There’s no question that being an effective communicator is critical to succeeding at leadership. But as my guest in this episode of my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast points out, a leader’s ability to express the right kind of appreciation to their employees is key to driving employee growth and success.

Dr. Paul White is a psychologist, author, and speaker who “makes work relationships work.” His work has been featured in Business Week, CNN, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Fortune, and the New York Times.

Along with Dr. Gary Chapman, Paul is the coauthor of the best-selling book, “The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace”, which has sold over 550,000 copies and has been translated into 25 languages.

Over the course of this episode, Paul and I talk about how leaders can improve their ability to express appreciation to their employees by exploring some of the following topics:

· Understanding why appreciation is different from recognition and why both are needed to inspire and motivate employees.

· Exposing the two false assumptions most leaders make about appreciation and what studies have revealed as the key benefits that come from expressing appreciation.

· What are the Five Languages of Appreciation and how do they manifest in the workplace.

There’s even a hilarious moment in my conversation with Paul where we talk about some of the unbelievably ridiculous measures some leaders made to show appreciation to their employees – each of them true stories that employees shared with Paul. Trust me when I say you’ll want to hear about them!

And as Paul mentioned at the end of this episode, if you email him at [email protected] with the subject heading “Leadership Biz Cafe”, he will send you a number of FREE resources that will help you better understand these Five Languages of Appreciation and how you can start communicating them in your workplace.

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One of the common themes around leadership that I’m asked to speak on for a keynote or a corporate training workshop around is how can leaders create conditions that inspire employees to show up and deliver their best.

As a point out in these talks, a key ingredient to making such conditions is defining a vision that helps to inspire purpose in your employees and with it, drive success over the long-term.

So in this edition of my Leadership Espresso Shot series on my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast, I want to share two stories that reveal three critical steps leaders need to take to create a vision that inspires a sense of shared ownership amongst your employees that will strengthen their commitment and drive to overcome whatever stands in their way to achieving these shared goals.

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“The real job of leadership is the chance to sincerely, passionately, excellently elevate human lives. And the best businesses are very mission-driven and purpose-centered.”

This is just one of many brilliant and thoughtful insights Robin Sharma shares in this latest episode of my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to share this episode with you. When I started this podcast almost 14 years ago, I never thought I’d be speaking with someone like Robin Sharma about leadership.

Robin is one of the top leadership and personal mastery experts in the world. In fact, many of the world’s top organizations have sought his advice and guidance, including Nike, FedEx, Microsoft, Unilever, GE, and PwC.

Robin is also the author of several #1 international bestsellers, including The 5AM Club, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, and The Leader Who Had No Title. His books have been translated into more than 92 languages and dialects, making him one of the most widely read authors alive.

Robin joins me on my podcast to talk about his new book, “The Wealth Money Can’t Buy – The 8 Hidden Habits to Live Your Richest Life” and some of the valuable lessons he shares about how we can lead a more fulfilling and rich life, as well as transforming the way we look at and approach our leadership.

I was so inspired reading Robin’s book that while I was travelling for work, I decided to take on one of the personal challenges Robin encourages readers to embrace to build one of those eight forms of wealth he describes in his book.

So what was Robin’s challenge I took on? And what did Robin say after I told him what happened to me when I did this challenge?

To find out, you’ll just have to listen. And trust me, there’s so many other reasons I’d encourage you to bookmark this episode to listen to and be inspired for how you can lead and live better.

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I’ve spoken with many highly successful people over the course of career and there’s one interesting characteristic I’ve noticed they all share in common.

Each of them exudes this quiet confidence about themselves and their abilities.

And to repeat, not just confidence, but quiet confidence, meaning they don’t try to be the smartest person in the room or the one who gets all the attention. And yet, when they speak, you can sense this sense of assuredness and inner peace about who they are and what they can do.

Naturally, most of us would love to be like these successful people – not just because of the level of success they’ve achieved, but because of that quiet confidence they exemplify.

So what’s their secret? How did they achieve this quiet confidence? Is it because of their success? Or could it be their sense of confidence gave rise to their success?

Well, recently, I delivered a morning keynote followed by an afternoon workshop to almost 1,000 leaders from a healthcare provider in the US and I realized that one of the exercises I shared with these leaders reveals how anyone can develop their own sense of quiet confidence.

It comes down to transforming that inner voice in our mind from that noisy, negative self-talk, to one that encourages and challenges us to fulfill our true potential.

As this idea wasn’t part of the leadership workshop I gave, I decided to develop into something to share in this latest episode of my Leadership Espresso Shot series.

More specifically, in this episode, I share four simple steps you can put into practice right now that will help you stop negative self-talk and replace that inner voice with one that these successful leaders have – an inner voice that believes in your ability to succeed and thrive in fulfilling the purpose of why you do what you do.

It’s a ten minute journey of self-exploration and discovery that I know you’ll derive a lot of benefit from.

