Communication is the currency of leadership. It is the energy to fuels connection. To become a more effective communicator, do not be afraid of the uncomfortable silence. Learn to use pauses within your speech to emphasize your points into allow your message to wash over your audience. Pauses are powerful when used purposefully. #leadership #WhatIf #communication #inspire
How do you speak without getting nervous? How do you learn to revel in the opportunity to speak to your tribe? It’s easier than you might think. #leadership #WhatIf #calmyournerves #findyourvoice #inspire
Whom are the leaders, speakers, people whom you want to emulate? Not copy, but emulate? What is it about their style, their messaging, their behaviors that resonate with you? Incorporate the lessons you learn from them, and avoid the lessons from the leaders you want to avoid becoming. Don’t try to be the next anyone. Be the first you. #leadership #WhatIf #Emulate #rolemodel #findyourvoice
Are you you living the life of a leader as a verb or as a noun? Are you actively leading, or do you think people are following because of your position? There is a huge difference between doing leader ship as a noun and a verb. Positional power is not leading. How are you living? #leadership #WhatIf #lead #liveasaverb #PositionalPower
One of the greatest challenges for emerging leaders is to develop a healthy relationship with their ego ... not allowing imposter syndrome nor narcissism to control their mindset. #leadership #WhatIf #ego #impostersyndrome #leadershipvoice
What is your leadership voice? Is it just what you say? Or is it also what you do? Your people are listening, paying attention to everything you say and do. When you learn to align your words and actions, especially when times are tough, your followers will have a reason to follow you. #leadership #WhatIf #leadershipvoice #alignment #trust
Not all conflict is bad. There are two types of conflict, healthy conflict and unhealthy conflict. Healthy conflict allows you to grow. Healthy conflict allows you to incorporate others perspectives into your own mental map. Healthy conflict is the sign of a healthy relationship. So, then why does conflict as a whole get such a bad wrap? #leadership #WhatIf #conflict #perspective
There is power in getting trolled. Anyone willing to share their point of view is never going to be universally loved by everyone. However, you’re also not going to be universally loathed by everyone. Getting trolled means someone is listening. You are creating an emotional reaction. If someone loathes you, then someone else loves you. Finding a troll is an indication you are creating an emotional reaction. Keep true to your message. Be authentic. Don’t cave when someone tells you they don’t like you. Oh ... amd don’t troll anyone either (that should be obvious). #Toaston #Whatif #leadership #connection
Being a leader requires you to lead, not just when it’s convenient, but always. I have no idea how to put into words the emotions from today. I urge you, be a leader. Bridge the divide. Be good to each other. Together, we can fix this. #leadership #insurrection #Capitol #Riot #CoupAttempt #Sedition #Whatif
Jim Rohn famously said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” What he forgot to mention, is that you are always one of those people. How you show up for yourself dictates how high your average can climb. #leadership #whatif #mentor #levelup
Growth only happens in moments of discomfort. If you never allow yourself to be uncomfortable, you will never grow. Leaders create the culture and the climate for individuals to find safety in their pursuit of discomfort. What can you do to push past your fear? What can you do to help others realize their potential?
Great leaders can articulate the reason for the every game they play, the rules and roles associated with the game, and the resilience to adapt when situations change.
Along your journey, is easy to get distracted by shiny objects ... making the number, winning the trophy, finishing the race, earning the applause. However, if you forget to stop and smell the roses along the way and take inventory of what you’re learning along the way, then the win will eventually ring hollow. At the end of every journey there is always a tomorrow, there is always something else to do. The question is, “At the end of your journey, will it be a mile stone, or the end of the road?”
Happy 2021! On the first day of this new year, remember that you can’t control the past. What happpened, happened. You can’t change your history. You can’t change what’s happening in the world around you. However, you can always change how you react to what’s happening around you, and how you react to what happens to you. Create some new habits, better habits, more beneficial habits in 2021 and focus on controlling your controllables.
Wishing you health, happiness, peace, and prosperity in 2021. May next year bring you everything you need. Happy New Year!
Don’t try to be like someone else, jealous of their skills set or strengths. Be the best you! Appreciate outliers for the beauty of their gifts, but accept that their strengths are not your strengths. Then focus on horn they practice, and apply how they hone their strengths to own your strengths.
Leadership is hard, but it’s one of the most rewarding things you can ever do. Taking the time to give the best of that you have to help someone become the best of who they can become, is rewarding beyond explanation.
