Leadership Advantedge: Leadership | Influence | Talent | Neuroscience

There's a lot of excitement about artificial intelligence (AI) and the potential for robots to autonomously make decisions about what gets done, how it gets done, and who does it. As the technology fast approaches the dreams of science fiction, many professionals, blue and white colour workers are beginning to fear a future where their own jobs are no more. Will you be one who is replaced, or will you be one of those who thrives? The new Luddism In a fit of rage against the machines, Ned Ludd was an apprentice textile worker who allegedly smashed two stocking frames, a mechanical knitting machine, in 1779. The act spawned the Luddite movement whose members disliked the new technological devices and the changes being brought about by the Industrial Revolution. In 1812, the Luddite movement was a small militant force, battling the British army in Middleton, Lancashire. They met at night on the moors surrounding industrial towns to practice drills and manoeuvres. The Luddites employed tactics that today we would

"Where do you see yourself in five years time?" This insidious little question invites the interviewee to begin a little game that finishes as a belief built on sand. You guess what your prospective employer wants to hear, and then you give it to them. It's almost as bad as your Aunt's favourite: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The myriad branching possibilities when you are 12 or 13 years old seem to lead in opposite directions, and all equally tempting. By the time you hit the renowned "mid-life crisis" when you are, theoretically, equipped to make better choices. In reality, your 20s and 30s wide-eyed optimism has usually been replaced by a more cynical outlook on jobs and the workplace. And that mid-life crisis seems to be happening earlier and earlier. In this episode, I'm going to take a look at some of the many "buts" that prevent people from career planning for themselves and then I shall propose an alternative to career planning that will help you get started pursuing what you really want

We all want an inspirational leader. Someone to look up to, to give us hope and direction. A leader who engages us as individuals and treats us well, but most of all makes us want to be better. But what if that leader is you? And today you're feeling a bit blah. Everything's sort of "meh" and you'd like to just hang in there for the time being and let Future Self take responsibility for that. We all go through phases in life when our mood is uplifting, positive, dynamic and we feel like we could conquer the world. And then there's that "meh" moment, when everything is a little bland, and what would be really really nice is if someone else would just take charge and be the one to inspire and engage and buck us up. To choose to switch your drive and motivation on so that you can inspire others, we're going to delve into the neuroscience of how your brain works, learn what drives you (and everybody else) and then we're going to take charge of the chemistry cocktail bar inside your brain. The Neuroscience of you

Are you a controlling leader or are you controlled in how you lead? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.joyatwork.coach

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Mike Tyson's excellent response to a reporters question before his fight with Evander Holyfield. And isn't that just true about all of the best laid plans we make? No plan survives contact with the enemy Attributed to Helmuth von Moltke in the 19th century. All such quotes ring true because you know that it concurs with your own experience. On June 6th 1944 the long planned sea and airborne invasion of France began and the months of practice and detailed planning unravelled as parachute forces dropped into unmarked landing spots, gliders landed in wrong areas and thousands of soldiers from many different units found themselves mixed together during the night. A military disaster appeared to be in the making yet just hours later, the original objectives were being accomplished by ad-hoc units who faced much fiercer than expected German resistance. Leaders and soldiers at all levels understood that no matter where they found themselves on landing and n

How do we find our purpose to listen to wisdom to rightly choose when to be agile and change and when we should keep on the same track? Wisdom Tenacity and Agility I was at my wits end. Burned out and utterly lost in a quagmire of my own making. I'm uncertain as to what came first. Was I burning out and thus started to get stressed and failing to close business or was my failure to close business causing the stress that made me burn out? Whatever, the upshot was that times were tough, the economy was in the doldrums and it didn't look as if there was a recovery happening anytime soon. You'd think that after 15 odd years of this rollercoaster life we loving call entrepreneurship that I would know better than to allow myself to become exhausted but then many of my coaching clients experience very similar situations. Perhaps that was it! Burnout is a contagious disease!! A mind virus that constantly reminds you there but for the grace of God go I. And boy did I jump down the rabbit hole. When I asked close frien

Part 5 of our series on Being an Exceptional presenter takes us into the OW of KNOWing your Audience. Blame the 'O' for millions of people being fearful of presenting at all. And blame the 'W' for most presenters failing. It's also why most telemarketing sucks. Both to receive and to do. To give your case the best possible chance of success, you need to establish credibility with your audience, present your logical argument and appeal to their emotions. That is, you need to win their hearts and minds. Notice the word "win" - because in every presentation, yours is just one more voice contending to be heard and acted upon. People do resist change, and anytime that you are presenting you are instigating change. All of your audience members (and you) share 3 basic human needs: To have a positive self-image The need to belong The need to be right When your argument makes the audience FEEL that you are picking them out as non-compliant, wrong or simply for being different, then your argument falls on deaf ea

