My friend and colleague David Koons is going to interview me as part of the expert interview series for members of the "TraX Coaching Program." Though this call is typically open to his coaching clients only, tonight at 5 pm PDT there will be a very limited number of spaces available, and one can be yours.

If you want to hear a master coach interview me about learning, learning strategies and how to become more successful through learning, you'll want to get there a few minutes early. No registration is required, but seats are very limited...

Here is the info:

Date: Tuesday, June 20
Time: 5:00pm PDT, 6:00pm MDT, 7:00pm CDT, 8:00pm EDT
Call-In number: (218) 936-1100
Conference ID: 212489#
* Long distance charges may apply

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There are many ways to improve your presentation skills, whether through Toastmasters, Dale Carnegie, one of our workshops, or many other fine opportunities. And in most of these programs you will learn many of the same skills and ideas - techniques that will make you effective, regardless of who you are.

This post on the Presentation Zen blog, which talks about the unique and unorthodox styles of Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki and Tom Peters (with video clips of each), reminded me that for all of the proven techniques and approaches, we still must make the presentation our own - we must own it - and it must reflect who we are.

There is no one best leadership style. There is no one best parenting style. And there is no one best presentation style - except the one that is uniuely yours.

I'm sure that Tom, Seth and Guy know all of the "proper" presenting rules, and I'm equally sure they have made conscious decisions about their styles to match their personality and their message.

We can all learn from them, and I hope that you do.

(Thanks to the several different people who forwarded me this post!)

Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Training.

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I've read in more than one place in the last few months that more than 90% of what we now know about how our brains work has been learned within the last five years. I believe this ongoing pace of learning will impact many parts of our life, and leadership is among them.

I encourage you to read this post from Stephanie West-Allen's Idealawg. The post is written about leadership in a law firm, Stephanie's focus. The points she elaborates on a valuable for any leader and are well worth pondering.

I especially like (and agree with) her assertion that: "I have no doubt that in five years the value of understanding neuroscience for effective leadership will be old hat and a driving component in leadership practice."

Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Training.

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Curt Rosengren recently started a new blog called Collective Genius, and he has asked me to contribute to it. I was honored that he asked and was doubly pleased when I learned his first topic would be advice to graduates. I wrote about a habit I feel any graduate will treasure once they develop it.

The habit?

Reading.

Whether you graduated last week or 40 years ago, I encourage you to read my post (and all of the other excellent posts on the same topic). And if you want some more of my thoughts on reading, check out this previous post and this article.

Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Training.

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Five days a week, members of my Powerquotes Plus service receive a quotation, questions to ponder and action steps to take, based on the quotation. I write five of these in a batch once a week, so when I read them in my inbox the following week, I sometimes find the serendipity amazing and wonderful.

To honor my paying members I won't share the full contents of this morning's email with you here, but I will share the quotation.

"The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today."

-- Elbert Hubbard, inspirational writer

The serendipity comes from my thoughts from my last post, about getting started intelligently, and using that early work successfully. It seems that this thought in very congruent:

good work today = good work tomorrow.

Your work today might be in starting a project or task more successfully, in which case your preparation will be doubly valuable.

Also posted in Leadership, Learning and Teamwork.

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My article in Unleash Your Potential this week is titled, You are Too Busy to Move That Fast - Why Going Slower May Get You Far Greater Results. In it I discuss the value of the start of something new - taking the time for adequate planning, preparation, etc.

After I wrote it, I read the latest issue of Jim Brousseau's wonderful Clarrus Compendium, titled, Keep it Real, in which he discusses a team that does a great job of the up front work, but then doesn't leverage it to greatest advantage.

I think the two articles, when taken together, provide some great food for thought. I hope you will real them back to back, and share any insights or ideas you have as a comment here.

Also posted in Leadership and Teamwork.

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Last year, on the 6th of May (the day after 5/5/05) I made a note to post something special on 6/6/06. And thanks to additional prompting from the fabulous Rosa Say, I'm sharing six ways to create more play at work.

When Rosa suggested that topic for today, I loved it. Specifically, Rosa challenges us to think of 6 ways to put more play in our lives. I've taken her good idea and extended it to work. Since we spend such a large percentage of our time doing it, we should be consciously looking for ways to make work more full of play too. It is a topic worth exploring and it is a topic I care about.

Here then are six ways to bring more playfulness into the workplace.

• Put a candy bowl on your desk.
• Place a toy on your desk, or put some toys in each of your meeting rooms.
• Put clay or playdough on the tables for the next training you attend (whether you are the trainer or not!)
• Laugh more often, and encourage laughter around you - remember that business is too important to take seriously.
• Make sure to do some of the things you are best at each day. (See this post for more thoughts on this idea.)
• Stage a monthly celebration - whether for birthdays, successes, or whatever - do something to celebrate regularly.

Some of these are easy and can be implemented by anyone, starting today. Others might take some influencing, and some while they can be introduced by anyone will need more support throughout the organization. Regardless, you can take action towards any of these today.

Take one of these ideas specifically, or do something else that you think of.

Use this day, whenever you read it, to remind to you put playfulness into your work.

Also posted in Creativity, Customer Service, Leadership, Teamwork, and Training.

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