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Heart Centered Leadership on the Inevitable-Success Show - November 13, 2008

Interview with Susan Steinbrecher, Institute of Heart-Centered Leadership

on www.realcoachingradio.com

My guest on today’s show was Susan Steinbrecher, the founder of the Institute of Heart-Centered Leadership and author of Heart Centered Leadership:  An Invitation to Lead from the Inside Out.

Her company, Steinbrecher and Associates, Inc., provides custom-designed training programs, leadership retreats and executive coaching. Susan started this consulting business in the early ‘90s after spending about 14 years in the hospitality industry. However, even with a successful track record, Susan had an obstacle to overcome in starting her own business.  Fear.

For Susan, her rapid rise in the hospitality industry was really the catalyst for her decision to start her own business. Tapping into her early experience as a young manager, she learned how challenging it was to motivate employees to do their best. As she progressed up the corporate ladder, she learned a great deal more about leadership and motivating associates. Conquering her fears, she turned that expertise into something she wanted to share with the world  … and you.

Think about what Susan said and how it applies to your own business:

“If you take excellent care of your associates, they will take great care of your customers which will have a positive impact on your company’s productivity … and profitability.”

This just makes good sense.

Heart Centered Leadership strives to counter the negative impact of chasing profitability first and foremost. That’s because minimizing the importance of associates ultimately means less attention given to customers which results in the pain you will feel the most - its impact on your bottom line. This begs the question - how can you motivate your associates?

At one point in her research, Susan asked people to think about the best boss they ever had. Now, she acknowledged that it was a broad question, so she also asked what that person did or said and what kind of an impact it had. Most people thought of someone within 15-20 seconds. And it wasn’t that boss’s expertise at strategy or planning or budgeting that they remembered - it was the way that boss made them feel. Valued.  I think it’s all about the experience their favorite boss created, because leaders need to create the right environment for people to thrive. This involves developing an emotional climate that resonates with people.

So, what is Heart Centered Leadership (HCL)? According to Susan, HCL is actually defined as “someone who has the wisdom, courage and compassion to lead with authenticity, humility and service. Someone who speaks with authenticity, works collaboratively and has the courage to do the unpopular thing when necessary.”

To get you started, here are the Seven Principles and Virtues of Heart Centered Leadership:

There is much, much more to it, so I invite you to pick up Susan’s book. Here’s why:

• Learn why people really quit - is it their job or you?
• Discover that negativity is like a cancer that may spread throughout your organization.
• Determine if your style of leadership is starving both you and your associates.
• Explore the pitfalls that can derail your career or business.
• Tap into the mental/physical energy that you need to be a successful leader.
• Understand why employees are often disconnected from your vision.

I highly recommend Susan’s book. It’s an excellent gift for you or the leader in your life. It’s available at the Institute for Heart Centered Leadership’s website at www.instituteofhcl.org and Amazon.com, and you’ll receive a 20 percent discount by using the special code RNF2008. You can also read the Roadmap to Success by Susan and Stephen Covey and Ken Blanchard, with  chapters from 15 different authors writing about what success means to them, also available at the Institute’s website.

I wish you all great joy and tremendous success in all that you do.

Jonathan Manske

Time for an Icon or Archetype Upgrade???

This is a topic that we have talked about before:

How do you think about yourself?  What is your self image?

Part of the way we think of ourselves is through the use of icons and archetypes.

Most likely some of your icons and archetypes could use an upgrade.

Let me give you a few examples that I have run across recently:

“Bob” sees himself as a survivor and if you know his history, this is accurate.  He has survived some truly rough experiences and has created a good life for himself.

However, in order to be a survivor you need things to survive.  So, “Bob” keeps attracting challenges into his life that he must then overcome and survive.

Being a survivor is useful, it just isn’t a good final destination.  “Bob” needs to upgrade that archetype to being a thriver.

“Sally”  thinks of herself as a lighthouse - guiding people and showing them the way.

The problem with this icon is:  where are lighthouses typically located?  They are in desolate, storm swept, remote areas.  They are lonely.

“Sally is lonely.”  She needs to upgrade her icon.

What if she thought of herself as a big spotlight shining up into the night sky guiding people to a big party.  She would have a very different experience of her life.

What are some of your icons and archetypes that could use an upgrade?  Are you a martyr, a victim, a lone ranger, a rock, a child, a . . . ?  Do these icons and archetypes serve you?  If yes, keep them.  If not, it’s time to upgrade.

How to upgrade your icons and archetypes:

#1  Identify existing icon or archetype.

#2  Figure out what would be a useful upgrade.

