Jason Treu's Blog, page 27

Narcissism and Successful Leaders

Narcissism and world class achievement have an interesting relationship and when we think of those who excel on the world stage. It’s really easy to conjure up a story that they have a rich and deep inner belief that they can be the absolute best in the world.

Many very successful people don’t have that complete self-absorbed away of believing that they are the only or the absolute best in their craft as a matter of fact, most folks that we’ve spoken to have revealed a deep sense of humility and so, it’s for those that hold that belief that the world revolves around me because I am that important and that special is when my intent to start to attuned to the concept of narcissism

Narcissism is not that complicated but there are some diagnostic stuff that psychologists run through but it’s excessive self-centered vanity and the lack of regard for others that are some of the hallmarks of Narcissism and we all can be a bit self-absorbed or needy and have some vanity to us and we can display narcissistic behavior from time to time but that’s not what this is about,

it’s that deep sense of grandiosity that is so pervasive that impairs their daily functioning their relationship themselves, their relationships with others, and that’s what it’s about so

Narcissism is the name for the Greek myth of Narcissus. He was a Hunter who when he saw his own reflection in water, he fell in love with it and he didn’t realize it was a reflection and so he stared at it literally in untill he died.

The way that I like to simplify this concept of Narcissism is that the person can’t tell the difference between himself and everyone around him or her. Everyone becomes a reflection of him or her, and it  gives them the right to use other people as extensions of their own self-worth

Narcissism only becomes a problem to the person when the consequences become realized.

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#1 way to increase team performance is by creating psychological safety.

#1 way to increase team performance is by creating psychological safety. Google spent 3yrs figuring this out. Use it as your competitive advantage.

#jasontreusocialwealthpdf #jasontreuexecutivecoach #jasontreupodcast #jasontreuamazon #jasontreutwitter #jasontreulinkedin

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Business Relationships SuperCharger #2

Here is your #2 business relationships supercharger (from my book Social Wealth)…

Supercharger #2: Seeing Every Opportunity

Everywhere you go is a potential meeting place. I’ve met fantastic people in line at Starbucks, at the grocery store, and waiting in line at the dry cleaners. Some of my best friends now laugh about how we met somewhere just like this.

What became a great relationship started with a simple, quick conversation.

Every relationship starts with an initial interaction. Think of it as five-minute conversations that turn into lifelong relationships.

The more people you meet, the more opportunities you have to create abundance and learn life skills, and you’ll also have a greater chance of meeting the right people for yourself and others.

I’ll show you the ultimate power of networking in groups, building your social capital, and how to manage it all.

 

 

 

#jasontreusocialwealth #jasontreusocialwealthpdf #jasontreuexecutivecoach #jasontreupodcast #jasontreutwitter #jasontreuamazon #jasontreufacebook #jasontreulinkedin

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Relationship SuperCharger #1

I’m going to share with you ways you can supercharge your business relationships quickly. Here is #1.

Supercharger #1: Putting People First

Imagine that every weekend, you’re invited to so many events, you couldn’t attend them all even if you wanted to. Emails and phone calls arrive offering high-paying jobs, introductions to new professional networks, and terrific investment opportunities.

If you are in a relationship or marriage, both you and your partner feel fulfilled, happy, and like you are on a successful road together. Most importantly, others become more successful because of your help. People are inspired to be around you because you put others first. You’ve built a highly successful network of people in every area of your life.

You can have it all, and you don’t have to settle. Sure, you may have to make some tradeoffs, but that’s much different than lowering your standards for what you want your life to be.

In order to do this, you have to prioritize meeting people and building relationships as number one on your list.

Without prioritizing this, you will encounter a lot of challenges, heartache, disappointments, and failed interactions and relationships.

 

 

#jasontreusocialwealth #jasontreusocialwealthpdf #jasontreuexecutivecoach #jasontreupodcast #jasontreutwitter #jasontreuamazon #jasontreufacebook #jasontreulinkedin

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Why Your Stories Are Holding Back From Career Success

We form our own reality from the BS stories we make up.

We’re conspiracy theorists and a huge ball of emotions.

Once you embrace that truth, it’s way easier to live your life.

Unless something is 1+1=2 it’s a story!

Let it go.

Example: Leader of a group asks a question. You answer it. The person across from you rolls their eyes. You think (one) that person doesn’t like me, (two) they don’t like what I’m saying and/or (three) something about me bothers them. Well, all you know is they rolled their eyes. That’s it. You filled in the rest of the information. They could have remembered something they didn’t do. Got a text from a sick kid. Had a client yell at them.

