A collection of reflections, tools, and leadership insights to help you communicate more clearly, navigate change more confidently, and lead with greater generosity.
New insights are added monthly, including expanded versions of Shannon’s LinkedIn articles and fresh content designed to support your growth.
LOL: Why Humor Is Good for Teams and Business
There’s no contradicting the fact that a little laughter can lighten any situation. We’ve all been in one of those situations: a tense disagreement between team members or a stressful day with a deadline looming. How these times get handled is very important to the overall well-being of a team. One way to handle them…
5 Benefits of Executive Coaching
Coaching need not end when at high school graduation or when you land that first job. It need not end no matter how many years you’ve worked. Learning is a lifetime exercise. Therefore, a coach is never out of date, and the benefits of executive coaching are numerous. Executive coaching can make all the difference…
How Creating Margin Can Foster Effective Leadership
Effective leadership takes time, intentionality, purpose and strategy. It also means making the choice to create margin in your life. Just like a well-written, typed paper needs margin around the edges to be a source of communication and efficiency, leaders need margin in their lives to perform at peak levels. But leaders are often driven, which can…
Micro-Managers – The Good, The Bad and How Not To Be The Ugly
In 1966, Clint Eastwood starred in a movie titled “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” This spaghetti western told the story of three men searching for gold. The last scene is a famous three-way shootout, leaving the Good (Clint Eastwood) alive, the Bad dead and the Ugly barely surviving. In the world of business,…
10 “Be”-haviors to Gain Respect
As a manager, respect is essential to building a successful, productive team. While many managers struggle to gain respect from employees, respect can actually be earned and maintained with simple behaviors that let people know you can be trusted to lead effectively. Adopt the following behaviors and watch employee respect for you grow: 1.…
Putting Your Best Interests to Work
“Stay hungry, stay foolish.” This was advice that the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs gave to the Stanford University Class of 2005 during their commencement speech. In his speech, Jobs in effect said that you will do your best if you do work that you love to do, not what other people think…
Excitement About My Job: Are You Happy?
Invest in Happy Our identities are often tied up with our occupation because so much of our time is devoted to working. Did you know that the 72-work week is the new norm? According to a recent study of executives, managers and professionals 60% of them who carry smartphones are connected to their jobs 13.5…
Three Character Traits to Establish Your Credibility
Character Traits Brand You Leap off the corporate launching pad by incorporating three basic, yet often overlooked, character traits. Character development involves values that you recognize as valid: if you don’t know who you are, you can’t be true to yourself. When we are clear about our values, we respond with greater certainty, stability and…
Develop Entrepreneurial Job Strengths
A key to surviving and thriving in the business world is developing your job strengths as an entrepreneur. Though you already have the technical knowledge required for your industry, there are some general strengths that may not come naturally. Here are a few that many entrepreneurs need to improve: Open-mindedness Risk acceptance Persuasive communication Prioritization…
How To Increase Your Work Potential Beyond the Office
Increase work performance Modern workers average 8.8 hours a day in the office. That’s approximately 2, 288 hours a year. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, we spend only a minimal amount of time on leisure or other activities. We’re working… a lot. I often find well-intended people working more and more…