Mentors often impact their mentee’s career in a life-changing way. Because of this profound influence, they have a responsibility to embody certain characteristics and behaviors. How do they excel in mentoring leadership?
And what steps can they follow to ensure a successful relationship?

We are not born with certain skills, though it could be such a great default option, right? If we could choose the level of patience, emotional intelligence, and empathy right away, we would overcome all life challenges much easier. So, what are soft skills? Can you learn them? Why can they add some extra points when you are networking or looking for a job?

Being a CEO and leading in today's business world can often feel akin to orchestrating a high-stakes symphony performance in front of thousands. While it's not a literal performance, the continual complexities and changing landscape of business can leave executives feeling as though they're conducting a high-stakes symphony due to the necessary strategy, resilience, pressure, and adaptability required for success.

During my 21 years in corporate America, I spent thousands of hours observing others. Now, as a coach and consultant, I often get asked what attributes I value most in people — and these five stand out. If you're looking to achieve new levels of happiness of success this year, consider how well you embody the following five attributes. Not only do they drive success in leadership, but they drive success in life.

As a keynote speaker, I simplify and break down leadership into its most basic form: helping people and supporting them to be and do their best. When employees don't have the right tools, training, time, or support, their morale drops, and they might not put in much effort. This can happen right from the start, within their first few weeks. It's important to realize that not all managers are created equally, and many must learn how to lead effectively.

“Procrastinators of the world unite!… Tomorrow.” This pithy saying appears on novelty t-shirts all across the internet. But behind the joke, it hints at a major habit haunting millions of adults today – the habit of putting off until tomorrow, or the next day, or someday soon, what can be done today. From the Latin pro, meaning “forward,” and crastinus, meaning “of tomorrow,” the practice of procrastination has plagued humankind for centuries.

Many global organizations are looking to Asia as the center of future growth. The International Monetary Fund forecasts real GDP growth of 6.5% in India and 4.1% in China in 2025, and more than half the world’s consumers live in Asia. The region also has an outsized proportion of future talent, with 60% of the world’s youth. According to Rupali Gupta, a Korn Ferry Senior Client Partner based in Singapore, this is an opportunity for global companies to leverage the innate (and sometimes undervalued) strengths of the region’s leaders.

Back in the late 1980s, when I was in the early stages of establishing my advertising agency, an invitation came my way to speak at a Chamber of Commerce event in Upstate New York. I turned it down. At that moment, the idea of declining might have seemed counterintuitive, especially given my aspirations to grow my business. The reason? I was afraid. Fear held me back from seizing an opportunity that could have propelled my agency forward.

When someone rises to a leadership position, they are often expected to have both technical expertise and the ability to think strategically. However, what happens when an individual becomes a leader without demonstrating essential people skills? A leader who lacks soft skills can inadvertently lower team morale and damage interpersonal relationships, ultimately hindering productivity.

The skills-based revolution isn’t the future, it’s already here: It’s been over a year since major employers like Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple, eliminated their long-held degree requirements for jobs to remove barriers to entry and recruit more diverse talent—much to the dismay of those who have splashed out thousands on a college degree. Now, LinkedIn has put the final nail in the coffin for those hoping that a stellar education alone is enough to land you a killer job.

In the high-stakes world of professional sports, I've often seen leaders feel the pressure to present themselves as infallible, unerring, and flawless. I've seen coaches act as if they needed everyone to know they hold the playbook for every possible scenario, and athletes constantly feel the urge to justify their mistakes, not to have to accept their imperfections.

Effective leadership extends beyond simply completing rote management tasks: It requires a high level of emotional intelligence (EQ). This crucial skill, encompassing the ability to understand, manage, and express one’s emotions and handle interpersonal relationships ethically and empathetically, has become essential to leadership success. EQ is not only about being aware of your emotions, but also about using that awareness to lead, inspire, and positively impact your team and organization.

Over the last twenty years, I've coached and trained hundreds of leaders to be more effective on the people side of the business. Observing middle and senior-level managers overcome their limitations and develop greater emotional intelligence to become better leaders has been an immensely gratifying experience.

At a time of extreme political polarization, heightened racial tensions, and cross-cultural conflicts in the United States (and beyond), how can we encourage Americans to build relationships with—or even just try to understand—people who have different backgrounds or views from their own? And how can scientific research help us chart a positive path forward for our multi-racial, multi-ethnic democracy?

Saying yes to every opportunity that comes up can help you achieve a certain level of success. However, continuing to operate from a place of automatically saying yes can often hold you back from achieving your next level of success, whether that be climbing the career ladder or running a successful company.

Leaders will remember the 2020s as distinct for many reasons, most of all for the unprecedented number of changes. Consultants and journalists rushed to their keyboards to make it all make sense. What should learning leaders do with this information? This article will help you cut through the noise — providing best practices for developing leaders who can navigate the current landscape of change and futureproof their organization when more changes come their way.

Becoming a successful manager is no cakewalk. It involves working both sides of your brain to manage tasks and lead people. That means building trust with team members and continuously improving oneself. So, what are the qualities that make a successful manager? Let's revisit classic Google research that still stands the test of time. In 2009, Google launched Project Oxygen with the intention of developing better bosses.

When it comes to living your best life, Albert Einstein — notorious as the greatest physicist and genius of his time, and possibly of all-time — probably isn’t the first name you think of in terms of life advice. You most likely know of Einstein as a pioneer in revolutionizing how we perceive the Universe, having given us advances such as

“Most people feel meetings are not as effective as they could be,” says Abrahams, a lecturer in organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and host of Think Fast Talk Smart: The Podcast. “However, it is possible to have well-run meetings that are productive, that you look forward to, and that good things come from.”

Hannibal crossing the Alps to surprise the Roman army. Charlemagne’s conquest of Western Europe. The Allies’ D-Day invasion of Normandy. These are the powerful images conjured by the word “strategy” – military maneuvers using smart tactics to secure victory. But strategy isn’t just for winning wars. There’s a famous saying that goes, “Most people spend more time planning their summer vacation than planning their lives.”