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Leadership Challenges you need to focus on in 2024 and beyond

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Emotional Intelligence: The Basics for Professional Success

Level Up Your Leadership

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In my previous post on Leadership Challenges in 2024 and beyond, I briefly mentioned technological advances and using Artificial Intelligence in business.

Keeping abreast of technological changes is not only important for you but also your team members. It keeps you relevant in the job market and adds to your existing skills. Yet, we all resist change and stepping out of our comfort zone.

Hi, I’m Vatsala Shukla from Karmic Ally Coaching and in this post, I’m continuing to share my views on some of the challenges leaders will face in 2024 and beyond.

Twenty years ago, resistance would happen with the implementation of new accounting software, ERP or business systems requiring us to learn a new method of work. It’s only when we’d master the new skill and learning that we’d notice an improvement in our efficiency and productivity.

It’s the same with newer forms of technology.

In our present-day environment, that’s Artificial Intelligence also known as AI. As a leader, you need to have that helicopter view to see the big picture and know how to get your team’s buy in.

In my post about helicopter view and strategic thinking, I shared the story of the managing partner whose ‘I have a dream’ speech backfired. And the damage control that was required at operational level by the managers to prevent a mass attrition.

It’s the same story here.

ChatGPT Hallucination is real!

Yesterday evening while walking the family pet, I ran into a friend who happens to be a bright young arbitration lawyer. We got chatting about using ChatGPT in the corporate world.

I mentioned the case that made headlines in June 23 when a lawyer suing an airline in a routine personal injury suit used ChatGPT to prepare a filing. Unfortunately, the artificial intelligence bot delivered fake cases that the attorney then presented to the court. This prompted the judge to consider weighing legal sanctions on the lawyer.

It was one of the first AI “hallucinations” making it to court.

My young lawyer friend said it was a risk in any profession and the need to understand the purpose of the tool and not use it as a replacement for human work. He told me how he had experimented with ChatGPT to see what came up.

To his amazement, 10 well written cases were delivered but they were all fake.

It comes down to being very specific with the information we are requesting and then verifying and validating the information. If you log into ChatGPT now, you’ll see the caveats about the information generated.

AI applications are already present in the business world. It isn’t going away even if things slow down a bit as we grapple with machine bias, error and protocols for safe usage.

Use of AI in work requires new methods and checks for risk management. Issues of privacy and confidentiality become important. Rules and regulations are required for artificial intelligence.

European Union’s AI Act is a step in the right direction

A beginning has been made with European Union (EU) lawmakers passing the world’s first comprehensive regulation for artificial intelligence, called the AI Act. The rules, however, won’t take effect until 2025 at the earliest, leaving room for a lot of technological evolution until then.

The new law still needs to be approved by the European Parliament, though that will be a formality.

Some highlights from the EU’s AI Act are:

• A focus on AI’s riskiest uses by companies and governments, including those for law enforcement and the operation of crucial services like water and energy.
• Transparency requirements for makers of the largest general-purpose AI systems.
• Chatbots and software that creates manipulated images such as “deepfakes” would have to make clear that what people were seeing was generated by AI.
• The use of facial recognition software by police and governments would be restricted outside of certain safety and national security exemptions. Companies that violated the regulations could face fines of up to 7% of global sales.
• Policymakers agreed to what they called the “risk-based approach” to regulating AI, where a defined set of applications face the most oversight and restrictions. Companies that make AI tools that pose the most potential harm to individuals and society, such as in hiring and education, would need to provide regulators with proof of risk assessments, breakdowns of what data was used to train the systems and assurances that the software did not cause harm like perpetuating racial biases. Human oversight would also be required in creating and deploying the systems.
• Some practices, such as the indiscriminate scraping of images from the internet to create a facial recognition database, would be banned outright.

These new regulations will be closed watched globally as they affect not only major AI developers but other businesses that are expecting to use the technology in areas such as education, health care and banking.

AI Act is a global benchmark for all countries

The law sets a global benchmark for countries seeking to harness the potential benefits of the technology, while trying to protect against its possible risks, like automating jobs, spreading misinformation online and endangering national security.

Different countries are adopting a different approach. For example, in India, the government isn’t considering bringing a law or regulating the growth of AI.

However, they acknowledge the ethical concerns and risks around AI and have already started making efforts to standardize responsible AI and even promote the adoption of best practices.

The upcoming Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022 will apply to AI developers who develop and facilitate AI technologies.

As a corporate professional, you already know that AI has been around for some time. So, the new regulations that are being introduced should not come as a surprise.

Forbes Advisor Survey is a MUST for your professional development reading

A comprehensive article in the Forbes Advisor about the use of Artificial Intelligence by businesses in 2023 states that businesses are employing artificial intelligence in a variety of ways to improve efficiencies, save time and decrease costs. This is a precious resource for companies across industries.

Forbes Advisor surveyed 600 business owners using or planning to incorporate AI in business. The results revealed AI’s impact on areas such as cyber security, fraud management, content production and customer support, including the use of top chatbots.

To quote the survey, here are some key takeaways.

• Over half of business owners use artificial intelligence for cyber security and fraud management.
• One in four business owners are concerned about AI affecting website traffic.
• Almost 97% business owners believe ChatGPT will help their business.
  One in three businesses plan to use ChatGPT to write website content, while 44% plan to use ChatGPT to write content in other languages.
• Nearly half of business owners use AI to craft internal communications.
• Over 40% are concerned about an over-dependence on technology due to AI use.
• Nearly two-thirds of business owners believe AI will improve customer relationships.

Current applications of AI in business

The most popular applications include customer service, with 56% of respondents using AI for this purpose. Cyber security and fraud management, adopted by 51% of businesses.

Other notable uses are customer relationship management, digital personal assistants, inventory management and content production.

Businesses also leverage AI for product recommendations, accounting, supply chain operations, recruitment and talent sourcing and audience segmentation.

AI is perceived as an asset for improving decision-making, decreasing response times and avoiding mistakes. Businesses also expect AI to help them save costs and streamline job processes.

Business Owners also have reservations about AI

While this survey might make you feel that AI is the next best thing since sliced bread, there are some concerns that were raised by the respondents to the survey which are relevant to you as a leader.

43% of the respondents worried about becoming too reliant on AI. On top of that, 35% of entrepreneurs are anxious about the technical abilities needed to use AI efficiently. Furthermore, 28% of respondents are apprehensive about the potential for bias errors in AI systems.

Another significant concern was the potential impact on the workforce. 33% of survey participants expressing apprehension that AI implementation could lead to a reduction in the human workforce.

There is also potential for providing misinformation to either the business or its customers. I’d spoken about the ChatGPT fake case laws earlier. This survey reveals it can happen in any industry.

The data reveals that 30% of respondents are concerned about AI-generated misinformation. 24% worry that it may negatively impact customer relationships.

Additionally, privacy concerns are prevalent, with 31% of businesses expressing apprehensions about data security and privacy in the age of AI.

So where does that leave you, the leader?

For starters, you need to focus on upgrading your technological skills. Invest in your own learning instead of waiting for your employer to finance your learning.

There are courses on Udemy and Coursera that will help you raise your awareness and knowledge.

Be proactive in helping your organization create policies and procedures. Keep abreast of the laws and regulations of your country and those with which your company does international business.

At the same time, identify the competency gaps in your team or department. Start planning for their learning and development in the coming months.

Your skills as an emotionally intelligent leader will be challenged as you help navigate the new terrain for your people. You will meet resistance at change and the older employees may feel they might be made redundant.

Embracing technology and especially artificial intelligence is going to be a challenge for you not only as a professional but also as a true visionary leader.

Are you ready to step up to the plate? It’s your call. This is Vatsala Shukla for Karmic Ally Coaching signing off. Bye for now.

Resource Mentioned in the video

Karmic Ally Coaching’s 25 Best Public Speaking Tips Report

Prefer to read? Here’s the full transcript.

Public Speaking is more than just a talent but an important and perhaps even crucial leadership skill.

Especially in today’s fast-paced world, communication is crucial to your success as a leader or potential leader. Your ability to articulate ideas and inspire others through speech is becoming increasingly essential for leaders across various industries. Done properly, it can position you as a motivating thought leader.

Hi. I’m Vatsala Shukla from Karmic Ally Coaching and in previous posts I’ve covered the leadership skill of storytelling, commanding a room and even the power of silence.

Today, I’ll be discussing public speaking ability and why I recommend that you should develop this skill.

So, why Is Public Speaking Important?

Admittedly, it is a feared skill and can make a lot of people nervous. They would much rather find anything else to do with their time rather than give a big speech to others. But there are actually a lot of benefits to public speaking.

It is actually one of the most important, and most dreaded, skills that someone should have.

So again, why is public speaking so important?

Well, for starters, it helps to win over a crowd.

