Consistency

Podcast Episode #36 — Effectively Communicate and Be Resilient with Suzanne Bates

By Brandon W. Jones on February 5, 2018 0

Hello, and welcome to the Leadership Done Right Podcast, Episode 36: Effectively Communicate and Be Resilient with Suzanne Bates.

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Get to Know Suzanne

Our guest today is the CEO of Bates Communications, a global coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations improve performance through communicative leadership.

Bestselling Author

She’s the author of All the Leader You Can Be: The Science of Achieving Extraordinary Executive Presence (McGraw Hill 2016) and the bestselling Speak Like a CEO: Secrets for Commanding Attention and Getting Results (McGraw Hill 2005), which went to #6 on amazon.com and is now published in seven languages.

The Start of Bates Communication

Suzanne launched the firm in 2000 after 20+ years as an award-winning broadcast journalist in Boston and other national markets.

She’s developed proven coaching and leadership development methods to help leaders build presence and influence, based on her successful career in television journalism and experiences as the first woman anchor in various markets.

She and her team consult with leaders from global organizations such as CVS, TJX, Dow Chemical, State Street, Boeing, Fidelity, and Raytheon.

Welcome!

We connected on LinkedIn and I am honored and humbled to have her on the show. Our guest today is Suzanne Bates. Suzanne, welcome to the show!

Communication is One of the Biggest Needs

Early in Suzanne’s career, she took a leap and transitioned from the news room to CEO of her own entrepreneurial adventure. She decided to start Bates Communication. “I saw the path in my life to make a change. I guess I had the entrepreneurial bug. I started modestly just thinking, perhaps I could carve out a niche as a solo entrepreneur doing presentations, media, and leadership communication coaching.” That’s what she did in the beginning.

As she got to know more leaders, she realized there was a deeper need that she could fill. That required a more comprehensive approach. She built a company and brought in people that had expertise in a variety of areas.

The Need for Communication Coaching

As she consulted with a variety of companies, leaders explained that communication training and skills were the biggest need. That was due to communication breakdowns and challenges to effectively communicate the vision and direction of the organization.

Suzanne explained that “It’s [effectively communicating] the most important thing leaders can do. Learn to tell the story, engage their audiences, connect them to the purpose, and understand what kind of qualities of presence there are.” “Qualities of presence are a lot more than people think. It’s qualities of character like authenticity, integrity, concern about other people, and the substance we bring to our deliberations and decisions.” She explained that it includes things like practical wisdom, decisiveness, and the style of communication we bring. [Read more…] about Podcast Episode #36 — Effectively Communicate and Be Resilient with Suzanne Bates

New Strategic Approach For 2014

By Brandon W. Jones on January 6, 2014 0

With the New Year upon us, many have new goals and a renewed sense of purpose. Here at Leadership Done Right, I also have goals for the New Year. My main goal is to take a more strategic approach to bring higher consistent value to you, the readers.

In my post, Be Strategic in Your Posts, I explained three points for both why and how you should take a strategic approach to your website and/or business. One of the keys to following through on your strategic approach is to tell people about it. With that in mind, I am going to use this post to explain my strategic approach.

What is the new Strategic Approach?

1. Theme based strategic approach.

As I’ve posted on Leadership Done Right, I’ve written on a variety of topics related to leadership. Each post has covered a new topic and overall they have varied significantly from one week to the next.

Going forward, the posts will follow a theme-based approach focusing on the same topics for weeks at a time. This will enable me to expound more on the topics over a series of posts instead of just posting small bits of information at a time. [Read more…] about New Strategic Approach For 2014

Five Qualities To Help You Earn Respect As A Leader

By Brandon W. Jones on October 1, 2012 4

One challenge many leaders face is gaining the respect of those they lead. This can be a challenge for leaders at all stages of their career whether they are brand new or seasoned leaders. Respect is fundamental to being a good leader because it allows you to have influence. When leaders cannot gain respect, it is very difficult for them to get people to do things. On the flip side, however, a leader that gains respect from those they lead, is able to build unity, trust, and camaraderie with those they lead.

So what qualities lead to respect? What can you focus your improvement activities on so that you can gain the respect of those you lead. Below you will find five qualities that you can focus on to improve respect that people have for you.

Obedience

In leadership, there area many rules and regulations that you must follow on a regular basis. The rules and regulations come from company policies and procedures; federal, state, and local laws; and industry standards and ethical codes. As a leader, it essential that you do all you can to follow all the rules and regulations that go along with your business or industry. [Read more…] about Five Qualities To Help You Earn Respect As A Leader

Overcoming The Leadership Blogging Challenges

By Brandon W. Jones on May 18, 2012 2

Recently, I received a comment on one of my blog posts asking for some insight on how I started out as a blogger. The question went as follows:

Brandon, I liked the article. However, I’d like to know how you overcame the blogging challenges to be a consistent blogger. Hearing your personal experience relative to the topic is like a breath of fresh air and sets your blogs apart from the rest. What problems did you face when starting out this webpage/blog? Did you have to do a little self “reprogramming” to be consistent? Were there any tools you used that helped? Thanks.

He brought up some very important questions that each blogger must ask him/herself when they start out blogging. If you want to be an avid blogger and gain a following, you must know how to answer the questions he asked. When you first start out blogging, there are many challenges you will encounter. If you want to be a blogger, you must set your goals before you even start so you know the direction you plan to go.

How do you overcome blogging challenges to become a consistent blogger?

I have been blogging for the past two years off and on. I started out blogging when I was in the MBA program at the University of Nevada – Reno. At that time, I had to blog for a class I took from Bret L. Simmons. The blogs we wrote were responses to case studies and articles we read.

I posted blog posts as often as we were required to in the class. By the end of the class I had gotten a few followers for my blog. I then felt obligated to continue blogging. I wasn’t very consistent at that time though. I would blog for a few weeks and then miss a few or sometimes even a month. I was very sporatic. [Read more…] about Overcoming The Leadership Blogging Challenges

The Proof Is In The Pudding

By Brandon W. Jones on February 14, 2012 0

“The proof is in the pudding!” What does that saying mean to you? To me it means that your actions speak LOUDER than your words. As leaders, there are so many things you do on a daily basis with people watching you. You must always be aware of that fact. You set the example that everyone else will follow.

Proof From Example

Since you set the example, you must do all you can to set the right example. Several years ago I had a leader that was a nice person, but he set a very poor example. I had a weekly meeting with him and my coworkers. At each meeting he told everyone how important it was to provide good customer service.

Poor Example

He would also stress the importance of following all the other company rules. Once the meeting was over he would be the first to break those rules. He would show up late, fail to greet the customers quickly when they came in, or make some other mistake. It didn’t take long for everyone to lose trust in him as the leader.

Leadership Consistency

By Brandon W. Jones on June 1, 2011 4

Most of people have had leaders that were very consistent, as well as, others that were inconsistent. Consistency is very important as a leader. I want to address two points related to consistency.

Inconsistency

In order to understand the importance of consistency, you must first understand what happens with inconsistency. When leaders are inconsistent many problems occur. The inconsistency comes in many forms. Some forms of leadership inconsistency occur when leaders treat certain employees different than others. [Read more…] about Leadership Consistency