Leadership Resources

Empathy is the strongest leadership trait to emerge as a success factor in today's working environments. In 2 minutes and 30 seconds Brene Brown explains it beautifully. OOO

TEDTalk by Susan Colantuono | The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get. Based on the missing 33% of career advice/development that can get you to the top. A must-see for anyone in charge of succession planning (great guidance on who should be involved in planning for succession of top roles). Quick way (14 minutes) to help busy male leaders understand that they may intend to help everyone equally, but likely approach the development and mentoring of men and women differently. Smart guidance for anyone looking to move into a top role in his or her profession/organization (men and women). Includes specific advice for women who are frustrated by the “glass ceiling”. OOO

The Intelligence Revolution is a FREE white paper sponsored by Deloitte and the Human Resource Professional Association of Canada. It looks at the 8 archetypes of work that will stand the test of an artificial intelligence workforce. For anyone considering career and profession this is a MUST READ! OO

Juice The Power of Conversation (Brady G. Wilson) I had the pleasure of hearing Brady Wilson speak at the Institute for Professional Management's (IPM) annual conference a few years ago and was completely impressed. Since then I have read his books and I've found this one to be the most accessible and useful. Explore the power of "pull" conversations for yourself - a must read for anyone in leadership (or thinking about becoming a leader). OOO

TEDTalk Dan Ariely | What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work? Strong resource for anyone looking to find meaning (or more meaning) from work, career and profession.OOO

Conscious Business: How To Build Value Through Values (Fred Kofman) Every leader should read and own this book – my copy is completely annotated all over the margins. It is the manual for how to run businesses in a values based way that supports profitability. Each chapter (there are 9) is a clear explanation of different concepts that are invaluable in helping to build something you can be proud of as an entrepreneur, leader or aspiring leader. OOO
It's contents have inspired 2 of my blogs (so far):
- Working With The Emotions Of Others
- The Trap Of Not My Problem Thinking

Crucial Conversations: Tools For Talking When The Stakes Are High (Kerry Patterson, et al) is one of those books they should teach in high-school. This is a simple, easily accessible read for anyone who wants to be more effective at difficult conversations and building strong relationships. OOO

Team Building | Dinner and a Movie (with a twist) Taking your team out to the movies has been getting a bad rap as a team building activity because it is a parallel activity (not an interactive one). However, not everyone wants to climb rock walls (or can), so making a movie more interactive helps to keep the "building" in team building. Pick a movie (it doesn't matter which one) that your team wants to see. Ensure that your team realizes it is a movie AND dinner, so they show up for the food (after the movie) participating in the interactive part too. At dinner get them to link the main themes of the movie to something relevant to work…like say your team/workplace culture...or strategy...or the characters in the movie compared to different roles on the team. Of course there will be no perfect fit, but hearing the stories and how each person stretches the movie plot to fit your workplace may lead to laughter, bonding and some memorable fun. OOO

Rational Optimist : H ow Prosperity Evolves (Matt Ridley) Need to restore your faith in commerce, technology and change? This book helps to ground and anchor the benefits of our free market society, explaining how it can benefit not only those of us enjoying access to full employment and free markets, but the rest of the world as well. Compelling arguments with wit and humour. OO

Shifting The Monkey (Todd Whitaker) In any role that requires stewardship of self and others there comes a time when you may realize you are taking on too much, you can see what belongs to someone else, but may not know how to shift items back to them, making both others and yourself accountable to the right things for the right reasons. This book has a simple approach highlighting how to do just that. OO

TEDTalk by Dave Meslin | The Antidote to Apathy. Based on real examples of how we don’t create access points to engagement; great for people trying to inspire others (groups, but also individuals). Understand how cultural barriers (of organizations and institutions) create apathy and sabotage engagement. OOO

Epic List of Great Team Building Games - From wheniwork.com
(from the website...)Team building games are a good way to get your team to connect and work together better. Finding the right exercise can be challenging; not every team is comfortable with certain types of activities. It is important to choose an activity everyone feels safe doing. Available as a downloadable PDF. OOO

The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies For Getting Up To Speed Faster and Smarter (Michael D. Watkins) When looking for this book make sure you get the right one, there are several floating around out there with similar titles. It provides a step-by-step approach to ensuring success with your first promotion into management or a move of your leadership skills to a new role or organization. OOO

Round-Robin Book Club
Having trouble getting to all those great business and leadership books everyone recommends you read? Then this is the book club for you. Find a book that your team or group will find useful and compelling (may I suggest Crucial Conversations as a starter?). Start by having one person read the first 1 - 2 chapters and give a summary at your next team meeting. Then, hand the book to the next person to continue reading the next set of chapters...continue until the book is complete. This is a great team building exercise and it doesn't take up a lot of time or resources. Start by setting a great example (you go first), ensure that the summary is a crisp 5 minutes (just the AH-HA's please) and keep the book club as the No. 1 item on your meeting agenda (otherwise it will get squeezed out and lose momentum). Best of all you only need to buy one copy of the books you read (although purchasing a written/digital copy AND the audio book are recommended to allow your readers flexibility). You can also apply this to reading periodicals, blogs and other important content you want your team to share. Also works with teams located in multiple sites. The team that learns together, builds together. OOOO

Tanveer Naseer's Leadership Blog
Tanveer Naseer is a Leadership Coach, speaker, writer and hails from Quebec. I've subscribed to his blog and enjoy his approach to leadership - he always has an interesting perspective on what it takes to lead others. His blog subscription is free. OOO

TED Talk Jessica McCabe Failing At Normal. ADHD effects many individuals, and is a condition that has been around longer than it's diagnosis. Learn more about how to thrive with ADHD with this brilliant and touching TED Talk from Jessica McCabe. OOO

Harvard Business Review - The Website When I need case studies, guides or to stay current on the latest business trends from thought leaders I start here. Free articles and webinars are just the beginning and I'm sure I haven't tapped this sites' full potential yet. OOO.