Whether you are a business leader looking to get funding, an employee trying to get a job, or in public relations and trying to reach a lot of people, public speaking is a good skill to have. When done well, it can be used to help win over any crowd that you would like, big or small.

To win them over though, you need to present the audience with a compelling argument. And you need to bring in the whole package. It is not enough to just say a few words; you have to make it an experience. Good public speaking skills can help with this.

Another reason is to motivate others.

A person who is great at public speaking is able to use some of those skills to motivate their audience to make a change. There has to be something special in the delivery though.

The audience will not change simply because you told them to. You need to have a good presentation behind you and be a confident public speaker along the way. Being knowledgeable and having the ability to arouse passion can be important here.

And to inform

The ability to inform is an important part of public speaking. Many public speaking events are done in order to inform and help people learn things, especially if you are doing the presentation for class.

Learning how to be a good public speaker will help you to get your information across so you can make a big impact. Having good knowledge of the topic and being a charismatic speaker can go a long way to help with this.

While many people do not like public speaking at all and may try to avoid it at all costs, it is an important thing to learn how to do. It can help you to persuade, to convince people to follow your advice, and to inform others as well. With some practice and doing it more often, you’ll find that public speaking is a good skill to know.

3 Celebrities Who Overcame Their Fear of Public Speaking

Now, Public speaking can be nerve wracking for everyone. It is normal to feel nervous when it is time to do a presentation or get up in front of people. I certainly remember getting butterflies in my stomach whenever I had to participate in a school debate or extempore competition.

At the time, I felt I was the only person who got nervous with public speaking, but later I discovered many celebrities also have the same fear.

Is it not hard to imagine?

The people who get up on the screen and give amazing performances that leave us in awe have trouble speaking in front of others too? It’s true! Celebrities can struggle with speaking in front of other people too. Some of the celebrities that I’ve noted who had to overcome their fear of public speaking include:

Rowan Atkinson

Known as playing Mr. Bean, Atkinson finds himself uncomfortable when it is time to speak in public. This can often be seen when he appears on talk shows. To help handle this, many of his characters overcome problems with speaking and he has even stepped forward to discuss the importance of freedom of speech in his country.

Another example is Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods has had trouble with public speaking as well. He uses one of the best techniques to help with this problem though, practicing. He says that before bed, he practices to his dog, who is always a great audience.

And a third example is Sir Richard Branson.

Though he is known for daring adventures and lots of fun, he does get nervous any time he has to go on stage. To help with this, he starts with a Q&A session to ease into it.

Public speaking is something that everyone can be worried about and can give anxiety to anyone. It doesn’t matter if you are giving a speech in front of your class or to a worldwide audience, everyone will feel nervous and anxious at some point.

Recognizing the fear and learning how to compensate for it to gain more confidence can help put that fear of public speaking on the backburner.

And there is one great tool that can help you out and that is visualization.

Visualization: The Key to a Good Speech

When you visualize how the speech should go and all the right moves that you can do to give the perfect speech, you will find it is easier to put it into fruition.

Visualize Your Speech

To start, we need to visualize the whole speech. Sit down alone for a few minutes and imagine how you would like the speech to go. Imagine yourself getting up in front of the class, keeping calm and collected as you go. Imagine the words that you would like to say, the tone inflections, and all the other parts that need to go into the speech.

Imagine how it will feel when the whole speech is done. Try to add in as many details as possible from start to finish, including how you feel, who is there, and how well it goes. You can use this to help you get through the speech.

Now how about if you mess up?

Visualize How You Can Recover If You Mess Up

It is possible that you will mess up during the speech. Maybe you will forget something important that you would like to discuss, or you stumble over a word. You may even lose your space in the speech at some point. Rather than getting nervous about it and worrying about how bad it looks, take this time to visualize the mistake and figure out how you will recover.

Sit down and close your eyes. Imagine that you are giving the speech and you do make a mistake. What are you going to do?

There are different ways to recover, so spend some time going over them to see how you will respond. This can give you more confidence even if any mistake does happen.

And then, also Visualize How You Will Respond To Q&A Sessions

If you plan to have a Q&A session with your speech, you can visualize this portion as well. Imagine some of the questions that others are going to ask you about the topic and come up with the responses. When you can imagine some of the potential questions ahead of time, you can reduce some of the stress you feel the day of the speech as well.

(And) Visualization is one of the best tools that you can use to help take control over your speech and to reduce the anxiety that you feel along the way. So, try the technique above and see how easy it can be for you.

To give your public speaking efforts a boost, I’ve got a free report with 25 of the best public speaking tips. Be sure to download it and apply those tips. This is Vatsala Shukla from Karmic Ally Coaching signing off. Bye for now.

Prefer to read? Here’s the transcript with resources.

Even if we don’t realize it, right from childhood, we’ve all been taught the value and practice of gratitude.

It’s the thank you we said when we got a gift and it’s the grace we said before our meals. Sometimes if we were being difficult or throwing tantrums, our parents might have even yelled out the command to be grateful!

Hi. I’m Vatsala Shukla from Karmic Ally Coaching and today, I’m going to delve deeper into the role of gratitude in strengthening our emotional intelligence with some tips to cultivate gratitude.

In recent years, giving gratitude has been seen as a practice associated with visualizations, law of attraction and as part of manifestation rituals.

It’s actually a lot more than that. We think of gratitude as a simple emotion but it’s a gift that we can give others. It can also strengthen our skill of emotional intelligence.

Allow me to elaborate on both points.

Giving the Gift of Gratitude

Now, when was the last time you were on the receiving end of someone’s gratitude? Not just a casual, “Thanks!” but an honest, heartfelt, deeply appreciative, “Thank you for ______________.”

It felt good, didn’t it?

If it was someone who really knows how to say thank you, you were probably acknowledged for some sacrifice you’d made, and the way your gift or action made them feel…and your heart warmed, and your face smiled.

Gratitude is such a simple gift to give, so powerful, and yet so easy to forget.

In a world where everything has to be done 5 minutes ago, and rapid forward movement is the only way to not get left behind gratitude and appreciation all too often fall by the wayside.

Yet, as you know, saying thank you is one of the easiest ways to bless others and lift them up. Gratitude makes the receiver feel seen, recognized and appreciated…and it can all be done well in less than 30 seconds.

30 seconds. That’s only 0.05% of your total waking hours.

It takes longer than that to brush your teeth!

When we feel seen and appreciated, we perform better at work. We get less angry. We share our gifts more easily. We love stronger. When you’re seen and appreciated for who you are and what you do, it makes you strive to be a better human.

If you were to spend 30 seconds sharing your gratitude every day, you would be investing .05% of your waking life to make someone else’s day at least 30% better.

Now talk about return on investment, right?

Plus, when you take the time to offer others a sincere thank you, you also become a model for others. You become an inspiration, quietly encouraging others to express their gratitude.

In short, by simply giving the gift of your appreciation, you instantly become a respected leader at home, at work, and everywhere else…all while making the world a better place.

And that feels good, doesn’t it?

Now about Gratitude as a way to develop Emotional Intelligence

During the pandemic, I discovered that my morning gratitude ritual provided me with resilience to face the uncertainty of the days ahead.

Being grateful for the gift of a new day, the safety and health of my loved ones or even gratitude that I had not run out of pet food during lockdown made it easier to cope with the stress of a situation for which my mind did not have any prior experience to refer back to. It was uncharted territory for all of us.

Practicing gratitude didn’t mean I was denying the reports of record infections or becoming immune to the negative reports of deaths among our circle of friends, loss of jobs or worrying when I could get a vaccine.

It simply meant shifting my focus from negative and painful experiences and finding hope. It provided my brain with support to process the difficult experience and was a protective response to support my well-being during that challenging time.

That’s when I started to wonder if there was more to gratitude than I had previously realized.

Apparently, I wasn’t alone in my thoughts and there has been research on the role of gratitude in building emotional resilience and strengthening emotional intelligence.

Research indicates that there are 2 parts to gratitude. Firstly, it is an affirmation of goodness and acknowledging that there are good things in the world. This is what we practice in our gratitude ritual.

In the second part of gratitude, we recognize that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves, and we acknowledge that other people give us many gifts to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.

To demonstrate high emotional intelligence, we need to develop our emotional resilience first. Gratitude enables us to strengthen our skills in the domains of self-awareness and self-management as well as social awareness and social management.

Ongoing research in gratitude shows evidence in building positive relationships and increasing empathy.

Practicing gratitude creates a heightened awareness of your emotions, values, strengths, and a greater understanding of others. Heightening your emotional intelligence through gratitude allows for reflecting on your feelings, emotions and motivators, and perceiving those of others.

Cultivating a grateful mindset also allows us to recognize unhealthy emotions and reframe our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This deepens our emotional intelligence capacity. With greater emotional intelligence awareness, you have a choice – a choice in how you interact with and join in the experiences of others.

