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Articles from Angie Thompson | Selfgrowth.com
- Developing the Right Attitude to Support Goal Achievement - by Submitted on Aug 20, 2010 from Angie ThompsonAchievers are always looking for ways to become more successful; to reach goals more quickly and with greater assurance. And, for centuries authors have been sharing the factors that help anyone reach their goals. If you consider achievement and achievers, you hopefully would recognize that ...
Views: 755(2 votes) - Four Words For Leaders to Remove From Their Vocabulary - by Submitted on Dec 26, 2013 from Angie ThompsonWe spend the early parts of our lives adding to our vocabulary. Teachers and parents want us to learn new words. And research shows that vocabulary is a good predictor of success. And yet I am asking you to take four words from your vocabulary? Yes I am. To be clear, it isn’t like you ...
Views: 755(2 votes) - Five Ways To Avoid Your Biggest Presentation Nightmare - by Submitted on Jan 13, 2014 from Angie ThompsonLots of people have visions of crashing and burning when giving a speech. The nightmares seem real, and yet while you may not like presenting and may have had some blunders, you’ve likely not had a presentation-nightmare-come-true like Michael Bay (Director of the Transformer movies, among many ...
Views: 754 - What The Best Leaders Will Learn From Peyton Manning (But Most will Ignore) - by Submitted on Jan 27, 2014 from Angie ThompsonHe’s won one Super Bowl, so far. He’s been the NFL’s MVP 4 times, set numerous records, and more are likely in his future. He was recently named The Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated. And for the next few days will be among the most talked about and read about people in the ...
Views: 754 - Your Success Depends on This Skill - by Submitted on Jul 21, 2014 from Angie ThompsonMy hope is that this headline makes you wonder. Perhaps you are guessing what the skill is. Perhaps you are thinking I am pretty presumptuous to suggest I know the most important skill you need, after all, I don’t know you, your experience or what you do for a living. This skill is so ...
Views: 754(1 vote) - Scope Creep Doesn’t Have to Be Creepy - by Submitted on Dec 03, 2012 from Angie ThompsonHave you ever cleaned your garage? When you started the project, the task was pretty well defined. You could look at the garage and see what needed to be done. But once you got started, two things happened. First, you realized there were more necessary parts to the job than originally ...
Views: 752(1 vote) - The Leadership Question Prompted by Daylight Savings Time - by Submitted on Mar 10, 2014 from Angie ThompsonIf you live in most of the United States or Canada, you recently lost an hour of sleep. If you live in some other parts of the world, you’ve got a couple more weeks to hold on to that hour. I’m talking, of course about Daylight Savings Time. Some people love it (especially in the fall when they ...
Views: 752 - Three Ways to Effectively Show Your Gratitude - by Submitted on Jul 01, 2011 from Angie ThompsonMost people realize the value and importance of being grateful for the positive and meaningful things in their lives. Much has been written about the benefits of an attitude of gratitude. It doesn`t take much prove that value - your experiences likely are proof enough. When you take the time ...
Views: 752(1 vote) - Getting Back to Basics - by Submitted on May 21, 2009 from Angie ThompsonIt can happen to all of us. We have a library of books. We attend meetings and seminars. We read blogs and listen to those we know. We have experience as a leader and being led. We have all of this knowledge available to us about leadership. All of this "stuff" can get in our way. Sometimes it ...
Views: 748 - How to Rig The Market (The Market for Your Skills) - by Submitted on Apr 08, 2014 from Angie ThompsonYou may have seen the story on 60 Minutes, or seen the stories throughout the media all week. There has been a big conversation about the idea that the Stock Market is being “rigged” by high frequency trading. That is the thesis of the new book Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis. ...
Views: 748 - Leading in Living Color - by Submitted on Mar 25, 2013 from Angie ThompsonI’m of the age where I remember television shows moving from black and white to color - Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies and Andy Griffith immediately come to mind. When these transitions happened they were widely advertised, but we didn’t have color television yet (the fall of 1972 for us). ...
Views: 747(1 vote) - Seven Ways to Properly Set the Size of Your Goals - by Submitted on Jul 01, 2011 from Angie ThompsonHere is a piece of good news - there are hundreds of books, websites and other resources that teach systems for setting goals. And the better news is that most, if not all of them, will work (if you do the work needed to make them work). The bad news - one piece of the goal setting puzzle ...