Get the most out of what you read...

Conscious Reading: Taking It Off "The Page"

TEDTalk by Simon Sinek | How Great Leaders Inspire Action. Based on biology of what motivates people to engage in a product or activity.
Great approach for people who want to motivate others (great for leaders and aspiring leaders, simple example, replicate-able in many contexts). Great examples for marketing products and services in a proven way (applicable to entrepreneurs and communications/marketing professionals). OOO

Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change (Don Beck and Christopher Cowan). This book helps to better understand the many worldviews that each of us hold, and that shape our leadership and organizations. A fascinating look at how what we value shapes how we act and who we are (as individuals and as a collective). Useful for anyone working in organizations shaping change and organizational culture. OOO
Here is a summary of the books contents to give you a taste:
- Summary Of Spiral Dynamics

Conscious Capitalism (John Mackey and Raj Sisoda) This book is written by the founders of Whole Foods and brings into sharp focus the value of purpose (as an organization and as a leader). Clearly explains how doing the right things for the right reasons can make you resilient and profitable. OO
More helpful links:
- Transforming Capitalism: 7 Acupuncture Points (Otto Scharmer, Huffington Post) OOO
- Putting Business On A Path To Higher Consciousness (Standford University) OO
- Why Companies Should Embrace Conscious Capitalism (Forbes) OO

Actionable Book Summaries
This is a wonderful website with an ever-expanding library of FREE book summaries featuring many of today's leading business books. In addition to allowing you to "wow" anyone at a meeting or dinner party with your extensive reading list the site provides key "nuggets" from each book and categorizes them according to development areas to help you find what you need, when you need it. Mark this site as a favorite - you can read one of their well-written summaries in about 5 minutes. Founded by Chris Taylor, and a compliment to Actionable Conversations, this organization hails from Toronto and is quickly taking over the world. OOO

How does blame hold us back from reaching our full potential? Brene Brown illustrates how this one behaviour derails us in work and in life (starting with your morning cup of coffee) OOO

250 FREE Ivy League courses you can take. Check them all out at https://medium.freecodecamp.com/ivy-league-free-online-courses-a0d7ae675869

TEDTalks
This is a great way to build knowledge and awareness on all kinds of topics, from what you are interested in to what you want to build in yourself (in leadership and in life). Everyone has 10 - 20 minutes somewhere in their week, I try to watch one or two a month because these are all "ideas worth spreading". OOOO

Team Building | Opportunities In Meetings
Meetings are an inevitability in most working environments. As a leader it can be difficult to see the opportunities for team building when what you are trying to do is get through an agenda in limited time. Keeping team building foremost for some or all of your meetings helps to keep meetings dynamic Meetings are always an opportunity to foster collaboration and discussion, gathering new perspectives and ideas. To ensure you can do just that from each team member, consider posing a question or challenge to the group and then asking them to take a few minutes to silently think about what they want to say, getting them to hold what they want to contribute for a few moments until everyone has had time to think about their response. Then, when everyone is ready, give each person time to voice their thoughts and reflections, starting with those you hear from the least in meetings, and finishing up with those you hear from most frequently. This approach allows everyone some time to digest your request, honours each voice, and demonstrates your willingness to listen to their ideas and thoughts. Powerful for you as a leader, empowering for them as your team. Win/Win. OOO

The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence And Your Success (Steven J. Stein, PH. D. and Howard E. Book, MD). The benefits of emotional intelligence (EI) and emotional quotient (EQ) are often in the business news and there are many EI books out there, this one I have found to be incredibly practical, with exercises and guidance to use everyday, increasing your level of emotional intelligence. OOO

TEDTalk Margaret Heffernan | Why It Is Time To Forget The Pecking Order At Work. The best explanation of why the social connection between team members is the strongest predictor of team and organizational outcomes. Very passionate speaker for why we need more “social capital” between co-workers and team members in organizations (or anything that requires working together). OOO

Resources For Working With Different Generations. We are at an unprecedented place in our history (as a workforce) where we have both the opportunity, and the challenge, of working with 4, sometimes 5, different generations at once in many of our work places. Here are some resources to help leaders navigate this new field at work OOO:
- The Challenges Of Managing A Multi-Generational Workforce (Forbes)
- Managing People From 5 Generations (HBR)
- How To Manage Different Generations (Wall Street Journal)

The Future Of Management Is Teal (Frederic Laloux). The premise of this article is that humanity is at a threshold; a new form of organization is emerging into public view, one that includes a win/win/win formulae (for the organization, the employees and the customers....sometimes the planet too). OOO