You don’t need to take a course on learning how to be grateful. You can integrate it into your life until it becomes second nature. I’ve got some recommendations to develop your attitude to gratitude.

And here are the 5 Ways You Can Cultivate Your Gratitude

It’s a fact that most of us lead busy lives these days. It might feel like a waste of time to think about the things in your life that you can be grateful for. But doing this is essential, as you will derive some incredible benefits from being grateful for what you have in your life right now. Try these simple yet powerful actions to cultivate your gratitude every day.

The first one is to stop what you are doing and take a look around you

Make a commitment to pause at different times during the day and ask yourself the question “what can I be truly grateful for in my life?” You can also ask yourself “who are the most important people in my life and why am I grateful to them?”

When you ask yourself these questions your mind or rather your subconscious mind will come up with a number of answers for you. Take these answers and assess why the people or things are so important for you and you express your gratitude for having them in your life. This won’t take you long to do each day and will get you into the habit of looking for things to be grateful for.

Have a good look at the qualities you possess

Being grateful for the qualities you possess is a very powerful way to cultivate your gratitude and increase your self-esteem. Think about what you have achieved recently and the problems that you had to overcome. You can go back into your past for some good examples of this as well.

You can look beyond the things that you have achieved as well.

What other traits do you possess that you are proud of?

Do you provide acts of kindness to others? Do you have good empathy skills? Do you have a lot of love for your partner, your family and your friends? Or your pet?

There are always lots of things that you can come up with about yourself.

Also, what things do you take for granted?

When people are starting out on their attitude of gratitude journey, they will usually think about the bigger things in their life to be grateful for but don’t limit yourself to this. The smaller things in your life are just as important to you.

Just open your eyes and take a look around you. If you are at home, then notice the wonderful things that surround you to make your life easier and more enjoyable. Take a walk outside and notice the beauty of nature as well.

A fifth way is to Have a Morning and Evening ritual

I touched upon this earlier when I spoke about my gratitude ritual during the pandemic.

It is easy to forget about expressing your gratitude in modern life. I highly recommend you create a new routine where you will think about things to be grateful for in the morning when you wake up and before you go to bed at night.

Think about 3 things that you can be grateful for at these times. It does not matter if they are big or small things. In the morning it could be the simple fact that you are grateful for a new day ahead.

Write down the 3 things in the morning and evening in a gratitude journal so that you can reflect on these later on.

Final Words – Show your Gratitude to others

Cultivating the attitude or habit of gratitude isn’t difficult and worth the effort because it also strengthens our emotional intelligence. This skill is important if you are aspiring for a leadership position.

So, take every opportunity that you can to express your gratitude to others. When you do this the recipient will be very appreciative and this will give you a warm glow inside. In turn this will make you feel a lot happier to see the smiles on their faces and hear their words of appreciation. And if you need more help, I’ve got a couple of resources listed here. Have a look and take what works for you.

This is Vatsala Shukla for Karmic Ally Coaching signing off. Bye for now.

Additional Resources for developing Gratitude

Are You Practicing the Power of Appreciation?

Do you dare to cherish Everyone?

How to Develop Emotional Intelligence with Ease

Emotional Intelligence Traits Checklist

Gratitude Mastery Bundle – a simple yet unique Way to raise your vibrations every day.

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We all have the skill of intuition. The question is, how well have we developed it, and do we use it when our decisions really matter?

In my post on how intuition strengthens our emotional intelligence, I shared the story of the superhero boss. The entire office suspected he had ESP.

The Managing Director of our Insurance Company had his finger on the pulse of our insurance agents and clients, especially when it came to difficult claims.

High on emotional intelligence, our boss was also highly intuitive.

Quite often people confuse intuition with psychic abilities or pre-cognition but it is much simpler.

Intuition is a mental tool that we experience as a “knowing” or a gut feeling about something.

It is a form of instinctive knowing without the use of reasoning processes.

If you find yourself spot on about the outcomes of situations or are able to read in between the lines correctly, it’s because your intuition has been given enough reliable information that it can detect with accuracy what’s relevant and important in a situation and what is not.

Developing intuition starts by realizing you already have it.

If you’ve ever had a hunch about something, that was intuition. Intuition is just your mind using more than what you are consciously aware of.

But can you trust your intuition? How do you improve it?

Use these 3 Steps:

1. Recognize it and encourage it.
2. Study it to make it more trustworthy.
3. Give it good information to work with.

The third point needs to be elaborated. Intuition is only good for areas where it has good data.

You may have good intuition in one area but terrible intuition in another area of your life. That happens because those areas are not being provided with enough good information or new information to work with.

Superhero boss had definitely developed his intuition in the business of insurance.

Consider the world-famous chess player Gary Kasparov. A computer can calculate chess positions many moves further ahead than he can and yet, he still beats the best computers out there because of his intuitive grasp of the game.

His experience allowed him to combine analysis with a “sense” of which move is best.

Likewise, we can develop our intuition in other areas of our life too. Try to find areas in your own life where you intuitively operate.

Are You Being Guided by Your Intuition or Your Ego?

Yet we often find our decisions can go wrong.

That’s because it’s not always easy to tell if our choices are coming from the right place.

If you follow your intuition, your life is likely to be enjoyable and meaningful. Follow your ego and you might be successful in many ways, but you’re likely to find yourself wondering why you’re not as happy as you think you should be.

Learning to determine whether you’re being guided by intuition or ego can make a huge difference in your life.

While there are no hard and fast rules to make the distinction, there are tendencies that can serve as a guide.

Consider these differences.

Ego-based decisions:

Are grounded in fear and self-preservation. If you decide to go to medical school or become a Chartered Accountant primarily for reasons of financial security, that’s ego.

Typically have emotion connected to them. A choice made from a place of intuition just feels “right” and often comes out of left field. You might be mowing the grass and be hit with the idea of becoming a dog breeder. The resulting battle in your head is your ego fighting back.

Consider external results. Are you writing a book in order to have a bestseller, or are you writing a book because you’re fascinated with the idea of writing a book? Are you taking an action to gain certain results, or does the action itself provide sufficient satisfaction?

Involve rationalization. Your ego is wonderful at convincing you that its choice is the right one. “I’ll never get that job. Imagine how disappointed I’ll feel when it doesn’t work out.” It’s really just a rationalization based on fear – fear of success or fear of failure.

The ego tries to justify itself with facts, figures, and logic.

Intuition doesn’t require these tricks to compel you.

If you’re using logic to convince yourself of a course of action, you can bet that’s your ego squawking.

Intuition doesn’t judge. A thought or decision arising from intuition doesn’t involve judgment statements about right or wrong, good or bad. Intuitive thoughts feel calm, relaxed, and peaceful. There’s a universal truth to an idea that arises from intuition.

Is the expected gratification coming from within or is it external. Would you make the same choice if no one would ever know? Would you purchase that Mercedes if no one ever knew you owned it? Or do you simply love German automobiles? Are you driven by money and admiration or by personal satisfaction?

While the ego can be very limiting, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s wrong.

The ego’s motivation is largely based on self-preservation. Your ego believes that it has your best interests at heart. Ignoring the ego can be a challenge because it uses fear to influence you. It’s only natural to avoid fear and seek comfort.

The trick is to realize when fear is holding you back from something bigger and better. Sometimes fear is keeping you from doing something foolish.

Think before choosing which voice to follow. There is another voice that can be mistaken for intuition and which you need to be aware of – insecurity.

Knowing the difference between Intuition and Insecurity in your Decision-making

Without a doubt, having to make life-changing decisions can be intimidating. You spend days and even weeks juggling between the options in front of you.

All you really want to do is make the best decision, but it’s stressing you out. Your gut instinct tells you to go one way, but you still hesitate.

Indecisiveness can make some situations more difficult than they actually need to be.

But what’s causing your indecisiveness?

You’re probably allowing insecurity to cloud your judgment and cause you to second-guess your intuition. Don’t worry – it happens to everyone.

It happened to me almost 2 decades ago when I experienced a family crisis and had to return to India to look after a parent. I loved my job and career, but I also had to think of my parent.

My intuition told me to go home and that things would work out while I also didn’t want to give up one of the most satisfying jobs I had ever had. It was a tough call but the right call because I allowed my intuition to guide me.

How will you know intuition is guiding you in the right direction?

Hindsight has 20:20 vision. This is what I learned and want to share with you.

1. It’s constantly on your mind. Your intuition pushes you to constantly think about the impact of a decision. It’s difficult to get the thoughts off your mind when deep down you know the right thing to do. Don’t underestimate the power of your intuition!

2. You feel sad when you go against your intuition. You usually feel relieved when you choose the option your intuition tells you. You feel as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. If you feel heavy after the decision, it means you’ve probably made an unfavorable choice.

