10 Routines Leaders Need For Thick Skin

Someone asked me, “How can you develop a thick-skin at work?” My initial response, “Develop a strong heart.”Growing up, I was often teased because of my over-bite. Called many names at school, I came home frequently collapsing into a pile of tears. My mother would tell me to ignore the bully’s hurtful comments and eventually they would stop. I did experience some truth in this, but what was even more impactful, were her words, “Maria, you are beautiful, they just don’t see it.” Of course, she was referring to my inner beauty. I knew my outer beauty would catch up once I got braces!Why is it that as adults we still feel the need to toughen up and not let other people’s words hurt us? Could it be that we forgot our inner beauty?If so, don’t worry. Reclaiming our inner beauty and strengthening our hearts is easy to do. Developing a strong heart begins with self-love.Practice these ten steps and in no time, you will not need a thick skin because you’ll have a strong heart:

1. List your strengths. Next to each one, identify how you may leverage your strong points.
2. Create an action plan for personal and professional growth.
3. Reconnect with your intuition.
4. Do something creative every day.
5. Spend time in stillness each day.
6. Get enough sleep. Six to eight hours are recommended for optimum health.
7. Move your body every day. Some days it may only be walking to the mailbox.
8. Eat foods that nourish your body in healthy ways.
9. List at least five things each day for which you are grateful.
10. Find ways to help others see their greatness.

I would love to hear from you. How do you strengthen your heart?With love,Maria

6 Requirements For A Mentorship Mindset

I was just in a discussion today about mentoring. What exactly does this mean and why is it important for leaders to have a mentorship mindset?Mentorship is about sharing wisdom, and wisdom is gained from knowledge and experience. One of my favorite books about mentorship is, “Mentoring: The TAO of Giving and Receiving Wisdom” by Chungliang Al Huang and Jerry Lynch. Any good teacher will tell you that we learn so much from our students. The same is true with mentoring, it is an exchange, a dance of sharing wisdom, knowledge, and experiences with the intention of growth – for both parties.Of course, like most concepts we discuss, mentoring begins with self-reflection, self-awareness, and self-love. I love this quote from the book, “It may seem clever to know and accept others; yet accepting oneself is the way to Wisdom. It may feel powerful to overcome others; yet disciplining oneself is true strength. It may be noble to honor others; yet respecting oneself is deep self-esteem.”To practice mentoring, just remember the MENTOR acronym:

Motivation – discover the motivation in yourself and your mentee.Exploration – encourage exploration of different perspectives, options, and opportunities.Notice – pay attention to the feelings in both parties and explore their presence.Talk – advise less and listen more. Practice active listening and learn how to dance in the conversation.Open – be open to learn from your mentee and the experience.Respect – always opt for respect without judgment.

Recognizing the important distinction of when to lead, when to walk side-by-side, and when to follow…and knowing the difference …is wisdom.What are the elements of mentorship that resonate with you?I would love to hear from you. Who was your most significant mentor and why?With love,Maria

Marrying Leadership & Marketing In 10 Simple Steps

While teaching leadership or marketing courses, I often have the thought…Leading people and marketing are really the same activity. Isn’t the primary objective of both to influence people in the direction of a goal?Now some of you may challenge that statement! True, marketing and leadership could sometimes be an activity of manipulation, and not of influence. We have seen and experienced this many times in both marketing and leadership.Both activities, influence and manipulation, have power. The key is that only one has sustainability.  Manipulation can be an effective influencing tactic, but it is not sustaining; in fact, it is exhausting!Influence, on the other hand, is nurturing, motivating, and full of momentum. Great, so how do we do it? How do we really influence others?Reflecting on the power of influence, I’ve come up with some key ways we can gain influence with those we lead:

• Authenticity – live in integrity, honesty, and truth
• Respect – we have to give it to receive it.
• Power – referent power is sustaining.
• Communication – most especially, active engagement through power listening.
• Presence – not presents! Actually, the gift of being fully present to someone is the best present you could give.
• Honor and value – again, we must give it to receive it.
• Strong sense of self – with a strong internal compass and vision.
• Confidence – sometimes comes from experience, not to be confused with arrogance.
• Wisdom – insight gained through self-reflection, not to be confused with education.
• Love – feeling it, living it, and demonstrating it.

