Speaking of Leadership® Blog

Phil Holberton

Phil Holberton

Dedicated to helping you achieve your maximum potential



The Leadership Journey: How to Communicate so People Will Listen

Reading Time: 4 minutes I have been hanging around the leadership arena for many years, and I can’t tell you how many mistakes I have made along the way with my communications. Why is this so? I know what to do, but my mind races ahead. I recognize I have the words to say

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The IKEA Effect

Reading Time: < 1 minutes The founder of Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad passed away on January 31. His extraordinary success (he was number 10 on the world’s richest persons list) by bringing a new business model to an old category is the stuff of business legends. What was so different about his offering? Vistage’s premier speaker

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Are You a Pusher?

Reading Time: < 1 minutes No, not the kind that word generally brings to mind…. I mean as a leader are you a “pusher?” Patrick Lencioni author of “Five Temptations of a CEO” and “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” says you should be. Learn why he says  “Leaders are Pushers.”

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American Gentlemen

Reading Time: < 1 minutes The #MeToo Movement began in 2017 with the revelations of the actions of Harvey Weinstein and others who used their positions of power to sexually harass the women around them. WSJ columnist and Reagan White House speech writer Peggy Noonan reflects on this travesty, reminding us that this is an old

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Steve on Email

Reading Time: < 1 minutes We think of Steve Jobs as a great creative entrepreneur whose feel for the market and insights into design created great products that people stand in line for. He was also very persuasive and a great communicator.  If you’d like a few tips on one particular aspect of his abilities,

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Freedom, Fairness, Equality

Reading Time: < 1 minutes The politically charged world we live in is characterized by many terms, most notably “freedom, fairness and equality”. Maybe the tone and temper of civic discourse would be improved if we had some shared definitions of them. Blogger Seth Godin offers three short but compelling views of what they mean. How do

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The New LinkedIn

Reading Time: < 1 minutes Microsoft paid $26 Billion for LinkedIn.  The following will help C-Level execs understand why.  Many CEOs and direct reports have a personal or company page on this site but know little about the power that LinkedIn offers them, so they don’t challenge their teams to use it to its fullest. 

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How Ike Did It

Reading Time: < 1 minutes Few people had more important and momentous careers that President Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower. During World War II he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe.  He not only led the planning for the invasion of Europe, his remarkable interpersonal skills held together a fragile coalition of US, English,

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Seven Best Business Decisions of All Time

Reading Time: < 1 minutes A few years back Vern Harnish (“Rockefeller Habits”, “Scaling Up , “Gazelles”) shared what he thought were the seven best business decisions of all time in a short video.  At the end, he commented that 6 of the 7 decisions had one thing in common. See if you can identify it before

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Alchemy for CEOs

Reading Time: < 1 minutes In the Middle Ages, Alchemists labored mightily, but in vain, to turn lead into gold.  One Vistage member, speaker and author suggests that CEOs can be modern-day alchemists and achieve a transformation that yields even more value; turning employers into owners. Scot Hunsaker is a ten year plus Vistage member and award-winning 2016 Vistage

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Set the Tone for a Successful Career

Don't let your title dictate your strategy. Rather, use these 7 steps for a smooth transition and to succeed in the most important period of your employment: your first 90 days.

As a new manager or leader, you have your work cut out for you but it's important to slow down and be strategic. Many careers get sidetracked during the first 90 to 180 days because the entry was too fast. Follow the advice in this free white paper to set the tone during your onboarding and to set yourself up for success.

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