Boost Your Career

Wisdom from dysfunctional leaders

During my initial years as an employee a couple of my superiors drove me to my wit’s end. Sure they were nice and I would have to be fair and say they meant well however in my view they were completely incompetent as leaders and managers. To make it worse people on the outside used to comment to me how lucky I was to work for such a great person.

I thought I was the only one who felt this way. Over the past five years working as a leadership coach however, I have discovered that sadly I was not alone. This scenario is actually quite typical and many of my coaching clients come with war stories of their inept manager.

Being a glass full kind of woman I decided to unpack this phenomenon and asked myself - how do so many leaders with such obvious dysfunctions manage to rise to and remain in prominent, senior roles?

Fortunately in my own career, I was blessed with several capable mentors and leaders who provided me the benefit of contrast. Still, working for the dysfunctional few prompted me initially to take my hopeless situation home with me – criticising, complaining and nagging the ear off whoever would listen. Once over the initial whining though these inept leaders prompted me to seek a way up or out, motivated me to work out what it was that grated on me so badly so I could find a new path without these issues.  

The wisdom of this process was that in hindsight, I learnt far more about great leadership from a couple of dysfunctional leaders than I ever learn from the excellent ones. The pain they caused me was a strong learning stimulant for the following lessons:

Self-Motivation – Nothing like a dysfunctional de-motivator to force one to drive oneself to continue to succeed in spite of the roadblocks.

Creativity – bland leadership requires personal creativity to find inspiration in new ways of doing things outside of the norm.

Patience – This is probably the biggest lesson I learnt and is an essential leadership quality.  Patience under poor management does not mean I am waiting for them to act, it means I am persevering despite their actions.

By-gones – dealing with the stress of working under this dysfunction has taught me to be less judgmental and more inclined to give support. If you let bygones be bygones and trust that everyone is doing their best with what they know at the time it defuses a lot of your frustration and makes you more compassionate.

So if you find yourself one day working for a dysfunctional leader, take heart. Set your intention to being grateful for the wisdom and leadership tools that you will learn through the process. You’ll be glad you did.

Are you using celebrity endorsements to boost your sales?

A new ad campign with celebrity endorsement launched here in Australia last night. Hollywood star Al Pacino fronted the new campaign for Australian-owned coffee brand Vittoria which premiered during the broadcast of MasterChef.

My clients and closest friends will know I didn’t get to see it as I don’t watch television, however the marketer in me was fascinated to hear about the new ad and the use of a celebrity to endorse a product. It’s claimed this is the first time that Pacino, star of films such as The Godfather and Scarface, has agreed to endorse a product.

Vittoria is a 100% family owned Australian company, set up by two Sicilian brothers in 1947 who saw an opportunity for Italian food and beverage products in Australia. The ads were filmed in New York City in May, and aired for the first time in Australia last night.

Les Schirato, CEO of Vittoria Coffee, said: “We’re incredibly proud and honoured that Al Pacino has agreed to star in a commercial for Vittoria. What’s even more incredible is this is the first time the star of Godfather, Scent of a Woman and Scarface has agreed to endorse a product. The fact that Pacino is from an Italian migrant background – just like our family –makes him feel like a true ambassador for our brand.”

Levinson joined the project at the suggestion of Pacino, who worked with the director on the television drama You Don’t Know Jack, which recently aired in the United States.

“We are proud that as an Australian business, Vittoria coffee has been able to secure one of the world’s leading stars to endorse our brand,” added Schirato.

It isn’t the first time an Australian brand has used an American star to front its advertising. Recently the Greater Building Society surprised everyone with its deal for comedic star Jerry Seinfeld to front its ads.

In our celebrity-obsessed world, getting a celebrity to speak for a product or service is seen as an effective advertising method. But I want to encourage all business owners, before they search for a celebrity of their own to consider a few things.

Sure, it’s great to get a celeb to speak on you/ your product or company’s behalf, but the best method of advertising a product or service is the product or service itself. If your goods are good, they will sell themselves. In the career market - if you are good, your skills and expertise will sell itself.

How many times in your life have you used a product solely because of a celebrity endorsement?

Also you need to be realistic - unless you’re cashed up with lots of money you’re just not getting the big “A-List” stars. So what can you do? Try local celebrities like radio DJs. Many local radio personalities are expected to advertise for a certain number of sponsors.

Bus most importantly have an excellent product first. Remember, when a celebrity speaks on your behalf, you’re putting their reputation out there as well as your own. In the case of your career and having someone be your referree you want to be sure they are 100% happy to endorse you and will say only great things!