It’s all a story you created in your mind. That’s your reality now unless you address it with that person.

It’s only TRUE because you MADE IT TRUE!

Make sense?

Here is what you do to resolve the story and write a new ending:

You address that privately with them by saying, “The story in my head is that….” That’s it. That disarms them immediately because of how you led into the conversation.

That’s “Why Your Stories Are Holding Back From Career Success!”

Cheers!

PS: Want to clear out the BS stories that are holding you back? Contact me for coaching options (including a free 20 mins where I’ll help you solve your biggest challenge).

The post Why Your Stories Are Holding Back From Career Success appeared first on Jason Treu Executive Coaching.

How to Build an Effective Team for Your Business

“Talent wins games, but intelligence and teamwork win championships.”– Michael Jordan

In the game of business, everyone wants to win championships. But there is more to winning than getting a group of people into a conference room. You have to know how to build an effective team from the ground up.

Here are three simple ways to build and nurture a strong team for your business.

Establish Yourself As A Leader

You can’t have a strong team if you’re not a strong leader. Each member of your team should know that you’re the leader. But being a leader doesn’t mean lording your hierarchy over the rest of your team. It means listening, understanding, and guiding your team to success.

Start by doing some introspection. Build awareness of how you approach your leadership duties.

Are you willing to listen to suggestions? How do you communicate with your team? Do you stand ready to answer their questions or do you outsource that task?

INC.com put together a great leadership checklist to inspire your introspection session, so start there.

See what your answers reveal and work towards improving your leadership skills

Foster a Communicative Environment

A post about team building wouldn’t be complete without discussing communication.

The Harvard Business Review researched various teams across different industries to study their communication and how that affected performance outcomes. Their research revealed three distinct forms of communication that improve team performance. These are Energy, Engagement, and Exploration.

Energy, they determined, is the energetic exchanges among team members. It represents the way team members acknowledge each other.

Engagement is the distribution of that energy among team members. Teammates should have an equal amount of energy dispersed between them to ensure an effective team.

Exploration represents engagement and communication between members outside of their comfort zone. Creative teams, in particular, should foster an environment for outside exploration beyond the team.

Psychological safety is the foundation on which all teams should be built. Google spent three years figuring this out, and it was the only trait of every single of their top performing teams. In my research of studying the best sales teams, every single one of them has had this.

If you can find a way to combine these four factors and use them with your team, you can create a more an engaging environment for communication and team building. You’ll see much higher productivity and innovation.

Use Team Building Games

If you want to learn how to build an effective team, you shouldn’t overlook team building games. Of course, knowing when to use them is also important. Don’t use them as a punishment or to highlight the team’s failures. Only use them to build up the team.

While we highly recommend the Cards Against Mundanity, other team building games can further engagement as well.

One game, if you’re in sales, is to have team members to grab an item from their desk and assemble a team to create a logo, marketing pitch, and slogan within a set time. This exercise makes your team think on their feet—a quality they must have to be the best at whatever they do.

Wrapping it Up

Building an effective team is no easy task. However, with a bit of ingenuity, communication, and engagement you can create a high performing team. By using team building games and by sharpening your leadership skills, you can create a team that wins championships instead of games.

Jason Treu is an executive coach that works with individuals and teams on leadership and performance. Debuted at TEDxWilmington, his free team building, Cards Against Mundanity, is being played in hundreds of organizations to increase performance, creativity, and collaboration. His book, Social Wealth, has sold more than 50,000 copies.

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Turning Fear into Fire (Quotes by Audra Lorde)

From time-to-time, I’ll share quotes with you in areas that really impact me and others I come in contact with. Fear has been a really big theme lately with clients and friends. I really like this quote on Fear by poet, Audre Lorde, in her book A Burst of Light: and Other Essays (and from brain pickings).

“Seventeen days before she turned fifty, and six years after she underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer, Lorde was told she had liver cancer. She declined surgery and even a biopsy, choosing instead to go on living her life and her purpose, exploring alternative treatments as she proceeded with her planned teaching trip to Europe. In a diary entry penned on her fiftieth birthday, Lorde reckons with the sudden call to confront the ultimate fear:

I want to write down everything I know about being afraid, but I’d probably never have enough time to write anything else. Afraid is a country where they issue us passports at birth and hope we never seek citizenship in any other country. The face of afraid keeps changing constantly, and I can count on that change. I need to travel light and fast, and there’s a lot of baggage I’m going to have to leave behind me. Jettison cargo.”

