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124: The Transformative Power of Affirmation with Dr. Tim Irwin

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The Launch Youniversity Podcast
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
124: The Transformative Power of Affirmation with Dr. Tim Irwin
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Summary:

For years, intimidation and fear have been considered effective motivation tools. In recent years, however, studies have shown these tactics actually cause more harm than good. They can actually demotivate a team and slow down innovation. Today’s podcast guest, Dr. Tim Irwin, has been on a career-long search to discover what brings out the best in other people. His research has led to one resounding answer: affirmation. When you tune in to this week’s episode, you’ll learn how to effectively influence and lead others, how to give positive feedback, and increase productivity, creativity, and innovation.

Welcome to episode 124 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

Extraordinary Influence: How Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in Others

Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership

Dr. Tim Irwin’s website

Three Takeaways:

  • Affirm everyone. Research shows affirmation can go a long way in increasing the effectiveness of your team. Look for opportunities to regularly affirm your team for the things they do well. Your team’s creativity and innovation will reap major benefits from affirmation they receive. 
  • Speak life. Take inventory of the words you use regularly when communicating with your team. Are they positive or negative? Dr. Irwin shared how negative words, or “words of death,” are often veiled in commonly used phrases to motivate others. What these words do, however, is negatively impact our ability to be creative and problem solve. Make sure you’re speaking positively to your team. 
  • Give alliance feedback. Dr. Irwin introduced us to the concept of alliance feedback, which is giving feedback that doesn’t trigger the defensive part of the brain. This type of feedback is encouraging and reminds those you lead that they are valuable, while showing them areas in which they need to improve.

Thank you for listening to the Launch Youniversity Podcast! If you have a question that you want to be answered on the podcast… ask us here!

097: How to Use Hospitality as a Leadership Strategy

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The Launch Youniversity Podcast
The Launch Youniversity Podcast
097: How to Use Hospitality as a Leadership Strategy
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Summary:

Many innovators and launchers do not consider themselves leaders, but becoming a leader is inevitable in the process of bringing your idea to life. Most run from the title because it often feels weighty — you have flashbacks to The Office’s Michael Scott or maybe your current leader and think, “That will not be me.”

However, what if leadership could feel a lot more like home? Rooted in the idea of treating your team, collaborators, and future employees like guests, Terry A. Smith shares with host, David Farmer, another perspective of leadership based on the principles of hospitality and how we can create an environment where people and dreams flourish.

Welcome to episode 97 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

Enter to win a free copy of Terry A. Smith’s book, The Hospitable Leader, for you and one friend by following Launch Youniversity on Instagram. Locate the post about the book and comment in the caption!

The Hospitable Leader: Create Environments Where People and Dreams Flourish

Live 10

Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business

Frances Hesselbein

The Hospitable Leader online community

Elevator Pitch

Three Takeaways:

1. Hospitality is Crucial for Influence
You cannot lead someone effectively if you don’t have their permission to be led, and you will not get their permission if they don’t feel welcome. From your attitude to your environment, hospitality can make all the difference in how you influence others.

2. Engagement is Essential in Leadership 
Moral leadership is about engaging and influencing someone’s will. It will be easier to mobilize your team around your mission when they feel heard, understood, and invested in as individuals and as a valued contributor.

3. Inclusion Multiplies Influence
Growth happens when we are stretched. One way to be stretched is to surround yourself with people and ideas different from what you’re used to. Celebrate inclusion and diversity.

Thank you for listening to the Launch Youniversity Podcast! If you have a question that you want to be answered on the podcast… ask us here!

Leadership Comes with a Microphone

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Have you ever endured a boring business presentation?

When I ask audiences this question, the response is the always the same.  [Read more…] about Leadership Comes with a Microphone

041: How to Lead When You’re Not In Charge with Clay Scroggins

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SUMMARY:

Can you lead if you’re not the person in charge? Clay Scroggins thinks so and he’s joining Jeff and Shane on today’s episode to tell you why. Whether you own your own business or work within an organization, Clay is sharing his valuable wisdom on leveraging influence, thinking critically and launching yourself and your products into the market. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we do.

HELPFUL LINKS + RESOURCES:

Clay’s Website

Pre-Order Clay’s Book: How To Lead When You’re Not In Charge

Clay on Twitter

Clay on Instagram

RELATED READING:

5 Ways to Bounce Back From Failure

The Best Leadership Advice I’ve Ever Received

THREE KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1. Lead Yourself

You might not always be in a position of power in your business or organization, but no matter what role you have… you have a responsibility to lead yourself well. This means holding yourself accountable to following through on your ideas, dreams and goals the way you would if you were holding someone on your own team accountable for them.

2. Choosing Positivity

All of us have been in a position where we’ve been handed down a decision that we didn’t make… and maybe, we don’t even believe it’s right. And then, we’re the ones who have to execute on it. In that moment, one of the best things you can do to lead is by choosing positivity. This doesn’t mean letting yourself be steamrolled or not sharing your ideas when appropriate, but it means setting the emotional tone for yourself and the team… even if you aren’t “the leader.”

It’s not saying “If I were them, I would have done this…” But instead, saying “what will we learn and what can we take forward?”

3. Thinking Critically

Even though you are choosing positivity, it doesn’t mean you turn off your brain and force yourself to think that everything is great. Critical thinking is a skill you practice in tandem with choosing positivity. It’s looking at any given situation and asking yourself “How could I or we add value here?”

Bonus tip: Make space for thinking critically. If you’re rushing into work a minute before you need to be there and then go from meeting to meeting to meeting, you don’t have the mental space to think about ways to add value. Like Shane said, creativity is somebody spending just a little bit more time thinking about something than someones else.

TWEET IT OUT:

You don’t have to wait on authority to begin leading, you can start leading now. – @clayscroggins

You have more influence than you think you have, and influence is what makes you a leader. – @clayscroggins