Forbes (twice in one week): How Leadership by Authority Can be Counter-Productive (Video)

Forbes' columnist Tim Francis of the company Profit Factory covered me with a video interview, How Leadership by Authority Can be Counter-Productive, at the core of my leadership practice and what I teach. Leading through authority is beyond ineffective. It's generally counterproductive. Watch the video for why. Actually, watch the video for more than why: watch to learn what to use instead of authority and how to develop the relevant skills. Thank you again to Forbes and Tim Francis.

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Leadership and the Environment debuts at #38! Please read to help share.

Thanks to all of you---listeners and guests---Leadership and the Environment launched at 38: to overwhelmingly 5-star reviews: I don't know how many people listened and subscribed, but it's short of the billions whose beliefs and behavior have to change to clean the air, water, and land we share, so we have a way to go. The measure of success is not ranking, but measurables like amount of litter, number of extinctions, depth of topsoil, wars over resources, as well as people's happiness, joy, and deliciousness resulting from their new beliefs and behaviors. Social Media shares Please help share about Leadership…

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Welcome Forbes readers

Forbes article #1 this week Cheryl Snapp Conner, who has written posts with tens of millions of views, profiled me today in Forbes, Influence: How To Get It, Keep It, Use It For Business, (which came out just after my morning burpees). If you came here from that story, you know my passion for helping people change their environmental beliefs and behavior embodied in the new podcast, Leadership and the Environment. Forbes article #2 this week Tim Francis posted a video interview of me on Forbes, How Leadership by Authority Can be Counter-Productive. If you came here from that story, you…

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The Perfect (helpful) Storm

Here is an email I'm sending tomorrow, relevant to people who care about Leadership and the Environment: Hello friends, family, and people I've worked with this year​, I'm writing you who have seen my passion evolve in 2017 from launching my book to launching my podcast, Leadership and the Environment.​ Please listen if you haven't, especially Episode Zero, which gives its back story. But first read on. The podcast goal and my great passion is to help people change how they see acting on the environment from sacrifice and lonely to rewarding and part of a large, growing community. I'm interviewing…

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How to review a podcast on iTunes (Video)

Apple approved my podcast, Leadership and the Environment, for iTunes yesterday. If you want to help the environment, I hope you'll review it there. Why review Leadership and the Environment? Leadership and the Environment helps people who want to change their behavior but feel discouraged. Americans pollute and degrade the environment more than almost anyone. Everyone I know wants to degrade less, but does little. I see a leadership vacuum---someone to help people achieve their goals. Leaders help people find meaning and purpose. Leaders help change beliefs and goals. The mainstream belief that growth solves most problems is exacerbating the…

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Leadership and Loyalty: Dov Baron’s interview

Some conversations are open and honest. Then there are whole other levels of friendship that leads to sharing vulnerability and intimacy. Dov Baron---speaker, writer, coach, guru---makes his conversations like that. We spoke like two friends who love helping people learn the social and emotional skills of leadership sharing what we've learned, how we teach, and the struggles we learned them from. Listen to the conversation (on iTunes) Dov's inspiration of me People use the word inspiration to describe a feeling, but I reserve it for when someone acts, not just feels. Dov inspired me. Case in point: the three posts I…

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Readers: What they care about regarding the environment

Readers responded more thoughtfully and with more variety and sensitivity than I expected when I asked them: If you care about the environment, what do you think of when you think about caring about it? Some people think of childhood memories, others the Grand Canyon, others fishing, and so on. Can you email me what caring about the environment makes you think of? in my post "Do you want to make the world a better place (and yourself)?", announcing my launching my podcast, Leadership and the Environment. Here are some of their responses: Jared Angaza: To answer your question about…

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Leadership and the Environment is Live!

[Below is the content of my fourth email announcement of my podcast, which I just released. It’s over 12 years in design, based on 3 years of testing the underlying techniques and 1 year making the podcast. I intend for it to change culture, I hope broadly and fast enough.] Hello all, Leadership and the Environment is live! The first four episodes are up, featuring Dan Pink, multiple #1 NY Times bestseller, over 40 million TED views Marshall Goldsmith, multiple #1 bestseller, #1 rated leadership coach Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New Yorker writer Michael Bungay Stanier, WSJ bestselling…

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How to Lead People So They Want You to Lead Them Again… and help the environment

