I am currently in what I consider to be the leadership training capital of the world, Kauai, Hawaii.  Now why would I make such a bizarre claim when we all know that leadership is being studied in corporate offices, major universities and on Wall Street every day?  My reasons are simple.  In Hawaii there is one word that sums up what leadership should be.  That word is ”Aloha.”

This is a place where people and businesses choose to bring their presence (alo) and a breath of life (ha) to every encounter and to the products and services they provide.  They chose to “share” part of themselves in serving a meal, fixing an elevator, building a road, creating a software program and more.  In return, they create an incredible experience for their customers and buyers. 

This simple word provides leaders with a road-map to getting our work on track today and every day.  Have we brought the full presence of who and what we are to the work?  Have we put our full breath into our efforts or are we holding back? Are we making the product we build or the service we give the real essence of who we are and what we stand for? 

When the people we work with feel these two things from their leaders or managers,  our full breath and our true essence they respond in kind.  New ideas flood into the workplace, a sense of creativity and ease surround tackling the challenges of the day, and the pride in the outcomes is the fuel for the next day’s efforts.

When our clients and customers feel this Aloha spirit, they too want to work with you again.  Returning for the real presence that your service or product brings to them.  They also want the life your create for them in your product or service because you have brought your true essence to them and shared it freely.

I am currently at the Marriott Kauai Beach Club and you could easily say I am just influenced by the sun, the surf, the palm trees, soft breezes and chirping birds.  (Are you imagining all of this yet?)  All of those things are wonderful by themselves.  However, my experience in my stay here is magnified ten fold because of the Aloha that greets me in every encounter.  The housekeeper, concierge, waiter, grounds-person, security, and so on will always pass along an “aloha” and follow that up with just what it means.  I am blown away, when I ask a simple question and get not only a good answer, but so much more.  They bring their presence to our encounters and share freely.  You can actually feel the breath of life in their work with each other by the smiles, not just for the tourists, but their colleagues, who I suspect are friends as well.

Experience leaders know how to bring “aloha” to their workplace every day.  May you be one of them.

Aloha!

As I read the papers these days and look at the challenges facing so many organizations and their leaders, I am struck by a bit of an incongruity between knowledge leaders and Experience Leaders.  We often find that leaders in organizations have confused knowledge and wisdom in choosing how to next direct their organization.  Too often we are just looking at what we have learned, done before, trends, and other past activities we set forth, to “lead” our organization.  I am not sure that in the current world of challenge that this is sufficient or the way that will make a strong future.  There is a famous quote that I think gives us a better idea of what is needed in today’s extraordinarily challenging times.  This quote, “We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.”  by George Bernard Shaw,  shows what a true Experience Leader knows, that we must be working toward true wisdom, using insight to create the future.  Our capacity to be wise, finding out what is true, what is really right for our organization and what will last has more power than knowledge alone.

Experience leaders find that wisdom or being wise encompasses the capacity to take a broader view of the current challenges and circumstances.  Rather than paying just the bills that are due today, dealing with just the crisis of today or worrying about the quarter, the experience leader is looking at the experience of the organization, its clients, customers, and employees for a lifetime.  They have the capacity to call upon and utilize the skills, talents and abilities of everyone in their organization for current challenges while simultaneously building the future.  The Experience leaders who are going out to their own employees and other leaders and saying, “help us create the future.”  These wise Experience Leaders are the ones who are making it through these challenging times.

 The Experience leader’s vision and wisdom is not created in a vacuum, but with the wise input of many, many people stretching even beyond their own organization.  Vistage, the largest CEO organization in the country, is well aware of the power of this collective wisdom and thus creates an environment where 12-16 leaders can join together to use collective wisdom to meet challenges and create the future.  They provide one of places Experience Leaders can go to get the common sense and good judgment of many and create powerful futures for their organizations.

These are challenging times, there is no doubt about that.  These are also the times of great opportunity.  The times for Experience Leaders to make use of the knowledge we have gained in the past and from others to become wise about the future of our organization.

Experience Leaders also make good use of “Leadership Masterminds” to collect this wisdom in their organizations.  I am convinced that where these collectives exist you will find that not only are the challenges met, but the future is being created.

