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Posts tagged "neuroscience"

7 Leadership Questions That Will Move Your Needle in 2016

The Secret Weapon of Great Leaders.

 

Have you ever experienced in a meeting where a seasoned leader listened intently and then, with exquisite timing, asked one question that shifted the direction, focus and thinking of the entire team?

goal achievementThat is the magic and power of questions!

To move the needle in your organization in 2016, the first place to start is by asking thought-provoking questions.   The 7 questions below are by no means exhaustive. They serve as a starting point to stimulate your own questions.

These (or comparable) questions can make the difference between a successful 2016 and a disappointing one.

Posted by Denise Corcoran on January 27, 2016 in Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation, Organizational Performance, Strategic Thinking.

Deep Motivations, Not Competencies, Drive Leadership Performance.


What if…

  • You could easily predict the performance of your leaders, your teams and your organization?motivation1
  • You could gain access to the underlying motivators that drive a leader or employee to do their best work?
  • You could eliminate costly hiring mistakes and determine in advance to what extent a candidate will perform well in a role?

Such a solution exists and can unleash the potential and performance within your organization.

It’s called motivational profiling.  Your underlying (and often unconscious) attitudes and motivations determine what you pay attention to and focus on in your leadership role.

These deep motivation and attitudinal patterns  (MAPs) ultimately drive – yours and others’ –

  • Behaviors
  • Decision making style
  • Requirements for change and variety
  • Dominant motivation driver
  • Levels of strategic and visionary thinking
  • Relationship to norms/rules
  • Orientation toward innovation and creativity
  • And much more

Drawing on recent evolutions in cognitive science research, motivational profiling is a state-of-the-art assessment tool that provides a window into yours and your employees’ intrinsic motivations and attitudes at work.

Posted by Denise Corcoran on July 14, 2015 in Assessments, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation, Organizational Performance, Top Talent.

7 Unconscious Leadership Fears That Keep You Small

Which keep you small?

fears keeping you small

Fears keeping you small

 

All leaders have fears.  However, not all your fears are created equal.

Some may manifest as low level anxieties.  Some are life paralyzing phobias.  Some may be triggered only by certain events – like fear of public speaking.  Others may be life-long fears.

Then there are the “big guns.”  These are the core unconscious leadership  fears from which all other fears come.  They override every aspect of your being.

In this article you will learn 7 unconscious leadership fears that keep you small.  First, it’s important to understand the nature of fear.

Posted by Denise Corcoran on June 17, 2015 in Beliefs, Emotional Mastery, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation.

Top Leaders Communicate Authority Through Body Language.

Do You?

 

obama

 

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.

Posted by Denise Corcoran on May 20, 2015 in Alignment, Emotional Mastery, Employee Engagement, Influence, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset.

The Secret to Rapid Leadership Breakthroughs

 

Wayne Dyer beliefs

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.

Posted by Denise Corcoran on June 4, 2014 in Beliefs, Change Management, Emotional Mastery, Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset.

Brain Science Secrets to Increase Leadership Willpower

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.

ego depletion

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. 

Posted by Denise Corcoran on May 6, 2014 in Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation, Willpower.

The One GRAND Leadership Illusion That Sinks Organizations

Leaders lie to themselves.  And they don’t even realize it. 

I know this statement may sound harsh at first.  I ask you to hold your judgment until after you’ve finished the article to understand why.

leadership brainFor example, when a company is stuck or has plateaued, I often hear reasons like …

  • Our company did not grow because of the economy.
  • We need more knowledge or technology to beat our competition.
  • We have to seize every revenue opportunity as it comes our way or we won’t survive.
  • The marketplace is an unfriendly place.

Do any of these sound familiar in your company?

Posted by Denise Corcoran on April 6, 2014 in Emotional Mastery, Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Organizational Performance.

How Great Strategic Thinking Leaders Think.

The Finale Says It All.

As a leader, how often do you find yourself …

  • Rodin
    Thinking Behind Strategic Thinking

    Overwhelmed by an overload of demands, not knowing what to respond to first?

  • Continually fighting for certainty, paralyzed by fear of the unknown?
  • Blind sighted by unforseen events that jeopardize your company’s stability and bottomline?

I’m guessing what you really want is to stop your perpetual busyness.  You want to focus on the critical few.   You want to navigate your company, amidst constant change, to its ultimate destination.

In my decades of working with leaders, I have found that the above are symptoms that a leader lacks the capacity to think strategically.

Posted by Denise Corcoran on March 4, 2014 in Change Management, Fast Growth, Goal Achievement, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation, Organizational Performance, Organizational Transformation, Strategic Thinking.

My 12 “Must Read” Best Leadership Books for 2014

With the new year coming, I asked myself … what wisdom could I provide to help leaders change their game in 2014?

Most leaders’ looming questions during this time are …

•    Where do we go from here?
•    What can we do to get to the next level?
•    What are we not being that we need to be?
•    What are we not doing that we need to do?

While there are many classic leadership books that are still relevant today – like Good to Great and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – and a flooded market of other business books, I wanted to share ….

Posted by Denise Corcoran on November 30, 2013 in Fast Growth, Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation, Organizational Transformation.

How to Rise to the Top of Your Leadership Game

Are you a business leader who …

• Aspires to accomplish great things?

• Is always seeking to raise your bar higher?

• Continually searches for an edge in personal performance?

• Gets diminishing returns from your efforts?

• Is fired up to take things to the next level, but doesn’t know how?

For a moment, put aside the stresses of your day and shift your focus from what is to what can be.  It’s time to enter a world of new possibilities for yourself and your future.  It’s time to play a new Leadership Game.

Imagine  …

Photo Credit: David Niblack

• You could be at the top of your mental game with volition

• Instantly elevate yourself into a peak emotional and mental state within minutes

Fuel your confidence, passion and motivation on a daily basis that moves you to action

What would that do to your leadership performance, success and results   in the future?

Posted by Denise Corcoran on February 15, 2013 in Emotional Mastery, Goal Achievement, Leadership Development, Leadership Performance, Mindset, Motivation.