It’s possible to feel sad after a tough decision if there is a negative impact on others. But that sadness should go away quickly if you’ve made a decision that’s truly right for you.

How will you know your decisions are being impacted by insecurities?

You will know this if you are doing either of the following:

You ask for the opinion of others. Usually, insecurity manifests itself in doubts. If you find yourself asking others for opinions on your potential decision, it means you aren’t fully sold on it yourself.

It’s always okay to seek advice but don’t let other’s opinions take precedence over your own thoughts. Bear in mind that the opinions of others may very well be based on those people trying to fulfill their own needs.

You’re considering the feelings of others first. When you consider how your decision can affect someone else first, chances are you’re insecure about something. If you’re struggling with a decision that will be life-changing for you, consider your own feelings first.Are you afraid of what others might think? Or are you concerned about how they may view you after the decision?

Remember that those who love you will support you in whatever decision you know will be best for you. The opinions of others aren’t your priority – you are!

Your values and morals are reflected in your intuition.

Once you develop a system for decision-making based on your values and morals, it’s likely going to be much easier to make important decisions. After a while, you’ll realize that the most important opinion is your own.

Embrace your decision-making abilities so you can eliminate insecurities.

You’re a wonderful person who deserves to confidently go through life. Start by believing in yourself and taking bold steps based on what your instincts tell you.

5 Easy Techniques to Develop Your Intuition

Parting words on why you need to trust your intuition for important decisions.

Being in touch with your intuition can help you identify and solve the challenges in your life that are causing stress. It also releases your imagination and creativity. Your intuition is a great resource, but it’s important to nurture it. Start with smaller things. When your intuition has proven it’s reliable, use it to make bigger decisions.

Intuition is a tether to the subconscious. It’s your ultimate source of wisdom and creative energy. Make life easier and richer by utilizing all of your resources.

Additional Information about Intuition and Developing Emotional Intelligence

Developing Your Self Awareness from Karmic Ally Coaching 

Understanding Intuition: A Journey In and Out of Science, Dr Lois Isenman

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell

Hi, this is Vatsala Shukla from Karmic Ally Coaching and I’m in the process of developing the ultimate guide that you need to develop the quality of integrity.

It’s going to be a series of short videos and I hope to help you to understand integrity better, whether it is in your personal life or your professional life.

The Role of Integrity in Success

In today’s video we are going to be looking at the role of integrity in success.

Recommended Reading in video

Life Hack Article

Are You in Integrity? Employers verify Resumes for the job 

Quote to reflect on 

In the previous video I spoke to you about the role of integrity in success. Now we’re going to go deeper into what is integrity.

What is Integrity?

I went hunting for a couple of definitions but the best one that I have found and the simplest one indeed was in the Cambridge Dictionary that describes in terms of both honesty and being whole.

And here is what they said. It is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change. It is the quality of being whole and complete.

Recommended Reading in video

Michael Page article on Integrity in the Workplace

5 most desirable traits employers look for 

Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas can be easy 

The Power of Ethical Management

Quote to reflect on

So, this was a long session but next time I’m going to share with you the attributes of integrity and how you can strengthen it. This is Vatsala Shukla for Karmic Ally Coaching signing off. Bye for now.

Three Attributes of Integrity and How to strengthen it

Now that we have understood the importance of Integrity as well as what integrity is, in this third part of the series I’m going to be sharing with you three attributes of integrity and how to strengthen it.

Recommended Reading in video

American Recruiters quote and article on integrity

The Straight Road to Happiness

7 ways to clearly show others your True Integrity

Food for thought 

Now next time I’m going to be showing you about the five best ways to be a person of integrity. This is Vatsala Shukla for Karmic Ally Coaching signing off. Bye for now.

5 Best Ways to be a Person of Integrity

Now that I’ve shared with you the 3 attributes of integrity and also 5 ways to strengthen it, in this video we’re going to be looking at the 5 best ways to be a person of integrity. We will also look at what happens if you don’t have integrity.

Recommended Reading in Video

How to convince People you’re an Expert with Integrity

Loss of Trust handout

The Integrity Advantage

The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything

Karmic Ally Coaching’s Executive Presence Checklist 

Integrity and it’s Role in the Workplace

In the final part of my series on Integrity, we are now going to look at its role in the workplace. By now you already understand that a person with integrity displays good moral and ethical values and generally does the right thing.

As far as the workplace is concerned Integrity is the bedrock upon which employees develop relationships and trust, and it is one of the most important qualities that employers look for in new hires.

According to a Study done by Marrkula Center for Applied Ethics, “To have integrity means that a person is self-aware, accountable, responsible, and truthful and that their actions are internally consistent.”

And we’re going to be building on this in the coming slides.

Recommended Reading for Integrity and the Workplace 

Markkula Report on Consistency and Ethics

Values gone wrong – Enron Corporation

After TCS, Tata Steel sacks 38 employees over unacceptable practices – 3 for sexual misconduct

Karmic Ally Coaching’s Executive Presence Checklist 

Food for thought: Do you demonstrate Interpersonal Integrity?

Your turn now. What’s your key takeaway from this series? Especially about Integrity in the Workplace?

Want to be seen as an authority, a subject matter expert or the go to person for a topic on Linkedin?

Did you answer yes?

Then you simply have to have a robust and strategic content plan for this platform.

The advice to ‘Give Value’ is being repeated almost every day by different influencers and Linkedin experts.

There’s a reason for this.

The content you share on Linkedin builds your reputation. If it’s quality, relevant information and entertaining, your reputation excels. If it’s not relevant, is inconsistent and poorly constructed your reputation takes a hit.

And if you think you can scrape images off Google or copy someone’s blog post and try to pass it off as your own, then you risk damaging your credibility as well.

Especially if the other person finds out, issues you a takedown notice and reports it to Linkedin.

The Emotional Intelligence Post that made me use my own Anger Management Advice

This incident happened to me a few weeks back.

A trainer in Emotional Intelligence used the Hero Image from my blog post on Anger Management and Emotional Intelligence.

WITHOUT my permission to promote her own Leadership and Emotional Intelligence training!

She didn’t know me and had never visited my website or viewed my profile on Linkedin.

She simply scraped the image off Google images ignoring the caveat that the image may be subject to copyright. Had she taken the time to visit my website, she’d have seen my own copyright statements.

It takes time to find the right images for my blog posts and to create them the way I want.

Naturally I was not amused.

I called her out on this and lodged take down notices to her as well as reported it to Linkedin. I got an apology.

Her explanation was not satisfactory. She thought cropping off my website name and logo but giving credit to my business for the image (without a backlink) covered her.

I ended up giving her free advice on copyright and how I could take legal action.

The entire post was removed but the damage to her reputation was done.

There are ways to use other people’s content in an ethical manner which I will share later.

What type of content makes you stand out as an authority or expert?

Your reasons for wanting to raise your visibility on Linkedin may vary.

Maybe you’re a professional looking to raise your visibility for career opportunities or widen your network. You could be a business trying to bring in new clients using content.

Either way keeping consistent with your content in social media can be difficult.

It’s often hard to determine what to post, what type of content you should be using and what will get the most engagement for you.

Moreover, since the Linkedin Algorithm changes from time to time and what worked once might not now.

At one-point images were the rage. But it went too far when the images started resembling Facebook posts. Lots of people started screaming their online lungs out against it with name and shame comments or reposts.

I don’t think they realized they were giving the original content creator some visibility juice! A simpler option would have been simply editing their feed.

They are still popular, but engagement depends on how big a following you have. Posting updates to links to your website or to third party sites got good reach.

Nowadays Linkedin wants to keep people on their site and your reach gets impacted.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Make sure you add your insights or perspectives with the post.

Polls were popular until everyone was using them. The reach fell depending on how many responses you got in the initial hours of posting & your perceived authority.

They can still be used for engagement and market research provided they are crafted well.

Influencers will always get eyeballs. For us professionals who have to limited time to create content, it’s not feasible to launch into full-time content creation.

One way of staying in line with trends is to be an early user of the new content tools Linkedin provides.

Right now, videos get traction but only when done strategically.

In this post, we’ll briefly look at different styles of content and the best uses for each to showcase your authority and expertise.

Should you be posting videos of your employees or videos of products?

Are presentations allowed on Linkedin?

What is Pulse and how do you use it?

Should I use Polls for engagement?

Then we’ll look at choosing the right content. You’ll also learn what types of content you shouldn’t post on Linkedin.

Finally, I’ll share tips on how to use content curation and other rebranded content to make it easier to stay consistent.

One point I’d like to draw your attention to is to always play to your strengths. Think in terms of showcasing your authority or expertise while creating content and posting.

Styles of Content to demonstrate Your Knowledge

The content you share on Linkedin doesn’t have to solely be written posts. Use content that will be the most engaging to your audience and distribute your brand message across the platform.