Views: 747(1 vote) - Seven Ways to (Really) Engage People - by Submitted on Dec 19, 2012 from Angie ThompsonEngagement is a very trendy word, and while it is so powerful, because of its (over)use, people are making it harder to understand and think about than is necessary. In fact, it is writers, speakers and consultants (yep, people like me) who are adding to the confusion by injecting complexity ...
Views: 744(1 vote) - Putting Out Fires - Stop, Drop, And Role - by Submitted on Jan 15, 2008 from Angie ThompsonI’ve worked with well-meaning, highly-principled leaders for years. When the topic of coaching and developing their employees comes up I often hear that they know coaching is important, they want to coach more, but they don’t have time because they are too busy “putting out fires”. As children ...
Views: 743 - What Every Leader Can Learn from the TSA - by Submitted on Aug 18, 2014 from Angie ThompsonThere is a phrase that TSA uses over the speakers at airports, in public service advertisements and on billboards like the one I recently saw in a baggage claim area. If you see something, say something. TSA is wisely using this catchy phrase for several reasons: • They want to reinforce the ...
Views: 743 - 10 Ways to Make a Great First Impression - by Submitted on Sep 01, 2010 from Angie ThompsonWe all meet new people, in all phases of our lives. In some of those situations we may not be consciously thinking about the importance of making a good first impression; however, conscious or not, we are always making an impression. Sometimes - be it the person we are meeting, the situation ...
Views: 742(2 votes) - Seven Key Actions to Greater Personal and Professional Development - by Submitted on May 19, 2010 from Angie Thompson"What did you learn today?" It`s a question that sounds familiar to most of us. You were likely asked it when you were a kid. And, if you are a parent, you`ve probably asked it of your kids too. But when was the last time you asked it of yourself? "What did I learn today?" If you ...
Views: 742(2 votes) - Are You A Great Listener? - by Submitted on Feb 23, 2008 from Angie ThompsonI could start this article extolling the importance of listening in our everyday lives, in our ability to lead others, in our ability to improve relationships and communications in general. I could lament that while throughout our school experiences we were taught the communication skills of ...
Views: 741 - What Do You See? - How Your Vision Drastically Affects Your Results - by Submitted on Jun 14, 2010 from Angie ThompsonWhile I`ve never worn any sort of corrective lenses, at my age, I am becoming increasingly more aware of my vision. Things that were once perfectly clear are now sometimes hazy. I once took my vision for granted; now it is becoming harder to do so. (Before you all give me the name of your ...
Views: 739(8 votes) - Are You Serious? Six Ways to Answer That Important Question - by Submitted on Dec 04, 2009 from Angie ThompsonI`m guessing this has happened to you. Someone - could be a spouse, co-worker, friend, anyone - tells you of his/her new plan or goal. He`s going to lose 30 pounds. She`s going to learn to play the piano. The chronically late employee says she`ll always be on time. The person who dominates ...
Views: 738(1 vote) - Three Techniques For Better Feedback and One Big But - by Submitted on Sep 19, 2007 from Angie ThompsonFeedback is something we all need, and at least in some instances something we all want. And yet for many leaders, giving feedback is something we aren’t comfortable doing, or don’t feel we do successfully. This article is designed to give you some techniques to help make this valuable and ...
Views: 738 - Business Lessons From Presidential Politics - by Submitted on Sep 25, 2007 from Angie ThompsonThe most influential CEO in the world (George W. Bush) is facing mandatory retirement in 16 months and already there are 20 men and women vying for the job – very publicly. They are talking about how they will do things differently if they are chosen, and they are doing everything they can to ...
Views: 735 - How to Make Every Performance Review More Effective - by Submitted on Aug 25, 2014 from Angie ThompsonWhen you think about performance reviews, what do you think? Chances are, your first thoughts aren't positive, and the day of your performance review isn't a day you circle with positive anticipation. The fact is that . . . Most performance reviews . . . aren't very effective. Most ...
Views: 734 - The Best Things to Plant in Your Life - by Submitted on Jun 03, 2009 from Angie ThompsonSpring is the time of the year I miss my kidhood the most. Growing up on a farm the spring brought many activities and tasks, but my favorite was preparing the soil and planting a crop. There are two truths of planting that all farmers know. First, you must plant the seeds that you want to ...
Views: 733 - Why Leaders Must Consider Fun as Part of Their Job - by Submitted on Jul 10, 2014 from Angie ThompsonWork and fun. Maybe you haven’t ever thought about those two words in the same sentence. There are certainly people who don’t equate those two ideas together, or while they wish it could be true to have fun at work, they’ve never really experienced it. My premise is that work can be fun, at ...
