Leadership and Influence

Extraordinary leaders inspire, but just how do they do it? An extraordinary leader is a person who has learned how to influence others, including their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Oprah are just a few examples.

Here we’ll cover the 10 essential qualities that all excellent leaders share.  

Hunger and drive set a leader apart from a follower. Leaders have an insatiable hunger to make something happen; they must do, create and share. This drive is the force that makes them unstoppable. Through their drive, they discover how to influence people and the culture around them.

Small visions have no power to inspire or move people. Instead of influencing others, you’ll be fighting for their attention. If you want to unlock an extraordinary life, you must have big dreams. This is why great leaders always have a vision larger than themselves.

A leader always has an absolute core belief that they can bring their vision to life. There is true power in belief, and influencing others always starts with conviction. Certainty is also a crucial component in how to influence people.

People who are trying to influence others make the blunder of communicating in the style that works for them. Unless they get lucky and are with a group of people who think just like them, this type of communication will fail. Those who understand how to influence people know that getting to know them better is a crucial step to communication and that influencing them cannot be done without it. 

Leaders who know how to influence others are strategic in their communication style and messaging. They’re strategic in how to get the job done and know how to work with a variety of people. They know they need a strategy for what they’re doing and a strategy for communicating. 

Leaders truly care about those they are influencing and know how to connect with them. When you care enough to connect with someone and learn their patterns, you gain the ability to influence them. This skill is vital because as a leader, you’re going to come up against someone or some group that’s going to try to stop your progress at some point.

To influence others and change the world, you must set a standard of unreasonable expectations. The only way something revolutionary happens is when you won’t settle and when you know how to influence others not to settle. 

Having courage means you’re afraid of a task and you do it anyway, and having faith means you’re able to work toward a challenging goal because you believe it serves a greater good. Leaders have the ability to tap into both; they also know how to influence people to embrace the same courage and faith.

All great leaders continue to learn with every interaction and every experience. They never turn off that capacity for adapting to new environments or developing new skills. There’s something inside them that hungers to know all they can know to be able to master something that’s related to their vision.

A true leader leads by example. When attempting to influence others, they always walk their talk. They never ask others to do what they are not willing to do – or have already done – themselves. They lead from their core values and know that influencing others is meaningless unless it comes from a place of authenticity.

Best,

Manal

Is Team Building Possible In Today's World?

When it comes to team building, most teammates are not excited about the idea of doing team-building exercises. You might see a few of them rolling their eyes or slipping off at the nearest exit. 

There are team-building activities that your people will enjoy. They don’t have to be long, all-day events. They might even just take minutes to complete. The goal of a team-building activity is to improve communication and improve collaboration skills.

Generally, there are inside and outside team-building types of activities. Each of these types has a very different feel to them. Inside activities are normally done in a conference room or break room and tend to lean in a more serious direction. Outdoor activities are done at company events or retreats. 

Anyone can go to Google today and type in “team building activities”. I recommend you pick the ones your team will resonate with and want to participate in. Feeling uncomfortable is part of the process of bonding and creating lasting change. 

The importance of team building is that a team who encourages personal growth also has better job satisfaction, and reduced stress. People are more likely to take calculated risks that lead to innovation if they know they have a support team behind them.

Science agrees. Research shows that all collaborative problem-solving leads to better outcomes.

With the rise of remote and hybrid work, many leaders thought this would be the downfall of teamwork in the workplace. Nothing could be further from the truth. Teamwork is more important than ever before.

Your team will be better problem solvers, the team might stumble across an innovative idea, and the team will get along more which is a growth-promoting scenario. The team might even learn new concepts from colleagues with different experiences. 

Working together helps everyone win.

Best, 

Manal

Business Growth Amidst Crisis

If you have any affiliation with any small business non-profit right now, you are most likely looking for input on how to continue to grow your business amidst a crisis with uncertainty. 

What we do now during a crisis will ultimately determine our fate. First things first, decide. Decide if you want to come to the other side of things better or if you will be the person who waits for things to be better. 

You have a choice. You can ask “Why is life happening to me” or you can ask “Given that I am here, what do I want to create?” This decision alone moves you from the position of a victim into the role of hero/heroine of your story. Ask yourself, “Where can we add value, in what ways, that others need, right now?” If you are not sure, ask your clients what they need. Then, create best practices around those needs. Those with best practices will be market leaders and will have ample opportunities to create value.

Today’s moments are inviting each of us to renewed and empowered leadership. There is no one coming to save us. Ask yourself who you need to be to ensure you and your organization come out better on the other side.  

Businesses have been impacted globally by supply chain management, rising costs, access to education, and the shortage of workers. What I know is this, what’s happening will allow us to create something better, more inclusive, and more valuable. 

Be the builder of opportunities, ideas, and resources with others. What we do individually and together is truly shaping the world we live in. 

Here is to the best future!

Best, 

Manal

What Advice Would You Give Your Younger Self?

If you were to ask your favorite leaders what advice they would give a younger version of themselves, they would surely have some common things to share. 

I have documented a few conversations I would like to share: 

Be an amazing in-person communicator. Most great leaders have a tight schedule. They meet with their key people on a regular, recurring basis. This is the best way to proactively facilitate communication and time-sensitive information. 

Be present with your team. If you use smartphones in meetings, research suggests your peers probably think you are being rude or unprofessional.  

Be value-driven. Instead of rules, have standards or guardrails that are rooted in values. Use these standards as topics of discussion. And when someone deviates from the values--the standards--well that’s a time for some feedback, that’s a coachable moment. 

Be likable, not liked. Are you a people pleaser? It’s normal to want to be liked, but it’s a problem if you need to be liked. It can lead to delayed decision-making in the hopeless quest to get universal agreement. Replace your need to be liked, with a need to lead right.

Lead with love. The kind of love that is the warmth, connection, and caring we feel for humankind--absent the passionate kind of love. Leaders who care about their team members and show it achieve high employee engagement and business outcomes.  

Become obsessed with minutes. Great leaders know that every minute wasted or freely given away is another minute that can’t be spent coaching their team or getting results. For best results, throw out your to-do list, and schedule everything. Identify your daily most important task and schedule it first thing in the morning. Pre-schedule time to lead; schedule your recurring weekly one-on-one, and your twice a year career path meetings. What about downtime? What about time to think? Yes, schedule that too. Schedule everything.

What would you say to your younger self? I’d love to hear.

Best, 

Manal