Step into 2024 with Clarity: A Comprehensive Guide to Reflecting on Your Year and Planning Ahead 🗓️
Here we are again, nearing the end of another year circling the sun, and the beginning of a brand new one just over the horizon. For some, New Year’s Day is no different from any other day. American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is famous for many things – among them, his insistence that the coming of the new year holds no astronomical significance. And while that may be true, the new year has the potential to hold tremendous value for leaders and growth-minded individuals around the world. Sure, we will wake up the same people January 1 as we were when we went to bed on December 31. But we have in front of us an opportunity to take a pause before we move forward – and there is power in that pause. Imagine you’re climbing a mountain. As you journey, you travel up the face of the mountain, taking in more of the sprawling landscape surrounding you. But each step is taxing. The higher you go, the more you must give in order to get there. After so long, you need to pause. Take stock...
The Leadership Mistake I Made Early On – And What It Taught Me
As I type this post, I'm at the helm of my own venture, Become Your Best Version – a name perhaps familiar to you. 🙂 The entrepreneurial path has reinforced my belief: the essence of leadership starts with leading oneself. And character is the foundation self-leadership stands on. This realization, however, didn't dawn on me overnight. My leadership discovery commenced much before I ventured into consulting. My first leadership role had me steering a software development team in the automotive sector. Transitioning from a peer to a leader within the same team, I found myself in a crucible of growth and learning. I had to learn to see a leader’s role very differently from how I had before becoming one myself. As that team’s leader, much of my time was spent behind my desk. Occasionally I would enter the workshop to discuss progress. Meanwhile, my team’s time was divided evenly between their own desks and the workshop. The workshop, as I am sure you can imagine, was a lively place -...
Healthy Conflict at Work: A Leadership Perspective
Florin LunguWhen John came to me, he was quite distressed. For some time, he had felt that something was compromising his team. Undermining their progress. Capping their ability to innovate. He had one very clear concern – an age-old concern that many CEOs are dealing with today. In John’s case, his concern went by the names Sarah and Mike. Now, Sarah and Mike themselves were not the problem. John had an excellent team. Sarah diligently tracked task progress as project manager, and Mike took his role as product owner very seriously. And they were both pleasant people. But John said whenever they discussed how to approach their projects, they would go at odds with each other. They would have intense debates over what to do. John was worried the negative energy was hurting morale. Engagement, innovation, results – everything was suffering, and John felt Sarah and Mike’s conflicts could be part of the cause. And not without reason – certainly, their discussions made John himself...
Is work-life balance overrated?
Every month, between 10,000 and 100,000 people are searching Google for tips on maintaining a healthy work-life balance. It is a demand that the Internet is happy to meet: if you Google the phrase “work-life balance,” you’ll find yourself presented with almost 3.5 billion results. (Yes, that’s billion… with a “B.”) And yet, in the midst of all this discourse, the corporate world still has a hard time establishing those healthy boundaries. Long have we struggled to walk this line, but the pandemic did us no favors. The transition to remote work even further muddied the waters as to where work ended and life began. Understaffing, increased pressure, and uncertainty have been a recipe for increased hours and burned out team members. The difficulty, I think, lies in the fact that the problem is so personal, and the solution – “work-life balance,” as we call it – is so strict. In an interview with Thrive Global, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has called the term “debilitating… because [it]...
Breaking Down Leadership: What It Really Takes to Lead
Florin LunguWhat is leadership? It's a word we throw around a lot, isn't it? From boardrooms to book clubs, it seems like everyone has something to say about what makes a great leader. But when we really get down to it, what does leadership actually mean? Think about John C. Maxwell. This man has been digging into what makes leaders tick for over 40 years, and he's pretty much nailed it: "Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less." It's a simple idea, but it packs a punch. Leadership isn't about who sits in the big chair; it's about how you can make a difference, big or small. So, let's dive into what shapes a leader, shall we? Attitude is Your Secret Weapon You know how people say, "Attitude is everything"? Well, they're onto something. It's not the whole story, but boy, does it change the game. Imagine two folks facing the same problem. One sees a brick wall; the other sees a challenge to climb over. Who do you think will rally the troops and get things moving? Exactly....