If there's one complaint I hear about a presenter's skills from their boss or a their HR, it's that they don't adjust their presentation for their audience. And yet those presenters genuinely believe that they do adjust for their audience. So who is right? Well, they're both correct of course. The presenter thinks they are adjusting but they don't really KNOW their audience. What about the audience themselves? What do they think? Sadly the audience don't have an opinion because they stopped paying attention and moved onto other, more exciting things like thinking about lunch or updating Facebook. To capture their attention and motivate them to act, you have to get top KNOW your audience Image already added This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.joyatwork.coach

n this AdvantEdge Guide I am sharing how you can make your presentations engaging, memorable and interesting by utilising the New Golden Circle of Visual Storytelling. There are three parts to this guide. I shall start with the problem, that is that most presentations (and presenters) are boring. That Smartphones are a presenters enemy and you try to give too much information in one go. Then we'll look at how you can gain and keep someone's attention and lastly, we'll look at how your brain thinks visually and how to use visual storytelling so that you gain attention, engage your audience and make your presentation interesting and memorable. Most presentations are boring Take a moment to consider how many presentations you have attended that were fascinating and interesting and memorable. I suspect that you can count them on one hand. Yawn yawn and yawn again It's almost as if someone invented a special tool to keep all the people passive and obedient. A tool that is used in almost every organisation around t

You want to make a greater impact and you want to be seen as an exceptional presenter, but nobody seems to care what you say or how you say it, let alone act on the information you shared. What you need to do is motivate your audience to pay attention and motivate them to act on the information you share and to do that, you need to start with WHY it matters to them.  How do you quickly and easily go about this and put together an amazing and impactful presentation?  In this AdvantEdge guide, I'm going to share three essential aspects that will equip you to quickly, and easily put together an amazing and impactful presentation so that you motivate your audience to pay attention and motivate them to act on the information you share Generating motivation to ... Motivation Direction Finding Your Why This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.joyatwork.coach

It’s all about being “natural” or “charismatic”! It is, you’re right of course. So shall we mere mortals give up then? It is true that some people appear “natural” and “charismatic” when they deliver a talk or presentation. But they usually neglect to tell you the real secret of their confidence and “natural” ability: that they are exceptionally well prepared, and have fine-tuned this and practised it multiple times. I know, because I am one of those people. Workshop participants and attendees for my keynotes often remark how “engaging”, “entertaining” and “insightful” I am sharing this with you not to brag, but to humbly tell you that I wasn’t always this good. Furthermore, I am not as good today as I will be tomorrow! For today is another day to prepare, practice and hone my presentation, my message or my keynote. I am not especially gifted. I am rather introverted, though I may be less frightened than some people of being the centre of attention. I am anxious before every single presentation. And I am ful

This is just a test publsihing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.joyatwork.coach

"Some people are just more naturally empathic than others" the CEO brusquely informed me. "It's not personal, it's business" he went on quoting that bundle of joy Donald Trump. "They should know what's good for them, and do what I suggest. Why should I have to influence them or show empathy?" The CEO pushed back his chair as if our session were over. His company was struggling. Several key staff had recently departed and were working for a competitor. He still insisted that empathy was not something he needed to do, and he was perfectly capable of influencing his team. It was they who needed to change, not him. You've met someone like this I'm sure. And you're wondering how I'm going to suggest that they change right? But no, there is a twist here. How do you influence them to have more empathy and more easily influence others? You see, it's terrific to have someone like that CEO in your life. You are not like him. You care. You show a genuine concern, and there are only a few people who, well, they simply d

Today is your birthday! OK, maybe it’s not actually today, but happy birthday anyway. This is the one day a year when a few people, your mum and maybe an aunt, send you an actual birthday card. Remember those? Real physical cards. Heck, nowadays people can’t even be bothered with an e-card. but I digress. This week you’ll learn how you can retake control of your time and get back at least 20% of your work life to enjoy doing other things that matter. Let’s get back to your birthday. At around 8:30 on your birthday morning, your postal delivery person comes to your home and delivers the first card that your Mum sent in the first-class post.   Where are you at 8:30 in the morning? The Postman always delivers twice Either at work or on your way to work right? Oh, well. On your doormat at home (yes, the Royal mail delivers to your door… and everyone else’s door too) lies that birthday card from your dear mum. At about 3 in the afternoon, the postal delivery comes again to your home and delivers a second birthd