Heidi Alexandra Pollard - The Living Leaders Advocate

To your success

Simple wisdom from Dr Seuss

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” Dr Seuss

One of my great desires in life is to encourage people to teach people the principles of success so they can live the life they choose as early as possible.

Most of us get to middle age before we figure out that most everything we learned about life as a child was potentially wrong.

Dr Seuss manages to get four principles in four lines - the power of thought, the need for action, the power of choice, and no limits! What fantastic advice. Can you imagine the difference it would make to grow up understanding those four lines from an early age?

If you’re like me, you may have had kind and loving parents but they may not have taught you this art of choice as a child. What I often heard was, “We can’t afford that.” For my parents it was all about security and stability not grand adventure or possibility.

But let’s not lament time lost – instead make the most of the time you have from now, today. The quote still remains true about you, regardless of your age and where you are at right now.

So why not visit your local bookstore and get the book the quote is from, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” It’s an epic look at the whole journey of success, the ups and the downs. The kids will love it and so will you.

And pay close attention to the closing…“You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!”

Love from the Living Leader’s Advocate

Heidi Alexandra Pollard

Are you a control junkie?

“If you’re not confused, you’re not paying attention” Tom Peters

Have you got your eye on the ball? Are you feeling confused, overwhelmed?

Over the past few days I have been organising for three of my websites to be prepared and recorded ready to move over to a new hosting provider and onto the WordPress platform. This has been one of those where I have felt resistance and confusion.

Moving and installing Word Press blogs. Updating current and writing new content. Retrieving lost passwords (so many!). Reviewing the fine print to cancel old membership site contracts. At times like this I question whether it is friendly Universe! But if I trust the universe and put my faith in my virtual assistant and my web chik, things go much smoother.

So today I am focusing on being grateful for technology and for the opportunity and technology to get my message out to the world. I choose to see myself as surrounded by supportive people who are all doing their best.

In those moments where I am frustrated and confused and I’m feeling frustrated, I just go and play with my puppy dog girls and delight in the simple pleasures in life.

My need for control and understanding every step of the process is my biggest hurdle. I’ve learnt that letting go and trusting others is the key to a smoother road.

Next time you are stressed and out of control, practice letting go and trusting the universe. You’ll be glad you did – I am.

Live your legacy, don’t leave it!

Heidi Alexandra Pollard

PS - If you want to learn some specific steps to reprogramming get this inexpensive program. It will help you break through your blockages, let go of your challenges and set new goals. Program bookings available from July 2010 http://www.leadingvalue.net/_product_19340/Powerful_Goals_Mini_Coaching_Program

Self-made millionaire entrepreneur and chief executive leader Heidi Alexandra Pollard coaches leaders around the world to inspire and motivate people so they can make a positive impact and live their legacy not leave it! Get her free tips and advice at www.leadingvalue.net

Have you got goal envy?

Did you spend time on 1 January this year setting goals for the year ahead? Have you reviewed them since then? How well have are you travelling against those goals? Are you happy with your progress or are you watching others zooming past on their trajectory with a tinge of envy?

Isn’t it interesting that we get caught in the habit of thinking everything always needs to move forward in a linear direction, a,b,c, 1,2,3, one step after the other. We fall into the trap of thinking that there is only one way to achieve our goals and therefore if we aren’t heading along a straight path we give up and think we’ve made no progress.

In fact, the goals that you set at the beginning of the year may now be quite different to the goals you want today.Don’t be afraid to make changes to your goals as needed. Being flexible and course correcting is a necessary part of success. Reviewing your goals regularly may be just what you need to move forward.

Imagine what goals you could achieve if you took this compound approach and continued on a steady path taking one small incremental step each day towards your intended outcome.Start today by setting up three new goals for yourself that you want to achieve in the next three months. Then add a diary reminder to review your progress and take one small step each and every day - you’ll be glad that you did!

How often does that happen in real life? When have you ever started out on a path and everything has gone along smoothly in a perfectly straight line?

span style=”font-size: 10pt; font-family: “Arial”,”sans-serif”;”>Isn’t it more likely to go up and down, side to side, weaving in and out? For me things often unfold as one step forward, two steps back and sometimes a sideways step.

You see it’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking ‘it’s halfway through the year, I should be halfway through accomplishing my goals.’

Should you? Really?

Are you comparing your progress against someone else? Just because they appear to be that far ahead doesn’t mean it may be the right path for you.  And what if your progress was compounding steadily like compound interest?

A common example to illustrate this used in many wealth workshops is the example of the $1 million versus $1 cent gift. Would you rather accept Option A - a one off gift today of $1 million or would you rather be given Option B - one cent that is compounded daily for a month?

At the half way point - 15 days if you chose Option B you would have only $163.84, would you be kicking yourself that you should have taken the $1 million?

