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Brandon W. Jones

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Podcast Episode #41 — Lessons Learned From a Toxic Leader with Annie Spano

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Hello, and welcome to the Leadership Done Right Podcast, Episode 41: Lessons Learned From a Toxic Leader with Annie Spano.

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Get to Know Annie

Podcast Episode #41 — Lessons Learned From a Toxic Leader with Annie SpanoOur guest today earned her bachelor’s of science in mathematics education  from State University of New York College at Cortland. From there, she became a math teacher in New Jersey.

Transition From Math Teacher to Corporate America

After a two years as a math teacher she transitioned into a global CPG company where she held positions as a retail coordinator, assistant product development manager, associate product development manager, and associate merchandise manager. After working there for five years, she became a retail and digital marketing consultant.

The Start of Style Collective

This diverse background led to her founding Style Collective and the Becoming Fearless podcast. Style Collective is a platform for female influencers to connect, grow, and learn how to be successful bloggers and entrepreneurs. The Becoming Fearless podcast is about finding your authentic self and living your values to become the person that you were meant to be. She connects women from all over the world through community and empowers them to do what they love through leadership and influencer education.

How We Connected!

I heard our guest on another podcast and was so impressed by her knowledge,  leadership growth, and experience that I thought she would be a great guest for the Leadership Done Right community. I am honored and humbled to have her on the show. Our guest today is Annie Spano. Annie, welcome to the show!

Lessons Learned From a Toxic Leader

Annie’s leadership journey started when she was 17 years old and her mom passed away from cancer. That led her to adopt a growth mindset. She began seeking new opportunities and challenges to honor her mom and make her proud.

Her senior year of high school she took pre-calculus and physics which led to a love of math and science. She went on to earn her BS in mathematics education and became a math teacher. From that tragedy, she learned that you can always find ways to grow from your experiences.

She began teaching high school math. Unfortunately, since it was during the economic downturn, the school had to let her go. [Read more…] about Podcast Episode #41 — Lessons Learned From a Toxic Leader with Annie Spano

Podcast Episode #29 — Developing a New Culture Through Leadership with Kane Ioane

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Hello, and welcome to the Leadership Done Right Podcast, Episode 29: Developing a New Culture Through Leadership with Kane Ioane.

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Get to Know Kane

Podcast Episode #29 — Developing a New Culture Through Leadership with Kane IoaneOur guest today attended Montana State University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education. While there he was a 4 year letter winner in football. He was also named to the First Team All Americans in 2003 for his exceptional play at Safety.

The Start of His Football Coaching Career

After graduation he began coaching football. He spent 13 years as an Assistant Football Coach for Montana State including stints as Co-Defensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach. As a player and coach, he helped MSU win six conference titles.

The Move To University of Washington

Earlier this year, he became the Assistant Football Coach specializing in Defensive Quality Control at the University of Washington. He now coaches with Coach Chris Petersen, who is one of the most sought after coaches in college football.

Let Podcasting Begin!

In addition to his football career, he is also a fellow podcaster. He and his brother, Kip, started the “Cross the Stream” podcast this summer and I have to say I am an avid listener.

My Connection with Kane

I have a long-time friendship with our guest today. We both grew up in Billings, MT and went to junior high and high school together. We also had several of the same classes and played on some of the same football teams. Our guest today is Kane Ioane. Kane, welcome to the show!

Networking for Success

Networking for success is about what you know AND who you know. Through Kane’s hard work and networking, he earned the opportunity to coach at the University of Washington with Coach Chris Petersen. His experience proved that you must work hard to be the best at what you do. You must also develop strong personal connections with your team and others in your field. That develops camaraderie and enlarges your support network for success in the future.

“Networking skills pertain to every field. You have to have those people skills. It doesn’t do you any good if you are really good at something, but no one likes you!” If you are not liked, people won’t want to hear what you have to say. “If you have those personal skills and you’re able to connect with people, it opens up doors for you.” [Read more…] about Podcast Episode #29 — Developing a New Culture Through Leadership with Kane Ioane

Podcast Episode #27 — Surround Yourself With Great People with Meg Zampino

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Hello, and welcome to the Leadership Done Right Podcast, Episode 27: Surround Yourself With Great People with Meg Zampino.

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Get to Know Meg

Podcast Episode #27 — Surround Yourself With Great People with Meg ZampinoOur guest today is an attorney, entrepreneur, strategist, writer, and experienced leader. She currently has several roles and responsibilities. She’s the president of DT Legal Consulting. Our guest is also the motivational strategist and writer for Goals with Heart and a freelance writer.

She’s experienced with legal recruiting, consulting, and coaching and has written sales presentations, seminar materials, blogs, articles, speeches, and a wide range of other materials.