Here is another quote from her:

“Survival isn’t some theory operating in a vacuum. It’s a matter of my everyday living and making decisions. How do I hold faith with sun in a sunless place? It is so hard not to counter this despair with a refusal to see. But I have to stay open and filtering no matter what’s coming at me…”

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Introverts’ Best Practice Guide To Meeting People And Building Relationships

Check out my article on Young Upstarts on a fun and easy ways for introverts to meet great people both personally and professionally. You can still meet a lot of people (and ultimately the best people for you) if you manage the process differently. That’s why I created these six easy steps for introverts.

Here are the first two strategies to use. You can read the other four strategies in the article.

Hope you enjoy, “Introverts’ Best Practice Guide To Meeting People And Building Relationships.”

1. Use fear as a compass.

Fear is actually leading you the direction to make your life better. Once you embrace uncertainty and use it as fuel, life will really open up for you.

Simply force yourself to step outside of your comfort zones. We all have to take leaps of faith.

You can even use social media like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook to facilitate face-to-face connections in a way that provides an initial level of familiarity and comfort with new people.

Did you know that modern scientific and psychological studies prove that when you interpret difficult, uncomfortable situations as “challenges” and “adventures,” we are better able to cope with stress and anxiety?

Get creative and push yourself to extend your boundaries. View each interaction, and each new social setting as a unique challenge, opportunity, and adventure to meet new and wonderful people — who knows who you’ll meet, what you’ll learn, and what good could come to a stranger’s life thanks to your friendly smile.

2. Leverage the power of groups.

I’m a big believer in leveraging the power of groups to meet people. I think charity, nonprofits (museums, opera, symphony, etc.), and interest groups are fantastic places to meet new friends, network for business, and meet potential partners. Why? People’s defenses are down, there trust is given in a group (because everyone is there for a specific reason), and people are there to meet other people. You can meet anywhere from 5-15 new people in an hour or so, and many times you can do this in the middle of the week. It’s a much more effective and efficient way to go about it.

Google charities, museums, opera, symphony, parks, etc. along with your city name and check them out. You can also add search terms like young professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, gala events, happy hours, etc.

You can also contact the organizers and ask to work the check-in table at the start of the event. You can familiarize yourself with the room, meet people as they come in, and get yourself warmed up.

The post Introverts’ Best Practice Guide To Meeting People And Building Relationships appeared first on Jason Treu Executive Coaching.

How to Improve Innovative Thinking Company-Wide

“How can you increase strategic and innovative thinking company-wide?” This question from a former client of mine also goes to increasing problem-solving and how to hold an effective brainstorming session. I wanted to share the answer with you so that you can use it in your organization.

Most people go about attacking this challenge THE WRONG WAY. It gets them very little results. Done right, you can get massive ROI and game-changing results. And it costs very little do.

Question: Do you order the furniture for a house first or do you build the foundation?

If you have a crappy foundation, the whole house will fall down. You have to start at the foundation. Increasing strategic and creative thinking starts not in a conference room, but in the culture of the company and/or the team level.

Here is a blueprint for a plan I’ve done many times. You can use a version of this in your organization.

“So your question isn’t an easy one. So I wanted to give you a plan versus just some random thoughts or a tactic.If you can implement some version of this you will increase strategic and creative thinking (and problem-solving) company-wide.

 

Big Idea

The key to creating strategic thinking and new ideas is through psychological safety. It’s in essence what I did in my TED Talk and my card game. Google spent 3 years to figure that out and changed their business around it (Project Aristotle). They also made it first part of training for every new employee in their super secret company Project X that spend a billion plus dollars every year on.

Four important points:

 

1) People won’t share ideas if they don’t feel safe to do so. They also won’t take their “free time” to figure them out. That equates itself that people don’t completely trust the leaders.
2) Leaders have to be vulnerable first to make it safe for others to share with them.
3) Creativity and strategic thinking come out of a foundation of psychological safety because people are more personally invested in the outcomes for the business. They are more willing to be vulnerable and share ideas they have because the organization supports it.

 

Action Plan

 

Strategic level

 

1) Get your CEO and any top leader the information on Project Aristotle and have them read it. If they don’t buy into it, it won’t work.
2) Have the CEO and leaders do all the activities BEFORE the employees do it. Because everything from the top rolls downhill and will organically be embedded into the culture.
3) Make psychological safety and creative thinking be company values and part of the culture by putting it on the website, making it apart of materials, etc. These are small changes because it is just adding a couple sentences, but it makes an impact.
4) Make creative thinking as part of the review process because it holds people accountable.

