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.
348: Why Poor Employee Engagement is a Leadership Problem (with Dr. Roger Gerard)
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.
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.
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.
326: Increasing Your Leadership Effectiveness by Asking Great Questions (with Bob Tiede)
I have a guest for this episode! Bob Tiede talks with me about how asking great questions can increase your effectiveness as a leader.
312: How to Become a Thought Leader on LinkedIn
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.
311: How to Manage Your Former Peers
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.
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.
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.
300: 300 Episodes - Academy Awards for My Best Advice
I can’t believe this is episode #300! In honor, I am offering My Best Career Advice, Academy Award style, in each category I cover.
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.
268: Leading Through a Reduction in Force (RIF)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
066: Developing as a Leader (with Melizza Black)
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.
Let’s work together