Out Of The Comfort Zone

Who doesn’t want more confidence, especially when you have stepped out of your comfort zone and are trying to do something you haven’t yet mastered! That’s when most of us begin feeling like an imposter. Today’s episode is focused on the 8 confidence super powers – the mindsets that make all the difference to sustaining confidence. Tune in to hear how you can build more confidence.

Do you struggle to frame your thoughts in meetings? Do you avoid speaking up? Do you dread speaking in public? If so, this episode is for you. Tune in to hear the tricks and tactics for managing anxiety, for what to do when your mind goes blank as you are about to speak and for saying what’s on your mind in the moment.

At some point in our careers, all of us have to work with a co-worker or a boss who is “difficult”, from our point of view and who ultimately drains the joy out of work. These are complex situations but there are strategies to help. Tune in to hear about some of the typical challenges and what you can do to make work more satisfying.

You have probably been told that you need to raise your profile or do more self-promotion in order to get the opportunities you want to have. And you probably haven’t done much about it. If so, this episode is for you. How can you brag in a better way – one that is effective as well as true to you and your style? Tune in for very practical advice.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to become truly skilled, an expert, in a new area – that is when “we become the Master of It instead of us being mastered by it”? In this era of change, the ability to learn, to master a topic, has never been more important to all of us throughout our careers in order to stay relevant. Listen in to hear what it takes to develop mastery.

Getting people to listen is step one in persuading them to take an action. That is true whether you are giving a big speech, making a pitch, presenting an idea to your boss or lobbying for a new responsibility. What we used to advise doesn’t work so well today. So, what do you need to do? How can you improve your ability to communicate and persuade even if you don’t like speaking in public? Tune in for practical advice.

Power and influence – two words that are critical in a world that is vastly different from a decade ago even. We often think about hierarchical power as the most important – sometimes the only power we see. While, it’s not to be ignored, that’s insufficient for the way we work today. Our focus today is on what can you do to influence decision making. Listen in to hear more.

Digital transformation, data analytics, AI, ChatGPT are the current headlines. What does it mean for you as a leader? What do you need to know? What do you need to do? How do you lead your team through these transformations in practical terms? Listen to find a path forward.

In the project driven work of today, the ever ominous matrix and the need to manage stakeholders, influence is critical, perhaps more so than ever. How do you influence without manipulating? What are the key steps to influencing? What are the essential ingredients? Listen in to hear how you can expand your influence.

Questions are the most important tools in a leadership toolkit. Questions help you coach effectively as well as delegate, learn, innovate, engage, motivate, cope with uncertainty … well just about everything. What makes a great question? What sorts of questions should you be asking? How do you ask better questions? Listen in for advice from one of the best question askers.

Hear from a leader who has stepped out of her comfort zone and learn what she has done to be successful in those moments, how she prepares for the next level, how she has found the courage to make bold moves and how she stays motivated.

Many writers and consultants have an opinion about what makes for great leadership – usually focused around their main theme. This episode takes a wholistic view by talking to a Chief Human Resource Officer about what key mistakes he sees in leader, the outstanding qualities of the best leaders, what he wish people would do for their development and how to idenitfy great talent for your team. And, we are going to talk about how you can think about the next step in your career and get out of your comfort zone. Listen in for an on the ground perspective.

Some skills are and will be essential in the coming decades and if you want to stay relevant regardless the latest technology or content developments, you should invest now in learning those skills. One such case is design thinking as a way to see the whole system. Listen in to learn what design thinking is, how it will help you do your job and keep your job and what you need to develop in order to master it.

Most of us don’t love self-promotion but we know we need to do it – or rather we think we are supposed to do it. Finally, there is advice on how to bragg without coming across as egotisticial or boastful. Listen in to learn more.

Regardless where you work or how empathetic and caring you are as a person, everyone eventually needs to work with someone where the relationship is less than ideal – where there is tension, diasgreement and maybe even a bit of dislike. How do you work through those occasions without giving up too much of yourself in the process? How do you structure the critical conversations? How do you prepare yourself? Tune in to hear what to do.

When we think of well-being, we usually think of mindfulness and relaxation. Being free from pain is just as important. What you do today to your body, particularly your spine, can greatly affect your long term well-being, experience of pain and even your executive presence. Tune in to find out how and what you can do to make a difference.

If you are struggling to hold people accountable, then this podcast has the solution for you. It turns out that both compassion AND accountability are needed to drive performance. Tune in to hear why and what you can do about both?

Do you admire leaders who have courage and who seem to make bold moves without enormous stress? Do you wish you had more courage? Or, do you wish your team had more courage? If so, we have good news for you. Courage is a developable skill like any other skill. The secret is in understanding the components that lead to courage. Listen in to learn about those skills and how you can increase your levels of courage.

Perhaps you have been asked to be a mentor or to be part of a mentoring program. Perhaps you have mentored before and probably had a couple of great mentors. Most likely you haven’t thought about the many different ways you could mentor. And if you are looking for a mentor, perhaps thinking about the different roles mentors play would help you find the ideal mentor for you. Tune in to hear about the 13 roles mentors can take: The secret sauce of each along with the pros and cons of each role.

Leaders faced with decisions often ask if they made the “right” call. Winning athletes and coaches make a constant series of calls. What can we learn from studying how they make the “right calls’? What does it tell us about how to be a better leader? Tune in for fun stories and brilliant insight.