age during the rise of mass Internet communications and increasingly shun print communications and fundraising, while adapting quickly to new trends in mobile and social giving.
Because of the rapid speed of technological advancement, from this point forward nonprofits will have to embrace multiple communications and fundraising tools if they want to reach donors and supporters of all ages.
In practice, nonprofit technology is the utilization of hardware and software to manage donors, volunteers and projects; to execute Web and email communications; to launch fundraising and advocacy campaigns; to participate in mobile and social media; and to sell products and tickets online. If you work for a nonprofit that relies heavily on individual fundraising, the decisions you make concerning nonprofit technology will dictate your fundraising and program success.
Fifty-five percent of individuals who engage with nonprofits on social media are inspired to take action. Of that 55%, 59% donated money, 53% volunteered and 52% donated food or clothing.
There are two trends in nonprofit technology that are changing the fundamentals of online communications and fundraising.
The first is the rapid shift away from content being consumed primarily on personal computers to content also being consumed on smartphones and tablets. It would be safe to assume that by 2016 the majority of your nonprofit’s Web content will be consumed on smartphone or tablet…or…through social networking apps, mobile browsers and mobile email clients.
The second shift in nonprofit technology is the rise and maturation of social media. It’s been in existence for more than a decade and has matured to become a very powerful force for distributing content, fundraising, branding and raising awareness for causes and issues. Donors and supporters now expect nonprofit content and fundraising campaigns to be interactive and social. When you combine this expectation with the rise of mobile communication, it becomes apparent that nonprofits have arrived at a tipping point and those nonprofits that focus on upgrading their technology systems now will be well positioned to reap the benefits of the mobile and social Web in the future.
Our thoughts affect our physical mental/emotional well-being to a lot greater than we realize. How can we change the quality of our thoughts to result in a positive and healthy, physical, mental and emotional well-being?
Successful people look at life very differently.
They have a mindset of success. They recognize the journey of life is a journey and not a destination. They live with dreams of success every day of their lives.
They live very well in the present.
In this way they are able to retain a dual picture. The unique ability to enjoy this dual tension makes them standout. They fully recognize that it is very important for them to enjoy the journey because this destination will change soon after it is achieved.
They are very positive in their outlook.
They recognize that the journey starts in their mind. If they can conceive it in their mind, and think about it in detail and diligently work toward it, it will happen. The more they dream about it and think about it, sows the seeds of how the end result will manifest in their life. Their inner compass instinctively leads them to connect with the right people, and to take the right actions that lead them closer to their goals on a daily basis.
Those who focus on helping others and making others successful thrive by practicing the Law of Reciprocity (www.LawofReciprocity.com).
One of the key foundations to succeeding is to discover your unique signature talents and then build them into signature strengths.
Leaders learn not from classroom courses but from on-the-job experience through bosses, peers and role models. Some of the lessons are positive: we try to copy effective behavior. Some lessons are negative: we see a boss or peer explode spectacularly and decide not to copy that mistake.
It is mindsetand beliefs, as much as skills, which differentiate great leaders from merely good managers.
Leadership reference guides give you a framework for observing and learning from the experiences you go through. The structure takes some of the randomness out of random experience and lets you learn faster and better than your peers: this is your guide to accelerated leadership.
These handbooksare to be used to create your own leadership DNA. Ideal leadership is always inferior to practical leadership: what works for you where you are. The handbooks only succeed if you use them as an active tool.
Effective leaders are keenly aware of what they are good at and what they are not good at. It takes great self-confidence, self-awareness and humility to admit to not being good at things. But that is the critical first step towards doing something about it.
High self-awareness allows a leader to focus on his or hersignature strengths. Just as we all have weaknesses, we all have strengths. The trick is to know what you are uniquely good at doing, and then do more of it. Deal with weaknesses by building a team and delegating.
Highly self-aware leaders are acutely aware of others and see themselves through the eyes of other people. Managers with low self-awareness only see their world through their own warped eyes.
