Interview with Prof. Dr. Tom Sommerlatte. For Tom, being a painter and leading a corporation hang together. That balance between ART and WORK is essential for him as a leader. He has brought artistic freedom and creativity into the workplace. According to Tom, the artistic spirit helps improve problem solving. To take people along Tom had to encourage his teams to break out of their routines. Artists have the courage to start from a white page. They want to accomplish something new. They are fully engaged. Tom believes that this is what Art can bring to Leadership!
Career Strategy: The Diamond principle
A career has typically two distinct phases: In the first phase you broaden your experience base. You will reach a turning point as soon as you have gained the necessary experience to reach your aspired career target. This is where the second phase starts and where you need to take a focused approach in view of your career ambition. In this video I outline two important aspects related to these two phase: communication and time management. Getting this right will help you optimize your career development.
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE – How to gain it early in your career
International experience is an important success factor for your career, because our world has become global. It is advisable to gain this international exposure early on in your career. This video outlines how to prepare for this and how to find the right job abroad.
Energy management – How to become a Corporate Athlete
Leaders often have a heavy schedule. Travel and jet-lag may add fatigue. They have to resolve stressful situations and have to manage public exposure inside or outside of their organizations. Physical and mental well-being are essential conditions to efficiently cope with these challenges. Just like top performers in sports, leaders have to look after their fitness in order to become true corporate athletes.
A simple tool to make better CAREER DECISIONS
The choices to take a new job, to change company or to give a new orientation to our career are highly strategic personal and professional decisions. It is very important to have a robust decision process to avoid regrets and second thoughts. This article outlines a simple tool that will make better career decisions.
Stress Management – How to stay serene under high tension?
Studies show that the stress level among leaders is increasing all the time, because the pace of change is accelerating. Leaders have to provide a lot of energy to respond to this, but that is expected to be done in a calm and determined way. This can be perceived as a paradox: How to stay perfectly calm in a storm? In this article we will use examples from the philosopher Heraclites to illustrate how to combine high energy and great serenity in order to mater stress.
3 tips to reinforce your FEEDBACK CULTURE
Many companies have difficulties establishing a strong feedback culture. This article outlines what barriers exist and outlines 3 simple tips how to overcome them.
CAREER START – How to choose your first employer?
Choosing the right employer for your career start is a key decision. You will find here tips on how to select companies to target and how to be best prepared to apply for your dream job. This will help you putting all the chances on your side for a great career start!
Servant Leadership: Think of leadership as a SERVICE to your team!
Servant leadership means that leadership is exercised as a SERVICE to the organization, because the leader has a permanent concern for the needs of the teams. He/she feels responsible to create the conditions that will allow employees to be successful in any given situation. That is a big shift from the traditional top down perspective where leadership is seen as a prerogative to set direction and to hold other accountable for their achievements. Such decisive decision making is part of a service oriented leadership and should be exercised when required to provide clear direction. But leaders should also be inspirational, create great working conditions and be able to coach team members when needed. This is a much broader understanding of leadership and can be seen as the black belt we should strive for during our lifelong leadership learning journey.
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ASPIRATION versus AMBITION – Connect to your true desire!
We are in the daily race for higher objectives and strive to over-achieve. Ambition is good, but is sometimes overshadows what we truly aspire to. Aspiration is related to our deeper desire. The closer we get to our aspired state the more fulfillment we experience. We should be careful not to miss this in the rush. That article might help to connect to what we truly aspire to.