Views: 732 - Seven Ways to Be More Comfortable and Confident When Receiving Feedback - by Submitted on Dec 23, 2010 from Angie ThompsonThere is lots of advice for leaders, managers and coaches on how to give better feedback. I`ve written and taught quite a bit about it myself. But today I want to write about something else. Something that is discussed less often and is often misunderstood. It`s a skill that when well ...
Views: 728(1 vote) - Leading The Day After - Leadership Opportunities After The Project Is Over - by Submitted on Sep 24, 2007 from Angie ThompsonIf you lead for any length of time, you have experienced one (or both) of these situations: Your team achieves a major goal, finishes a big project or lands the big client. The team tries for but doesn’t reach the big goal, finishes a big project late or loses a big client. While these two ...
Views: 726 - The Magic Of Memory Lane - by Submitted on Oct 23, 2007 from Angie ThompsonOn a recent early autumn evening, I walked around the farm of my kidhood. In the spring, my father passed away, so I have spent more time here this year than in recent years. And on this particular evening I was on the farm alone. As the sun began to set a different memory seemed to arrive with ...
Views: 726 - Why Leaders Can't Delegate Onboarding To HR - by Submitted on Mar 17, 2014 from Angie ThompsonOnboarding. It’s that very corporate sounding work for what used to be called New Employee Orientation. If you work in a large organization, your HR department likely has created a process for doing this – and while the depth and success of these efforts may vary widely, chances are your ...
Views: 726(1 vote) - Why Leaders Can’t Avoid Learning - by Submitted on Sep 03, 2013 from Angie ThompsonYou can run, but you can’t hide. Actually, it is not (quite) true. There are leaders everywhere that are trying their best to hide every day, like ostriches burying their heads in the sand, when their team isn’t achieving what they could. Leaders who want to blame others, the economy or the ...
Views: 726(1 vote) - How Leaders Get Lucky - by Submitted on Mar 19, 2013 from Angie ThompsonOftentimes people look at others who appear to have gained stature or success and explain their results as “luck.” While leaders are rarely as popular or visible as rock or movie stars, more than once I've heard people talk about a leaders as being lucky. They started at the right company . ...
Views: 725(1 vote) - The Gift of Goals - by Submitted on Jan 11, 2013 from Angie ThompsonTwelve days ago I started a series of posts I called The 12 (Leadership) Days of Christmas. In it I said that for each of the next 12 days, in keeping with the song, I would offer you a leadership task, designed to be a gift to both you and your team if you completed it and acted on it. The ...
Views: 725(2 votes) - Sharing Responsibility – Why We Don’t Want To, and How to Do it Anyway - by Submitted on Dec 19, 2012 from Angie ThompsonAs a child one of the first things we are taught to do is to share. We don’t do it naturally; and we may learn this habit grudgingly (you probably don’t remember this for yourself, but if you have kids, you’ve seen the pattern repeated, haven’t you?). Some things don’t change much as we grow ...
Views: 719(1 vote) - The 4 Fundamentals of Leadership Gratitude - by Submitted on Dec 28, 2009 from Angie ThompsonGratitude is a positive emotion and studies have shown it creates a more positive attitude, reduces stress and provides many other benefits. But, c`mon, we don`t really need studies to tell us this, do we? You know how it feels when you are grateful. This article won`t restate the obvious ...
Views: 719(2 votes) - Getting Greater Creativity By Getting Past The Fear Of Failure - by Submitted on Sep 23, 2007 from Angie ThompsonMost all of us would like everyone on our teams to be more creative (including ourselves). We celebrate the creative genius, dream of the breakthrough product or service idea, and marvel at those who can make these things happen. As a leader you know that higher levels of creativity can make ...
Views: 718 - Workplace Culture Lessons From An Unlikely Place - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2014 from Angie ThompsonI was waiting for a workshop to begin this week in Kansas City, Missouri when I looked out the window at a tree that was just starting to bud. Except for the small branch right up against the window, which was far beyond budding – it was in full bloom. Picture it – a full tree just turning ...
Views: 718 - Six Secrets to Building Your Confidence - by Submitted on Mar 03, 2010 from Angie ThompsonIf you have seen the movie or stage musical The Sound of Music, you likely remember Maria leaving the Abbey to become a Governess. As she winds her way through town and toward the von Trapp mansion she sings of her uneasiness - and her lack of confidence in her ability to succeed in this ...
