Learn to lead mindfully.
Those new to management and leadership will discover the basics of how to be a good leader and will have a head start on their peers who are simply struggling through their first assignments as managers, learning by observation and deduction alone. Those who have been practicing management for some time will be able to hone their skills as operators within their enterprise, developing a stronger ability to negotiate with their superiors, relate to their peers, and cultivate their reports into the next wave of leaders. Those in the latter half of their careers can build on their experience to ensure that the work they are doing truly aligns with their life goals and purpose, and remove all of the inessential noise and distraction so bothersome for leaders at the top of the food chain.
Three Pillars
The content is divided into three components, or “pillars”, that together form a coherent strategy for the ongoing self-development work necessary to become a great leader.
Pillar 1 - The Grounded Self
Focused on uncovering the patterns and preconceptions that haunt all of us and get in the way of our thinking with clarity and focus, avoiding negative self-talk, and acting with purpose.
Pillar 2 - Effective Communication
Effective Communication includes material that deals with active listening and empathy, a critical prerequisite of making your own voice heard, and inspiring those around you to act in ways they may not have done on their own.
Pillar 3 - Tipping the Organization
Through working with leaders in a broad range of organizations for over the last 20 years, I have found that most learners approach leadership development training with a common problem: how to make impactful and lasting change in their organization. The key to making that lasting change is the ability to influence other members of the organization to become change agents themselves, in alignment with some broader goal of organization transformation.
With a nod to the great Steven Covey’s recommendation to “begin with the end in mind”, the content is organized so that skills can be built cumulatively. The pillar that encapsulates the skills and tactics required to lead by influence is called Tipping the Organization, and it is presented last.
Those who take the class experience a major change.
We've had some direct promotions. Several folks negotiated changes into entirely new and broader roles within their organization. Some have interviewed for more senior leadership roles in other companies and won offers. Each of these folks had hands-on coaching, and the support of their classmates, and that contributed significantly to the positive outcomes.
One participant in the class, when we asked about his goal for the rest of the class:
“I was initially going to say [my goal is] to get a new job I like more than my current job. Now I would say to clarify my purpose… I would love to have a more inspirational personal north star.”
Are you looking to make a change?
Whether it’s from Engineer to VP of Engineering or managing your Product team but don’t know why you can’t seem to get that promotion? Does something seem to be missing?
I’ve been there. Over the past 20 years, helped many companies build and scale new digital products, find product-market fit, and build and improve product development capabilities.
We can help!
We’ve developed a successful on-demand online course that will get you to the next level of your career at a time-commitment you can handle right now.
This course gives you the opportunity to learn mindful leadership based on a structured framework I developed that combines the best practices of Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile development into one seamless approach.
You’ll receive actionable lessons you can use to grow your leadership skills.
Learn how to:
- Discovering your purpose and orienting yourself as a leader. Goal setting and professional development.
- Make change in a large organization. How to lead by influence rather than authority.
- Learning tools for greater focus and deeper impact. Personal focus, mindfulness, and value-based outcomes.
- Hiring for culture and future fit. Developing hiring models for retention and growth.
- Creating a growth-mindset culture, and encouraging psychological safety.
- How to have difficult conversations. Giving and getting feedback.
- Mentorship, delegation, and succession planning. Coaching and developing future leaders.
- How to manage up and influence executives. Tools for enabling transparency and communicating clearly and concisely.
Our Format:
13 videos (approximately 10-20 minutes each); all viewable on demand.
This is a program structured around on-demand online sessions. The course is self-paced so repeat and rewind through the videos as much as you'd like. Reading materials will be referenced, but are not required.