A global executive survey released by Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY), a single source of leadership and talent consulting solutions, indicates that 30 percent of organizational leaders do not feel their organization is ready to promote its talent, while 70 percent of executives feel their organizations are either ready now or somewhat ready.
Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed believe their organizations either mostly or fully have the right talent to succeed in today’s changing global environment and 46 percent believe the talent in their companies either mostly or fully have the right mindset required for global expansion.
However, survey respondents, who hail from 49 countries, noted a focus on leadership ownership, or buy-in to the importance of a global talent management approach, as the biggest factor detracting from talent management efforts. In fact, 28 percent cited this as the top issue, with only 12 percent citing lack of budget/funding.
“Global talent management is essential to an organization’s health,” said Andrés Tapia, senior partner, Leadership and Talent Consulting, Korn Ferry. “While many executives believe their talent programs are effective, continued focus needs to be on the way that leadership candidates are being developed and their ability to seamlessly lead across borders.”
Tapia continued, “Effective global succession management, or the practice of identifying up to the third generation of successors for a particular role, requires companies to promote and develop people not only based on ‘what they do’ but ‘who they are.’ That means finding and developing leaders who have a blend of the right competencies and experiences, as well as the right personal traits, such as assertiveness, risk taking and logic; plus motivators such as autonomy, status and challenge. When companies evaluate the full person, they will achieve greater success.”
About the Survey
The survey, which was conducted by the Korn Ferry Institute in March of 2014, covered more than 100 senior-level executives from 49 countries. The results were released at a recent gathering of Fortune 500 executives.
At certain times in life, people take stock of where they are and where they want to go. Deciding what is important to us in our life's journey, including where we may be stuck, is the way to begin this life planning. The gift of knowing who you are and what you are meant to do gives you the energy to transform your life.
Our life signature is the tracing of the talents we are given and how we express them in our lives. This is why it is important to fully consider who we are and how we plan to make meaning out of our life.
Many of us unconsciously believe in an inherited life purpose that is:
*based in fear (our need to survive in the world)
*lacking in fulfillment and satisfaction
*operates in the background (we are not aware it is there--just like fish discovering water last)
*is our default mechanism.
However, our life is going to be shaped by something and we have the ability to decide what that will be. Getting in touch with your "inherited life purpose" will allow you to become conscious to this "default thinking" while you work toward discovering your true life signature.
"No man is born into the world whose work is not born with him." James Russell Lowell
Putting together the talents you were born with, together with the strengths you have built upon those signature talents, will allow you to address the challenges and opportunities that life presents. When you can articulate your assumptions/beliefs, values, guiding principles and future vision, you have begun the life signature discovery process.
When you are in alignment with your life signature, you begin to achieve:
As powerful and effective as professional coaching can be, it is only affordable to less than one percent of the workforce. That is why self-coaching insights, easily retrieved from a mobile smartphone, tablet, e-reader or laptop, grabs managers’ attention with compelling content to make them feel a sense of urgency to act on what they learned.
In psychology, the term “thin slicing” refers to the brain’s ability to draw surprisingly accurate conclusions from very limited information. Applied to leadership development, thin slicing is about isolating thin slices of learning and delivering powerful insights from a single bite-size concept. Instead of starting big, it starts small. A short, incomplete slice of learning can deliver a powerful “Aha!” moment and create behavior change more effectively than a longer learning module or conversation that tries to cover too much:
1)Workplace performance coachingshould be delivered in short bursts – just six to 10 minutes at a time. Today’s multitasking workforce has neither the time nor the attention span for traditional lengthy training formats.
3) Performance coaching and self-coaching are most powerful when grounded in verifiable research. When managers see performance coaching and self-coaching as credible, they’re more likely to translate their learning into on-the-job behavior.
