Eblin Group

Mindful Mondays: Leave It Outside

Scott — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:22:07 +0000

Melissa, the young woman who cuts my hair, is wise beyond her years. She’s 26 years old and got into town 7 or 8 months ago. Within a week of getting here, she had three job offers from different salons and was promoted to assistant manager in the one she selected about three months after she started. Once a month we have an hour long conversation about music, favorite vacation spots, working out and business while she cuts my hair. Yesterday, I asked Melissa how, as a manager, she deals with the drama that can come up when you lead a team. She said that there really isn’t much drama in her shop because everyone follows the rule. What’s the rule?

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Should Leaders Ever Lie?

Scott — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:13:54 +0000

News stories don't get much bigger than this week's revelation that government contractor Edward Snowden revealed classified information to The Guardian and the Washington Post that the National Security Agency has a program that collects and analyzes the phone records of millions of Americans. This post isn't a commentary on the NSA program or what Snowden did (although I agree with Jeffrey Toobin's argument on why he should be prosecuted).

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Mindful Mondays: Three Reasons to Consider Dialing It Back a Bit

Scott — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 11:53:35 +0000

A lot of leaders end up in the roles they’re in because their Type A people who don’t settle. They have high expectations of themselves and others and give everything 100%. That’s a good thing until it’s no longer a good thing. In the interest of mindful leadership, I want to raise the question of whether or not you should consider dialing it back a bit. As an executive coach, I work with a lot of Type A leaders who always have the dial set to 10. When I run 360 degree feedback surveys for them, they tend to score low on behaviors like pacing themselves by building in breaks from work and differentiating between efforts that require perfection and those for which “good enough” is sufficient.

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Three Steps for Leaders Who Want to Work Better with Their Peers

Scott — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:13:23 +0000

This weekend, President Obama will host the new president of China, Xi Jinping, for two days at a resort called Sunnyvale in Rancho Mirage, California. As reported in the New York Times and other outlets, the two leaders will spend a lot of time in relaxed and unscripted conversations with the goal of getting to know each other better. While there are risks involved in such an approach, they seem to be outweighed by the potential rewards of the leaders of the world’s two biggest superpowers better understanding each other. Their approach holds a lesson for leaders in all walks of life who, like Obama and Xi, find themselves simultaneously collaborating and competing with their peers.

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Mindful Mondays: Check Yourself Out

Scott — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:47:21 +0000

So, you may be asking yourself, “What on earth does checking yourself out have to do with mindful leadership?” Fair question. If, by checking yourself out, we’re talking about sneaking in an admiring glance as you walk by a mirror or a storefront window, the answer is not much. If, on the other hand, we’re talking about the modern day version of what Socrates meant when he said, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” then the answer is a lot.

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Three Ways to Increase Your Influence

Scott — Wed, 29 May 2013 12:14:50 +0000

Effective leadership is all about getting stuff done through and with other people. Even for the most powerful leaders (think of the President of the United States for instance) getting stuff done is more often about influence than it is authority. In a recent conversation with a fellow executive coach and author, Joel Garfinkle, we brainstormed what influence is all about and simple, actionable ways that you can increase yours. As the author of Getting Ahead: Three Ways to Take Your Career to the Next Level, Joel has done a ton of research, coaching and speaking on the topic so he was a great guy to talk with about influence.

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Mindful Mondays: What Songs Are On Your Mindfulness Playlist?

Scott — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:43:09 +0000

Music can have a powerful impact on mindfulness. Certain songs or genres can be totally distracting or annoying while others set you up to remember why you do what you do as a leader. Likewise, there are distracting and annoying things about smartphones and there are also very useful things about the devices. One of those is the capacity they give you to carry around a mindfulness playlist in your pocket. Having one can be very useful when you need some help in refocusing on a more mindful approach to leadership and life. As an example, there are three songs on my mindfulness playlist that I come back to again and again.

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Seven Tips for Taming Your Calendar

Scott — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:09:25 +0000

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post called Five Ways to Get Your Calendar Under Control. Since then, I’ve used it as the starting point for a conversation among high potential leaders in our Next Level Leadership® group coaching program. As the inflow becomes heavier and the expectations become higher, taming the calendar beast is a common challenge for leaders. Here are seven of the best ideas I’ve heard lately from leaders who are figuring out how to leverage their time to get important stuff done:

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Mindful Mondays – Breathe to Relax

Scott — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:47:02 +0000

If you’ve been following Mindful Mondays, you know that I’m a big fan of stretching and breathing. As I mentioned in this video, combining the two can be a quick and effective way to take a break that pushes the reset button on your brain. Of course, you may want to take a quick break by focusing on one or the other. If I had to pick one to start with, it would be breathing. Obviously, we all do it and, because we do, it’s always available as a resource for slowing things down enough to step back, relax and reset your perspective.

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Why Leaders Need to Be Indifferent

Scott — Thu, 09 May 2013 12:23:10 +0000

A couple of months ago, I was talking with an executive leader I’ve known for a few years. One of the things I’ve noticed about him in that time is that his confidence has grown in a very appropriate and admirable way. I mentioned this to him and, in reply, he laughed softly and said, “It’s a fine line between confidence and indifference.”

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