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Over the past several months, there’s been a lot of attention paid to an organization’s workplace culture, particularly in terms of the on-going debate over the future of work.

But at a time where it feels we’re going from one crisis to another, it is important for leaders to consider what kind of workplace culture their promoting in their organization, and whether it will help their employees to adapt and thrive in spite of what crisis looms next over the horizon.

That’s why I invited Shaara Roman to join me on this episode of my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast to discuss her book, “The Conscious Workplace: Fortify Your Culture to Thrive in Any Crisis”.

Shaara is a seasoned executive, having held leadership roles in CGI, Fannie Mae, NRECA, and Visa, before founding her own workplace culture consulting firm, The Silverene Group. Her writings and insights on workplace culture have appeared in numerous publications, including like CEOWorld Magazine, SHRM, HR.com, HR Executive, Authority Magazine, and GovExec.

Shaara’s upbringing also gives her a unique insight into different cultural norms and how to bring people together, growing up in India, Nigeria, UK, and Greece before settling down in the US.

Some of the topics Shaara and I discuss in this episode include:

• The four types of organizational culture found in today’s workplaces, and how one of the common ones is more problematic than we might realize.
• The impact Millennial and Gen Z will have on leadership and the mindset change that’s going to be needed to keep organizations agile and responsive to the evolving talent landscape.
• The blindspot many leaders have about how certain actions of theirs are inadvertently transforming the workplace culture, and often times, not for the better.
• How a leader’s own innate sense of purpose drives an organization’s sense of community and belonging.

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When it comes to success, much of the focus tends to be on how do we go about being successful. We read books and watch documentaries about the lives of successful people in the hopes that we might better understand what allowed them to succeed in the hopes that we might achieve a similar result from our efforts.

But a recent conversation with my daughter revealed something we don’t tend to think about when it comes to success and that is what lessons can we learn about ourselves when we succeed?

That’s why in this edition of my Leadership Espresso Shot series, I share a story about how my daughter overcame an obstacle in achieving success in school and the three important lessons we need to make sure we never lose sight of when we achieve success.

Not only to ensure that we might succeed again, but because of the powerful insights we gain about the journey we’re on and will continue to take.

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When it comes to diversity in today’s workplaces, understandably much of the focus is on systemic challenges members of various marginalized groups have to deal with.

But as my guest in this episode of my Leadership Biz Cafe podcast points out, that doesn’t mean there aren’t measures Black professionals can take at the individual level so they can succeed and thrive in today’s corporate environment.

Carice Anderson is a seasoned corporate leader and executive, having worked at numerous organizations including Deloitte, Korn Ferry, McKinsey & Company, Aon-Hewitt, and has worked with top companies like Google, Bloomberg, JP Morgan Chase and Bain & Company. 

I’ve invited Carice to join me on my podcast to talk about her book “Intelligence Isn’t Enough: A Black Professional’s Guide to Thriving in the Workplace” so that Black and non-Black leaders can learn from her insights about how Black employees can be empowered to succeed and thrive as members of their team. 

Over the course of my conversation with Carice, we spoke about:

• What is the Black Tax and how it impacts the productivity and perception of Black and non-Black employees.
• An examination of the “three major corporate muscle groups” Black professionals need to flex and develop to succeed in the corporate world.
• The mindset shift Black professionals need to make to have a healthier relationship with failure.
• How Black professionals tend to prioritize degrees over work relationships and why they need to change their focus to get ahead in the corporate world.
• The advantages of looking for sponsors and not just mentors to help elevate your career.
• Why we need to think of “difficult conversations” as “courageous conversations” and how to be more effective in having them.

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How many of us would be happy knowing the high point of our career was that we were good at just getting through the day?

Unfortunately, that’s the reality leaders need to recognize as the focus of today’s leadership becomes less and less about achieving long-term goals and more about just putting out fires and ‘getting things done’.

While this certainly makes us look good from a day-to-day perspective, it also leaves us with little to point to as a true accomplishment and reflection of who we were and what we did as a leader.

No doubt this is why biographies and stories of successful leaders continue to capture our curiosity and imagination. After all, their leadership example is what we all aspire to be like – in our own way, of course.

But how we can be our own version of an exceptional leader when all we focus on are things that while urgent, are not important to achieving something lasting and meaningful? Something that changes things for the better, or at least opens the door for others to affect that kind of change

In this edition of my Leadership Espresso Shot series, I describe that one thing exceptional leaders never forget has to be at the forefront of everything they say and do.

It’s something that each and every one of us can make a part of our leadership focus, provided that we’re willing to make the effort of not letting the demands of our day-to-day dictate where we put that long-term focus. The lens through which we need to keep looking out through if we are to achieve something remarkable, something great.

So I hope you’ll take a short break from dealing with your day-to-day work tasks to listen to this episode, and gain inspiration for how you can be your own version of that exceptional leader your employees and team need you to be.

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What do Uber, Apple, Netflix, and AirBnB share in common in terms of the successes they’ve achieved? According to my guest in this episode of my Leadership Biz Cafe podcast, what these and other successful companies share in common is that they’re all experience disruptors.

