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 how great leaders unleash passion, 5 leadership lessons from being a dad, how managers drive results and employee engagement at the same time, 5 ways to improve your leadership listening skills, and the collaborative nature of healthcare innovation. 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.

Don’t Tell Stories Without a Purpose

Sometimes leaders get so caught up with grabbing an audience’s attention that they miss the point. For instance, a personal anecdote is great but only if it connects to what you’re trying to communicate. In other words: It doesn’t really matter if your son won the state high school basketball tournament unless his game-winning shot says something about what your company team needs to do every day.

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 5 must-dos to avoid the breaking point in your life and leadership, storytelling tips from Obama’s speechwriter, understanding the 7 leader archetypes, uncommon qualities of truly authentic millennials, and work is a relationship, not a contract. 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.

The employee engagement journey is a continuous one and isn’t the result of an “event”. It is a continuing process. You must work every day at it, and when employees see you making that extra effort, they’ll do the same.

Here are two tips that you can work on today to help you drive engagement:

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 Sheryl Sandberg says you don’t need a personal brand, the energy that comes from encouragement, how failure taught a leader how to become a better listener, why a lot of people quit their jobs, and 10 traits of managers whose teams are happy to come to work. 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 senior executive once commented to me about the repetition of her messages. “I’m tired of sharing these same messages and stories,” she lamented after the umpteenth communication on a crucial topic.

My response – “I hear you. That’s progress. Since it means you’re being consistent across a myriad of audiences.”

In a culture of multiple messages, information overload, and often-shifting priorities, I knew we were getting somewhere. We had a core set of messages that we repeated often and in customized ways for multiple audiences. Sure, it was a common sense strategy, but it wasn’t common practice (and is often harder than one might think).

A client has realized that she wants to smile more. Having seen herself on a number of corporate videos, she’s made a note that when she smiles in her delivery, she conveys her excitement more naturally, is more motivating, and overall, comes off as more like herself. 

This is true for most of us. Smiling naturally is a powerful way to connect with others, and can positively impact how we feel as well.

Here are some suggestions to help you smile more:

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 the new ROI—return on intelligence, career mobility forces organizations of the future to rethink their employer-employee social contract, step out of your comfort zone to lead more effectively, tips on how to deliver bad news in the best way, and to rebuild trust you have to start with forgiveness. 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.