 

Tactical level to build psychological safety

 

1) Play my game, Cards Against Mundanity, teamwide (can do over zoom, etc.). Teams get the benefit even if they aren’t in the same room or location.
2) I’ve got a blog post on top team building activities. I would do one a quarter over the next 5-6 quarters so you can implement something sustainable over time (and consistently reinforce the psychological safety).
3)  Play the game with new employees and existing ones. Depending on the rate of new hires, I would try to do it monthly (or within the first week if you are only adding people here and there). You’d get all the new employees together and an equal amount of existing employees (or if it was one employee, 3-4 existing employees).

 

Tactical level to get more creative thinking

 

1) Figure out exactly what areas you want more creative thinking around.
A) Have managers ask employees about it in their 1:1s.
B) Hold a monthly brainstorm around one key area. Just collect ideas in the meeting. Then managers/leaders can sort through them and pick out the top 1-3 ideas to implement or investigate more.
C) Have a “Strategic Wall” where people can write down a short idea or have a “slack thread” where people can share ideas.
D) Have the CEO do either do 1:1s or a breakfast with groups to solicit creative ideas.
E) Host a 24-hour hack-a-thon for coming up with creative ideas (we could discuss how to do this more).

 

2) Materials – I like to do non-traditional things to get people’s minds opened up.
A) Love David Goggins podcast. It’s about drive vs motivation and getting shit done. Swearing in it, but it gets the point across you have to dig deep.
B) Brene Brown’s Braving the Wilderness or Daring Greatly. Both books make people think.
C) Blue Ocean Strategy is a very good book. It’s more “marketing” oriented

 

3) Activities

 

You have to have uninterrupted time to think. It’s too easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day or fire drills. You can reserve time on your calendar, but people always push it out or don’t do it. For example, you block two hours on Thursday for creative/strategic thinking. Someone walks into your office and you work on a fire drill over those two hours.
A) Get people or individuals to do meditation, Tai Chi class or something where they can’t be bothered and you remove all electronic devices. You could have them go to the museum and tell them they aren’t allowed to bring their phone or any electronic device (i.e. Apple Watch). It’s time to unplug and think.
B) We could create a game (like Cards Against Mundanity) that is filled with questions to focus on brainstorming. Then after playing, give people two hours with only a pen and paper to come up with ideas.

 

Within 30-90 days you’ll see hard evidence of this working, and benefitting the company.
I’ve done this before and works consistently.

 

If you just give people books/podcasts, you’ll get marginal results (and probably from the same people you are already getting them from).”

 

PS (Here is a brief follow up by me)

 

“The key is to build it into the foundation so it starts working for you over time. Then it becomes a competitive advantage.

 

You see this in high performing teams. They do something different and people can’t put their fingers on it or seem to replicate it. Because it’s psychological safety and people don’t believe that is the answer. They want to look for something complex, but it’s not.

 

You can take average performing people, put them on a team who cares about them, and you’ll see their performance go up. Part of that is they will work harder, and part of that is they don’t want to disappoint others.”

 

There you have it! “How to Improve InnovativeThinking Company-Wide.”

 

Want to take your leadership, management ability, and performance to the next level? Improve your team’s performance and problem-solving?
Contact me to discuss your challenges and to see if we are a good fit. You’ll walk away with a rock-solid blueprint and plan you can use with or without me.

The post How to Improve Innovative Thinking Company-Wide appeared first on Jason Treu Executive Coaching.

How to Improve Strategic Thinking Company-Wide

“How can you increase strategic and creative thinking company-wide?” This question from a former client of mine also goes to increasing problem-solving and how to hold an effective brainstorming session. I wanted to share the answer with you so that you can use it in your organization.

Most people go about attacking this challenge THE WRONG WAY. It gets them very little results. Done right, you can get massive ROI and game-changing results. And it costs very little do.

Question: Do you order the furniture for a house first or do you build the foundation?

If you have a crappy foundation, the whole house will fall down. You have to start at the foundation. Increasing strategic and creative thinking starts not in a conference room, but in the culture of the company and/or the team level.

Here is a blueprint for a plan I’ve done many times. You can use a version of this in your organization.

“So your question isn’t an easy one. So I wanted to give you a plan versus just some random thoughts or a tactic.If you can implement some version of this you will increase strategic and creative thinking (and problem-solving) company-wide.

 

Big Idea

The key to creating strategic thinking and new ideas is through psychological safety. It’s in essence what I did in my TED Talk and my card game. Google spent 3 years to figure that out and changed their business around it (Project Aristotle). They also made it first part of training for every new employee in their super secret company Project X that spend a billion plus dollars every year on.