“As long as you do everything exactly the way I want it when I want it, you can do it any way you want whenever you want.” The Head Chef told me on my first day in his kitchen. There was to be no ambiguity, no doubt that there was one way of doing things, and it was his way. I wasn’t there to express my creativity and brilliance. I was there to follow orders and comply with any and every demeaning request. With his first sentence, my new boss had stripped me of any personal control and all autonomy. Boy, did I feel motivated?!? It was, however, the most efficient kitchen I had worked in. We turned out surprisingly excellent food and you could, quite literally, eat off the floor. Rarely did anything go wrong, but should someone make a mistake, then Chef would be quick to bellow profanities and ensure that it was unlikely you would make that mistake again. Well, either that or you ran crying from the kitchen never to return. Within a year, this chef was awarded his first Michelin Star. We celebrated by working

Recently, I spent a few days being completely cared for. I was allowed to do nothing for myself. Forced to lay in an uncomfortable bed, unable to get out being tied in via neck and arms to machines and tubes, with more tubes coming out of my body. And all the time I was intensely aware of every single passing second. Every beep and gurgle, ever waft of air and alarms, oh the alarms. My senses were hyper alert in an environment that had simply too many parts clamouring for attention. Yes, I was in a hospital. At least this time, it had been a choice. Now, I don't tell you this to garner your sympathies. All that should matter to anyone is that I am now out and recovering very well thank you. No, it's because I relearned some incredibly basic ideas about leading ourselves and leading others. Why we hate to be trapped in a bed or any environment and how our stress is made extreme by the more basic and fundamental (perceived) threats to our life. My experience this past week in the hospital will be little differe

I am an excellent procrastinator! I can put things off for absolutely no better reason than I don't feel like doing them right now. Of course, I have plenty of excellent excuses, and I believe all of them. Until I choose not to. So I force myself to do the stuff I don't really feel like doing and keep at it until I do feel like doing it. Until that moment where I can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I learned the real origin of that phrase, by the way, in 1993. The Standedge Tunnel is the longest and highest canal tunnel in England on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal between Diggle and Marsden. I lived, at the time, right above the tunnel. It was closed when I lived there, slowly being renovated to allow pleasure boats to go through. I would often break through the barriers blocking the entrance to walk through the tunnel with visitors to enjoy this unique piece of history. Legging-boat-normal.jpgNot only is the tunnel long, it has a bend. And in the 1800's you had to "leg it" to propel your barg

Beyond Blended Learning, today's leading organisations are flipping the corporate classroom. Are you going to be sidelined? Let's throw up some startling statistics. [caption id="attachment_38738" align="alignright" width="300"] Preferred format for learning in the Henley Business School 2016 Survey[/caption] The Henley Business School Corporate Learning Survey in 2016 shows that: Desire for online only executive development remains very low at less than 12% Desire for project-based l&D stays steady at 33%, similar to experiential programmes at 29% Blended learning is gaining in popularity up to 43% whilst in-classroom workshops are also gaining up to 45%. With coaching showing the strongest popularity at 66%. So why are so many corporate adding more online only programmes in a bid to save money at the expense that learners will continue to dislike it as a method? 62% corporates plan to offer online learning in 2017. Meantime, of technology assisted learning that is used, 67% are accessing via a mobile

My mum would often tell me “all will be well in the morning.” For her, it was just experience and age-old wisdom. All will be well in the morning And things always were better in the morning. Somehow, all the clutter and stress and worry, while, not gone altogether, was, at least more manageable. As I slept, my brain was free to sort through the problem, process it entirely and put it in a suitable place close to a similar experience in memory. I had learned how to resolve whatever the issue was. More often than not, it didn’t even need addressing anyway. How taking a break improves future learning It’s akin to my mum’s advice to “sleep on the problem” so that your memories can be reprocessed, consolidate and shaped for better (faster) retrieval. Taking a learning break gives your brain time and space to reprocess. And now there’s compelling new evidence from the University of Texas at Austin, recently published in the National Academy of Sciences that supports the idea that study breaks improve later learn

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (Turn and face the strange) Ch-ch-changes Don't want to be a richer man Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (Turn and face the strange) Ch-ch-changes Just gonna have to be a different man Time may change me But I can't trace timeDavid Bowie What do you do when you want to change? Whether you want to change yourself or bring about change in others or your organisation. Change is difficult and sustaining change more so. To do so, we want to leverage the awesome power that is in every one of us, and that is the power of habit. Nobody likes to change Asking someone to change is fraught with difficulties. Oftentimes, we forget that as leaders and influencers we are encouraging people to change. If everything was meant to remain in the status quo, there would be no need for leadership or influence! And our brains prefer the status quo. It is known and your brain has done a fantastic job of keeping everything in this environment in the right balance to keep you alive and thriving. Change disrupts that status qu