Podcast

Looking for a new job or want to move up in your company? Lesa teaches you the tools and strategies you need to land your dream job, increase your promotability, and successfully navigate your career.

Leadership Lesa Edwards Leadership Lesa Edwards

334: Influence Without Authority - How to Lead When it’s Not in Your Job Description

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.

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Work Issues, Leadership Lesa Edwards Work Issues, Leadership Lesa Edwards

330: How to Be an Effective Manager When Your Boss is Horrible

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.

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Career Transitions, Career Management Lesa Edwards Career Transitions, Career Management Lesa Edwards

309: Set Yourself up for Success in a New Role - at Any Experience Level

As most of you know, the first 90 days in a new job are critical for your long-term success - not only in that role, but for your future with the organization. Here are key steps to take in the first 90 days to set yourself up for success - at the Individual Contributor, New Manager, New Director/Senior Manager, and VP/C-Suite levels.

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Leadership Lesa Edwards Leadership Lesa Edwards

304: The Most Important Leadership Qualities - and Derailers to Avoid

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.

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269: The Perfection Loop & How to Counter It

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.

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Leadership, Career Management Lesa Edwards Leadership, Career Management Lesa Edwards

267: Transitioning from Managing Yourself to Managing Others

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.

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Life Coaching, Leadership Lesa Edwards Life Coaching, Leadership Lesa Edwards

266: Self Confidence: Being on Your Side vs. Being on Your Case

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.

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265: Changing Behaviors in Yourself and Your Team

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.

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Work Issues, Leadership Lesa Edwards Work Issues, Leadership Lesa Edwards

254: Humanizing the Remote Work Experience (with Amy Mednick)

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.

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Career Decisions Lesa Edwards Career Decisions Lesa Edwards

253: Are You a Good Fit for an Interim Executive Position? (with Robert Jordan)

This week, I have a return guest — Robert Jordan. Robert is CEO of Interim Execs, which matches interim, project, and fractional executives with opportunities. Today, we’re talking about the role of an interim executive — and who is the right fit for these types of opportunities. Robert shares the characteristics he looks for in interim executives and how you can best present yourself for these roles.

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Professional Development Lesa Edwards Professional Development Lesa Edwards

246: Creating a 30/60/90-Day Plan for Your New Position

A question recently came up about 30/60/90-day plans, so today, I’d like to convey this information to you. These plans are fairly common at the director level and above. There are two possible scenarios for such a plan: When you are in the interviewing phase, and when you are new in the position. We’ll discuss both and break down how to outline and present this plan in a professional environment.

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Leadership Lesa Edwards Leadership Lesa Edwards

240: 9 Leadership Styles and Their Strengths

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.

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Work Issues Lesa Edwards Work Issues Lesa Edwards

226: How to Prepare for a Difficult Work Conversation

Here’s the bad news: You can’t change anyone but yourself. Here’s the best news ever: You can’t change anyone but yourself. I don’t know about you, but when I’m about to have a difficult conversation with someone, I tend to imagine all kinds of worst-case scenarios. As a result, I often avoided having those difficult conversations…which meant the situation and my feelings continued to fester. Today, we’re going to talk about how you can prepare yourself for these difficult conversations to maximize your chances for success.

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Leadership Lesa Edwards Leadership Lesa Edwards

067: Identifying Your Leadership Style

There are some aspects of leadership that are universal: no matter your personality, industry, background, or audience, true leaders show up in certain ways. In today’s podcast episode, I discuss some of the common traits and styles that make up successful leaders.

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