Your Leadership Coach

Yes, the brain is an organ, but treat it like a muscle this week!  When you memorize a verse, speech or something similar, you’re giving the brain more power to do other things well.  Committing something to memory over several days is a great exercise towards innovation.  Pick a phrase or passage you'd like to incorporate into your communication as a leader.  Memorization has also been linked to better mental health.   Something to do with neuronal plasticity in the brain.   Some Dutch researchers have found that when you focus and develop your memory through memorization tasks, you free up the mind and have more room to be creative. According to the National Institute on Health and Aging, if you make this a lifelong habit, you will be able to maintain higher cognitive functioning and everyday skills, even five years after going through short stints of memory training.   Practicing memorization allows seniors to delay typical cognitive decline by seven to 14 years. N

Experience something new this week. Step outside your comfort zone. Take a risk! I speak often about the unintended consequences of confirmation bias on our society — more intolerance and even less understanding of our differences. This is when we only read material, attend events, join organizations or hire employees that match our own backgrounds, experiences and beliefs. It's when we screen out information we might not agree with. Thanks to the internet, our DVRs and satellite radio, one can have their biases validated daily by self-selection. This presents a critical problem for our personal and professional growth as leaders.   How do we help ourselves, our families, organizations and communities tap into new ideas when we censor the content and the activities that guide us daily? Our challenge is to develop innovative ways to avoid confirmation bias. We must lead by example, and step outside of our comfort zones to maximize our personal potential and the

I don’t have to tell you that thinking outside the box is critical to success in today’s bustling world.   As busy leaders, it is a daunting task to find the time to strengthen our leadership skills, attend to our family and contribute in a meaningful way to our community.   Often we feel overwhelmed and find it difficult to set priorities when, so it seems, everything is a priority.   Yet, we suck it up and move ahead, not sure if the problem is “us” or “them.” Certainly, we can all agree that working harder doesn’t always get the desired results.   Throughout my 38 years as a public relations and business strategist and executive coach, I’ve observed that sometimes it is “us” and sometimes, it is “them.”   Recently, I reflected on all I learned over the years as a student of human behavior and was compelled to write the blog I wish I could have read 30 years ago.   I have a personal library filled with books on leadership, emotional intelligence, coaching and the like.