What about if you hung out until day 25? If you chose Option A you would still have $1 million (or whatever you hadn’t spend already) but if you chose Option B you would have $167,772.16? Would you still cut your losses and take Option A?

By day 30 the end of the month if you chose Option B - you would be very pleased that you were patient and persisted in adding one small compound improvement each day? Why? Because by day 30 your little bonus would be worth a whopping $5,368,709.12 that’s why!

The simple, slow and steady without quitting and without cashing in along the way really can win the race.

So don’t give up on your goals and dreams. Keep on making progress and moving forward, even if it is a sidestep or two steps backwards - that’s just part of the process.

Thought for the week

One of my favourite quotes:

“You want to set a goal that is big enough that in the process of achieving it you become someone worth becoming.”
Jim Rohn

As a collector of quotes I am always on the lookout for new ones so tell me what’s your favourite quote?

Yours in prosperity, passion and living leadership
Heidi Alexandra

Course correction better than perfection

One of the reasons that people hold back on their dreams is that they believe that they don’t know enough, they’re not smart enough or they don’t know what they need to know in order to reach their goals.

Many successful people in history have been accused of being uneducated

- of not being smart enough or knowing enough. And yet by most people’s standards, go on to be greatly successful.

Henry Ford is one such person and he rebutted the “uneducated” label by saying that he had a row of buttons on his desk that would summon an expert on any subject that he needed.

Rather than store loads of information and data about his factory away in his own head - Ford only needed to know who to ask and where to get the information. It certainly seemed to work for him at the time wouldn’t you agree?

Today in the modern world connected by the amazing world wide web - we have many of these buttons at our fingertips - on our keyboard. Touch a few letters into that amazing engine called Google and voila, you have the answer to almost any  question without leaving the comfort of your seat.

The key difference I believe that stood Ford and other successful people ahead of the rest is what they do with the information once gathered.  In Ford’s case, he would organize the thoughts, facts, data and information he found into a positive plan of action.

What do you do with the information at your fingertips? Do you read and read and read, analyse and analyse but never put that information into action? Or do you assimilate it quickly, try something new, try again, try something else, make a plan of action, start something, do anything and then course correct along the way?

If you really want to step up to a new level of success then this is the best tip I ever heard - “Course correction is always better than perfection.”

To your success and affirmative action

Heidi Alexandra Pollard

The Living Leaders Advocate

Have fun while boosting your brand

So you’re already well versed with social networking sites - you regularly update your Facebook profile, you have hundreds of professional connections on LinkedIn, and you manage to share most of each day in bite sized a 140 character Tweets.

So what’s next I hear you ask.

While you may be well up to speed with adding value to your business through social media, do you know how to use it as a tool for successfully marketing your personal brand?

no? Well here are some quick easy tips for leveraging your brand on the web:

Utilize services that allow you to post to multiple sites and services with a single post. For this purpose, I highly recommend Posterous.com. It’s a free service that allows you to post to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn by sending a single email.

Trial and error is the best way to learn: try different things to see what people respond to most. This is especially true when you have a diverse audience with varying interests, it’s important to experiment and test to see what works and what people are responding to. Don’t be afraid to experiment and see what gets your audience interacting.  

Join the conversation. Social media is all about online conversations. It’s a place to listen to your users and encourage participation. If you are too heavy handed with your “marketing” you may well run the risk of alienating your community of followers. Respond to other people’s posts, interact, be yourself and join in the conversation. Remember your followers follow you because they believe you are interesting ans share content of value - never ram your stuff down their throats.

Be real. People want to follow someone they can relate to - the real authentic you. Including  photos, quotes, things that have happened to you - let people see who’s behind the brand.

Make it fun!!! Social media is about having fun and interacting. Show your passion, be a little silly, don’t be afraid to show your quirky self.

In light of this last point I have been playing around and having fun with my brand - check out my new animation video here and make your own to boost your brand! http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6516217/

Yours in prosperity, passion and purpose

Heidi Alexandra Pollard, The Living Leaders Advocate

Daily intentions: life is a creation!

“While you are standing around wondering what tomorrow will bring, remember that life is a creation, not a discovery.” Srikumar Rao

As a corporate refuge I often prided myself (in a strange way) in the ability I had to multi-task and handle anything and everything that life and the job threw at me. No matter what the challenge I was there in the thick of it, problem solving and troubleshooting, managing and instructing.

While it was good to have that kind of strength and confidence in my ability to roll with the punches (particularly daily media issues) it was a thoughtless way to plan my day. In fact my plan usually consisted of 10% planned work and 90% of my calendar ready to tackle the daily dramas.