Building Trust Beyond Borders: Navigating Team Dynamics in the Remote Work Era
What did the pandemic do for workplace team trust?... Way, way back in our history, humans realized that we can get more done if we combine our efforts and work as a team. This is how we start families, scale businesses, run countries, and everything else that matters. Teamwork is a building block of civilization. But it wasn’t long after we realized the power of teamwork that we also realized the knife cuts both ways – and that bad team dynamics can keep us from getting anything done. Working together successfully requires powerful trust, and powerful trust requires effective communication, and that requires psychological safety in the workplace, which requires – well, let’s just say, when it comes to a healthy team, everything affects everything else. It is a delicate balance to strike. And that’s when everyone is in the same place… When the pandemic scattered our teams, many businesses discovered a new challenge: keeping teams successful when they’re remote. Suddenly team members...
Decoding the Silent Signals: 5 Insights Your Team Expresses Non-Verbally
Florin LunguIt's a widely acknowledged fact: a mere 7% of our communication is rooted in the words we utter. The true essence of our message often lies in our body language and the nuances of our vocal tones. When this concept was introduced to you, it was likely framed within the context of your leadership and communication style. It's a crucial reminder that leaders need to be attuned to the silent messages they send. Yet, it's easy to overlook that this principle isn't exclusive to leadership—it's universal. True leadership isn't just about instructing, coaching, or guiding. It's equally about active listening—tuning in not just with our ears, but with our eyes and heightened emotional intelligence. Your team is in a constant state of communication, a wellspring of invaluable insights. While they might not always verbalize their thoughts, it's imperative for leaders to decipher these unspoken cues. By reading between the lines, you gain a deeper understanding of the underlying...
Mastering the Art of Conflict: Lessons from Pixar’s Braintrust for Transformative Leadership
Florin LunguWhen we are talking about animated movies – and not just any animated movies, but the best animated movies made by anyone, anywhere – what is the first studio to come to mind? Of course, it’s Pixar. If you have spent any time watching animated films, you’ve probably got a favorite Pixar movie. They have certainly established themselves as a powerhouse in the entertainment industry. Popular review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reflects that, on average, nearly 90% of those who watch Pixar films walk away having enjoyed themselves. The studio has also earned an Academy Award, the highest honor in American cinema, 23 times since its first release in 1995. This is not to mention its average gross income of more than $500 million per film. To what does Pixar attribute their incredible success? Some say it’s their innovative approach to filmmaking. Others credit their commitment to technical and artistic quality. And both assessments have their value. But one quality that often...
The Leadership Shift: Equipping Others for Collective Growth.
Florin LunguI find that a good question can challenge, inspire, and prompt all at the same time. And today’s powerful query is, What are you doing to equip your people? As a leader, this question moves me… it refocuses my efforts, reminds me of what’s important, and redirects me to something bigger than myself. But that’s not the only reason why. You see, for the first few years of my career, I was pursuing a technical trade. I spent my days in workshops tending to vehicle systems. This is how I expected to spend the rest of my working years – I had planned to become a technical expert. That changed when our department head, Eric, promoted me. I was shocked! Leadership was a completely new direction for me – one that didn’t make sense to me at all. But Eric saw something in me that I didn’t see. He told me that he noticed I was good with the team – not just in my role but in helping them collaborate and communicate and excel – and that I could go beyond just the technical parts that...
From Retention to Inclusion: A Transformative Approach to Keeping Top Talent
Florin LunguMany leaders live, work, and lead in fear of one word… “Retention.” It is one of the corporate world’s greatest struggles - trying to hold onto top-performing talent. “Retention” is a feared and dreaded world. It carries with it a bad connotation. It can feel less like retaining and more like detaining, like we are holding onto our people as tightly as we can. Understandably so. It can cost a business anywhere from 50% to 200% of an employee’s annual salary to replace them. And that does not even take into account the lost potential in ideas and insight, and turnover’s dramatic hit to morale. But this fear-based approach is actually killing retention! Even with so much to lose, leaders cannot fear losing their top performers. Especially with so much to lose. Fear blinds, deafens, and distracts. Fear keeps us from asking questions whose answers we may not want to hear, even if they will build an important bridge. And if we are going to keep our best team members leaned in,...
