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About Denise Corcoran
Denise Corcoran works with CEOs and executive teams seeking rapid growth yet are challenged by the “invisible barriers” that keep them stuck, overwhelmed or in crisis mode. Her company —The Empowered Business — is one of the few companies providing whole brain, strategic solutions for unleashing leadership and organizational potential. Her secret sauce is assisting CEOs and executive teams develop the “X factor” – i.e., the mindset, attitudes and game-changing thinking -- that drives double and triple digit growth … by design.
Here are my most recent posts
Do You?
Can your body language …
- Make a difference in commanding leadership authority?
- Create trust or mistrust within an organization?
- Change your emotions after a stressful day?
Absolutely!!
Leadership authority is a by-product of 2 related aspects of yourself – your physiology and your emotional state. Call them the yin and yang of leadership authority.
The purpose of this article is NOT to give you a list of gestures, postures or leadership do’s and don’ts to communicate authority. Your emotions and your body language are both driven by your mind. And your mind is too complex for such generalizations.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on May 20, 2015 in Alignment, Emotional Mastery, Employee Engagement, Influence, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset.
Even Before You Speak
In 1987, I flew to LA to a women’s leadership conference for one reason only. To meet Anita Roddick, founder and “then” CEO of multi-billion dollar franchise,
Photo by David Niblack
The Body Shop, and asked her to write the forward of my book (to which she did say yes).
When I met her, I was stunned how amazingly small she was (even smaller than myself J). Yet her commanding presence was so powerful, 30 years later, that memory is still vivid in my mind.
Leadership presence includes character, charisma and self-confidence YET is much more.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on April 14, 2015 in Emotional Mastery, Employee Engagement, Influence, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation.
5 Power Words That Persuade
Influence is not something tangible, physical or material. Yet it’s real. You know when you are in the presence of it. Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Steve Jobs just to name a few.
The Power of Words
There is no leadership without influence. You can have a leadership title, yet have no influence. How influential are you? Does your team listen to your every word with attention, openness and trust? Is your team inspired to take action simply by what you say and do?
Influence comes from the latin root “influere” meaning to flow in.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on March 11, 2015 in Employee Engagement, Goal Achievement, Influence, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation.
7 Big Changes Every Leader Wants to Know About
- Do you know how current trends will change the face of leadership in your company?
- Is your company ready to meet the new leadership challenges in the coming years?
- Are you aware of how leadership is evolving to respond to those trends?
Every leader knows the importance of being strategic. Being strategic means looking into the future and identifying trends, opportunities and threats.
Below are my 2015 leadership predictions – threats, trends and opportunities – that will change the world of leadership as we know it today.
1. Complexity is the new normal.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on January 9, 2015 in Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Profitability, Strategic Thinking.
From early childhood, we were all taught never to lie. That was drilled into our psyche with such stories as Pinocchio and George Washington and the Cherry Tree
I learned growing up, however, that not lying is NOT the same thing as admitting and telling the truth. The former prevents us from making false statements; the latter has the generative power to change individuals and organizations.
In my decades of working with business leaders, I have found that there is one trait — above all others – that transforms mediocre leaders to extraordinary ones. That one trait is …
Rigorous truth-telling
Real leaders have backbone.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on November 11, 2014 in Accountability, Beliefs, Emotional Mastery, Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Organizational Performance.
7 Clues You Are.
Note: This post was originally published on August 25, 2014 on SmartBlogs.com.
If you are a sucker for great leadership movies like I am — Invictus, Coach Carter and Moneyball just to name a few, it’s easy to assume that all leaders embody the same qualities as those in the movies.
Afterall, who hasn’t idealized business leaders to be strong, confident, make tough decisions and stand their ground no matter what?
While those leaders do exist, they are a minority. In working with leaders for 30 years, I have found that the reality is shockingly different.
Most leaders take on their roles with the greatest of positive intentions.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on October 17, 2014 in Accountability, Beliefs, Company Culture, Emotional Mastery, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation, Teams.
Today’s companies have it all backwards. Leaders have a thirst and drive for answers to their biggest challenges.
Thousands of leadership books are published yearly to feed that thirst. Buying those books to find the right answers for your company is where leaders make their biggest mistake.
Leadership is NOT about having the right answers. It’s about asking the right questions.
If you’ve read my article “12 Strategic Thinking Questions That Yield Big Results,” you know why questions are so powerful and how they can change organizational results … overnight. If you have not, click here.
The Make-or-Break Question Critical to Your Business Future
There is one question though, above all others, that smart leaders ask … not just once, but everyday.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on July 8, 2014 in Fast Growth, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Profitability, Strategic Thinking.
Imagine … you are walking through a nearby park with the intent of getting to the other side. Along the way, you run into a large brick wall that stops you dead in your tracks and prevents you from reaching your ultimate destination.
That’s what your limiting beliefs are like … large brick walls that prevent you from reaching your destination. These mental brick walls paralyze you. They block you. And above all else, they seem impossible to move.
In the companion article to this one – The Secret to Rapid Leadership Breakthroughs, I addressed …
- Necessary conditions of any inner leadership change
- How changing leadership beliefs changes company results
- 3 core types of limiting leadership beliefs
- Client example of how a leader’s sabotaging belief was impeding his growth to become President of the company.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on June 6, 2014 in Beliefs, Emotional Mastery, Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset.
Does any of these sound familiar?
- You aspire to achieve great things, yet stay “small” for fear of failing.
- What about the thousands of dollars you’ve invested in leadership books and training, yet still find yourself stuck in the same rut and don’t know how to get out?
- Are you continuously swamped by the endless hours that your role demands, yet get diminishing returns from all your efforts?
You are not alone. Most leaders harbor fears, negative thoughts and emotions that seriously undermine their achievements. Here is one such story.
How One High Performing Leader Was Sabotaging His Own Potential
About 10 years ago, I worked with a leader being groomed to become President of a fast growing company.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on June 4, 2014 in Beliefs, Change Management, Emotional Mastery, Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset.
When I was in my 20’s and 30’s, I was the queen of willpower. I have always thrived on achieving big goals. My downfall was using a “white knuckle” approach to achieving those goals.
Willpower Exhaustion
Because of my exertion-exhaustion approach, my world came crashing down with life threatening illnesses that cost me everything in my life. While I wished I had learned the lesson in a less traumatic way, there was a gift in that experience.
It catalyzed me to seek mindset tools and technologies to create results with ease and less effort. It motivated me to learn how the brain works and its impact on our thoughts, emotions and behaviors.
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Posted by Denise Corcoran on May 6, 2014 in Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation, Willpower.