And he has a framework based on studies in consumer behaviour, behavioural psychology, and marketing analytics that can help any organization become their own version of an experience disruptor.

Allen Adamson is an expert in branding, experience creation, and innovation strategy. Over the course of his career, he’s worked as a marketing executive at Unilever, held senior management positions at iconic advertising firms, including Ogilvy & Mather and DMB&B, and has worked companies like Accenture, GE, FedEx, HBO, Marriott, MetLife, P&G, Sony, and Verizon.

He’s authored four books, and it’s his latest one, “Seeing the How: Achieving Market Advantage by Transforming the Stuff We Do, Not the Stuff We Buy”, that I wanted to talk with Allen about.

Over the course of this episode, Allen and I discuss:

• What is experience innovation and moving past our assumptions of what our customers want.
• Why a singular focus is the critical key to creating a successful consumer experience.
• How to use our company’s strengths to meet the unique expectations of our customer base.
• What kind of partnerships with other companies you should consider to strengthen the consumer experience you can offer.
• Why getting closer to your customer is less about proximity and more about bringing more empathy to your consumer experience.

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The last few weeks of the year are an ideal time for self-reflection and review as on the one hand, there’s an understandable eagerness to plan and map out goals for the upcoming year.

But at the same time, it’s a perfect moment to take note of both the successes earned and lessons gained over the past 12 months.

It’s in the vein of the latter that I wanted to look back at the numerous conversations I had with my guests on my Leadership Biz Cafe podcast to select my favourite guest moments and insights from 2023.

To be sure, this wasn’t an easy task as I’ve had the privilege of speaking with some insightful and knowledgeable experts over these past 12 months.

Combing the perspectives of looking back and looking ahead, here are my favourite highlights from some of the conversations I had on my podcast in 2023:

• John Baldoni – Why great leaders take care of their employees by creating community and why grace is the how to making that happen.
• Adam Bryant – Why your ability to offer feedback and give recognition is key to your ability to make the leap to leader and why so many of us struggle with this form of communication.
• Tamara Sanderson – How leaders can address concerns over loneliness when offering remote work options, and what the shifting dynamics of relationships at work tell us about the future of work.
• Bertina Ceccarelli and Susanne Tedrick – What leaders should be doing to retain a diverse workforce during today’s uncertain economic conditions to ensure they can attract key talent needed to grow the organization when the economy roars back to life.
• James Burstall – How creativity can help leaders be better prepared for the next crisis by treating it as an opportunity for growth and not just a time to hunker down.
• Erika Andersen – What leaders need to do to make their organization more agile and responsive following a major change.

If you’re looking for some inspiration and guidance on how to be better prepared to address the challenges your organization will face in 2024, I want to encourage you to listen to this year-end retrospective episode, and to check out upcoming episodes of my podcast that we’ll be releasing in 2024.

My thanks to John, Adam, Tamara, Bertina, Susanne, James, and Erika for these insightful moments shared in this last episode of my podcast for 2023.

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If I were to ask your employees if your organization is ready to navigate the next global crisis, what would they say?

As much as we’d like to think we’re prepared for whatever crisis comes our way, the pandemic and subsequent global supply chain crises clearly proved many organizations are vastly under-prepared to handle any kind of global crisis, let alone internal ones that risk upending our well-laid plans.

So what can leaders do? How can you ensure your organization will fare better when the next storm arrives at your doorstep?

In this episode of my “Leadership Biz Cafe” podcast, I spoke with a leader who not only successfully navigated his company through two major crises, but who’s developed a practical guide any leader can put into practice right now to help them prepare for the next crisis.

James Burstall is the CEO of Argonon, a major international TV production company based in London, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Liverpool, and Glasgow. His company has produced a number of popular shows, including House Hunters International, Hidden Potential, Lost Treasures of Egypt, Attenborough and the Mammoth Grave, and The Masked Singer UK.

James has worked as an executive producer and producer-director for broadcasters all over the world, and has been featured in the Financial Times, Guardian, Variety, Deadline and Daily Telegraph to name a few.

I’ve invited James to join me on my podcast to talk about his book, “The Flexible Method: Prepare To Prosper In The Next Global Crisis”, which offers a practical guide for leaders based on James’ own experience, as well as the crisis management experience of several other successful leaders, on how to prepare for the next crisis that will inevitably arise.

Over the course of our conversation, James and I spoke about:

• The importance of calm and purposeful leadership and how to accomplish this during a crisis
• In times of crisis, what and how leaders should be communicating to their team
• How organizations can become more adaptable to external change while still holding true to their values
• How to use a crisis as an opportunity to tap into the collective creativity of your employees

If you want to make sure your organization is truly prepared for that next global crisis waiting just around the corner, make some in your day to listen and learn how this successful leader helped his organization to not just survive, but thrive under the pressures and fallout of two major global crises.

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