I would love to hear from you. What else would you add to the list?With love,Maria

3 Steps To Differentiate Your Leadership With Passion

Passion fueled the migration of Europeans to the new world, independence from oppression, voting rights for women, the civil rights movement, and environmental safety.Passion has taken organizations to unimaginable success like Southwest Airlines, Microsoft, and Apple. We see passion demonstrated in great art. Passion is a differentiator. Passion is not complacency or conformity; it is a call to action.When we think about passion from an individual level, we know we cannot NOT do whatever it is we are passionate about. Our minds, hearts, and bodies must fulfill our passion. To our passion, we are driven to say, “YES!” We may be able to put it off for a while, but it burns like a continuous flame inside of us until we extinguish it. The only way to extinguish our passion is to fulfill the destiny inside of us or die of complacency.Passion must be lived if we are to realize our authentic self. Passion drives and motivates us to come into fullness of presence and defies time and space through the lasting effects of legacy.We cannot talk about passion without including heart in the discussion. When we are passionate about something, we often proclaim, “I put my heart into it.” When we want to place emphasis on something, we touch our heart saying we speak from the heart. This implies a deep core connection, a heart connection. The heart center, the core of our being is where passion resides. When we tap into our passion and lead from that space, passion ultimately oozes out of every pore in our body. People know it when they see it.Passion is an attraction magnet, it’s irresistible. We are drawn to people who enthuse passionate energy. Because passion is so appealing, it is a great energizing force for leaders. Leveraging passion motivates teams, as has passion motivated the masses throughout history.How do you discover, nurture, and live in your passion? It’s not as hard as you may think!Remember, it is only three steps to discover and re-connect with your passion and your purpose.

1. First, list your top five values. Your values will give you big clues about your passion.
2. Identify your strengths and those qualities about yourself that you recognize come easy to you. Be open and aware of any emotional or physiological signs from your body. What excites you, gives you butterflies, or tingling in your spine? Oftentimes our passion is trying desperately to come into consciousness and body signals are a great way to move into awareness.
3. Recognize what attracts your attention. Are there certain hobbies or pastime experiences you enjoy and look forward to? When do you feel most content or happy? What is the first section you go to in the book store?

Like the well-known Nike advertisements, just do it! Don’t pass from this life with your purpose still in you. Our purpose always involves sharing our divinely given will with others, always!I would love to hear from you, what passion is inside of you eager to come out?With love,Maria

Success And Significance

I recently heard Oprah talk about success and significance in the same sentence. This got me thinking…“Value” and “adding value” has become a buzzword in many organizations. I remember working for a homebuilder years ago, and adding value, along with value engineering were hot, sexy terms.Like most buzzwords, their original contextual meaning got lost in translation.Looking at the word, significance, I wanted to explore the meaning and essence of this luxurious word steeped in depth and richness. So… I started researching great thinkers on significance and explored quotes.I’ll share some of my favorites with you:Of course, I immediately turned my attention to leadership and started thinking…what if we shifted our focus from success to significance? How would that look? How would that affect the way we lead?As always, I love to hear from you. What do you think? How would shifting from success to significance affect the way you lead? What is most significant about what you do?With love,Maria