#3  Visualize the existing image in the palm of your left hand.  Have that image be as bright and clear as you can.

#4  Then visualize the upgrade image in the palm of your right hand.  Have that image be as bright and clear as you can.

#5  Go back and forth between the two images several times.

#6  Now slowly place the back of your right hand in the palm of your left hand.  As you are doing this, see the image in your left palm begin to fade out and be replaced by the upgrade image in your right palm.

#7  Leave you hands like this until you feel a shift (probably 30 seconds to a minute).  Then bring both hands against the center of your chest and leave them there until you feel another shift.

#8  Repeat this exercise 6 times over the next 3 days.

Also you will want to start actively thinking of yourself in terms of the upgrade.  (”Bob” would think, I am a thriver.  “Sally” would think, I am a spotlight promoting a great party.)

Wishing you great joy and success,

Jonathan Manske

Heart-Centered Leadership

on the Inevitable Success Radio Show

This Thursday at 3:00 EST, 1:00 MST on www.realcoachingradio.com

My guest this week is Susan Steinbrecher, author of Heart-Centered Leadership: an invitation to lead from the inside out.

Heart-Centered Leadership explores both the heart and science of leadership.

According to Steinbrecher: When you adopt the principles of heart-centered leadership you will boost overall profitability by:
- Creating emotionally engaged, tuned in associates who are highly motivated and want to do their very best work for you
- Creating a workplace that attracts - and keeps - the best and brightest
- Developing a strong, innovative, resourceful bench
- Keeping customers and clients satisfied and using your service again.

Susan Steinbrecher, founder of the Institute of Heart-Centered Leadership, is an executive coach, speaker and author, and president and CEO of Steinbrecher And Associates Inc. a management consulting firm that provides professional development services in the areas of executive coaching, group facilitation, and leadership training.
www.instituteofhcl.com and www.steinbrecherassociates.com

I look forward to having you join us on the Inevitable Success Show!

Wishing you great joy and success,

Jonathan Manske

Time: November 13, 2008 at 3pm EST, 1pm MST
Location: http://www.realcoachingradio.com
Website or Map: http://www.realcoachingradi…
Event Type: Internet, Radio, Show
Organized By: Jonathan Manske

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• Start-up Tip: Lead By Example, Not By Title

Emotional Flat Tire

This has happened to you.  It has happened to everyone.  Something happens in your life and “bamm” you are emotionally as flat as a pancake.

Your joy, vitality, enthusiasm, and get-up-and-go have all vanished.  You are stuck in the blahs, completely uninspired and don’t want to do anything.

You have experienced an emotional flat tire.  It’s hard to keep moving forward when you have a flat tire.

The technique I’m going to share here will allow you to get that emotional flat tire patched up and you back on the road moving forward.

In order to utilize this technique, you need to know about two things:  the human energy body and how to fix a flat bicycle tire.

#1  From an energy viewpoint, a person has five concentric layers (see illustration).

#2  If you have ever ridden your bike through stickers, you know what happens.  A thorn punctures your inner tube and all the air goes out of your tire.  You then need to take off the tire, remove the inner tube, find the puncture hole and patch it.  Then you need to reinstall the inner tube and tire and then pump up your tire.  Now you can ride again.

Imagine that the emotional level of your energy field is like that inner tube.  It can get punctured and when that happens you end up emotionally flat.  Instead of thorns, it can get punctured by words, by thoughts or by experiences.

Here’s what you do when that happens:

#1  Using your intent, intend that you are removing the thorn(s) and patching the hole.**  Use “love” as your glue to seal/repair the holes.

#2  Spend some time remembering happy, joyful, playful times in order to reinflate the emotional layer.

#3  Get back on your bike and start moving forward again.

#4  Repeat when necessary.

**You do not need to know what the “thorn” is or how it got there in order to remove it.  All you need to do is intend to remove it.

If I’m riding my bike and discover that I have a flat tire and see a thorn sticking out of my tire does it really matter if I know where or how I got the thorn?  Does knowing that at exactly 12 minutes and 23 seconds into my ride I ran over a purple leaf tiredeflaterus that was in full bloom make any difference at all to the fact that I have a flat tire.  No!  The work in front of me is to repair the tire and get back to riding whether or not I know how it happened.

Where knowing does become valuable is in assisting you to prevent this from happening again.  If I now know that this field is full of thorns, I won’t ride here again or I’ll pay more attention and make sure that I stay on the path.

If we know how we got emotionally deflated then we can take steps to prevent that from happening again.

Wishing you great joy and success,

Jonathan Manske