During a break in my seminar on collaborative leadership, a man from the audience told this story: “My wife is an attorney, and I have always been a supporter of women in the workplace. I also believe in collaboration and try to make everyone feel included and appreciated. So I was totally taken aback when a woman on my management team said that I didn’t value her opinion. I assured her that I valued and relied on her insights and had often told her so. But then I got curious and asked her what I was doing that made the opposite impression. She said, ‘In meetings, you don’t look at me when I speak.’”
Growing a small business and ensuring its success is not an easy task due to the fierce competition, when compared to big brands that already have a strong foothold. Hence in the initial years, the success of a small business can be uncertain unless you have formulated a strategized way to reach out to customers who are in need of your products or services.
My special project when coaching female leaders is to improve their influence and impact skills -- in short, their leadership presence.
When you see a red light on the stove, you assume the stovetop is hot, and therefore, don't place your hand on it. In this case your assumption is correct and it protects you from harm. That’s because, we process information through filters that help us make decisions based on previous experiences and information. But making assumptions doesn’t always have positive outcomes. For example, if you start a new job and assume the day begins at 9am without asking anyone, you run the risk of being late.
I’ve been asked many times recently to comment on how the rise of AI will impact the jobs and the economy, particularly in customer service and contact centers. I’ve seen wildly differing forecasts, from the dire predictions of Elon Musk to the optimistic predictions of Accenture. According to Forrester’s recently released ‘The Future of Jobs’ report, robots will take 24.7 million jobs by 2027, but create 14.9 million new jobs in the same period. There is no doubt that AI will impact jobs globally more than any other technology in our lifetime. The key question is “what should we do about it?”
As of today, there are over 500 million blogs on the Internet. While you are read this article, hundreds of blogs are being published on the Internet. The number keeps growing every second. Even though blog posts are being published at a fast rate, there are only some blogs that become successful.
Success is often thought to be easy when you are not given the entire picture. Many may assume that notable business leaders experienced smooth sailing to the top of their respective industry. But in most cases, quite the opposite is true.