Confident Humility – The Yin and Yang of Leadership!

· Confidence makes you believable;

Humility makes you approachable and teachable.

· Confidence imparts wisdom and knowledge;

Humility inspires curiosity, growth and innovation.

· Confidence is having an informed point of view;

Humility is the realization that you haven’t cornered the market on insight.

· Confidence is the courage to question others and the status quo;

Humility is the courage to have your own ideas challenged and improved.

· Confidence compels you to tell your story and be interesting;

Humility compels you to listen and be interested.

· Confidence says, I can do this;

Humility says, “My way of doing it is not the only way.”

· Confidence is the ability to step out and try something risky;

Humility is the ability to be vulnerable and admit your mistakes.

· Confidence is realizing a bold and audacious dream;

Humility is realizing that a bold and audacious dream requires collaboration!

Oh that our political system, organizations and homes will be filled with more leaders who lead with confident humility!

More on Yin and Yang!

In the West “yin and yang” is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent and only exist in relation to one another. In other words, they give strength to one another.

Yin and Yang are not opposing forces (dualities), but complementary opposites. Everything has both yin and yang aspects as light cannot exist without darkness and vice-versa. Either of these aspects may manifest more strongly and will ebb and flow over time.

A perception that yin and yang corresponds to evil and good, is not accurate. Yin and Yang more accurately symbolizes the idea of balance. In their balance or blur is true strength!

THINK and LEAD with BALANCE!

Kevin & Jackie
Speaking on leadership, innovation change, culture/engagement & service…

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Break the habit of frivolous distractions!

Innovators are very conscious of how they spend their time.

1. Innovators avoid frivolous distractions
2. Innovators commit to work that adds value.

Make a list of the top three frivolous distraction in your day. Consciously stop! Do whatever-it-takes to avoid being distracted by work that adds NO value.

Replace your top three distractions with projects or activities that you never seem to have time for because they require time, energy, & creative thinking.

To break the frivolous distraction habit, set some new time-bound work goals and commit to doing work and/or projects that DO “add value” for at least a month.

Kevin & Jackie
Speaking on leadership, innovation change, culture/engagement & service…

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Creating the BEST places where the BEST people can do
their BEST work to make the world BETTER.

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Part II…

Innovations are fueled by thinking big and answering performance altering “what if” questions!

What if you prioritized thinking over tasks and quiet over chaos?

What if you refused to accept mediocrity?

What if you reached across a functional boundary to learn something new?

What if you tried something new every week?

What if you didn’t take yourself so seriously?

What if you laughed twice as much?

What if you listened more than you talked?

What if you scheduled time for creativity and fun (at work)?

What if you seized this moment and committed to one change right now?

Kevin & Jackie
Speaking on leadership, innovation change, culture/engagement & service…

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Creating the BEST places where the BEST people can do
their BEST work to make the world BETTER.

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Innovations are fueled by thinking big and answering performance altering “what if” questions!

Part I…

What if you encouraged your team to take risks and experiment more?

What if you celebrated intelligent failure like you celebrate financial success?

What if you committed to leave your mark on the world instead of following conventional,
“me to” rules?

What if you gave yourself permission to have more fun and let your creativity shine?

What if you didn’t let fear and imaginary barriers hold you back?

What if you committed to networking with radically different thinkers?

What if you injected your co-workers with optimism and hope twice a day?

What if you turned punitive messages into messages of encouragement?

What if you removed regret and viewed setbacks as pathways to progress?

Look for more “what if” questions next week.

Kevin & Jackie
Speaking on leadership, innovation change, culture/engagement & service…

Purchase NANOVATION!

Creating the BEST places where the BEST people can do
their BEST work to make the world BETTER.

Contact E: info@freibergs.com
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When the winds of creative destruction blow at gale force, one of the ways through the uncertainty is to accelerate innovation by thinking big, acting bold and thinking beyond your blinders.

Want to find what’s next? Want to build a culture of innovation?
Here are five strategies to help you think bigger:

Kevin & Jackie
Speaking on leadership, innovation change, culture/engagement & service…

Recent links and information:

Change This: Innovate or Perish! (pdf)

Hire People Who Don’t Suck! (eBook pdf)

Ideas to Live By! (Watch This)

The Gift of Leadership (pdf)

NANOVATE (Watch This)

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Creating the BEST places where the BEST people can do
their BEST work to make the world BETTER.

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Innovators…

1. Are born out of a desire to make the world better.

2. Begin by clearly defining a problem.

3. Re-define problems as invitations.

4. Are action oriented. If you see a problem, act on it.

5. Find answers to “What if” questions.

For a detailed “How to“ D.B. Management Groups, Dan Beaulieu recommends you read Nanovation and here’s why…(full review)

Kevin & Jackie
Speaking on leadership, innovation change, culture/engagement & service…

Creating the BEST places where the BEST people can do
their BEST work to make the world BETTER.

Contact E: info@freibergs.com
Follow us on Twitter for more on Lshp

Innovation Requires Thick Skin

Where do you get thick skin? From a deep-seated belief in what you are doing, we call that cause, purpose or mission.

“How do our products and services empower customers, suppliers, and partners?” Is a very different question from “how do our products and services make money?”

