In this episode, I speak with Dr. Roger Gerard about leadership’s important role in employee engagement. He walks us through 3 types of employees a leader may encounter - the cynic, the apathetic, and the naysayer - and how to lead each.

Roger gives us 5 simple promises leaders need to make and keep to be effective.

There are two basic types of leadership: Positional (it's in your job description to lead others) and Influential (you are leading by influence rather than job title). I talk about why influential leadership is so important, the characteristics of an influential leader, and nine strategies for leading with influence rather than authority.

If you don’t live in a fairy-tale world, where your boss is supportive, encouraging, wise, and your biggest advocate - welcome to the (very big) party. In this episode, I cover how to know if you truly have a bad boss, how to manage your relationship with your bad boss, and how to manage and support your team when you aren’t getting what you need from your boss.

I have a guest for this episode! Bob Tiede talks with me about how asking great questions can increase your effectiveness as a leader.

Today’s topic is how to become a thought leader on LinkedIn. In this episode, I talk about the reasons you might want to become a thought leader, what constitutes thought leadership on LinkedIn, how much time you can expect this to take, and how to structure that time for maximum efficiency.

Here’s the scenario: You’ve been promoted in your current unit. You are now mnaging people who used to be your peers - at least one of whom may have also applied for the promotion. How do yo transition from a colleague to a manager? Here are nine suggstions for leading those you used to work alongside.

Today’s topic is the most important leadership qualities employers are looking for - and derailers to avoid. I’ve divided the list into leadership skills for leading an organization, leadership skills for leading teams, and leadership skills for leading yourself. I’ve also identified the #1 derailer, which can be a result of a lack of any of the leadership skills I’ve identified.

Today, I am speaking with Ahmed Wasfy, an engineering manager with such giants as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. In addition to his day job, he provides coaching services to help managers become effective leaders through his company, the Thriving EM. Ahmed explains the purpose of a project manager, the skills and qualities needed to be an effective project manager, and how to break into the field. We also discuss the PMP – Project Management Professional – designation, and whether that credential is necessary to enter into project management work.

Today, we’re talking about leading through a Reduction in Force, or RIF. This episode isn’t just for people who have managerial duties, but also people who lead by influence.

A RIF period at a company is trying for everyone but it also provides a great opportunity to demonstrate leadership and empathy.

Transitioning from managing yourself to managing others — is this the route for you?

For those becoming first-time managers, there is a learning curve, with the biggest change being a shift to begin thinking about others. Let’s talk about the differences when moving from an individual contributor to a manager, issues that can arise and what to do to help, and how to set yourself up for success.

One of my all-time favorite leadership books – certainly the one with the most sticky tabs in it – is Reldan Nadler’s Leading with Emotional Intelligence. I’ve used this resource for other episodes of the podcast, and today I want to talk about tools for building your self-confidence — specifically, Being on Your Side rather than Being on Your Case. Or, as I like to call it, having your own back. While we’re specifically talking about your relationship with yourself in this episode, understand the consequences of that relationship to all the other relationships in your life. If you lead people, you will likely treat them as you treat yourself.

My guest today is Dr. Amy Mednick, a New York City psychiatrist who specializes in the overlap between the humanities in neuroscience. Today, Amy and I talk about Zoom fatigue — what is it, why is it so prevalent, and the warning signs you want to pay attention to. We also talk about how to make Zoom meetings more humanizing if you are in charge.

Each leadership style has its strengths, although some are seen as more desirable. It’s important to understand and harness the strengths of your leadership style so you can communicate effectively and motivate your team. That’s why this week we are diving into the 9 leadership styles and how to use the strengths of each to boost your leadership skills and, in doing so, helping your team succeed.

This week, I’m talking about the stages of group development — what is necessary (and inevitable) for a team to grow, face up to challenges, tackle problems, find solutions, plan work, and deliver results. This work is based on the research of Bruce Tuckman from 1965, who hypothesized that, along with these factors, interpersonal relationships would create an effective group function.

A difficult employee is a term used to describe a person who acts in a careless, unprofessional, or irresponsible manner in the workplace. It is easy to get into a victim/villain mode with a difficult employee—thinking that they are intentionally doing the things they are doing to “get you” as the boss. This type of thinking puts you as the supervisor in a helpless, disempowering position with the difficult employee having power over you. So, how do we manage difficult employees? Let’s talk about it.

My guest this week is Robert Jordan, and we’re talking about the four leadership styles his team has identified. Robert shares how to make sure you land in a “leadership match” position – and how best to leverage your leadership style once you are in your new role.

Today I wanted to give you some tools to help you with your direct reports. I utilized “Quiet Leadership” from David Rock for this episode. The idea of solutions-focused questions is that you are focusing not on the problem, but on the solution to the problem. There is no upside to placing blame; rather, you want to help your employee understand how they can do better next time.

The reason I’m doing this episode today is because of the horror stories I have heard about bosses who are supposed to be “coaching” their employees but are doing something else entirely. As a Certified Executive and Leadership Development Coach (CELDC), I wanted to talk about a few of the coaching competencies as laid out by the International Coaching Federation or ICF. ICF is considered the premier coaching credential organization in the world. Many people in leadership positions have gotten a coaching certification, but it may not be appropriate for everyone. So here’s a crash course on eight coaching competencies you can put to use today without a coaching certification.

A LOT is written about how to be a great leader. In today’s podcast, I wanted to distill this information down to the top 10 things you MUST know to be a successful leader.

This week's guest is college senior, Melizza Black. As the editor in chief of hercampus, Melizza has great advice for college students wanting to develop their leadership abilities while in school.