In short, businesses are now only as strong as their brands, and nothing else offers business leaders so much potential leverage. That is why I believe every business leader – whether you are selling cars, chemicals, or cosmetics- needs to think and act like a brand leader.” Quote from Jim Stengel from his latest book Grow.

About two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a book-signing event by Mr. Stengel. As a businessman and a coach, I believe that the point that he is making about importance of brand is essential and crucial for all business leaders to be aware of and to pay special attention. In the digital age, your number one concern should be your reputation and brand. Business leaders must start to attend necessary resources such as learning, accountability, and money to their brand building process.

In his quote, Stengel put an emphasis on business leadership and brand leadership. The single most important factor for all leaders is learning and accumulating leadership skills. This is what coaching and coaches are all about. Growth in businesses for the foreseeable future will be in the service provider sector. Service providers have begun to change the business landscape, and I have no doubt that they will continue to play a bigger role. For this sector, I would change what Stengel said about the Brand value being most companies’ single biggest asset to the following:  ”For business leaders in the service sector, after their people and their team the only other real asset is their Brand.”

While she’s had a lifelong interest in alternative health and holistic medicine, it was Jeannine’s own health journey that motivated her to train in this area. In her early 20s, Jeannine faced a potentially debilitating diagnosis that would make it impossible to get health insurance coverage. After being diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease by an allopathic physician countless tests, screenings, and steroids, it was through enzymes and chlorophyll that Jeannine’s problem was finally healed and hasn’t returned.

Jeannine has practiced a healthy balanced lifestyle for over 20 years. She is a raw foodist who enjoys yoga and meditation.  She dreams of scuba diving around the equator, while learning indigenous healing practices and bringing natural remedies back to her clients.

Jeannine is a mother of two and a practicing criminal defense attorney based in Orange County, CA and founder of LetYourFoodBeYourMedine.com

Join us for a brown bag lunch presentation by the founder of Without Boundaries Coaching. In this complimentary 1-hour workshop, you will learn types of conflict and unique resolution styles for each the cost of hidden conflict in your organization; plus learn how to engage your employees and increase productivity. In this open platform forum, you will learn more about the conflict resolution. You will also network with entrepreneurs and business owners in your area.

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As entrepreneurs, public speakers, and people who want to share their message with with world, it is vital to the success of our businesses that we attract potential clients and business partners.   Women in the coaching world especially want to connect with other women to inspire them and help them to transform their lives and their businesses.  Sometimes a person can want to connect so badly and so urgently that they unintentionally repel the people they are meant to help and even unconsciously push them away.

This weekend, I offered a workshop titled, “The Body, Breath, and Voice of Success: Own the Room!”  During the workshop, I had the participants stand in front of their audience, their fellow participants, and identify what they do with their bodies when they speak about their businesses.

Everyone was surprised to discover how tempting it is to lean in towards the audience in the attempt to connect with them.  This physical response to being in front of an audience is quite common and it also requires the legs muscles to tighten, the knees to lock, the lower back to grip, and the neck muscles to clench.  With all of this tension, it’s more difficult to breathe and the voice is either scratchy sounding or high-pitched.  Not very attractive.

Even more intriguing was the effect the” lean in” had on the audience.  People in the audience felt like they wanted to lean away from the speaker.  They read the body language of the speaker as saying “Please like me.”  One of the listeners noticed that she had a harder time paying attention when the speaker was unintentionally leaning in towards the audience.

When entrepreneurs and public speakers step in front of their audience, often the last thing on their mind is their body.  Add nervousness and excitement on top of that and you become tense, fidgety, uncomfortable, and scattered.  You lose the attention of your audience at best, but even worse, you can make them so uncomfortable that they are repelled and don’t want to listen to your message!

If you do get nervous or don’t feel comfortable in front of your audience yet, do not worry!  There are “tools” you can learn in order to ground yourself so you are open, dynamic, and charismatic!  You can learn how to attract your ideal clients with grace and poise.

Here are a few technique you can try when you are speaking of front of an audience:

1)  Pay attention to your feet on the ground  and your legs underneath you.  This grounds your nervous system so you are calmer.

2)  If you notice you are leaning in towards your audience, slowly allow yourself to release back into your back.  You might even feel like you are leaning backwards but it is because your body is so used to leaning forwards.

3)  Slow down…  If a speaker gets very excited, they tend to rush and push their voice out with tension.  When you take your time, your audience can really hear your words, understand them, and appreciate them.

4)  Smile in your eyes.  I will even tell my clients to have a mischievous  thought in mind.  This brightens the eyes and you literally become more attractive.  People like to be around happy people.

During the workshop, it was powerful seeing everyone release out of the “lean- in” and move up to their full height.  They looked stronger, their voice filled the room, and they drew the audience in to them.