Please note, brand here refers to both your professional brand as well as that of your employer or business.

Here are the main types of content recommended on Linkedin and their different uses:

Videos – Videos are one of the easiest ways to grab attention. You can share stand-out content that others will find compelling by sharing your professional tips or demo, lectures, and conversations. Use video to engage viewers by asking a question. Video is also great for sharing everyday work moments to give Linkedin network a backend view.

Image Posts – Images are one of the most effective types of content when it comes to time and cost. Images help you stand out by attracting like-minded customers who relate to your brand. Images can be used in both posts and articles. Images can be easily repurposed in other content.

The types of images you can present are unlimited:

• Lifestyle featuring your product or service
• Events
• Company atmosphere and culture
• Cartoons
• Memes
• Gifs
• Behind the scenes images
• Product creation images

Bonus Tip –Making visuals that get noticed on Linkedin

Text Posts – Posts are short, quick bursts of text to stay connected to your community. Sharing posts on Linkedin will spark engagement, increase your brand reach, and build your relationships. It can contain emojis and hashtags.

People who want to discuss specific topics and concentrate more on their content in words can go with this post. The character limit for text posts is up to 1300 characters. But, in 2022, the character limit was 2973.

I however recommend adding an image for visual effect. There was a trend of pure text posts a few years back in a bid to drive engagement. But it doesn’t really work now unless you’re in a group or pod and everyone is engaging with each other’s posts. Pods as a hack for engagement doesn’t really work anymore.

Document Posts– If you want to convey your product to your target audience, but not in article form, you can try this document post. This can be in either PDF, Word, or PowerPoint format. Prepare the document based on what you want to convey to your target audience.

Pulse – Pulse is Linkedin’s publishing platform. This is mainly the place for publishing full length articles to share your knowledge and expertise. It can include links, videos, and images as well. You can write in-depth about your challenges, opportunities, professional expertise, trends happening in your industry and anything relevant to your company. Articles have no word count limit.

Is your Content Engaging?

Providing content that engages your audience is the key to building your network. Engagement is one of the main goals of social media marketing. In fact, according to Linkedin Marketing Solutions, 50% of Linkedin members will buy from companies they have engaged with.

Content plays an important role in attracting your audience. You can do this in many ways.

1. Tell a story. Storytelling can and should be a part of every piece of content you produce. You can incorporate how you came to the solution, your process along the way or some story that leads well with the article.
2. Use awe-inspiring images or images that tell a story. Don’t just show your product on a plain white background. Instead show images of customers using your product.
3. Create compelling headlines and engaging first sentences. The first line should grip your attention: interesting, unusual, emotional, shocking are all human emotional needs that grab out attention.
4. Personalize it. People still want to connect or do business with real people. Let your personality and your brand’s personality come through in all your content.

You still need to make friends with Uncle Algorithm on Linkedin

It’s not enough to post content on Linkedin. It’s equally important to get eyeballs on that content.

For that, you need to understand how the Linkedin algorithm works as well when creating engaging content. It’s designed to make your homepage feeds inviting.

The Linkedin feed has a spam filter that determines whether your content will show in the feed, how far an audience it reaches or if you are a spam user.

Here’s my understanding of how the algorithm works:

Stage 1: A computerized bot evaluates your content as spam, low-quality or clear. You want to have clear content to move to the next stage.

Stage 2: The algorithm then measures the initial user engagement such as likes, comments and shares. This signals that your content is good enough to move to the next stage. If you are flagged for some reason as spam by users or hide it from their feeds, Linkedin’s algorithm believes it as negative content.  Make sure your content is relevant to other’s professional lives. Is it offensive? Are you over-posting? Is your post unique and insightful?

Stage 3: The algorithm further checks for spam and credibility and quality based on your account and network to determine if the content is spam. The algorithm determines the usefulness and relevance of the post. Engagement is very important at this stage.

Stage 4: In this stage, human editors review the content. They determine whether it should be displayed, boosted, or demoted.

Create engaging content that passes the Linkedin algorithm is necessary for people to see your updates.

Learning how Linkedin’s algorithm works helps you create content that will be seen over and over.

Looking for a great way to build authority and influence in your industry without getting into content creation?

Then it’s time to tap into the power of content curation.

By sharing high-quality content from other experts in your field, you position yourself as a go-to source for information and insights.

Curation also helps develop relationships with people you admire! By sharing their content, you’re saying, “I value your work and I want to help promote it.”

This opens doors to further communication and collaboration down the road.

Content Curation and Automation

Now that you know why you need to create engaging content and the algorithm for Linkedin, it’s time to learn about ways to automate your content creation.

Content curation and automation tools make being consistent easier. There are many types of content that can be used for all your content needs.

Content curation is gathering a collection of content and adding value and your voice to it. The content comes from a variety of sources, around a specific topic which you share with your followers. You sift through articles on the internet, collect those that are the most interesting and relevant to your industry and share them in blog posts and on Linkedin.

Content curation allows you to create posts quickly using other peoples content the right way. You’re sharing resources and rare content that isn’t the same article found on a million other feeds.

3 Benefits of Content Curation:

• Saves you time and energy
• Elevates your brand visibility
• Establishes your authority and thought leadership

Next you want to automate as much as you can to keep content consistently in your Linkedin feed. Use a social media calendar to determine what you’re going to post.

Then use tools and programs to schedule your posts. This way the work is done once and then can be posted hands off.

Automation tools are great for scheduling any batch writing you do as well. By creating and scheduling posts in bulk, you free up time that can be used in better ways.

Use one of these suggested programs

1. Hootsuite offers a bulk composer feature to make it easy to schedule post across different social networks at once, including Linkedin.
2. Pocket is an app that let’s you gather content in one place from your browser or from apps like Pulse.
3. Feedly is the most popular RSS and blog reader online. It allows you to subscribe to your favorite websites, blogs, publications, and YouTube channels, getting the content to read, save or share it.
4. DrumUp is an app that goes through tons of web content to bring you the freshest and most relevant stories.
5. Buzzsumo is packed with helpful features. You can search for the most shared content using keywords, domains, or specific types of content like guest post or videos.
6. Quuu offers a free plan. This content curation program is the only tool where each and every piece is hand-reviewed by humans. Quuu sends the content directly to your Hubspot or Buffer schedule.

8. Curationsoft is a desktop-based curation software that allows you to find, evaluate and curate content into a drag and drop HTML editor. It can be used to create a blog post that you share on Linkedin or used as an article on Linkedin.

Content curation is a time and money saver and should be a part of your social media strategy. Using one of the many tools available to curate the content for you makes it even easier to share quickly.

A word of caution about using automation on Linkedin

Use the automation tools only for content curation. Please don’t use it for connecting with people or sending them bot messages. This is not allowed on Linkedin and you risk getting your account closed.

For more information on what tools can make you lose your Linkedin account, please read this article by Mic Adam. It’s worth bookmarking.

Types of Content

Now that you know why you need to curate content and how to do it easily, you might be wondering what types of content to post. The type of content can be anything, well, almost anything.

It can be things like …

• Everyday stuff (related to the business and not related). This can be as simple as what or where you had dinner with your amazing team or the fishing trip you made with your family. Take on a spicy (and tactful) point of view on a trending non-business topic.
• Industry information. Linkedin is a business-to-business platform so it’s only logical to share content related to your industry. You can share reports, whitepapers, long-form content, videos.
• Post Results. Did your company participate in a competition recently? Post the results of how you did. Post results of how a new marketing campaign or product launch fared.
• Case Studies. Show your audience how others have used your product and services through a case study.
• Share articles you like. Don’t just talk about you and your company. Share articles from your competitors and others in your industry that are trending and interesting.
• Post industry statistics. People love statistics so share industry and company stats as part of your marketing campaign.
• Share client testimonials. Gather testimonials and endorsements from your satisfied clients to boost your authority and leadership.
• Share how to videos and articles. Share videos along with articles on how to use your products or services for the best results. Use list-style posts as well. Marketing guru Neil Patel has built a following using this style of posts on Linkedin.
• Product launches and feature updates. Keep your audience aware of the latest products or services you have.
• Offer quick tips. These simple and short posts include leadership tips and tricks that encourage productivity, leadership, and professional success. Or offer simple text quotes relevant to your followers.
• Share company updates. Find interesting and visual ways to share company updates on what’s happening in your company. It’s a great way for your audience to get to know you and your company better.
• Share photos of your company, your employees, and the activities they do daily. Share photos taken at business events you attend.
• Humanize your company. Highlight your best employees as thought leaders.
• Use Showcase pages to drive registration to events your company is hosting or sponsoring.
• Share lessons learned. It doesn’t matter what your age or industry is, you have learned important lessons that others can benefit from. Share them with others.
• Make predictions. It doesn’t matter whether you are right or wrong, predictions are a way to get a discussion going.