To find out more about “Leadership Masterminds” email barbara_j_brannen@yahoo.com.

Today more than ever we are challenged to be good leaders, ethical managers and all around perfect employees.  It’s never easy.  There are quirks and personalities to contend with.  There are two to twenty different opinions on how things should be done and to top it all off, there are the demands of the business that make even listening hard some times. One of the things that I have found in most successful leaders is the way they KEEP IT SIMPLE.  To that end, here are a  few simple tips for you today that will make all of this just a little bit easier;

1. Smile - right now while you read this.  Notice your heart rate drop a point or two.  The heart rate of the people around you will drop as well.

2. Get up, go out the door and tell someone, anyone they are doing a good job, (with real meaning).  Say no more and just come back to your work.  Your mind is clearer and your colleague that you just appreciated is clearer as well.

3.  Listen - just walk around to five people, ask and then listen to what is on their minds today.  You will feel more informed, they will feel more empowered to get things done.

4.  Decide anything that has been lingering out there and needs a decision now.  You will feel better for having started the action and your colleagues will be anxious to make it happen.

5.  Learn, something, anything that will make you a better leader today.  Ask one person how you can improve and then work on that for the week.   You will get better and everyone you lead will be better for it.

6. Start a Leadership MasterMind Group in Your Company today with my help.  Just call 303-984-9271 and we will get you on your way.

Welcome to EnerCast! We are a company devoted to optimizing the work – life experience through engagement, experiential learning and energy.

EnerCast will be the fuel to help you address a myriad of challenges and situations. 

EnerCast is here to help the cast of employees you have so carefuly chosen work at an optimum level.

 EnerCast will help you with:

•  Leadership Training
• Implement the changes needed after an employee survey
• Meeting and retreat facilitation with higher energy and better results
• Help you move to your new strategy and goals
• Create a more collaborative culture
• Increase productivity
• Create an “Employer of Choice” environment
• Reduce Turnover
• Human Resource Audits
• Overcoming the effects of layoffs or other stressful events
• Integration strategies for your people from mergers or acquisitions
• Create an extraordinary “On-Boarding” experience
• Introduce new concepts to the organization
• Help to get the right people in the organization
• Design effective rewards and recognition programs
• Benefits and Compensation Strategies
• Employee Relations
• Situational Specialist
• Edu-tainment Keynotes and Training

Recently I had the wonderful experience of participating in a program called, “Sleep More, Play More, Laugh More.”  Sharing the stage with me were the fabulous Dr. James Maas, who recently appeared on Oprah Winfrey and Emily Levine,  a well know Hollywood comedy writer.  We were at the Executive Forum, (www.executiveforum.net),  in Denver, Colorado and we had a great time helping leaders get on track!

Why sleep?  Dr. Maas demonstrated a hundred different ways that our lack of sleep, meaning anything less than 8 hours, makes us less effective and really, not as smart as we can be.  Our favorite clip was a young man talking before he started out on the questions for “How to Be a Millionaire” that he had not slept the night before, but “was fine.”  He missed the very first question, you know, the easy one that is just there for fun.

Why play? I talked about how we are depriving ourselves of the energy and the intelligence that is at our finger tips in just five seconds of play.  The audience indulged me by showing that we could raise their thinking and energy with efforts as small as putting on a hat.  We found the secrets to getting this simple concept into our lives and our businesses without being “unprofessional.”  More importantly the audience learned how play took organizations from $75 million to $210 million in four years and another from $32-$50million in half that time.  Play is powerful to keep leaders in the driver’s seat and knowing how to let the duck do the talking for them at times was also part of the fun.  There were tears when they learned how play saved 400 jobs and how play saved a life.  There was laughter as we looked at how and when our childhood play serves us so well today.

Why Laugh?  We all know the answer to this one.  Emily explained so much about what is going on in this world through the powerful use of philosophy and laughter.  She asked us why does it always have to be either/or and challenged us to make it either-or, meaning we could have two contradictory thoughts side by side.

The three of us are dedicated to helping leaders know that the “business” of leadership must be married to the realities of life.  Sleeping MORE,  Playing  MORE, and Laughing MORE will get you a lot further than those extra hours you are putting in.  Go home and play, laugh and then get some sleep!