Views: 717(3 votes) - You've Gotta Let Somebody Else Drive - by Submitted on May 19, 2009 from Angie ThompsonI love to drive, and I always have. In fact, other than in a shuttle bus or a taxi, I am seldom a passenger. I probably got this from my Dad - he always loved to drive too. And, because driving is a skill that becomes subconscious for most of us, I typically drive on auto-pilot. Recently, ...
Views: 716(1 vote) - Will You Graduate or Commence? - by Submitted on Sep 28, 2009 from Angie ThompsonAcross the country each spring thousands of graduation events are held. They are celebrations of accomplishments, the reaching of goals and more. Interestingly, these events traditionally are called two different names as if they were synonyms: Commencement and Graduation. As will be ...
Views: 715(2 votes) - Trust at a Distance – And How to Build It - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2013 from Angie ThompsonTrust is all over the news these days. People don’t trust the judgment of a jury in Florida. The Yankees don’t trust one of their star players. The Congress doesn’t trust the President, and vice versa. And now the media is asking people if they trust candidate for Mayor of New York (and former ...
Views: 712(1 vote) - Leadership and The Power of Perspective - by Submitted on Aug 25, 2013 from Angie ThompsonI’ve been thinking recently about the importance of perspective to our role as a leader. And when I recently saw the work of Gus Petro, who put a new perspective on New York City and the Grand Canyon, it prompted me to write this article. The project is called merge (and the website can be found ...
Views: 712(1 vote) - Six Strategies for Boosting Morale - by Submitted on Dec 23, 2010 from Angie ThompsonA participant from a workshop I led several years ago posed a question to me last week. While she shared more details, this is the crux of her question: "Currently low morale is my major issue. With all of the changes there were reductions to staff and responsibility changes . . . I appreciate ...
Views: 712(1 vote) - The Gift of Goals - by Submitted on Jan 11, 2013 from Angie ThompsonTwelve days ago I started a series of posts I called The 12 (Leadership) Days of Christmas. In it I said that for each of the next 12 days, in keeping with the song, I would offer you a leadership task, designed to be a gift to both you and your team if you completed it and acted on it. The ...
Views: 712(2 votes) - The Journey To Our Goals - by Submitted on Nov 04, 2007 from Angie ThompsonOn a recent cross country flight I looked out over the Rocky Mountains from 30,000 feet and saw hundreds of paths sort of heading towards the summits of the various peaks. I write “sort of” because looking at these zigzagging paths made it very clear why they are called switchbacks. Those ...
Views: 710 - Nine Steps to Greater Team Ownership - by Submitted on Jul 01, 2011 from Angie ThompsonAs a leader you know results and productivity are higher when people are committed to their work. You also know higher levels of commitment or engagement also increase job satisfaction, safety performance and focus while reducing on-the-job stress and turnover. Commitment, engagement or ...
Views: 707(1 vote) - A Forgotten Ingredient to Creative Success - by Submitted on Jun 29, 2013 from Angie ThompsonThis coming month, members of the Remarkable Leadership Learning System will be focused building their creativity skills. These are of course important skills for leaders to possess – both for them personally and to support the creative ideas of the rest of their team. Think about it this way ...
Views: 703(1 vote) - Four Leadership (and Life) Lessons from a Water Park - by Submitted on Aug 20, 2010 from Angie ThompsonI spent yesterday with my family at Michigan Adventure, an amusement park with roller coasters, other types of rides and a full water park. My family chose to spend the day at the water park. As I sat in a tube on rides, laid in a chair in the sun or shade, let the waves crash over me in the ...
Views: 701(2 votes) - Reading: Why We Should and Why We Don’t - by Submitted on Dec 21, 2009 from Angie ThompsonI`ve long been a reader, and as I reflect on the life of my business, I can clearly identify my reading habit as a factor in my success and progress. Specifically, I`ve found five things that reading does for me: Reading keeps me learning. Reading certainly isn`t the only way to learn, but ...
Views: 701(3 votes) - Six Ways to Overcome Your Biggest Attitude Challenge - by Submitted on Jul 01, 2011 from Angie ThompsonMost everyone has a relatively positive attitude when things are going great. But we all have those certain situations . . . those situations that push our buttons, or seem to sour our attitude as soon as (or whenever) they take place. Dealing with our attitude during those times is your ...
Views: 700(1 vote) - Take a Leadership Listening Tour - by Submitted on Sep 21, 2011 from Angie ThompsonJoan received an opportunity to lead a large organization in a new industry. Her background prepared her for many of the expectations of the new role, but she didn`t have industry specific knowledge and she didn`t know the company or the people. While she is hardly the first person to be in ...
Views: 700(1 vote)