Final Words on building authority and expert status on Linkedin using Content

Content is the key to building your following on Linkedin. You want to dominate with your content through consistency, quality, and variety.

To do this you need to use tools for automating the process, use other people’s content correctly and post a variety of types of content.

The styles of content you use depends on your topic as much as how you want to present it. A video might be the right fit for certain topics while a SlideShare presentation would fit better for others. Sometimes a quick funny image is all you need to share.

Whichever style of content you choose; the key is making it quality and relevant. One way to do that is to curate content about your industry.

Curated content can save you time and money. And with automation tools you can put together a curated piece in a fraction of the time of doing it yourself.

The type of content you present is as wide as you want it. Post updates on your company or products, show research you’ve done, or share videos about your employees or brand.

Keep your followers up to date on what’s happening in your business, the industry, and upcoming trends. Finally, humanize your brand by posting about non-business events occasionally.

What content will you post on Linkedin today?

Did you read about Satya Nadella’s message to 220, 000 Microsoft employees about the laying off of 10,000 employees by the end of the third quarter?

It’s in complete contrast to the way Elon Musk handled Twitter employees.

Nadella’s statement did a great job of communicating bad news to his people – even though less than 5% of the workforce will be impacted.

It’s a masterpiece of using Emotional Intelligence in the workplace by a leader.

Nadella acknowledged it would be a challenging time for each person impacted. He committed that he and the senior leadership team were committed to doing it in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible.

It’s clear Nadella has his own unique leadership vision. He will be using it to lead his team to manage a highly sensitive situation and ensuring goodwill damage will be minimized.

Let us wish Microsoft’s management the best in achieving this goal.

It reminded me of the time I was made redundant back in 2002 – a year after I had played a critical role in the financial close of a major project because management had decided to close the department completely.

I share that story in my post on how moving cheese positively improve career work life balance.

Great Leaders know how to steer their team through Tough Times

My boss did what Nadella intends to do now. He took care of his team.

I had worked closely with this boss, and I was one of the team who could not be absorbed into another department. My boss took me out to lunch to share the upcoming event that he had learned about just 2 days earlier.

By chance it was his 40^th birthday too and I thought it was a birthday lunch.

Over numerous gin and tonics and lunch (very rare indeed) I was the first to learn about the department close. He wanted to make sure I got the best deal possible before the axe fell on the team.

We negotiated a very handsome golden handshake. One that allowed me to repay the balance of my home loan just before the recession started and jobs at my seniority became scarce.

I exited a month later with a farewell party and glowing references.

I missed participating in the drama and bloodbath that followed. From what my former colleagues used to tell me; I was lucky.

The point is, many people can be good leaders, but it takes time and work to become a great leader. My boss was a great leader.

Are you the best leader that you can be?

If not, then don’t worry. There are several easy ways to become a better leader in a short amount of time. It’s what my boss did.

Keep your Word and avoid false Promises!

No one likes a leader that will “forget” about the promises that they made or ends up flaking out of their responsibilities. A great leader will make sure that they accomplish everything that they say that they will.

In other words, don’t make promises you know you won’t be able to keep. Saying No to a task that isn’t possible doesn’t make you look bad. In fact, it indicates integrity.

Communicate Effectively

Communication is the foundation of any relationship and team.

Don’t say things you don’t mean, listen well to what others are saying, and say your piece in a way that your team will understand.

Remember, your team is as good as the leader they report to.

Your team needs to know that you are listening to what they are saying and what their needs are. They also want to understand what you want from them and what your expectations are.

Effective communication allows for all of this. It’s a skill you need to develop if you want to be an influential leader.

Be a good Role Model for your Team

As a leader, your team looks up to you and how you are treating the work. Treat your work how you want your team to treat theirs and they will see what they are expected to do.

A hardworking and dedicated leader will produce hardworking and dedicated team members.

Besides, a great leader never asks from his team anything he himself would be uncomfortable doing.

Keep Up the Positivity

As an extension of the last tip, keeping up the positivity will encourage your team members to stay positive as well.

A cranky and frustrated boss is likely to lower productivity and damage a team’s motivation. This makes the team space a more negative one overall. If you are frustrated, your team is likely to become frustrated as well.

It’s easy to create a toxic workplace. Avoid contributing to that by keeping things positive. It will lead to a better working environment.

Embrace Failure and make it a Learning Experience

Failing at a task and making mistakes happens to everyone no matter what their status in the workplace is. Don’t hide your failures from your team.

I suggest you embrace your failure. It shows honesty and it also allows your team to embrace their failures and learn from their mistakes.

That’s how you become an influential leader, even if you don’t have the title.

Do you have your own unique Leadership Vision?

That’s the question I ask professionals who want to get on the next rung of the corporate ladder and position themselves as leaders.

Their answer is revealing. It offers them insights on what they need to work on before raising their visibility and going after the desired role or promotion.

You already know that a vision is a goal, something that you want to strive for and makes you want to do your best.

As a leader, it’s important to have a leadership vision that makes you want to try your hardest every day.

The truth is, you’re a leader even if your team comprises just you.

And if you are leading a team, then the success of that team depends upon your ability and skills to

• Equip your team with the tools, time and training to do the very best job possible.
• Focus the team on the game plan and the standards of performance that you expect.
• Provide real-time, evidence-based feedback on where they are absolutely nailing and also on what they can improve.

Here’s an even bigger truth.

You are Always Leading- On and Off Duty

Being a leader isn’t something you take on and off like a coat or a scarf. You can’t be a leader in a silo.

Leadership skills and operating from a leadership perspective is something leaders do on and off duty.

That’s because the skill sets that make a great leader also make great

• Spouses
• Parents
• Community partners
• Volunteers

AND

• Mentors

Great leaders don’t go to work and put on their leadership hats only to take them off when they leave. Great leaders lead in all that they do.

They lead by how they

• Solve problems
• Approach conflict
• Prioritize their schedule
• Treat people in their lives

AND

• Much more!

Great leaders succeed in their leadership because their leadership skills are engrained in their everyday life. How you see them when they lead is also how you’ll see them when they’re behind closed doors.

The team leader who bullies and pressurizes their team members most probably metes the same treatment to his or her family and friends.

On the other hand, the team leader who encourages team members applying emotional intelligence during conflict resolution uses that same skill in their off-duty interactions.

In the truest sense, everyone is a leader one way or another. Your title might not officially place you in a leadership role, but you are leading.

Whether it’s leading your family, friends, or a small group of people volunteering in the community, you are leading.

Taking on a leadership mindset on and off duty helps you to be more effective. The kind of leader people follow willingly and enthusiastically.

It’s important to realize that people are always watching, and in doing so they are evaluating one another’s leadership skills and getting behind the people who are leading the way.

People feel comfortable with others who are confident, considerate, and consistent in their behavior and their attitude.

Situational Leadership is a normal part of everyday life

Not all leaders desire to lead. Some people are placed in situations where they are required to lead despite their preference to blend into the crowd. Crisis situations often reveal true leaders calmly handle the situation and find the best situational solution available.

Leadership is important though and having the courage to lead…even when you don’t want to…is important too.

Sometimes you’ve got to take the reins and do what’s best for the situation.

Whether you plan to lead or find yourself leading unexpectedly, you are going to lead at some point. Everyone is leading somehow and making things better for others in the process.

Be aware of the importance of leadership and having a leadership mindset whether you are at work, at home, or in the community.

Especially of your impact on others and be sure that your leadership style is motivating and encouraging so you aren’t overrunning others or making them feel inadequate.

The best leaders consistently make those they lead feel empowered and capable of whatever tasks need to be done.

What this boils down to is that whether you’re a designated leader or become a situational leader, you need to have your own personal Leadership Vision.

What’s a Leadership Vision?

A leadership vision is a declaration of what kind of leader you want to be. It holds your values and beliefs as a leader and the goals you want to accomplish, whether they are company goals or personal ones.

This vision is important if you want to be an influential leader.

3 Reasons You Need to Develop Your Leadership Vision

When you develop your leadership vision, you now have something to continuously work towards and strive for.

This gives you the motivation to complete those goals that you have wanted to accomplish for yourself or your company.

When you need the push to be better, you can look towards your leadership vision (or think back to it) and be inspired.

Adhering to specific values and goals is a structured way of pushing yourself to complete them.

Leadership Visions Gives You a Path

Sometimes, a leader can feel lost in what they are supposed to be doing. If you have a leadership vision, you don’t have to worry about feeling lost. You can turn to your leadership vision and see the path that you want to be on and you can hop back onto that path.

Leadership Visions Give You a Focus

It’s harder to get distracted when you have a specific path that you are supposed to be following. Your goals that are in your leadership vision can provide focus when you aren’t sure of what to do.

Just like how you are supposed to be providing focus towards your team and your employees, a leadership vision provides that focus for you.

