I hate saying goodbye. It isn’t something I’m good at and it isn’t something I enjoy doing. However, I know it is easier to say goodbye when I know the person leaving will continue seeing great success and will continue being a friend. That is the case with Jonathan Farrington who said goodbye today. Jonathan has been with us since April and has done a tremendous job. He’s improved the blog, grown the traffic, built a loyal readership base, won awards, and more. His tenure, though a bit short by some standards, did nothing but good for Leadership Turn. For that, I’m very grateful. Jonathan is pursuing other ventures related to this expertise in sales. I have no doubt he will continue seeing lots of success and... [Read more]

I hope this doesn’t sound like bragging, but in 35 years I can’t remember NOT landing a job I really wanted. I feel that qualifies me to offer you advice on landing the job that YOU really want. Of course, unless you have inside connections, maybe your father owns the company, you can’t get the job without first acing the interview. Here are ten steps to make that happen: Dress for Success: First impressions mean everything. No matter how smart you are, or how qualified for the job you might be, if your appearance is not up to par it could sour the deal. I covered this extensively in my post, “Tips for the First Time Speaker.” The same rules apply. Be on Time: This goes without saying, but I read on a forum not... [Read more]

I was reading through some of the previous posts here at Leadership Turn and discovered The Thirty Second Elevator Speech. I am in total agreement with Mary Ann. If I asked a real estate agent what they did, and they said, “I make people’s dreams come true” I would just have to start laughing. Gone are the days of the slick, butter-couldn’t-melt-in-your-mouth snake oil salesman. People are much too intelligent to be insulted with a statement like the one above. With all the problems we have as a society, one of the great improvements we’ve wrought is that we demand sincerity much more often. If you plan to make a customer out of a potential client, you’d do well to remember that people’s bullshit meters... [Read more]

I have to help a friend move this morning, so my post is going to be short but sweet. I figure the best way to make it really sweet is to turn you on to a couple of great blogs from across the net. ((I love Google Alerts!) This first one is awesome! Iinnovate is a podcast blog about innovation and entrepreneurship. It is managed by Matt and Julio, students at Stanford’s Business and Design schools. There are interviews with some of the top leaders and entrepreneurs from around the net, Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, and Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, to name just a few. The first page reads like a who’s who of Internet commerce. The second one is fast becoming one of my favorites. Leadership 501 has... [Read more]

I was thinking last night about what I wanted to talk about today at Leadership Turn, and it occurred to me that there is one common trait all famous leaders possess. The leaders I thought of when I thought of this special trait were John F. Kennedy, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr, and surprisingly enough, but not so surprising when you think about it, famous notorious leaders such as Adolph Hitler, David Koresh and Jim Jones. Why did these evil leaders come to mind? Because the trait I realized they had in common with great leaders of the past is charisma. In my opinion, charisma is something you either have or you don’t. It can’t be taught, bought or borrowed. It is an elusive trait, and it is hard to put your... [Read more]