Meg’s Educational Background

Her educational background is in law. She has her juris doctorate in law from Emory University, School of Law and passed the State Bar in Georgia. She currently lives in Las Vegas. From just this small glimpse, you can see she is very intelligent and has a broad background.

My Connection To Meg

I first connected with her through the LinkedIn group she manages, Motivational and Success Digest. We have had some great conversations related to all things leadership, motivation, and success. Our guest today is Meg Zampino. Meg, welcome to the show! [Read more…] about Podcast Episode #27 — Surround Yourself With Great People with Meg Zampino

Five Questions To Ask When Opportunity Knocks

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Hi, and welcome to the Leadership Done Right YouTube Channel. Each day you probably have a new opportunity that comes your way. Would you like to participate in this committee? Can you be on the board for this organization? Would you be willing to accept this job? Will you move here? Can you please assist me with this? Can you attend this networking opportunity? This will be a great OPPORTUNITY for you…

The list of opportunities goes on. In a world filled with opportunities, it is very important to identify which opportunities are ones worth pursuing and which ones are not.

How to identify if the opportunity is right for you

In Michael Hyatt’s blog post, Is It an Obstacle or an Opportunity?, he said, “If you want to improve the quality of your life or business, planning is essential. You have to be honest about your current reality, envision a better future, and then create a roadmap for getting from one to the other.”

5 Questions To Ask When Opportunity Knock

So how do you know if an opportunity is right for you? I use the following five questions on a regular basis to identify if an opportunity is right for me. These questions will help you as you look at each opportunity that comes your way.

1. What is the opportunity?

Before deciding whether or not to accept an opportunity, it is very important to know exactly what the opportunity will be. Is the opportunity part of your regular work requirements? Will you be doing something directly in line with your career goals? Will it be a something you have never worked on before? What is the opportunity and why will it be good for you?

It is important to gain a full understanding of what you are getting yourself into before you move forward. To do that you need to know the scope of the opportunity and how it relates to you.

2. Will the opportunity further your goals?

This question is crucial in deciding whether or not to accept an opportunity. Many times people will define something as an opportunity when it truly isn’t one.

Ask yourself, “Is the “opportunity” in line with your career goals? Will this opportunity help you reach your 5, 10, and 15 year goals?” If the opportunity causes you to deviate from your goals, be sure to review it very carefully. It may take you in a new direction that is better than what you imagined, or it could take you way off your path and not be worth pursuing.

3. Is the opportunity worth the cost?

With each opportunity comes a cost. You must give up something to move forward with the opportunity. That something may be your time, money, effort, or something else altogether. Remember, there is always a cost or trade-off for each new opportunity.

Nothing comes without a price. Prior to pursuing an opportunity, identify the cost. You don’t want to be negatively surprised once you move forward on a new opportunity, especially if it had a high cost.

For example, I’ve seen many people that switched from one company or job to another because they were seeking something better or a higher salary. Once they got the new job, they realized the costs in the form of time with their family, lower job satisfaction, a new living location, more responsibility and/or stress, or less freedom over their time. Several of my friends that went through this experience later told me that they regretted jumping into the new “opportunity” because it actually set them back and took them off their intended course.

Now there are some opportunities that are definitely worth the cost, but be certain that you explore all the costs before jumping in.

4. What benefits will come from the opportunity?

Opportunities are only opportunities if what you are giving up is less valuable than what you are receiving in return. So, what are you receiving from an opportunity? What benefit is the opportunity?

Five Questions To Ask When Opportunity Knocks

Each opportunity has the potential to bring a wide range of benefits and challenges, so it is important to identify what they are before you move forward.

5. Is the opportunity right for you at this time?

As the saying goes, “Timing is everything.” When opportunities come at the right time, they have a huge positive impact on our lives, but they can actually set us back if the timing is not right. As a leader, it is essential that you identify what the right timing is for you.

For example, leaders are often tapped for committees, programs, projects and other team activities. When they have the time to fully participate, they can be a huge asset for the committee, program, or other activity. If they accept the opportunity, but don’t have the time to participate, on the other hand, they can actually be a detriment to the group by slowing progress. I’ve experienced both of these situations before. When you are the team leader and can’t fully participate it is very frustrating. It is also frustrating when you are on the team and the leader doesn’t fully participate. Neither the team nor the leader feel good in these situations.

It can be easy to think that something should happen right now, but it may not be the right timing. At the same time, if a great opportunity comes along but you are not ready for it, it’s probably okay to decline for now so you can become more prepared for it in the future.

It is important to understand, however, that for many opportunities there is no “PERFECT” time. Sometimes you need to seize the opportunity even if the timing isn’t perfect. When the opportunity comes it may not be what you would call the “ideal time,” but if it is a timing that you can live with, jump on the opportunity if it fits the other mentioned criterion.

