Image Development in Leadership

I recently got back from New York City and four days of meeting over 70 media including television producers, writers, agents, and editors. I gave 2-minute pitches to all of these people, which felt like speed-dating! This got me thinking about the impression we make in 2 minutes, and how we could possibly influence someone to take action.

This is not a whole lot different from leadership. What sort of impression do we make with our leadership influence in 2 minutes? What kind of impression do we want to make? What is the lasting or lingering thought we wish to impart on someone?

Follow these simple IMAGE steps to create a lasting, positive impression:

Integrity – Stand in your integrity, be honest about who you are and what you stand for, demonstrating this with your behavior.

Mannerisms – Be cognizant of your body language. Are you open or closed? Are you inviting? Are you demonstrating confidence?

Appearance – Does your appearance match the impression and image you want to portray? Show up in presence as well, remembering to practice active listening more than speaking.

Greeting – Greet others with openness, kindness, warmth, and a smile. People do not always remember what we say to them, but they always remember how they felt when with us.

Enjoy the experience. We are more attracted to fun and joy than anything else.

Be the master and creator of impression. We always leave an impression, whether we are aware of that or not; so step into awareness and consciously create your leadership impression by choice.

With love,

Maria

11 Areas Of Delay That Detour Your Leadership Goals

I saw this statement the other day, “I let go of anything and everything that could delay my good in any way.” By Louise Hay

Hmmm… Of course, as I so often do, I contemplated how this might apply to leadership.Leadership is the action that motivates people toward a vision. Therefore, if the vision is the “good” in this statement, we need to ask ourselves, “What gets in the way that could cause delay of achieving my vision?” In other words, what no longer serves us?I discuss this topic a lot with my clients. It is a great exercise to stop and check-in with yourself regularly, asking, “What no longer serves me?”Some possible delays to our good or vision may include:

  • Underlying beliefs that no longer serve us

  • Ego

  • Clutter (literal and physical)

  • The need to be right

  • Noise (literal and physical)

  • Fear

  • Poor health

  • Lack of sleep

  • Lack of knowledge

  • Lack of anything…

  • Toxic relationships

Once you’ve identified what gets in your way of achieving your good or your vision, it is time to let it, or them, go. Time to move into action, ridding yourself of anything and everything that gets in your way.

Brian Tracy, in his book, “Eat That Frog!” offers some great suggestions for getting out of the procrastination habit.Mark Twain was the inspiration for the book title and overall premise of getting procrastination out of the way. Mark Twain said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you go to through you day with the satisfaction of knowing that is probably the worst thing that would happen to you all day long. So eat your frog and know that it is the time to start exercising your backbone instead of your wishbone.

You are the architect of your life, the author of your book. This is not a dress rehearsal. If you don’t like what you see…change it!

I want to hear from you.

What is your favorite strategy you use to work through delays and detours? How do you eat your frog?

With love,

Maria