Catarina's World

Successful leaders have the power to inspire, motivate, and positively influence people. Well practiced leadership contributes to job satisfaction, motivation and productivity. JFK knew how to do it. Devote 4 minutes to watching Stacey Bredhoff explaining how he thought and communicated:

John F. Kennedy was an inspiring leader who, as we have seen, knew how to communicate. Men went out of their way to please him and women fell in love with him. Forgetting about the falling in love aspect, what is special about him and other inspiring leaders? 

What characterize a great leader?

• A strong set of values and openness, trust and true respect for others
• Genuine humility and not afraid to show vulnerability
• Regularly reflect and have an unquenchable thirst for learning
• Bend rules, take calculated risks and sometimes guided by gut-feelings and tolerate this in other people
• A certain amount of flexibility to adapt to circumstances and make real strides forward
• Accessible and informal which is a very powerful motivator for their colleagues
• Not only skills and training are valued but focus is heavily on attitude, because, without the right attitude and motivation, nothing worth while will be achieved

​So why do these traits produce results?

Simply because pay is only one component of job satisfaction. Other equally important factors are respect and prestige and making staff feel good about themselves, their jobs and the company they work for. In other words inspiring leadership produces results by contributing directly to fulfilling many of people's emotional needs. Consequently it’s also fundamental for a leader to have people skills and emotional intelligence.

Passion to inspire

Unless you are passionate and inspired about something you can not inspire others. But even that's not enough if you don't manage to create and convey a memorable vision that people identify with and want to be part of. A good way to make your vision memorable is to tell stories to illustrate it.

It's not about you – it's about them

Your colleagues are asking themselves what's in it for me? Answer them and don't make them guess, because if you do there could be misunderstandings. People should feel they own your vision and understand where and how they fit in.

Bring everybody into the process

Employees, customers and investors should all be part of the process of reaching the vision outlined. It's your job to solicit input, listen to feedback and incorporating what you hear into your vision. That way you make people feel important and that they are doing something meaningful.

Convey optimism and hope

Everybody wants a better future. Churchill gave people hope during the darkest days of World War II. Optimism has a ripple effect throughout an organisation so you have to use positive and optimistic language.

Encourage and praise people

Praised people flourish just as when you criticize staff they shrivel up. By encouraging you connect with them. Genuine praise diminish doubts and spirits soar. And that’s exactly the kind of people you want to surround yourself with. Happy, optimistic and ready to go the extra mile to make your vision come true.

An interesting fact is that by inspiring your people you become the kind of person they want to be around. Customers will want to do business with you, employees work with you and investors back you. And it all starts with learning how to inspire and motivate. You want a company full of positive energy and buzz where people cooperate and encourage innovation and growth because they identify with what you are trying to achieve. And don’t forget the importance of fun. In successful companies people work hard but enjoy themselves while doing so. It’s a key innovation driver and as a leader it’s your job to inspire staff to enjoy what they are doing.

Video: usnationalarchives – You Tube 

You can't hide lack of energy and motivation since it's evident from how you carry yourself. Sit down somewhere and watch people walking and you will quickly notice whose got what it takes and who hasn't. How are you going to be able to move forward and create new beginnings if you don't have it? Who would hire or do business with someone without the drive and energy to succeed?

What kind of exercise you choose is entirely up to you. Personally I thrive on swimming, yoga, roller-blading and walking.

To be inspired will not be enough if you don't have both the physical and mental energy it takes to succeed. So now that many of you are between jobs you have no excuse for not exercising, sleeping enough and making sure you get the nutrition you need, both for your health and mental wellbeing.

At least half an hour a day

When you are tired and under stimulated you don't perform well and your results consequently leave a lot to be desired. So now is the time to change that. You have the time and it's not more expensive, or difficult, to lead your life in ways that give you energy. Are you getting the nutrition you need through what you are eating? Are you exercising enough? At least half an hour a day, now that you have the time? Are you sleeping enough? Have you got positive relations with the people around you? How about goals? Have you set them yet? And are you taking time out for yourself to be able to think and reflect on what is important to you and why? Not to mention learning from what is not working out the way you intended?

What kind of exercise do you do?

There is no set formula for this since we are all different. What kind of exercise you choose is entirely up to you. Personally I thrive on swimming, yoga, roller-blading and walking. But if you prefer football, jogging or whatever that's what you should do. Exercising makes your body produce endorphins, which is like a natural feel good drug. And yoga has the added benefit of completely removing stress if you breathe properly while doing it. Not to mention pranayama, the yogic breathing exercises, that have amazing benefits on your health an well-being. Sauna and steam baths are great too since you sweat out the negative energy.

You are what you eat!