For information about how you can work with Sharon and receive “5 Ways to Own Every Room” sign up atwww.SharonJakubecy.com.

The future of business will depend upon creativity.

The time that took us to go from being hunters and gathers to the industrialization was over five thousand years; however, the scientific revolution to information age took only 30 years to happen, and we went from the information age to digital age overnight.

The digital age is deeply organic and not linear. Just because industrialization forced us to organize and create an educational industry to secure a future that can be certain does not mean that this way of being will serve us now. In fact if the success story of a few young innovators such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg is any indication, the future of humans and business will depend upon creative individuals who clearly do not need multiple Ph. D.’s to have an impact or revolutionize our lives. Yet most schools and businesses still take a very industrial approach to their operations.

The human community has always been dependent upon creative individuals and diversity of talent.  Due to industrialization for the past hundred years or so our school systems, business, and other organizations have been too focused upon the intellectual mind. They basically have over mined the intellectual mind. There is too much attention on information transfer and not enough in cultivating creativity in these organizations. This is especially true in the business world. Although, in our recent history, we have had to depend upon gaining knowledge and words from now on this domain will be less and less relevant. The real challenge now is about cultivating and harvesting creativity in our emotional mind and body.

Unfortunately teaching these territories of learning is more an art than science. “They are more organic and less systematic. ” (Quote by Sir Ken Robinson)

The field of Organizational and Leadership coaching is where the promise of the future that can face these challenges lies. Yet leaders in government, universities, or business have a deeply dogmatic and irrelevant approach to coaching. Of course people in the business of coaching are largely to blame for this outlook. Their claim of certain expertise that is not founded on a sound practice is extremely intoxicating. The field is also affected deeply by experts who are trained professionals from other fields such as psychology.

Because of this fact, most people in corporate hire coaches mostly through their HR departments. And when they hire staff as coaches they are often given traditional HR tasks. This act lessens the value and impact that a coach can have on the leader and the team.

All teams throughout an organization need coaches to oversee their play; this is a reality that people in business must face. Coaches are not therapists, gurus or consultants. Although consultants and others from different fields address the concerns that are similar to coaching but coaching is a much bigger promise that can deliver far greater outcomes. Coaching is not here to replace rather it is a new category that must be added for the sake of addressing the new challenges that are present.

What most executives are blind to is that consultants or people is HR  are hired to provide answers to certain problem that are specific to their field, and history shows that are necessary concerns for the organization, but coaches are here to help the leader or the team to address different concerns and realize different outcomes. They are specifically here to support the team come up with their own answers. Who can tell the new Steve Jobses of the world what to do? Especially when they do not even know what people like Steve Jobs are up to.

Leaders have to take a different approach to leadership: they have to change their industrial approach to management and teams and take a more organic approach. This is more like an art form than a lenear approach. This approach is organic, relationship based, and not solution based. It leaves the problem solving to the expert and competent people and teams on the job, yet creates proper outside support from a coach or team of coaches to make sure that success metrics are met.

Coaching and coaches are here to address this critical concern. They are and will be instrumental players of creating environment that will help grow productive organizations and people. In the new age you cannot predict the outcome of a project or a venture, like making sure that you put in systems that ensures your Big Mac is delivered to your customers the same everywhere.

Since more and more businesses will be service providers in the future and are more complex, executives can only provide conditions that could provide their desired outcomes more possible.They must take a farming approach to management. It is not about cloning or copying systems; rather about customizing what works or does not work for your team or organization.

The new learning organizations of digital age are not scalable to one size fit all model. Leadership and leaders in today’s organizations must open up their minds to this new ontology. What they must realize and accept is that at the center of this new way of being are coaches and coaching. It is coaches who have the necessary expertise to address creativity, personal, and organizational development that will ensure success.

For me 2012 is going to be about taking the BIG LEAP into my stronger, deeper power so I can serve and contribute even more.

In 2011 I can celebrate some outstanding success including running a very powerfull MasterMind group for Entrepreneurs and having my very first book published. Being interwiewed on TV, seing my book becoming a best-seller and on the cover of some major magazine in France and now about to be translated in many languages. You can read all about this on my blog http://www.istopcomplaining.com)…

I have reached a great level of success but now I have a new problem…. can I sustain this level of success ? Have I reached my upper limit ? Is there more that I am meant to do ? I really want to anchor my expertise and contribute even more to society… but who am I to think that I can do that ? There is probably other people doing it better than me already ? I still have so much to learn ?
I know I can really make a difference but sometimes my fears take over my creativity and I can get lost in my confusion.

As I am embarking on this journey of growth and continuous learning in 2012, it became VERY, VERY clear that I had to create space to give birth to my bigger mission and vision.

There is no way I could create anything new, anything that would really contribute to make a difference in people’s lives if I had to do it in between clients appointments, business paperwork and family responsibilities.