Both are important, but money usually follows empowerment.

And, when you know that your product or service truly serves and empowers, you are more willing to take the heat from critics who don’t believe in what you are doing.

Take in the words of Mark Zuckerberg, the young, empowering CEO of Facebook in a letter that accompanied the filing for their recent IPO.

“We don’t build (Facebook) services to make money; we make money to build services.”

The goal of Facebook is and has always been to make the experience of using Facebook as seamless and easy as talking to people in real life. Facebook is not about human-computer interaction; Facebook is about human-to-human interaction. Facebook wants your experience to produce serotonin, that cool biochemical that sparks feelings of happiness. And, coincidentally, all Facebook service innovations are evaluated based upon this question; “will it catalyze happy emotions efficiently?”

Zuckerberg shared this do-good philosophy with Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel. Apparently, Grove laughed and called it, “BS!”

Zuckerberg was appreciative of the feedback, yet he remains steadfast and faithful to this calling.

Today Zuckerberg is worth more than $25 billion, his user (customer base) is approaching 390 million and he is on the verge of an historical IPO.

We’d say Zuckerberg is an innovator with very thick skin!

Kevin & Jackie

Creating the BEST places where the BEST people can do
their BEST work to make the world BETTER.

Contact E: info@freibergs.com
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Innovate or Perish!

In a global economy you compete with everyone
from everywhere for everything.

It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, someone, somewhere right now is building a product, a process or business model designed to kick your butt.

If it’s you, then you INNOVATE—define the rules by which others must play the game.
If it’s NOT you, then you had better get comfortable playing by someone else’s rules and prepare to PERISH. Someone is going to start a revolution that will change your world…
Why can’t it be you?

How? Disrupt your market place, Nanovate produce change that matters—change that blows the competition away, amazes your customers and makes the world better…

Kevin & Jackie

NEW Keynote… Innovate or Perish!

Creating the BEST places where the BEST people can do
their BEST work to make the world BETTER.

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INNOVATION runs deep in FORTUNE’S Most Admired Companies

What do the BEST have in common?

LEADERSHIP—They place a premium on the importance of leadership and do a better job of selecting and developing leaders than their peers;

CULTURE—90% are very intentional about creating a strong, purposeful, well defined vs. accidental corporate culture (only 70% of their peers have done this);

INNOVATION—88% of these companies (compared to 79% of their peers) see innovation as a “way of life” vs. special project;

COLLABORATION—91% regularly reach out to employees for ideas and make innovation EVERYONE’S job (76% of their peers do the same);

RISK—94% encourage everyone in the organization to take reasonable risks to grow the business (77% of their peers do the same);

SHOW & TELL—87% tell success stories, brag, regularly capture and disseminate innovative ideas;

SHAKE IT UP—83% embrace change that is opportunity-led vs. crisis-driven—that is, they address problems before they occur and fix things that aren’t broken.

How does your organization stack up?

Kevin & Jackie

NEW Keynote… Innovate or Perish!

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Creating the BEST places where the BEST people can do
their BEST work to make the world BETTER.

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If you’re connected and online, you’ll know the name Jason Russell, he is a timely and
relevant example of

NOTICE, LEAD, DISRUPT

A year ago while exploring a book project we met Jason Russell, a young artist/filmmaker and cofounder of the San Diego-based charity Invisible Children Inc.

1. NOTICE: Ten years ago while visiting Africa, Russell met a boy, Jacob Acaye, who tragically represents the story of thousands of children in Africa. At the age of 11, Acaye was one of 41 youth taken from a Ugandan village by fugitive Joseph Kony, the ruthless leader of the Ugandan militia group: Lord’s Resistance Army—LRA.

The LRA has terrorized Central Africa for more than 20 years, forcing children to become sex slaves and young soldiers who kill and maim thousands of civilians. Jacob escaped, but his brother was brutally killed right in front of him. Russell was so shocked by this tragic story that he promised Jacob he would help “stop Kony.”

2. LEAD: Recently, Russell delivered on that promise, he released a 29-minute YouTube documentary (10 years in the making): Kony 2012. Through the power of film and social media the goal is to awaken millions of people to the horrific crimes of Joseph Kony and make him so famous that he is recognized around the world, exposed and brought to justice before the end of 2012.

When it was released on March 1, Kony 2012 had 58,000 views.
On March 6, thanks to a few key celebrity tweets, the film had 8.2 million views.
As of March 12th through Facebook postings and other forms of viral marketing, the Kony 2012 campaign has logged 112 million views and is growing!

Some have estimated that this visibility is valued at half-a-billion dollars of earned media! So much for the deeply embedded assumption that people won’t watch anything over two minutes on YouTube.

3. DISRUPT: Through Kony 2012 Russell has unleashed a social media juggernaut, started a global conversation, inspired millions to watch, care, and share, and tapped into the intellectual capital of the entire globe. As this brain trust becomes more focused, Kony will be exposed. And when he is, it will send a message, once again, to every other dictator that social media has the capacity to create a powerful grassroots uprising—and their time is limited!

When we NOTICE, we have the power to LEAD a movement and DISRUPT the world for the BETTER.

Kevin & Jackie

NEW Keynote… Innovate or Perish!