Leadership Visions Give Purpose

It is a wonderful feeling when you finally get to accomplish something in your leadership vision. With everything on your leadership vision being tied to your values and beliefs, being able to accomplish something related to that is a great feeling for any leader to have.

You have to work to strive for the vision that you have in your head. If you follow the path that you have set for yourself, you’ll eventually get there. When you do, you can know that you have accomplished something that makes you a better leader.

To be clear, a leadership vision is a declaration of what kind of leader you want to be. It holds your values and beliefs as a leader, and it holds goals of what you want to accomplish. These goals can be your company goals and they can be personal goals.

How good is your leadership? Do you have a Leadership Vision?

Charisma is a learnable skill and one that is important to master to achieve your leadership and influencer goals. It also enables you to demonstrate Executive Presence and especially Gravitas.

In the first part of this two-part series, we covered 3 of the 5 ways anyone can develop charisma.

In this post we continue on our quest to be perceived as charismatic with the last 2 tips. We’ll take a closer look at what gives an instant boost to your charisma and when charisma may not be useful for you.

Likeability is the X Factor for Charisma

Who doesn’t want to have a more magnetic personality?

The kind of personality where you’re noticed when you enter a room, and everyone wants to be near you. Or when your company is looking to promote someone, you’re top of mind? In other words, to put it bluntly, be considered likeable?

This is an important point because without likeability your efforts to be perceived as possessing charisma will fall flat.

You’d be familiar with the Know, Like and Trust factor in developing business and personal relationships.

It doesn’t matter how competent you are or even how passionate you are about your work or causes that you support. If people don’t like you, they won’t trust you or believe in your credibility. They won’t want to be around you either.

People like to work with those with whom they can build a rapport and a connection based on common ground.

You may think your decision-making is based on facts and evidence but there is always an emotional element. When it comes to services, you’ll usually go with someone whom you like and hence trust.

Research supports this. One study showed that likability was more important than job experience, education, and qualifications when it came to hiring decisions.

Tom Hanks: A Case Study in Likability

Full disclosure, I am a Tom Hanks fan. I like him as do many other people worldwide. It isn’t surprising as he was once voted the Most Trusted Person in America in a Reader’s Digest poll.  And then the “Most Likeable Man in Hollywood,” according to an iHeartRadio poll in 2013.

This makes him the perfect case study for the likability factor.

When Tom Hanks announced that he and his wife had contracted the COVID-19 virus in Australia while shooting during the first wave, it was worrisome. It felt like someone close to us was unwell.

It wasn’t the Oscars and other awards that he has won but his nature which draws us to him.

He is polite and courteous with both fans and reporters. He is down to earth and we’re able to relate to him.

If you need a role model to develop the skill of likeability, Tom Hanks is your guide.

You will never be charismatic if you can’t get people to like you. But you can increase your magnetism by being more likeable.

Use the tool of Visualization to boost your Magnetism

One of the best ways to start is to visualize yourself with qualities that you associate with magnetism.

Studies show that people can become more likable and in turn, increase magnetism. This requires your re-engineering your thinking.

Close your eyes and try to see what it would be like if you were able to become more magnetic with your personality.

Would you be someone who smiles more often? Perhaps you take a genuine interest in others and always refer to them by name? What changes do you see in yourself when talking to people? Can you read the signals that people are giving you?

After you have your visualization profile completed, the next step is to focus on others who you find have magnetic personalities.

Match what you have come up with in your profile to what you observe from those people. How close did you come?

The next step is to find information through books, magazines, and seminars that are related to the subject of magnetism.

What kinds of traits are suggested from those mediums?

How closely do they match with what you have come up with in your visualization profile?

After matching up as many of the resources described with what you have come up with in your profiles, and have taken notes of the differences, see if you can use this information to implement a course of action.

This will become your road map to successfully increasing your personal magnetism. Don’t try to make all the changes in one shot. Spread it out over the course of several months but be consistent.

Put what you come up with into practice. You will be amazed at the changes that occur over time and how people become more drawn to you.

Who knows, you could even create your own book or seminar in the process and help others achieve their goal of being seen as charismatic.

Use Storytelling to Be More Charismatic

People love good stories and gather around good storytellers. This isn’t a new phenomenon, ancient drawings from caves show our storytelling went as far back as about 40,000 years ago.

Some people are better at telling stories than others. There is always one person in your circle who can narrate a story better than others and is always asked to share stories at social gatherings.

While they have a natural ability, this is a skill that can be learned and practiced.

There are plenty of books available on the subject and you could even find courses or coaching for it.

The takeaway here is that if you learn how to become a good storyteller, you have the tools necessary to be more charismatic. At least, you have one of the bigger aspects of charisma.

The skill of storytelling is also used by influential leaders to create change.

How do you become a better storyteller, or even start as one?

It all has to do with setting the scene and the characters. Even if the characters are people you know, try to animate their actions or elevate their status. You want to try and avoid embarrassing people unless that is part of the story. It still has to be done in a respectful, but playful way. If it is hurtful, you want to avoid it altogether.

The more you involve the people who you are telling the story to, the better. If you can incorporate each person as part of the story, that will go a lot further with them.

You also want to employ the concept of “show, don’t tell” as much as you possibly can. Try to describe the situation as vividly as possible but avoid rambling.

Start small by testing out your skills on friends and family. If they were engaged by the stories you tell, then you can move onto your colleagues.

Stories can also help you appear charismatic online. If you have a blog, or you create videos on YouTube, try incorporating stories into the mix. It will captivate people much easier than simply creating fact-filled content that no one wants to see.

Even if you need to incorporate facts, try to weave them into a story. It will be much easier to get your point across than listing out tables filled with numbers. To do this, use story-based examples while interpreting the data.

Important Caveats about wanting to be more charismatic

This discussion will not be complete unless one becomes aware of the pitfalls of being charismatic. It can also be a double-edged sword.

Beware of the dark side of Charisma

What examples come to mind when you hear the word, Charisma?

Most probably it would be HRH Queen Elizabeth II, leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and John F. Kennedy etc.

But charisma also has a dark side. Several dictators including Adolf Hitler seduced people using charisma.

Charisma can often mask reasonable thinking. When someone is considered charismatic, they can usually get away with anything.

They are the perceived leaders so if they ask you to do something, you are likely to do it even if it’s not the right thing to do or isn’t right for the situation. That’s the strength of their influence.

In other words, negative charisma can be downright dangerous like it was with Jim Jones.

He was a charismatic leader who led his group of followers to kill themselves by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.

Leaders can often become addicted to power and when the charisma wears off, they revert to force. According to a documentary on the Jim Jones story, several members wanted to get out and he kept them there by force.

Charisma can be good when it is moderated and not used for overt manipulation.

People should try to recognize the limits of charisma and work within those limits.

If someone is trying to get you to do something that doesn’t seem right, it’s okay to speak up and say why.

Political leaders often rely on charisma to carry them through their terms. But this can backfire when the charisma wears off. People often see the true colors of those leaders. This makes it difficult for them to manage the remaining term. It may make successive runs for office difficult, as well.

Steve Jobs is a great example of a person who was able to balance charisma without abusing it. He successfully brought Apple out of bankruptcy when he returned to manage it and went on to make it the powerhouse it is today.

Whether future leaders of the company can repeat this remains to be seen. As an example, do you even know the name of the current leader of Apple?

This is not to say Tim Cook doesn’t have charisma. It’s just he doesn’t stand out, in the same way Jobs did.

Charisma isn’t going anywhere and people who have it will be around for a while. But it’s important for people to be alert to the possibility of it getting out of hand and to use common sense above all else.

Finding the balance of work-life balance and time management

Charisma is a learned skill, so anyone has the capability of making it happen. But when it does, will you be ready for it?

If you notice people who are charismatic, they are constantly surrounded by others. That is the nature of charisma. Many enjoy the attention.

However, if people are always coming to you at work, for instance, how are you going to get your work done? Some may think it’s a good problem to have, but it can become a nuisance if it happens too much.

People also spread the word about charismatic people. They will tell their friends and colleagues what great people they are. Those friends and colleagues will also try to get some time in with the charismatic people. These new people will also end up telling their friend and colleagues as well.

If you are charismatic, people are going to come to you for advice. They will rely on any advice you give. That may be okay if you are an expert in the subject that they asked about.

But if you give the wrong advice and they take it, you could be helping them get into a situation that may not be good for them. While people are responsible for their own actions, it doesn’t help when someone with charisma gives advice. The advice is likely going to be acted upon.

The charismatic person sometimes revels in the title of advice giver, even if the advice is not useful.

Your home life may be affected by your increased charisma.

You may find that more people are calling on you to join them in various activities, like joining the softball league or coaching kids’ soccer games. These may all be activities you wanted to get involved with, but they will be ever increasing opportunities. Those days of relaxing on Sundays are gone!

