Leadership and management are key aspects of any business.

Ask yourself this: what do you look for in a business investment?

Most venture capitalists or angel investors will say “management".

Sure, investors and bankers are looking for a good business idea in a growth-orientated industry that produces strong cash flow.

However, the bottom line is that investors are more interested in an average business idea backed up by a great management team, than a great business idea with an average management team.

But how do great management teams stay that way?

Well, it's all about people working together well, sharing a common vision, and getting things done.

Try replacing "management" with a related but more focused word: "leadership, leadership, leadership".

Now you have a mantra with real power!

In his book entitled The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John C. Maxwell writes that “Leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness.” This truth...

Learn from the children

If you want to see a fresh mind, just look at a child on Christmas morning. With all that eagerness and joyful anticipation, the moments before the festivities begin are as delicious to a child as the actual event. What makes this possible?

A fresh mind doesn’t take anything for granted. A fresh mind seeks answers. A fresh mind is curious.

When we’re curious, we enjoy new experiences and look for challenges. We keep an open mind. We’re eager to learn something new. Curiosity is contagious. Watching children on Christmas morning, we remember our own youth and feel it a little too.

If you want to make other people pay attention to what you have to say, keep them curious. One way of doing that is to show yourself enjoying an experience. It doesn’t matter what age we are. When we see someone having fun, we want to have fun too.

Smell the roses

Recently a good friend shared a photo of her son’s curiosity. One evening her husband came...

Like me, you have likely heard someone being referred to as having a “one-track mind.” In most circumstances, the comment is not intended to be a compliment. 

Yet when we look at any successful person or organization, we find the success they achieved often resulted from their power to focus on one thing at a time. Having a focused “one-track mind” is key to success. 

Let’s look at Jeff Bezos, undoubtedly the most successful online retailer of all time. When he founded Amazon from his garage in 1994, it started small and focused – an online bookstore. His vision for Amazon was to provide easy access to an overwhelming number of book titles, without ever leaving your home. While his ultimate goal was to create a multi-faceted online shopping experience, he knew the key to growth wasn’t trying to do everything at once but rather focusing on one business unit at a time.

Only when he had succeeded in creating a profitable and...

Innovation and creativity are pretty big buzz words right now. Read any leadership book, and you’ll find stories of leaders like Steve Jobs using their creativity to transform not only their business, but also their industry.

While these stories are inspiring, they can also be overwhelming. We may see these innovations as something practiced by an elite few leaders, way beyond our reach.  

But we all have the ability to release our creativity. We just need to give ourselves permission.

Embracing creativity

In reading John C. Maxwell’s book, How Successful People Think, I was reminded how the key to being a successful leader is to embrace and explore creativity.

So, what does this mean? John C. Maxwell writes about first recognizing that your ideas matter and valuing these ideas. Creative people don’t have all the answers, but they are open to and explore the options, looking for new ways to connect ideas (not always their own). They don’t fear failure,...

Everyone loves a Cinderella story.

The 1982 Canucks, the 2004 Flames, the 2005-2006 Oilers—all of these teams were rated average by experts.

They performed as expected throughout the regular seasons...but then, post-season began.

And they gained momentum.

With each period, each game, each playoff series, their momentum built. And this momentum made the crucial difference between winning and losing.

Just like any type of sports team needs momentum to grow, so too does every organization.

But how do organizations create momentum?

It starts with the leader.

Leaders create momentum.

When a leader knows how to reach their full potential, and how to get their team to reach their full potential, they create momentum (learn more about how to reach your full potential here. You can also learn more about how we can help you discover and grow your full leadership potential through our various different coaching programs).

When momentum is ignited, it brings everyone together. Teams...

In the Now

Jonathan Swift said, "May you live every day of your life." When we get caught up in worries about what went wrong yesterday or yearnings for what we'd like to happen tomorrow, we miss what is happening now.

As we mentioned in our earlier blog, Life Is Not a Dress Rehearsal, success plays out on a daily basis. The only thing any of us really have is our time.

That's why for this blog, we decided to give you seven easy tips for making the most of out today.

1. Review Your Big Goals

There is a popular saying from an unknown source: "If you aim for nothing, you'll hit it every time." Start each day by reviewing your big goals. Otherwise, they will never happen.

2. Set Aside Time for Important Tasks

Whether you're preparing a proposal or developing a marketing plan, the task is unlikely to be completed if you don't set aside the time. Manage your calendar and you manage your success.

3. Be Accountable

Goals are inspiring, but they gain momentum by being shared. Tell the...

Why Wait?

How much of your life have you spent waiting? Maybe you have important goals, but you've convinced yourself they won't be possible until something else happens first. You won't return to school until you can attend full-time. You won't apply for the job you really want until you're sure you will be selected.

John Kotter said, "Most people don't lead their own lives--they accept their lives." They wait for things to happen to them.

Do It Now

If you treat your life like a dress rehearsal, you will miss the main show. Instead, try the powerful approach recommended by John C. Maxwell in his book "Today Matters". Make your decisions now and focus on them every day.

Which Decisions?

We all know life consists of decisions and we want to make the best decisions we can. Did you ever consider that it is not only about making good decisions? It is also about knowing which decisions are the most important.

As leaders, we naturally think about finances and values. But as John C....

The Difference Habits Make

We all want to be the kind of person who learns from losses, gains wisdom and remains steady in difficult moments. We think of these qualities as maturity. A lot of qualities go into maturity, but one of the most powerful is having good habits. Og Mandino says, "In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits."

Enacting Our Values

In the Middle Ages, the word "habit" referred to clothing. Although the meaning of this word has evolved since then, these origins are helpful in understanding the way habits work. Like clothing, a habit is something we add to ourselves in order to reflect a personality we want others to see.

We decide what we value and then we put habits into place to ensure that our life enacts those values. According to common wisdom, it takes three weeks to form a habit. Depending on how challenging the new habit is, it may take longer.

Perseverance

The key to...

We start each and every day with a valuable resource.

We’re so used to relying on this resource that we hardly notice it’s there.

And when it dwindles, it can bring us to a complete stop.

But what is this resource?

It’s energy.

...but, in my eyes, it’s way more fun to call it gusto.

Losing our gusto can happen at the peak of success. It can happen when you’re enjoying the passion of a moment. Or it can happen when you’re in a period of transition or redefining your life goals.

It can even happen during routine moments of your everyday life.

We all know what it feels like to lose our gusto. But it happens. And when it happens, we lose control. We lose motivation. We lose energy. We can even lose our capacity to reach our full potential. (I go more into how to reach your full potential here.)

That is the worst thing that can happen.

In our Leadership Programs, we advise our clients that there is one way to beat losing your energy. And it's simple....

Owning Your Life

Life can leave us with the impression that responsibility is a thing given to us. Nothing could be further from the truth. Real responsibility is a thing we take. You might be given a promotion or an exciting new job in a growth industry, but those are only opportunities. Success is something different and the cost of success is responsibility.

Taking responsibility includes the good moments and the ones that are more challenging. It means owning your life, your actions, your mistakes and your growth. The only real power any of us has is the power to be responsible for ourselves.

Ask How, Not Why

When something difficult happens, it's tempting to complain about unfairness. You've probably noticed that complaining tends to be all talk and little action. Complaining is disempowering. Taking responsibility puts you in charge.

This is a matter of attitude and focus. Rather than asking why things happen, we get more leverage out of asking how. This is especially true in...