Today, I’m diving into 14 reasons why people fail to prepare themselves for a successful attempt at a promotion. For the purposes of this episode, I’m talking specifically about internal promotions – although many, if not all, of these strategies will apply if you are seeking a higher position with a new company.

I’m leaning heavily on an article from cnbc.com by Claire Hughes Johnson entitled “I was VP at Google for 10 years. Here’s the No. 1 skill I looked for at job interviews—very few people had it.” What is this important, yet rare, quality? Self-awareness. Today, we delve into how interviewers check for self-awareness, how to recognize if you’re lacking in self-awareness, and how to build self-awareness.

I found this article from Heidi K. Gardner, Ph.D., who has discovered through more than a decade of teaching and research at Harvard’s business and law schools that people who figured out how to collaborate across teams gained a major competitive edge over those who did not. Dr. Gardner also discovered just how rare collaboration skills are. Today, we’re going to break down exactly what collaboration is, why it’s so important in today’s workforce, and outline the five aspects of being an exceptional collaborator.

This week, I want to talk about how to focus on the right things at work, using Stephen Covey’s Four Quadrants. Let’s think about the Four Quadrants as a tool to manage our ACTIVITIES better — so we are focusing on the right things to get the results we are held accountable for achieving. My challenge for you in this area is this: After listening to this episode, decide to make a small — but significant shift — in one of the quadrants. A shift that will yield substantial results in terms of your productivity.

I talked in episode #268 about leading through a reduction in force — today I want to talk about the signs that your company might be about to do a RIF — and how to be prepared. We’ll discuss ARFO, some signs to look out for, and the red flags that tell you to look somewhere else immediately.

Once again, I am pulling from the book Leading with Emotional Intelligence by Reldan Nadler. In his book, Nadler talks about “The Perfection Loop” — the fact that success-driven people often set unrealistic goals that set them up for failure or frustration. Today, we’ll break down why people set unrealistic goals, the six stages of the Perfection Loop, some indicators that you’re in one, and how to counter it.

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.

I have been re-reading the book Quiet Leadership: Six Steps to Transforming Performance at Work, by David Rock. One of his concepts jumped out at me, and I wanted to share it with you. Brain science tells us that, when we focus on a behavior we wish to change, we are actually cementing the neural pathway that was created when we began repeating that behavior in the first place. Once a neural pathway is created in our brain, it will always be there. The challenge is not to remove that pathway – we can’t – but rather create a new neural pathway through our thinking and beliefs. Today, we’ll walk through some examples and discuss how we can do this to improve our professional persona.

Today, I want to delve into the three biggest mistakes I see people making in their attempts to brand themselves – as well as the solution. First, we’ll talk about why personal branding is important, then break down the mistakes I see most often, wrapping up with the solution, accompanied by some examples.

Circumstances are those things in your life over which you have no immediate control. The message I want you to hear in today’s podcast episode is that you have the option of making yourself indispensable at work, no matter the job you’re in or the circumstances surrounding that job.

Starting any new job can be an exciting, yet stressful experience. However, this doesn’t mean that you have an impossible task in front of you. There are a number of tactics and strategies that you can leverage to start your new job on the best foot.

Have you updated your LinkedIn profile lately? Even if you are not actively job searching, most of you would be open to having a conversation with a recruiter if the opportunity was right – and those recruiters are looking for you primarily on LinkedIn.