Three Ways Building Your EQ Changes Mental Models

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a relatively recent discussion point in leadership development. Today we are talking about three ways to build EQ within leadership mindsets and positively shift our mental models (which we use each time we develop policies and procedures). Did you know our mental models are so powerful and deeply ingrained we are often not even aware of them?Several years ago, when I managed a private school, I had a teacher, Miss Sharon. She started off great and over a short period of time, became a problem employee. I had complaints from parents and other teachers about Miss Sharon.  Eventually, I had to let her go and learned a lot of tough lessons in that experience.Years later, across the country, and in a different industry, I was interviewing for a marketing assistant. I had an interview scheduled with a woman named Sharon, and I almost fell off of my chair when she came in for the interview and was the complete image of Miss Sharon. It could have been her twin.My immediate, almost visceral response was to dismiss her from consideration even before we began talking. Luckily, I was aware of my mental model around Sharon. We completed the interview and I hired her. She was an amazing assistant to me for several years and broke my barrier of my limited mental model thinking. Had I not been aware of my own mental model around Miss Sharon, I would have missed out on a phenomenal employee.Keep this story in mind when watching today’s video to learn three ways to shift those mental models and “think outside the box.”Remember, our mental models are the ways in which we view the world, our own personal lenses, and filters.  These filters, lenses, or mental models created throughout our lifetime, influence the way we understand events, including communication.  Our mental models, developed through our life experiences, location we grew up, religious background, birth order, number of siblings, and education; all of these contribute to our own, unique way in which we view the world.The danger of not being aware of our mental models is that our ability to leap to assumptions and make decisions and conclusions based on those mental models can be destructive or harmful to our organizations.Once we do become aware of our mental models, we can make a conscious choice to change some of our lenses.  We can choose to take a step to the left or the right and have a different view, a different perspective, and a broader perspective.The beauty in all of this is to not only just recognize the mental models in ourselves, but to also recognize the mental models of our team members and those with whom we communicate.As always, I love to hear from you. What are some mental models you are aware of that have held you back? What beliefs have your formed from your experiences?With love,Maria

Why Your Leadership Needs To Understand Personality Types

As we continue our understanding of leadership, today I want to expand our Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, by discussing the importance of understanding personality types in the workplace.Now, we’ve been hanging out together for a while and I just have to ask, Are you a square? No, not that kind of square!Maybe you’re a circle or a triangle?We can identify our personality tendencies with some simple geometry. Yikes - no formulas I promise!We are multi-dimensional people and have many sides to us. However, we have natural tendencies that we can relate to one or two specific shapes.It’s important to have representation of all of these shapes on your team and in your organization to bring different perspectives and ideas for problem-solving, and creating.As always, I love to hear from you. What shape do you identify with the most and what shape value do you bring to the table? What is the most challenging shape to work with and how have you learned to leverage those unique qualities of each personality type?With love,Maria

Why Effective Communication Often Eludes Leadership

How many times a day do we experience a communication breakdown? We’ve been talking about communication for decades and we still can’t seem to get it right! Effective communication often eludes leadership because we have yet to figure out how to balance both sides of this relationship.Looking at how we communicate can explain so much! It’s really quite simple. We have a sender and a receiver. The sender sends an intended message. The receiver receives a message.  Seems simple enough.However, the reason we can’t seem to get communication right is the noise.The noise is both literal and figurative. Literally the sounds and noises we hear are phones, email, Facebook™ and Twitter™ notifications, radios, and iPods™, or the discussion happening outside your office door.The figurative noises are trickier and harder to notice. Those could be the argument you had with your spouse the night before, the parent-teacher conference this morning, or the report that’s due by the close of business today. Those noises inside your head keep you from really hearing what the other person is saying.Today we analyze how to recognize and eliminate these noises so leaders can finally effectively communicate.Understanding how we communicate and the noise that interferes in every conversation will help you be a better leader and enjoy communicating with others even more.As always, I love to hear from you. What was your funniest Mars/Venus communication exchange? Or what’s the most challenging conversation you’ve had and how did you manage through it?With love,Maria

Spring Cleaning Your Leadership Priorities

As we enter into Spring, leadership priorities are not often considered part of the Spring Cleaning process.I know there is quite of bit of talk going around about balance. Unfortunately, the discussion only seems to pile on more stress and guilt because many of us are already aware that we are out of balance. The purpose of this video is not to engender guilt, but to help a miracle come into your life with awareness and practical strategies to regain order and balance.We spend a lot of time in leadership and management seminars discussing how to prioritize. Many of us have handled this lesson fairly well at work; but we forget the idea of adding balance to this equation.Like the balance of seasons, we can work at a fast pace for a while, meeting deadlines and seizing opportunities. Without looking at the bigger picture, however, we could end-up spinning our wheels on the perceived priority and everything else goes to pot. That is where order comes into play. Without order, we will continue to drop things, even with our priority list.As always, I love to hear from you. What do you let go of in your Spring cleaning?With love,Maria