So I recently decided at the end of 2011 to simplify my life. I choose to focus all my attention on the participants of my MasterMind group and then keep only a few opening for a few selected High Level VIP clients.
With my new organization, I Coach for about 30 hours a month and I can bring a decent income and the rest of my time is pretty much EMPTY !!!! but this emptiness is the cradle of my ideas and my inspiration. During that time, I dance, I exercise, I read, I meet other professionals, I create clarity in my vision and I do a lot of writing.

I need this emptiness so I can fill it with my thoughts, my ideas, my reflexion and my inspiration.
You can watch this video that is presenting the link between time and creativity.

http://youtu.be/LQhSXcyDHLA

How about YOU, do you want to create something big in 2012 ? do you have a project that you want to give birth to ? are ready to take your big leap ?
What type of EMPTINESS can you create in your agenda ? It can be an hour a day ( I wrote my 1st book from 6 to 7 am every morning) or a day a week or a week-end a month….

If you want to create some space to be inspired and become clear on your vision for 2012 , I would like to invite you to a very special event on Wednesday January 25th a 6.30pm at the beautiful and very unique Nextspace Downtown Culver City: “Wake up and Make 2012 an Outstanding Year!”. All previous workshops have filled to capacity – REGISTER NOW to secure your spot.
http://wake-up2012.eventbrite.com/

Christine believes that at the core of every professional there is a strong desire to serve and contribute. But she noticed that too many leaders in Business are frustrated and not getting the results they want.

Christine’s passion is for making sure her clients get to use their unique talents in their work so they can contribute their best and thrive. Her mission is for people to be Happy through Business !

Some of the benefits her clients experience are:

* They feel more confident professionally
* They can feel deep in their bones what makes them brilliant.
* They have less worry and confusion and more freedom
* They get to be their best and thrive.

Christine is known as an expert in being a catalyst for her client’s business’s brilliance. It’s been said that she is gifted at seeing what her clients don’t see and at bringing clarity out of confusion. Her clients say she is lively, enthusiastic and warm. She knows how to make them feel safe and confident.

Her clients say that “working with Christine is like switching on a light bulb that illuminates your way on the path to success!”

Christine is Bilingual French and English and She is serving clients in Los Angeles, Paris and everywhere.
She offers MasterMind groups programs and One on One VIP days in Los Angeles and Paris.

Christine is also an International sought after public speaker on the topics of business strategy, sales, marketing and mindset. She hosts seminars & workshops several times a year in Paris, France on ” How to Awaken the Entrepreneur in You!”.

Ms Lewicki is also the author of the French Best Seller “J’arrête de Râler!” ( I Stop Complaining)

She also writes in three other blogs:  2 languages, 1 voice , J’Arrête de Râler and the US Blog I stop Complaining!

Integrity Check For Your Business

in·teg·ri·ty

The dictionary definition of integrity is:

1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: topreserve the integrity of the empire.

3. a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition: the integrity of aship’s hull.

Does your business have integrity in these three ways?

I believe much of what’s going on in the world today – unscrupulous business practices, financial crises, lack of consumer confidence – can be traced back to lack of integrity at the core of businesses and governments.

Let’s start with the first definition of integrity: adherence to moral and ethical principles. Or, to put it simply, do what you say.

As a leader, you are responsible for setting the values and the culture of your business.  From your executive team to the maintenance person, your employees will look to you and be affected by the tone you set. If they see you lying, they will think that’s an accepted practice and follow your lead in their interactions with customers and vendors. Conversely, when your team sees you taking the honest route, they will follow suit.

What are some examples of integrity in your business?

When I work with businesses, I start with an integrity assessment <link to integrity assessment>. You can also do one right now for yourself and/or your organization.

1. Does your company run on time? Do your meetings start and end on time? Are there consequences for being late? Do your orders get delivered on time? Do your invoices get paid on time? Being on time can have a huge impact on your productivity, profitability and employee morale.
2. Do you honor your commitments? If I polled your top customers right now, what would they say about your integrity and commitments? Do your vendors and contractors get paid, or do you haggle over their invoices?
3. Do you mean what you say and say what you mean?

“I meant what I said, and said what I meant…”

Written in 1954 by Dr. Seuss in his book “Horton Hears a Who,” it is a powerful reminder today to act with character and integrity.

How do you and your employees communicate internally and with customers? Are you honest with yourself and others? Do you make realistic promises, or do you overpromise? Do your sales people the customer’s best interest in mind?

Decades of dishonesty, greed and the notion that integrity doesn’t matter have caught up to us.

By restoring integrity in our businesses, we have the opportunity to shift the business culture and increase our trust and credibility with customers.

David Giuliano is a business and conflict resolution coach and founder of Without Boundaries Coaching. For more information please visit www.withoutboundariescoaching.com