[Below is the content of my third email announcement of my podcast, which I’m releasing tomorrow. It’s over 12 years in design, based on 3 years of testing the underlying techniques and 1 year making the podcast. I intend for it to change culture, I hope broadly and fast enough.] Hello all, It's my second-to-last email on my podcast launch. I'm enjoying the email dialogs on leadership and the environment arising from my last email, especially the diversity in views. Thank you for emailing and sharing! ... I'm happy to answer more. We were talking about leading people and systemic…

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How to change a system (and enjoy the process)

[Below is the content of my second email announcement of my podcast, which I’m releasing this Thursday. It’s over 12 years in design, based on 3 years of testing the underlying techniques and 1 year making the podcast. I intend for it to change culture, I hope broadly and fast enough.] Hello all, Thank you to all who responded with their passions on the environment. I was pleasantly surprised by how many wrote, and the feeling behind the notes. You're the reason for the podcast. Helping people achieve goals they care about is the foundation of the leadership I teach.…

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Do you want to make the world a better place (and yourself)?

[Below is the content of my first email announcement of my podcast, which I'm releasing this Thursday. It's over 12 years in design, based on 3 years of testing the underlying techniques and 1 year making the podcast. I intend for it to change culture, I hope broadly and fast enough.] Hello all, Do you want to improve your leadership skills? To be part of a team building something greater than yourself? To leave the world better than you found it? People around me are like that. It's what I teach through my book and courses. I'm writing to announce…

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The 20/80 Rule, Leadership, and Integrity

My Inc. post today, "The 20/80 Rule, Leadership, and Integrity," begins The 20/80 Rule, Leadership, and Integrity In a leader's relationships, the 20/80 rule counts, not the 80/20 rule. Leadership means people watch you--not to what you want to say or do, or mean to, but what you actually say and do. Attention to detail counts. Not sometimes, but always. What Vince Lombardi said about winning applies to leadership: Leading is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't lead once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Leading is a habit. Unfortunately, so is…

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6 Lessons I Learned Teaching Leadership With a 4-Star General at West Point

[EDIT: Lloyd Austin has since become the United States Secretary of Defense. He also endorsed my book, Leadership Step by Step, saying: Great leaders aren’t born with a ‘leadership gene’; great leaders develop the necessary skills and gain confidence through practice and hard work. In Leadership Step by Step Joshua Spodek presents a thoughtful approach to becoming a highly effective leader that emphasizes the importance of experiential learning. It will serve as a valuable resource for leaders at all levels in any profession. Indeed, Joshua’s practical exercises will help prospective, as well as experienced leaders, to master their craft and…

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How to Practice Leadership: The Inner Changemaker interview

Jay Wong's Inner Changemaker podcast is growing like crazy, making #1 in self-improvement on iTunes. He just released our interview. We talked about passion and how to create more, leadership, the environment, sidchas, and the passions I'm working on. Listen to our conversation Here's a preview: Listen to our full conversation

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The Business Skills That Will Solve Global Warming

My Inc. post today, "The Business Skills That Will Solve Global Warming," begins The Business Skills That Will Solve Global Warming Science and education got us far, but won't get us to the finish line. We need to understand what motivates people and use it to change our behavior. As New York City prepares for another 74 degree November day this week, it's getting harder to remember that warm weather isn't climate. Sadly, the evidence for climate change is overwhelming anyway, along with its calamitous predictions. Want to change a nation's behavior regarding climate? Leaders know what will work more than anyone, and not just bringing…

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West Point and Leadership: First Impressions

[EDIT: Lloyd Austin has since become the United States Secretary of Defense. He also endorsed my book, Leadership Step by Step, saying: Great leaders aren’t born with a ‘leadership gene’; great leaders develop the necessary skills and gain confidence through practice and hard work. In Leadership Step by Step Joshua Spodek presents a thoughtful approach to becoming a highly effective leader that emphasizes the importance of experiential learning. It will serve as a valuable resource for leaders at all levels in any profession. Indeed, Joshua’s practical exercises will help prospective, as well as experienced leaders, to master their craft and…

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An Inside Look at the World of Career Coaching

Columbia University's Alumni Association posted a piece I wrote, "An Alum's Inside Look at the World of Career Coaching," which included a video of my WBECS talk from a couple months ago. It begins An Alum's Inside Look at the World of Career Coaching By Joshua Spodek '93CC, '96GSAS, '99GSAS, '06BUS of the Columbia Career Coaches Network Spodek shares valuable insight from his job as a career coach and details the real value in working with the Network to better your career. With five diplomas from Columbia, I love our alma mater's education, but I recognize the limitations of traditional education. What we…

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See me on Leadership, the Environment, and Navigating Your Business’s Greatest Challenges November 2 in Manhattan

See me next Thursday, November 2 at the NY Public Library Science, Industry, and Business branch in midtown Manhattan. I'm honored to present at such a prestigious and storied institution. As I'm approaching launching my podcast, Leadership and the Environment, I'll speak on our sore need for leadership in the environment, as well as how it applies to the greatest challenge most leaders face: leading people without using authority. Whether your greatest concern is your business, your personal or professional development, or the environment, you will enjoy the event and gain skills you can use that day. The event is…

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How Do I Live My Values?