During my time recently in LA for my coaching mastermind, the concept of ‘batching’ my time and activities was posed. Now I have always been action-oriented and an achiever, don’t get me wrong, but doing this usually meant being ridiculously busy and came often at the expense of myself, my health, my relaxation and planning.

This got me thinking - imagine what I could achieve if instead I saw what life could do with what I threw at it?

Instead of just getting up in the morning to see what happens, I decided to plan my time, to batch my activities and to INTEND my day by setting daily intentions.

While the jury is still out and some days I keep my intentions better than others, I have to say having a plan for how my day is going to be, and then being clear to intend for it to be
that way has been pretty powerful.

Try it out for yourself. Start intending your day. Picture in your minds eye each morning how you want the day to go. Expect it to happen.

Sound too optimistic? Well let me share with you - even if I haven’t achieved 100% of my intention each day I certainly achieve over half of it and isn’t that better than just letting life run my day for me?

Instead of just responding to lifes little dramas, remember life is a creation, not a discovery. Have the intention to create big things for yourself - I know I certainly am!

Heidi Alexandra Pollard - the Living Leaders Advocate

Are you a living leader?

According to ABS research around a quarter of all employed people go to work feeling unappreciated and considering leaving their employer. Why? Because they feel unappreciated or no longer valued and like they aren’t making a difference. Sobering facts huh. Even more concerning is the fact that depression occurs in 20% of all people over the course of a lifetime.  

Did you go to college or university and learn a profession or a trade? Studied hard, learnt the skills, took the tests and completed the assignments? Did anyone prepare you though for how to deal with overwhelm, how to set goals, how to cope through the rough patches and how to deal with the issues of depression and pressure of modern life? Perhaps, but probably my guess would be probably not.

The trap many people fall into is looking too critically at what they are rather than who they are being and who they are becoming.

What do you answer when you are asked the question “what do you do?” Do you say you are an engineer, a marketer, a physiotherapist, a teacher, an entrepreneur, a writer?

What would you answer if you were asked instead, “who are you being?”

Think about it. Would you say “I don’t know”? Would you say “myself”? Or would you answer without needing to think: a conduit, an enabler, a learner, a millionaire in the making, a storyteller, a delight, a friend, a creative spirit, an experience, a life adventurer, a protagonist, a free spirit, a vessel of information or perhaps a living leader?

If you are anything like many of my clients when they first come to me, you are probably fast approaching meltdown, overwhelmed with the pressures of the job or your business, drowning in the day to day demands of society, of family, of friends, life and commitments in general. You answer may well be “a mess”.

As the Living Leaders Advocate and a coach, my purpose is to be the holder of a space that enables things to come forth out of my clients – things that are far greater than me. My job is to help my client step outside of their overwhelm and step into the possibility of what they truly desire to become. To shine a light internally on their inner being and to investigate what they want to step into.

Like the conductor of an orchestra, as a coach I need not make a sound to help my clients make beautiful music. Like the conductor, my role is not about my ego. It is my job to bring out the best in my clients – a role I relish.

With encouragement my clients become possibility thinkers. With courage they articulate what being a living leader looks like for them. With persistence they plan and take action steps to grow into that vision.

“What’s a living leader?” I hear you ask?

My definition of a living leader is someone who serves a greater purpose than themselves. A living leader doesn’t wait until they are on their death bed to pass on their wisdom. Living leaders have a desire to continually learn and grow, to drink deeply from life and to serve others. The presence of living leaders inspires others to become freer, healthier, wealthier, wiser, more creative and courageous and inspired to pass on their enlightenment to others as well.  Living leaders light their own spark and ignite the spark in others.

Living leaders:

·         Practice gratitude, compassion and positive thinking

·         Invest in social connections

·         Focus on resilience

·         Live in the present

·         Commit to their goals

·         Take good care of themself – spiritually, mentally and physically

·         Identify and maximise their character strengths

·         Focus on being authentically  themselves

·         Practice optimism, compassion and empathy.

As a person growing into becoming a Living Leaders I work harder on myself than I do on my job – I am constantly reinventing myself, continually attending courses and seminars, reading a book a week, working with my coach mentor and  travelling to meet with my mastermind to learn new information, make more connections and discover new ways of being.

What are you doing to grow your knowledge and improve yourself?

What do you do to light the sparkle in your own eyes?

And if not ask yourself “Who am I being that my eyes aren’t sparkling?”

Living leaders enable other people: be the space instead of the hero. Create the conditions instead of controlling the outcome. Once you let go of controlling the outcome you will be amazed by the power and the passion that you ignite in people.

Live with passion

Love Heidi Alexandra Pollard - The Living Leaders Advocate