Whenever I'm in a supermarket anywhere in the world I'm amazed at what people have in their trolleys. Not as bad as junk food, but almost. There is very little nutrition left in such food, so how about eating more fresh vegetables, fruit, whole-grain bread and other good sources of fibre? And to be on the safe side, take at least a multivitamin supplement to make sure you get everything you need.

Sleeping enough to recover and repair is essential. You may be one of the lucky ones that thrive on four hours a day or you may need eight? Personally I'm fine as long as I get six hours. Anything less and I'm tired. You know how much you need, so just make sure you get it.

Avoid negativity

Being surrounded by negative people have a really bad impact on you. How about trying to improve relations, when possible? Failing that I would suggest you just ignore negative people and the discouraging comments you get. Simply make an effort to be tolerant and accept that what he/she thinks is his/her opinion. We're all different and whose right and whose wrong?

Regarding goals, if you don't know what you are aiming for, where will you end up? Now is the time to decide what you really want to achieve in your life. But don't be too rigid since that may prevent you from even noticing other lucrative possibilities that come your way.

Make plans and evaluate

Getting time for yourself may be difficult, but it's essential in order to move on. If nothing else how about thinking through what happened during the day and how you could have done better just before you go to sleep? And then first thing in the morning thinking through and deciding what you would like to achieve during the day.

And whatever you do, don't feel sorry for yourself or, worse, start drinking or doing drugs, because then you really are doomed. Sitting at home watching television is not a good idea either. Read inspiring books about people who have achieved something, Dale Carnegie or other motivating authors.

Scientists have actually proven that flowers and plants make us more creative and able to come up with innovative solutions to problems. So get out in nature and get energy. Not only is it delightful but it also brings you closer to your goals. Even buying a plant will have a positive affect on you. So what are you waiting for, make an effort, get more energy and succeed! No health – no wealth, is another way of putting it.

(re-published on popular demand)

(Photo Stana Photoxpress)

Would you recommend a stranger? Or send him money? Obviously not, but why are so many people trying to get people they don’t know to do so on social media?

Don’t they understand that that’s not what networking is all about? Simply cannot understand why so many people are trying to jump the gun like that? They only annoy people and make sure their new connections don’t want to have anything to do with them again.

Don’t know how many times I have started a discussion on Linkedin only for members of the group to comment by pitching for business, even leaving their contact details. One man actually posted his CV as a comment in a discussion on branding for success. Would have understood if it was a discussion about jobs, but branding? On top of it he was nothing to write home about. He desperately needed branding, but obviously didn’t even realize that.

Have had considerable success in networking in real life. Leaders all over the world have agreed to do what I wanted them to do – sometimes even on the spot.

Successful networking is in most cases about building up a long term relationship. If you are not prepared to do so, don’t network. One lawyer who sent me an invite to connect immediately asked me to recommend him to my connections. When I told him that wasn’t possible since I don’t know him he got upset and said connecting on Linkedin was all about getting more business. Not only are people like that annoying, how can they respect someone who actually recommend them when they haven’t even met? Only a person with no judgement whatsoever would be stupid enough to recommend a stranger.

If you recommend strangers online you will lose credibility, people will lose respect for you and I actually believe your business friends will start avoiding you since you will be associated with the negative side of networking.

To try and network swiftly is in most cases impossible and actually gives networking a bad name, which is a shame. How you connect will have a huge impact on building a relationship. But too many people are so much in a hurry they forget to take the other person into account. Pity because they really shoot themselves in the foot by looking after “number one” the way they do.

But then again, some people really go too far when it comes to building up relationships with people they connect with online. Am really pleased about how many people want to connect with me because of Catarina’s World. But far too many start writing long daily e-mails to me and expect the same from me in return, which unfortunately is simply impossible since it would be a full time job. Again, all they think about is what they want without even wondering how many people have the time to exchange e-mails like that with strangers. Pity because it means the wonderful success of my blog has a negative side to it that wouldn’t exist if people understood how to network.

You can get fantastic results from networking if you have patience to do it properly. In real life you agree with the person you approach at an event that you will contact him. You do and once they understand who you are, what it’s all about and decide it’s in their interest you succeed. If you try to push them to quickly you will fail. So why should networking be any different online?

As far as I’m concerned networking online is building up long term online relationships with interesting people. The more the merrier and discussing with people from every corner of the world is not only fascinating but you also learn a lot. And that’s what life, and networking, is all about. Breathing down people’s necks to get a job or more business is a nuisance that simply doesn’t work.

People observe you online and in the future some of your connections may deliver jackpot. Much more than you ever bargained for. But not if you try to make them do all kinds of things for you before they have even made up their mind about you , much less decided you are/have what they are looking for. Be professional, show respect and don’t ask others to do what you wouldn’t do for them and networking online may become a very positive experience for you. And never, ever forget that networking is not all about you and what you want.

(Photo: Blaine Stiger, Photoxpress)