Daniel Bauer uncovered what I'm up to next and what led me to it in his second interview of me for his Better Leaders Better Schools podcast. He released it yesterday. All the burpees, vegetables, and so on are leading up to a lot more than just personal habits, as the conversation reveals. The next big step is the podcast launch, featuring some big names---a Pulitzer Prize winner, tens-of-millions-times-viewed TED talker, New York Times bestselling authors, and more---sharing their struggles you don't normally see. Daniel and I talked about its origins and why such big names are doing it, even…

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I’m no longer “not flying”

A friend wrote Your perseverance in not flying around is beyond impressive. :) Are you still not consuming normal packaging? The longer you live outside a system, the less its goals and values control you. As with fitness, my skills living by my pollution-related values becomes easier all the time. I responded I'm no longer "not flying" or avoiding food packaging. I'm living by my values, which means creating adventure, cultural exchange, and what flying and eating brings without polluting the fuck out of the environment and lying to myself that I'm not, or that I'm powerless to do anything…

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Read Scott Mautz’s new book, Find the Fire: Ignite Your Inspiration & Make Work Exciting Again

  • Post category:Leadership

Scott Mautz just released his book, Find the Fire: Ignite Your Inspiration & Make Work Exciting Again. I read a pre-release and recommend it. I like Scott's work---his books, his posts for Inc., and his speaking---and am honored to have written a blurb for it: If you want to do more than you can alone, you want to motivate yourself and others, even to inspire. Most people don't think they can inspire. If you want to understand inspiration so you can do it, Scott Mautz's book will help. He's thought about it deeply, clearly from experience, and explains it so…

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The Simple Reason to Learn to Lead Yourself First

My Inc. article today, "The Simple Reason to Learn to Lead Yourself First," begins: The Simple Reason to Learn to Lead Yourself First Leading others before you know your direction can lead you nowhere, or in circles. Inc. readers love leading. We love learning to lead better. Usually that means learning to lead others. Leading others sounds sexier. In my leadership courses and workshops, nearly everyone prefers the exercises that lead others over ones to build self-awareness and self-leadership. I recommend learning to lead yourself first. Here's why. Learn to lead yourself first To see what happens if you learn to lead others first,…

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Videos and a short history of my invention and Submedia, the company I co-founded in 1999

Ten or fifteen years ago most people knew me through Submedia, the company I co-founded to market I technology I conceived of in 1996. My invention The technology was a display we'd install on subway tunnel walls that looked to riders between stations like a movie screen outside the subway car windows. From a business perspective, we were a billboard company: we installed the displays at our cost, sold media to advertisers who wanted large audiences, and shared revenue with our landlords---transit agencies. From a technological perspective we created a new medium that reached people where no one had before,…

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An ideal year’s outcome

A recent workshop I attended had me write my dream of a "Year of Opportunity"---that is, what I'd like to make happen if I achieved everything I could. Normally we don't share our greatest hopes and expectations since they enable others to judge us---for dreaming too much, for being unrealistic, for thinking too much of ourselves, for not achieving our dreams, and so on. So what? I'm going to share anyway. It's mostly about the podcast I'm working on, Leadership and the Environment, as the start of a movement to change mainstream beliefs and behaviors so people want to lower…

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On the Schmooze with Robbie Samuels

Robbie Samuels hosts the On the Schmooze podcast and today he released his conversation with me, "Leadership Through Living." I love that, unlike many podcasters, he enjoys the conversation and has fun, not just asks questions. Listen to the conversation Listen to the conversation Robbie's show notes: Today’s guest is an “astrophysicist turned new media whiz” who has earned five Ivy League degrees and holds six patents. He helped build an X-ray observational satellite for NASA, and has co-founded and led several ventures. A serious athlete, he has completed six marathons and competed at the World and National level of…

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