Mastering the Recipe for Team Success: Why You Need More Than Just Chefs
Florin LunguImagine what life would be like if the world was full of only chefs. Every child would be born with a bowl in one hand and a whisk in the other. We would learn to flambé at the same time we would learn to walk. Every man and woman would graduate from culinary school to serve in the world’s finest dining establishments… every meal would be a five-course spectacle. There’s only one (huge) problem… If there were only chefs, there would be no farmers to harvest their ingredients… no drivers to transport the food, either… no inventors to design or manufacturers to produce their cooking equipment… no decorators to furnish or managers to run their restaurants… and no finance officers to make sure anyone got paid for their trouble! And that’s just in the dining industry – there would be no travel, no housing, no medicine, no technology, no government… (which, I suppose, means not politicians – so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all!)... Of course, this is a pretty far-fetched...
Soft Skills, Hard Truths: The Unseen Challenges of Tech Leadership
Florin LunguMore than likely, you are familiar with the phrase, “Like a square peg in a round hole.” Generally, this phrase is used to refer to someone or something that doesn’t fit in at all with its environment – like a fish out of water. If something is a square peg in a round hole, by its very nature, it doesn’t belong there. Now, of course, no one would ever knowingly try to place a square peg in a round hole… but what if we don’t know that’s what we’re doing? Meet Sarah, a coding engineer at a high-performing tech company. She has risen to the top of her profession. With natural talent honed by years of dedicated study, she is a master of the coding craft. She is always the first one to step up and solve complex coding challenges. Her practical talent and naturally excellent work ethic have driven her to become a standout on her team, and her success does not go unnoticed by her leaders. In fact, one day, they decide to reward Sarah with a promotion. But to her leaders’...
Turning the Tide: How One Skill Rescued a Failing Team
Florin LunguImagine you are dealing with some of the worst team dynamics of your leadership career… Your numbers are way under projection because your team is struggling to perform. Project progress is slowing as more and more team members call in sick every month. No one is communicating. No one is contributing. Morale is so low, you have to bend over and squint to see it at all! Maybe you don’t have to imagine. Maybe this is exactly what you are dealing with in the workplace right now – or you have seen situations like this in the past. Unfortunately, one of my clients – we’ll call him John – didn’t have to imagine, either. For a while, this was his daily reality. People calling out, checking out, zoning out… and one of them even began burning out. Not only was he concerned for his people, but the bottom line, as well – after all, results had come to a halt! Now when I first met John, he reminded me very much of myself. I was raised by a strict mother – an authoritarian who...
From Failure to Triumph: The Resilient Leader’s Tips to Navigating High-Stakes Challenges
Florin LunguYou may have heard the phrase, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” It creates this image of a lumbering, towering figure toppling over, falling to the ground in slow-motion, its great weight crashing down and causing the very earth to shake underneath it… And it is often used to make success seem like a burden – like a bar hard won to pass but if fallen short of, will leave us absolutely devastated. It turns the joy of success into intimidation and makes the temporary phase of failure seem like a death blow. And here’s the thing – this phrase works like a charm. These days, we are living in a fast-paced corporate world. Constant pivots. Tight turnarounds. The internet has made the world smaller than ever, which means more competition – higher expectations – and more than anything, more pressure to perform and produce. As leaders in this environment, even our day-to-day tasks can feel high-stakes. It can feel like even a minute is the difference between life and...
Unlocking the Language of Leadership: The Role of Communication Styles in Team Dynamics
Florin LunguBefore we get into the article – if you’re short on time, scroll to the bottom for a free assessment that will help you multiply the impact of your leadership and productivity of your teams! How many languages do you think you could name if you tried? If you’re like most of the world, then you speak at least two languages – so, there’s two right there. Maybe you are exceptional and you speak four or five languages. Then, you could probably name 15 or 20 beyond that – but surely not 50 languages, just off the top of your head? In that case, it might surprise you to know that today, there are more than 7,100 languages being spoken throughout the world – 7,117, to be exact! Some of them share alphabets; some have the same parent language; some of them borrow words from each other… but despite their common elements, they are distinct from each other. They have their own rules of grammar, their own vocabulary… They have their own sound and their own subculture that those who...
Subscribe to Leadership for the Now Articles
Get leadership tips, strategies and opportunities in your inbox every Friday.