Speaking of Leadership® Blog

Phil Holberton

Phil Holberton

Dedicated to helping you achieve your maximum potential



IQ, EQ and AQ

Reading Time: < 1 minutes For decades, the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was the metric most focused upon in assessing one’s chances for success. In the 1990’s,  the Emotional Intelligence quotient (EQ) took on increasing importance as a predictor of career success. Now comes “AQ”.  A short Wired Magazine article provides a good overview of how AQ along

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20 Executives Share Lessons They Wish They Could Have Told Their Younger Selves

Reading Time: < 1 minutes What You Might Some Day Tell Yourself:   In addition to what CEOs think you should read,  here’s the advice they would give their 22 year old selves if they could go back and offer themselves a stern warning.

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Reverse Mentoring

Reading Time: < 1 minutes Mentoring and coaching are usually thought of as an older, more experienced person guiding a younger inexperienced person. However, in a time of a great change, it may make sense for the senior person to have a junior coaching him or her as the young generally do better adapting to,

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Who Owns the Sales Culture?

Reading Time: < 1 minutes We are constantly reminded about the importance of a strong company-wide culture.  But there are sub-cultures within the whole.  Take sales, Do you know who owns the sales culture? Is it the CEO, the Sales Manager, the COO?   Collen Stanley, Vistage Speaker and president of Sales Leadership, Inc. knows, and if

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The After 40 Effect

Reading Time: < 1 minutes The importance of emotional intelligence has been documented for years.   However, there are some very important traits that, while required for success, don’t have a visible effect on one’s career until later in life. This short HBR blog post outlines research that identifies the three personality traits that SIGNFICANTLY affect lifetime earnings,

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The Laws of Inbound

Reading Time: < 1 minutes Peter Drucker once remarked that the best business in the world was a mailbox to which people sent money. While this may be ideal, most businesses require some intermediate steps; such as lead generation. Historically, lead generation required many outbound activities by sales and marketing.  Social media has turned that on its head and

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Eat Last, Don’t Learn Last

Reading Time: < 1 minutes An old leadership proverb is that “leaders eat last” and a new book bearing that title by Simon Sinek explores the topic well. However, one area where leaders “eat last” at their peril is failing to invest in their own development as well as that of their team.  Vistage’s Chief Research Officer, Joe

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Bill and TED’s Excellent Playlist

Reading Time: < 1 minutes Microsoft Founder Bill Gates not only revolutionized, some say invented, the personal computer industry as we know it, he is also making a significant impact on the world through the Gates Foundation run by him and his wife Melinda. Whatever his endeavors, he has learned to rely on facts. To

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What We Can Learn About Leadership From Sports

Reading Time: 3 minutes Reposting an oldie (but a goodie) from March 2014 I have a son Tod who plays squash in college – I have always been fascinated with the sport (I could never play it). Watching him grow upand attending many of his matches, I learned how difficult a sport it is

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Managing & Leading: What are the Differences?

Reading Time: 2 minutes I often get confused between Managing and Leading – after all aren’t they one and the same? I soon discovered that managing is squeezing efficiency out of the system.  It is largely about productivity – how can I get more units of output per labor hour.  How do you think

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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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