Be ready for the changes that happen and try to keep grounded in what it’s going to mean for others as well as the impact it may have on you and your family.

For the most part, being charismatic is a good quality and one that most people would love to incorporate into their life. It may even put you into a leadership role along with a promotion.

Sometime back, there was a panel discussion about Executive Presence on LinkedIn that got me thinking about charisma. It inspired this 2-part blog post where you’ll learn how to improve your charisma skill.

One of the panelists, a senior female executive spoke about the role of charisma in being perceived as having Executive Presence.

Excellent point, but, if we find it tough to define Gravitas, then how easy would it be to define Charisma which is part of Gravitas? The Wow Factor?

If you asked 100 people to define charisma without looking it up online, they’d most probably say charisma is that special something – the magnetism or charm that draws others in.

However, almost all of those 100 people would struggle to define charisma or to explain what makes one person charismatic and another one not.

If someone asked you to define charisma without looking it up online, what would you say?

Would it be that it is an innate quality that only a few possess? Is it something people are born with?

Would it be some kind of magical aura that someone obtains at birth?

Many people would use one or more of these qualities to describe charisma.

In other words, even if we struggle to define it, we can always point it out when it is present.

We need a working definition in order to learn how to be charismatic.

Here are 3 for you to consider.

A special charm or appeal that causes people to feel attracted and excited by someone (such as a politician) – Britannica Dictionary

A special power that some people have naturally that makes them able to influence other people and attract their attention and admiration. – Cambridge Dictionary

Charisma is an individual’s ability to attract and influence other people. While it is often described as a mysterious quality that one either has or doesn’t have, some experts argue that the skills of charismatic people can be learned and cultivated. – Psychology Today

Notice the common themes of something being special, attraction and influence.

I personally prefer the Psychology Today definition. It indicates charisma isn’t handed down by the heavens but is a skill and hence learnable.

Can You Learn Charisma?

For sure there are people that have a natural ability to be charismatic.

These people are drawn to leadership because that is a byproduct of having charisma. But it doesn’t mean the rest of us will never get a chance at being charismatic.

The good news is that you can take steps to have charisma yourself.

Obviously you start by shedding as many of the qualities that don’t make you charismatic and replace them with ones that do.

Think of Eliza Doolittle who was transformed into a lady by Dr Henry Higgins in George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion. Her new charisma was evident at the ball when one of the guests declared she was a fraud and then stated she was a Princess!

In the real world, it works differently.

The first step is to learn to make eye contact, even if you hate doing it.

Eye contact is the first step people use to size up others on the first contact. It’s also a signal of trust between people. If someone is untrustworthy, they will likely look away from people, even when they are talking.

The next step is to be more engaging with those you come in contact with.

Be genuinely interested in others. Make it about them. Use their self-centered instincts to your favor and play off of it.

People like themselves. They like it more when others talk about them in a favorable way.

If you are that person to pump up others’ self-esteem, those people are going to be drawn to you. Think about how you feel when others tell positive stories about you.

Exude confidence and that will help seal the deal when it comes to being more charismatic. Confidence is something most people admire, as long as it doesn’t come across as being overly arrogant.

When you are confident, people will feel like you have the situation under control. They will concede to that control which puts you in a leadership role from their perspective.

These are just some of the traits that charismatic people develop to draw others to them. They are not innate magical qualities that are chiseled into one’s DNA.

Although some people learn charisma quicker than others, it is never too late to take steps to learn these traits yourself. Get ready to be much more liked by the people you know and those you meet.

Let’s look at 5 ways to develop our charisma. We’ll cover 3 of them here and the other 2 in Part 2 of this series.

Start being an Active Listener

Listening is an important skill. Sadly people do hear but not really listen.

Do you want to know how to be more charismatic? Try listening more.

People tend to be self-absorbed and are constantly thinking about themselves. While you need to think about yourself, it’s also important to be mindful of others. The biggest way you can do that is to learn to be a better listener.

Listening requires concentration, at least, if you are not used to doing it. It also takes practice. When you are having a conversation with someone, do you find yourself thinking about what you’re going to say next?

If so, it’s very difficult to listen under that circumstance. You need to clear your mind and focus on what the person is saying.

One can understand why people get distracted. There is always lots  going on in our lives and our lives aren’t compartmentalized.

For example, we have workplace situations that can create issues requiring damage control. Orders can go wrong, and irate customers have to be placated.

The server may hang just when you need to send out an important report. Sometimes you might just spill coffee on your computer and pray the hard drive is safe while the IT guy tries to fix it

Then, you go home and have another set of situations that you may have to worry about. The tv conks out or the class teacher wants you to come in to discuss your child’s lack of performance in a class test.

You are waiting to exhale and listening to others is probably the last thing you concern yourself with.

But here’s the deal.

The benefits of listening will make it worth it to you as people will know (at least subconsciously) when you are doing it and appreciate it.

They will feel the connection and want to spend more time with you. They will sense that you are taking notice of what they have to say. It all starts with listening.

Listening doesn’t mean you have to respond. Sometimes all people need is to get something off their chests.

Giving advice is not always a good idea, especially if you are not familiar with the situation or don’t have the expertise. Again, it’s all about hearing what others are talking about and showing empathy when needed.

It also doesn’t require you to unconditionally agree with what is being said. But it’s important to at least hear the message.

When you feel you are in the right and can offer your opinion on whatever the subject may be, then you should do so but in a tactful and respectful manner.

Listening is a skill that can be mastered. It takes time and a commitment. What you will find when you put forth the effort is that people may start approaching you more often because you have taken the first steps to being more charismatic.

Check your Physical Appearance isn’t deflecting Magnetism

Here’s the perfect example to explain this point.

If you have ever seen the comic strip, Peanuts by Charles Schultz, you’d be familiar with the character called Pig Pen.

He got this nickname because he is dirty, and no one wants to be around him. His appearance and hygiene are keeping people away. His physical appearance is deflecting his magnetism.

Although the Shultz comic is an extreme example, people who don’t pay attention to their physical appearance can be shutting people out, even at a subconscious level.

The idea behind it is if you don’t care about how you look, why should others pay any attention to you?

This is not the same as creating a certain look where you are trying to express yourself. Young people love to be nonconforming with their wardrobe and style. It can work for them for a little while.

Of course, as they get older, they make a choice as to whether to keep that going or to adopt more traditional styles. Older people are often not taken as seriously if they are trying to keep the same look they had when they were young.

There are those that would say nonconformity is good and that people should have the right to dress as they please. There is some truth to this.

However, on the subject of deflecting magnetism, people will need to choose whether they want to conform to some degree so that they can be more accepted. This will be difficult to do if a person is constantly at odds with acceptable norms.

This doesn’t mean people have to dress to the nines and spend a lot on a new wardrobe or look. There are plenty of inexpensive choices where people can look quite good and it can help them when trying to increase their magnetism.

The idea is to stay away from clothes that don’t fit well, either too tight or too loose. It’s important to maintain a good personal hygiene as well.

If you are giving off bad odors, or even if your appearance subjects you to the Pig Pen nickname, you are going to find that you too are deflecting your magnetism away from others.

Pay Attention to Your Body Language to increase your Personal Magnetism

Gravitas is often explained with the example of people stopping to look at you when you enter the room. It’s also the skill of being able to command the room.

Now let’s look at what you would do when you enter a room full of people that you don’t know and see some people with their arms crossed.

Do you approach those people? How about people that look your way and smile?

If you said no to the first question and yes to the second, it’s because of a subconscious force at play: body language.

It’s the same body language that makes people perceive you have Gravitas.

Paying attention to your body language is a crucial aspect of increasing your personal magnetism.

People inherently pick up on those signals without much of a thought. They don’t think “this guy has his arms crossed so I am not going to approach him.” They simply move on.

You can always learn more about body language from books, workshops and seminars. But some of the basics have already been covered.

Don’t cross your arms if you want people to approach you, make eye contact as often as possible and be sure to smile.

These are three of the major ways to improve your body language to make yourself more approachable.

More body language advice

Another way to learn how to use body language to your advantage is to observe people who you are naturally drawn to. Pay attention to the kinds of movements they use as they speak to you.

Are they crossing their arms or are they using their hands to express themselves? Perhaps they give you the occasional touch on the shoulder when making a certain statement.

Are they focusing their eyes on you and giving you their undivided attention?

These are all traits of charismatic people and can be used to increase your magnetism.

Look at how others are reacting when you speak. Are they distracted or are they hanging on your every word?

If they’re checking their smartphones every couple of minutes, you may have some work to do. If they ask you to repeat what you said often, this too is a sign that you should correct your body language signals.

Start with small changes.

Continue to observe others you find charismatic and try to incorporate the actions that they use when talking to people.

If you are consistent with your changes, they will become second nature. Over time and people will definitely start being more drawn to you.