Stop focusing on resolutions, and start focusing on creating a plan. We only have one day left in 2020. Before we turn the corner and welcome in 2021, let’s create a plan to make the best of whatever the year throws at us ... because we’ve learned you just never know.
Never forget the importance of play. It’s how we learn to develop relationships, hone skills, and embrace possibility. It allows us to develop our creativity and imagination. It gives us permission to fail forward. Find somewhere to unlock the wonders of play in the pursuit of growth.
Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Stop practicing in a way that maintains the status quo. Instead surround yourself with those who are better than you so that you can level up. Stop wasting time making the same mistakes and start investing your time and getting better.
Merry Christmas Eve! Remember to be gracious this year for those folks in your life who made your experiences more enriching. The holiday should not be about what you have or how you celebrate, it should be about whom you celebrate. I am thankful for all of you and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
There are three lessons we can learn from the Christmas ... let everyday embody the spirit of Christmas, let everyone onto the "nice list", and give yourself the gift of forgiveness by allowing yourself to rewrite your story.
Why is my VLOG called, “Chasing Rabbits?” Tonight I explain the three reasons for my VLOG’s name and how chasing rabbits applies to your leadership journey. #leadership #chasingrabbits #onething #focus
Stories, artifacts, and rituals help you create a meaning to the world around you. As a leader, sometimes people look to you for the example not in an organization, but in your family, or with your framily. If this holiday season is forced you out of your normal traditions, create some new ones. You can anchor them with new stories, new artifacts, and new rituals. #leadership #stories #artifacts #rituals #traditions
Every presentation can be defined by the one that you meant to give, the one that you gave, and the one heard. Your culture, brand, and impact as a leader follows the same three paths. How are you ensuring the how are you’re heard is how you want to be heard? #leadership #findyourvoice #communication
Be careful not to sacrifice long-term relationships and long-term goals for short-term gains. Willingly sacrificing your credibility also willingly sacrifices your role, and position, as a leader. #leadership #marshallowexperiment #trust
I have heard it said this year that feedback is detrimental to relationships. I do not believe that is true. Negative feedback, or criticism, is detrimental. But positive feedback, or appreciation, is never detrimental. The question is, “Which one are you focused on?
Perfection is the enemy of growth. If you insist on being perfect, the only person you’re fooling is yourself. Whether you are willing to admit to them or not, your people know your flaws. When you’re willing to admit your opportunities, others will have your back, and that is the beauty of the human experience.
Is the rising temperature of your environment going to eventually cause your demise? If so maybe it’s best that you act like the frog that is added to the pot of boiling water and you escape to look at your environment objectively in from a far. Asking, “What if?” helps you change your perspective that may ultimately save your business .
There is a difference between being a leader, a manager, a follower, and a boss. Knowing what each of those roles does, and how they interact, is key to your success and your relationships.
You can become a more effective leader by becoming a more effective follower.
Perspective ... effective leadership depends upon a willingness to explore different perspectives. Asking, “What if?” and seeking to play a different game, require a willingness to change perspective. My goal is to help you gain comfort with being more curious and less certain.
Congratulations to everyone we honor this morning at the Toastmasters District 11 awards ceremony. Formal celebrations are a great opportunity to see the question of “What if?” in action, and to see the power of both formal and informal games. The experience is so much more important than trying to be perfect.
The world is divided into formal and informal games. Join me as I introduce what makes a game informal and the three types of informal games.
One of the hallmarks of formal games is that they are man made. We always create the formal games we play. Tonight, I share an example of how and why we create single-player formal games.
In addition to the five most well known types of game theory, I believe there is a sixth game we all play. It is not a mathematical game, but rather an anthropological game, delineating formal games from informal games. Tonight, I introduce the hallmarks of a formal game.
According to mathematics, there are five main types of games. However, I believe there is another type of game, one guided by anthropology. Today, I introduce you to one of my favorite topics, Game Theory, and introduce them to what I believe is the ultimate game.
In day #3 of the 365 day video challenge, we explore the concept of, "What if?" a little more deeply. We also explore how my introduction to the internet should have been a signal for retailers everywhere to start asking better questions.
On day #2, we introduce what I believe is the central question at the heart of all effective leadership. It implores us to abandon our certainty and embrace our curiosity, it invites others into a dialogue, it sets us on a journey of possibility, it demands we challenge the status quo ... that question is, "What if?"
Welcome to the Chasing Rabbits VLOG. This is a daily VLOG published through ScottBrownSpeaks on YouTube and Instagram. Tonight is night #1, an invitation to join me on my journey of posting a new video everyday for a year.