Timing is very important and can make a significant difference in the eventual outcome.

Summary

In summary, when thinking about opportunities, an opportunity will only be an opportunity if the mentioned conditions work to your favor. The opportunity must truly be an opportunity for you and help you further your goals. Also, the benefits should outweigh the costs.

Viewer Question

I’d like to finish off with a few viewer questions. How do you determine if an opportunity is right for you? What questions do you ask? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Conclusion

Well, thanks for watching this video. If you enjoyed it and would like to watch more great videos just like it, please subscribe to the Leadership Done Right YouTube Channel and check out LeadershipDoneRight.com. Also, please like the video and share it with others! Until next time, go and be the best leader you can be!

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Techniques to Effectively Communicate Your Message

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When you are a leader, the most important thing you do is communicate. You communicate with your employees, coworkers, and other leaders. If you effectively communicate with others, you will likely be an effective leader.

Is It Important to Effectively Communicate?

A little while back, I was asked to attend a conference. I was excited and knew it would be a great experience. There were several presentations on a variety of topics related to leadership and how to effectively communicate your message. The majority of the presentations were exceptional and very beneficial to all in attendance.

Do You Effectively communicate Your Leadership Message?

Don’t Be This One!

There was one presentation, however, that stood out for the wrong reasons. The speaker was not prepared to effectively communicate his message. With the focus of the conference on leadership and how to be a great leader and communicator, this speaker got up and spoke about the politics of education.

His topic was a interesting, but didn’t fit with the purpose of the conference. In addition, he didn’t identify where he was going with his presentation.

Lack of Clarity

As I listened, many questions came to my mind. “What is the focus of his presentation? Where is he going with this? How is he going to relate this to leadership? How many points is he going to talk about?”

After he finished speaking, I asked the others at my table what they thought. They also all felt lost.  None of us were clear on where he was going with his speech. Needless to say, the speaker didn’t effectively communicate his message.

This Happens Too Often

If you are anything like me, you have probably sat through a presentation before like the one I mentioned. The speaker probably had several points, but didn’t hook you from the beginning. The speaker didn’t effectively communicate the message.

I had a hard time figuring out the context of his presentation, his main points, the direction of his speech, etc. As he started his presentation, he failed to let the audience know the topic and its relevance. The audience quickly became completely lost. From there, they began thinking about other things.

How You Can Effectively Communicate

So how can you effectively communicate your message to avoid losing your audience? This can be done in many ways. One approach I recommend is Twain’s Rule, “Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em. Then tell ’em. Finally, tell ’em what you told ’em.” So how does this approach apply to communication?

“Tell ’em what you’re going to tell ’em.”

Start by letting your audience know what you are going to talk about. Explain the context of your message and the points you intend to make. This gives your audience a reference point to start from. Your audience then has an outline to follow which helps them stay on track.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to give away your main conclusions. You can also add in some hooks to keep them listening through it all. The key is to give them enough so they have context but not too much that they lose interest.

“Tell ’em.”

Once you’ve provided a rough outline, effectively communicate your message. Stay on point with your message and follow through on the points you’ve laid out.

Use stories as appropriate to convey your message, but don’t get sidetracked with irrelevant stories that don’t convey your message. If you go off topic, you will likely lose your audience and it will be difficult to bring them back. They will likely tune you out and that will be it.

“Tell ’em what you told ’em.”

In your conclusion, summarize your points to close the loop. Re-emplasize the invitations and/or action items while the topics are fresh in their minds. Finish with an invitation for everyone to follow through on their commitments.

Summary

Techniques to Effectively Communicate Your Message
Photo: Pixabay/rawpixel

This approach is beneficial in a formal presentation. It also enables you to effectively communicate your message in other settings. I’ve used this method in meetings to keep everyone on task.

Reader Question!

Have you used this approach before? How has it helped you to communicate your message? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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Five Leadership Principles For Beginning Leaders

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A little while back I went to a leadership training meeting for new leaders. My role was to support the new leaders I oversaw. As part of the training, they discussed many topics related to effective leadership. One of the speakers mentioned five leadership principles for beginning leaders that really stuck out to me.

Leadership principles

5 Leadership Principles For Beginning Leaders

As people implement each of the five leadership principles, they will improve their leadership capabilities and become better leaders.

1. Determine Needs

Before much progress can be made, leaders must determine the needs of their target audience. The needs fall into one of three categories. They include the needs of the:

  1. Customers
  2. Employees
  3. Organization

To determine these needs, ask and/or observe members of each group specifically. By asking what the needs are, you get direct feedback. When you cannot ask what the needs are or they are not explicitly stated, be observant to recognize the unstated needs. Once the needs of the specific groups are identified, determined how to best fill those needs. [Read more…] about Five Leadership Principles For Beginning Leaders