How To Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

Workplace creativity and innovation are sought after goals in many organizations. Ever wonder how to get the creative juices flowing? Practicing creativity not only helps leaders make quick, confident decisions, innovate, and problem solve; creativity also helps us interact with others at a higher level.Living in this creative zone is as beneficial for leaders as it is for artists. Observe artists at work, whether it is performing artists, painters, sculptors, writers, or designers. Artists are present in the moment of creating with razor sharp focus as the divine download fills the spaces of their mind, heart, and body.Pablo Picasso reminds us, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”The best way to start tapping into our creativity is do what we did as children—play. Let’s get the creative juices flowing with the abandonment of child-like play.I would love to hear from you. What do you think? How do you get your creative juices flowing?With love,Maria

Three Ways To Find Renewal In Your Leadership Development

As we move into the season of Spring, a sense of wonder and renewal comes upon me. This is such a beautiful time of year, fresh with new beginnings and renewal. It is important for us, as leaders, to take the time for renewal and reflection in our leadership development.As leaders, we have to give it, share it, mentor it, and grow it. It is love, knowledge, care, trust, love. As leaders, we have a responsibility to be students of those that went before us, stewards of our gifts and talents, and mentors to those that come after us.Our challenge is to go through our own inward journey, describe the lessons we’ve learned, and then return to teach those lessons to the next generation of leaders.As we better define our personal leadership models with renewal in mind, I would love to discuss this further with you. What do you do for renewal?With love,Maria

Leadership Models Should Be Built With Legacy In Mind

We all leave a legacy, whether by choice or unconsciously. So why not intentionally create our personal leadership models built with legacy in mind? Do you really want someone else to define your legacy? Meaningfulness, is feeling a part of something bigger, as big as a legacy.The yearning for something more is evident in our society. Work-related illnesses are on the rise, and stress reduction workshops are everywhere. Proof of peoples’ desire for a more spiritual and holistic life is on grocery store shelves, in advertising, and in kitchens and baths across America. The evidence is out there—we want more!I invite you to discover a model of leadership that can help you realize meaning, abundance, and can inspire and motivate those around you in meaningful experiences. Let us be a part of something bigger and let us start now!As we better define our personal leadership models with this legacy in mind, I would love to discuss this further with you. What type of legacy do you want to leave?With love,Maria

Why Social Responsibility is Changing Corporations

Consumers, employees, and leaders are demanding socially responsible behavior of themselves and others. Walmart, Starbucks, Walt Disney, and many changing corporations are incorporating this policy into their competitive strategies.If companies choose not to comply with our wishes, we go elsewhere—because we can. Have you noticed the recent impact of social responsibility in our business culture?We see social responsibility manifested in the philanthropic activities organizations are doing; and they are not just writing checks to non-profits. Companies are building schools, putting shoes on children, and teaching third-world countries how to harvest water.We have business models emerging with the primary purpose of serving others. And guess what? These businesses are making money! They have learned how to connect the heart with the bank account. If you feel love within you, you will look out on a world with mercy and of love. That is exactly what some organizations are doing.As we explore the concept of social responsibility and corporate culture changes, I would love to discuss this further with you. How is your organization practicing social responsibility?With love,Maria

Five Types Of Power In Leadership

Power is a hot topic. Not all power is equal. In this video, I review the five types of power in leadership, how shared power can make followers uncomfortable, and some considerations you will be able to apply going forward.We have been taught for too long, to let others define our thoughts, feelings, jobs, lives, and meaning for us. What to think, what to wear, how to feel—is it any wonder we get nervous when we receive permission or power to make decisions or design aspects of our lives for ourselves?Like anything else in this world, all forms of power can be for the greater good or for selfish and egoic purposes. As we review these five types of power, consider your former bosses and your own leadership style as you prepare to better define what kind of leader you choose to become.I would love to hear from you. What is your go-to type of power and why?With love,Maria