Usage of this reference guide happens as you scan the Table of Contents (on your computer, tablet, e-reader or smartphone) to locate the specific information needed to help clarify your thinking. When you see the topic of interest listed in the Table of Contents, just click on it to read the relevant information. Here are the major topic groupings within the Table of Contents: Introduction, Insights, Strategy, Innovation, Personal Development, Business Development, Teams/Collaboration, Building Trust, Coaching, Decision Making, and About the Author.
It is our hope that you will enjoy reading and learn from this new guidebook focused on developing leadership skills.
Note: When ordering this new eBook on Amazon.com, if you don’t have a Kindle tablet or eReader, just download Amazon’s free “Kindle for PC” to read this book on your computer.
With the downloadable Kindle app you can read this new mobile book on your smartphone, as well as your tablet or computer to take advantage of new skill-building leadership knowledge. When ordering this ebook at Amazon.com, if you don’t have a Kindle tablet/eReader, just download Amazon’s free “Kindle for PC.”
Here is what one reader had to say about this mobile reference guide:
A Well-organized Resource for Busy Executives
When John G. Agno speaks, it’s good to listen and even take a few notes. Not only is he a seasoned corporate executive, but he is an author and management consultant who coaches senior executives and business owners. The wonderful thing for us is he has written an amazing resource for executives called Develop Leadership Skills: A Reference Guide.
This well-organized and concise guide is filled with easily accessible and relevant topics for busy executives who want timely answers. From the beginning section on insights, which covers leadership styles and blind spots to an intriguing topic on the advantages of disadvantages, Agno fluidly moves to strategies in developing visions and goals and innovations for shifting perspectives.
The personal development section has ways of becoming a better leader, developing interactional skills, and managing office politics. It leads into the business development section on introducing a new labor model, achieving sustainable growth, and branding. The section on teams and collaboration rounds out the book with tips on managing productivity and morale, building trust, and coaching. Agno’s extensive knowledge of the business environment makes this a reference book worth studying over and over again.
Has anyone told you anything lately about yourself and you were surprised? That's always a good gauge for self-awareness. These questions can help you determine if you are self-aware:
When your friends, colleagues or significant other has tried to tell you something about how you are behaving, how have you responded?
Are you hearing the same message from multiple people?
Do you believe it?
Being unaware, we unconsciously engage our default behavior. Only when we become aware of something, are we able to make choices as to the action we wish to take.
If you want to build your "executive edge," now is the time to make sure that you are self-aware. Self-awareness is the foundation for everything that you do to build your brand, your emotional intelligence and your edge.
Blind Spots: What is known by others but not by us.
People notice things about us but do not tell us. And while what they notice could be positive or negative; it is the negative that we need to focus on. It is the habits and behaviors that bother others that hurt our careers. These are the behaviors that we are not aware we are exhibiting but contribute to our reputations.
For instance, people may say that they know they are sarcastic. They just may not realize that their sarcasm rubs others the wrong way and that they truly offend people. The obvious problem is that the sarcastic person loses credibility every time he or she is sarcastic.
How do you know what your blind spots are? And if you think you do not have blind spots, think again! We all have blind spots. The important point is this: If we do not become aware of our blind spots, we will not achieve what we are capable of achieving.
What sets you apart? What gives you the edge over someone else?
"Enhancing Your Executive Edge" authored by Kim Zoller and Kerry Preston is based on working with more than 100,000 people over the last 22 years. After studying the research, the authors have concluded that the answer is simple, yet not simple enough to overcome. There are two sides of the coin: one side constitutes technical and job skills, and the other is interpersonal skills. Both are important in the workplace, but once you have the competencies or the ability to learn them, your interpersonal skills become critical and are actually more important.
1. If you were on your deathbed and you wanted to tell your children -- or the young people to whom you are close -- the three most important things that you've learned in your life, what would they be?
2. What gives you the greatest joy, satisfaction and renewal in your life and how could you do more of it?
3. Who are you without your job, your money? Describe in detail.
