Too many employees know what it’s like to work for a boss who’s more focused on the bottom line than on the people who actually get the work done. Servant leadership turns that all-too-common scenario on its head. It focuses on the needs of employees, customers, and other stakeholders instead of focusing on their own needs. Here’s a secret: Research shows that this leadership style can enhance team performance and satisfaction.

The days of being able to lead without awareness are over. If you’re a leader and take that responsibility for granted, you’re already behind your competition.
While 83% of employers state it’s crucial to develop leaders at all levels, only 14% of high-level executives have the leadership talent they need to grow their businesses, according to LinkedIn. As a leader, you need to give people a reason to follow you.

Charles O’Reilly started his career in the military and probably would have stayed there but for one major problem: “I wanted more control over my life.” Although he was ambitious, O’Reilly prioritized the freedom to pursue his interests over any status or impact he might achieve as an officer. He left the Army to pursue an academic career, trading external markers of success for the possibility of meeting his own intrinsic goals.

In 1928, the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming returned from a two-week vacation and realized he had made a significant oversight. In his haste to leave for his holiday, he had left a messy pile of petri dishes on his workstation. As he began to dispose of the dishes, something unusual caught his eye: a mold had formed around the bacteria in one of the petri dishes. Upon closer examination, Fleming made a startling discovery. The mold wasn’t just growing—it was actively inhibiting the spread of the bacteria.

In everyday life, it’s not the person with the highest IQ who gets the deal done, it’s the person with the highest EQ—the most emotional intelligence—and the resources to get the deal done. Good deal making is more than dollars, cents, contract terms, and deadlines. It’s about knowing people and developing your EQ. I used to think making deals was only about the bottom line. I thought I was so good at deal making that I knew what was best for everybody.

An elevator pitch, also known as an elevator speech, is a concise summary of you and your product or service. It’s a prime opportunity to capture attention and convey the unique value of your big idea in a short space of time using this type of pitch. Crafting an excellent elevator pitch is an art. You need to be able to convey your message in an easy-to-understand way, and you need to be able to do it quickly to keep your audience engaged.

The first two quarters of the year are a whirlwind for most businesses. Major events like the Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter and Mother's Day tend to grow order volumes 10 to 15 times higher than an average week. These peak periods are a gold mine for boosting revenue, attracting new customers and increasing brand recognition, but these perks also come with immense pressure on operations. Today, I will share tips from my experience on how to plan smarter, not harder, and thrive during these critical periods.

Over the course of my career, I’ve learned firsthand that practicing good sales behaviors is essential for success … and that bad sales behaviors can sink an entire sales org. Developing good sales behaviors yourself and helping your team improve is the hallmark of an effective sales professional. But it’s hard to know how to get better when you don’t know what you’re doing wrong.

Let’s face it—nobody sets out to create a toxic workplace. However, sometimes, that’s just what you end up with. I should know since a few years ago I wrote a book on the topic called Wait, I’m Working With Who?!?

As a leader, you likely started with the best intentions, creating a team that produces great results. Yet, despite your best efforts, workplace cultures can sour. The hardest part? You might be the last to know.

At least half of the people I coach identify delegation as an area that they’d like to improve. Delegating can be a real challenge because—let’s face it—it’s tough to let go of control. Many of us believe that if we want something done right, we have to do it ourselves. Plus, it takes effort to explain the task, trust someone else to do it, and then follow up. Sometimes, it feels like it’s just easier to do it ourselves rather than invest the time in teaching someone else.

Effective team communication does more than pass information along. It strengthens relationships, builds trust, and aligns people toward a shared purpose. A leader’s ability to communicate well can shape the culture of an entire organization. Some leaders make the mistake of thinking communication is about speaking well. Great communication, however, is about connection. Every leader has a message to share, but not every leader knows how to ensure that message is heard, understood, and acted upon.

Feedback has the power to motivate and improve performance, but it often backfires. Instead of sparking growth, it can trigger defensiveness or lead to silence. Some people soften their words so much that the message gets lost. Others stay quiet entirely, fearing conflict. Introverts often tell me they leave meetings thinking, “I wish I had said something,” because they prefer to process before speaking. Extraverts tend to speak while thinking and later say, “I wish I hadn’t said that.” In both cases, feedback is challenging.

Need More Wins? Try a Culture Shift in Your Sales Team. You’ve probably tried many different ways to improve the performance of your sales teams, with varying success. But there’s one way that has been proven to work and yet is often ignored by sales leaders—improving your sales team’s culture. Culture is hard to characterize, hard to measure, and hard to change. So it gets ignored on the list of levers to pull when transforming a sales organization plan.

Every deal can feel like a potential turning point. The right partnership, contract or investment could propel your business forward—but the wrong one can drag you down. The challenge? Knowing when to walk away. You may feel caught in the sunk-cost fallacy, pushing forward because you have invested time and energy. Or, fall into the “hope trap,” convincing yourself that things will work out despite glaring red flags. But understand this: Walking away is sometimes the smartest move you can make.

B2B leaders are accustomed to using technology to help them achieve profitable growth. Lately they’ve been looking at a technology that has the potential to accelerate sales transformations across the entire seller journey—gen AI. Gen AI can help drive outsized, profitable growth by boosting revenue generation, increasing sales productivity, and streamlining internal processes. These leaders believe the potential is great. According to McKinsey’s latest B2B Pulse Survey of B2B decision-makers

Change isn’t the problem. How we approach it is.

When was the last time your organization went six months without a major shift? For many leaders, that’s a laughable question. Over the past five years, businesses have navigated an unrelenting series of disruptions: a global pandemic, recovery strategies, the Great Resignation, inflation, economic uncertainty, and groundbreaking developments in AI. Toss in a slow-growth economy and increasingly empowered employees, and it’s clear we’re juggling transformation after transformation without a break.

Being indecisive is one of the most frustrating, unproductive behaviors you can engage in. It breeds doubt, uncertainty, and even resentment from people counting on you to make a call so they can move forward. When you let multiple options linger, it can sap everyone’s energy and make them question your ability to get things done. I’ve studied mental strength for decades and, as I lay out in my book, “The Mentally Strong Leader,” decision-making is an essential component, along with fortitude, confidence, boldness, and more.

In today’s multifaceted business world, being expert at something, by itself, is not enough to ensure your success as a leader. The ability to understand and manage both your emotions and those of others defines emotional intelligence. It is the key factor for distinguishing successful managers. Research shows that leaders who demonstrate high emotional intelligence are better able to build effective teams and increase the loyalty of their people. Simultaneously, they ensure higher levels of business performance.

While we’d like to think the secret to a fast promotion is all about doing a good job, your relationship with your boss can make or break your career. Understanding how to handle a narcissistic boss or one who plays favorites can save your job. And perfecting the art of managing up can be the key to thriving and growing your career.

Often this boils down to knowing how to communicate effectively with your boss. Here are three tips to keep in mind:

The millennial generation, now in their 30s and 40s, is a dominant consumer force that continues to shape industries and redefine consumer expectations. The Covid-19 pandemic has had lasting effects on their lives, influencing their approach to work, family, and purchasing behavior. Pre-pandemic strategies for marketing to millennials have evolved, and businesses must adapt to these changes. With millennials making up a significant portion of the U.S. consumer base and wielding considerable buying power, understanding their shifting priorities is crucial.