Two Ways To Improve Your Leadership Style

Leaders are constantly looking for way to improve and grow. When it comes to improving our leadership style, there are two major ways that are often overlooked – the mindfulness of both meditation and prayer. Prayer, meditation, and leadership. What in the world, do these three things have in common?Everything.As leaders, we have a responsibility to lead and inspire with clarity. In our busy world, we often do not take the time to just think and get really clear about the vision and more importantly, the path, systems, and steps necessary to realize the vision.And even worse, we think we have to get there on our own.Well, the good news is that we are not on our own.Forbes Magazine also discusses how Fortune 500 leaders apply this concept in their daily routines, in this video we explore how prayer and meditation can directly improve our leadership style and ability.I would love to hear from you. How do you sit in stillness?With love,Maria

How The Choices We Make Determine Our Future Freedom

Often future freedom is considered mysterious or based on past experiences, today we explore more about how the choices we make directly influence whether we see life as a victim or as a victor.Join us at http://www.DrMariaChurch.com/drmariatv/ where the discussion continues. Dr. Frankl, a brilliant psychiatrist, was working on his Logotherapy theory when he was captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in a series of concentration camps. His notes and all of his possessions were seized. Stripped of everything, literally and figuratively, he was given a number to replace his name. Dr. Frankl wrote, “The experience of camp life shows that man does have a choice of action. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.”He realized the truth in his theory when he wrote, “What alone remains is ‘the last of human freedoms’—the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.” Those are very wise and applicable words then, and today.In this video we explore how we can choose to create a different perception, and a different reality.I would love to hear from you. What was the most empowered choice you’ve made?With love,Maria

How The Stories We Tell Ourselves Guide Personal Success

Perceptions are the stories we tell ourselves regarding what we see and how we interpret the world around us. Les Brown, one of the great 21st century storytellers said, “How people live their lives is as a result of the stories that they believe about themselves.” Your personal success is a result of your perceptions.What are your stories? Do they serve you as your aspire to reach your highest potential? Do your stories lift you up or do they bring you down? Do your stories represent who you really are, your true essence?In this video we address some of the common misperceptions in those stories we work into our daily lives and explore the options that come with creating a story that leads to a fuller, more exciting, and fulfilling life without fear.I would love to hear from you. What story do you tell? Does is serve you or drain you?With love,Maria

How Getting Organized Impacts Your Freedom At Work

I’ve always considered myself a tidy person, but I also must admit that sometimes I get overwhelmed and lose control of my time. I’ve noticed it directly affects my daily business in a big way and I lose a sense of freedom at work. In those times of overwhelm, I need to get a grip on getting organized!Very recently, I found myself in this space of needing to regain control of my time and organization again. I realized that nearly every time I arrive at this place, I experienced the same symptoms in my thoughts and behaviors.In this video, we explore not only the need for getting organized and some techniques to do so, but also the freeing result of cleaning up the clutter in our mind and on our desk.I would love to hear from you. What steps do you take to get organized?With love,Maria

How Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy will Motivate Your Employees

Abraham Maslow’s well-known and highly respected Hierarchy of Needs theory describes five levels of needs. But what does Maslow’s theory have to do with leadership and motivation for our employees?As we understand this next generation of Millennials joining the work-force, it is important that we review the basics of what types of areas by which our employees are fundamentally motivated.In this video, we explore three assumptions that are basic for all leaders to understand from Maslow’s Hierarchy that ultimately could help motivate our employees and help them think twice before seeking employment elsewhere.I would love to hear from you. Did you identify at what level you are in your current position? What is one immediate action you can take today, based on this knowledge?With love,Maria

How Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. continues to inspire with these 11 Quotes on Leadership

Today, in the United States, we celebrate the great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—his life, his work, and his love. His most famous speech, “I Have a Dream” inspired us toward action for equality, justice, and love. From his masterful and inspirational orations, I’ve selected 11 key quotes on leadership that encourage me even now.I have a dream, too. In fact, I am sure you too, have a dream... and I venture to guess that it is similar to my dream…a collective dream. That dream is the radical, necessary, ubiquitous dream of shifting from a world steeped in fear, to a love-based world.In this video, we explore these 11 comments from Dr. King and the great leadership lessons in each message that continues to guide pivotal leaders today.I would love to hear from you. What is your favorite Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quote and why?With love,Maria