Four important points:

 

1) People won’t share ideas if they don’t feel safe to do so. They also won’t take their “free time” to figure them out. That equates itself that people don’t completely trust the leaders.
2) Leaders have to be vulnerable first to make it safe for others to share with them.
3) Creativity and strategic thinking come out of a foundation of psychological safety because people are more personally invested in the outcomes for the business. They are more willing to be vulnerable and share ideas they have because the organization supports it.

 

Action Plan

 

Strategic level

 

1) Get your CEO and any top leader the information on Project Aristotle and have them read it. If they don’t buy into it, it won’t work.
2) Have the CEO and leaders do all the activities BEFORE the employees do it. Because everything from the top rolls downhill and will organically be embedded into the culture.
3) Make psychological safety and creative thinking be company values and part of the culture by putting it on the website, making it apart of materials, etc. These are small changes because it is just adding a couple sentences, but it makes an impact.
4) Make creative thinking as part of the review process because it holds people accountable.

 

Tactical level to build psychological safety

 

1) Play my game, Cards Against Mundanity, teamwide (can do over zoom, etc.). Teams get the benefit even if they aren’t in the same room or location.
2) I’ve got a blog post on top team building activities. I would do one a quarter over the next 5-6 quarters so you can implement something sustainable over time (and consistently reinforce the psychological safety).
3)  Play the game with new employees and existing ones. Depending on the rate of new hires, I would try to do it monthly (or within the first week if you are only adding people here and there). You’d get all the new employees together and an equal amount of existing employees (or if it was one employee, 3-4 existing employees).

 

Tactical level to get more creative thinking

 

1) Figure out exactly what areas you want more creative thinking around.
A) Have managers ask employees about it in their 1:1s.
B) Hold a monthly brainstorm around one key area. Just collect ideas in the meeting. Then managers/leaders can sort through them and pick out the top 1-3 ideas to implement or investigate more.
C) Have a “Strategic Wall” where people can write down a short idea or have a “slack thread” where people can share ideas.
D) Have the CEO do either do 1:1s or a breakfast with groups to solicit creative ideas.
E) Host a 24-hour hack-a-thon for coming up with creative ideas (we could discuss how to do this more).

 

2) Materials – I like to do non-traditional things to get people’s minds opened up.
A) Love David Goggins podcast. It’s about drive vs motivation and getting shit done. Swearing in it, but it gets the point across you have to dig deep.
B) Brene Brown’s Braving the Wilderness or Daring Greatly. Both books make people think.
C) Blue Ocean Strategy is a very good book. It’s more “marketing” oriented

 

3) Activities

 

You have to have uninterrupted time to think. It’s too easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day or fire drills. You can reserve time on your calendar, but people always push it out or don’t do it. For example, you block two hours on Thursday for creative/strategic thinking. Someone walks into your office and you work on a fire drill over those two hours.
A) Get people or individuals to do meditation, Tai Chi class or something where they can’t be bothered and you remove all electronic devices. You could have them go to the museum and tell them they aren’t allowed to bring their phone or any electronic device (i.e. Apple Watch). It’s time to unplug and think.
B) We could create a game (like Cards Against Mundanity) that is filled with questions to focus on brainstorming. Then after playing, give people two hours with only a pen and paper to come up with ideas.

 

Within 30-90 days you’ll see hard evidence of this working, and benefitting the company.
I’ve done this before and works consistently.

 

If you just give people books/podcasts, you’ll get marginal results (and probably from the same people you are already getting them from).”

 

PS (Here is a brief follow up by me)

 

“The key is to build it into the foundation so it starts working for you over time. Then it becomes a competitive advantage.

 

You see this in high performing teams. They do something different and people can’t put their fingers on it or seem to replicate it. Because it’s psychological safety and people don’t believe that is the answer. They want to look for something complex, but it’s not.

 

You can take average performing people, put them on a team who cares about them, and you’ll see their performance go up. Part of that is they will work harder, and part of that is they don’t want to disappoint others.”

 

There you have it! “How to Improve Strategic Thinking Company-Wide.”

 

Want to take your leadership, management ability, and performance to the next level? Improve your team’s performance and problem-solving?
Contact me to discuss your challenges and to see if we are a good fit. You’ll walk away with a rock-solid blueprint and plan you can use with or without me.

The post How to Improve Strategic Thinking Company-Wide appeared first on Jason Treu Executive Coaching.