Company “profiles” are everywhere today – on corporate websites, in job postings, and on social media sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. With one click of the “About Us” link, anyone, anywhere can hear your company story.

So why are so many stories and profiles so weak, so boring and uninspired?

If this is one of the best shots at telling a company story, why do countless organizations settle for a poorly written, poorly designed, dry-as-dust blurb? 

Welcome to my weekly round-up of the best-of-the-best recent leadership and communication blog posts.

• 60 Personal Effectiveness Tips From World-Class Experts
  By Richard Medcalf (@rmedcalf), Quadrant
  
  “Effectiveness is more than productivity.  Whereas productivity is 'doing things right', effectiveness also includes 'doing the right things' and can be seen as a chain that links your daily activities to your deepest needs, desires and hopes for the future…”

You made it! From the last Challenge – Give Others Feedback and Be Open to Input – how did your employees respond to your feedback? Were you open to their feedback as well? Effective feedback is a powerful learning experience for everyone involved. When done well, it can only move us forward. 

Your final Challenge awaits. Empowering others is one of the greatest gifts you can give your employees as a leader. It fosters innovation, increases employee engagement, and is essential to any progressive organization’s long-term success. 

I spend a lot of time talking to leaders today about the importance of being authentic, and saying what needs to be said. I know how difficult that can be. Still, I’ve learned on a personal level that it is truly worth it to keep trying.

I think of the time not long ago when I got the chance to say something really important to my mom. It was just before she passed away from Leukemia, and the worst kind.

Welcome to my weekly round-up of the best-of-the-best recent leadership and communication blog posts. 

• The Top 3 Communication Mistakes That Kill Results
  By Shawn Rhodes (@ShoshinConsul via @bizjournals), Business Journals
  
  “Most organizations invest time and resources into improving operations — state-of-the-art equipment, expensive training programs and software systems that would baffle an astrophysicist. Unfortunately, there’s an endemic problem that makes even the most advanced technology useless...”

Remember travelling in the days before mapquest.com and GPS devices? 

Whenever my family would take a road trip, we’d dutifully call the AAA office nearby and request a TripTik, which was a flip book that contained detailed directions that got us from point A to point Z. All the information we needed was there, including the estimated timing for each leg, so we could measure our progress and success. 

Most organizations have their own version of a TripTik — a business strategy. Yet often, it’s locked away inside leaders’ heads, so the rest of the organization doesn’t know when the next turn is coming, how long the trip will take, and, most importantly, what they need to do as individuals and teams to make the journey a success. 

You’re doing great, keep it up! What did you learn from the last Challenge? It should have been very helpful for you. It’s a great exercise to practice on a regular basis. You will notice over time how much easier it gets with continual improvements in your communication that lead to meaningful, productive outcomes. 

This is the second to last Challenge. We can see the finish line; we’re on the home stretch. Continuing with the focus on Leading Through Honest Communication, giving feedback is something many leaders I’ve spoken with admit they’re failing at. Specific feedback should be a standard part of meetings and discussions to be effective. 

Welcome to my weekly round-up of recent top leadership and communication blog posts. As many of you know, each week I read and tweet several great articles and on Fridays, I pull some of my favorites together here on my blog.

This week you’ll read articles on why cutting corners is risky for knowledge workers, how to avoid creating silos, what research says about getting the most from your leadership pipeline, the most important decision every leader must make, and Satya Nadella on company culture. These articles will provide you with tips, strategies and thought-starters from many of the smart folks in my network. So whether you’re a new leader or an industry veteran there’ll be something here for you.

A friend of mine is working on shedding some pounds. It’s a weighty challenge, even he’ll acknowledge (forgive the pun). He’s read every book and can describe a ton of strategies that work. That said, he’s struggling to put those strategies into practice. He’s not alone. While knowledge is power, or empowerment, it’s putting that knowledge into action that matters most. Easier said than done. 

As leaders, we can take charge of change, or we can let change happen to us. We can view change as bad and negative, or as an opportunity. We can fight it, or embrace the learning and development opportunities inherent in every change. 

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Christele Canard, Founder of Switched on Leadership – a monthly app magazine filled with the latest in leadership – to talk about Respectful Authenticity and the value it brings to oneself, both in and outside of the workplace.

Our Discussion

We covered a lot of ground and some key topics include:

• Strategies to help you become more authentic
• The best way to encourage your team to also be respectfully authentic
• How companies are addressing authenticity in the workplace and why it’s imperative they do

And more!