The Story Behind the Story

A couple weeks ago I was interviewed by Working Motherhood, and our interview went live this past week. I have to admit I was nervous as I prepared for this conversation. I was going to open up and discuss being a mother and business woman, a topic that I’ve always loved to talk about and have a lot of experience in. However, I knew the interviewer’s questions would demanded answers that were so different from my past answers!

The simplest question, “Tell us about your children?” broke me out into a cold sweat. (more…)

Showing confidence while you lead is extremely important. I’ve found there are two types of leaders when it comes to how they express their confidence.

1. A Confident Leader – This type of leader shows their confidence on the outside with their presence. It’s how they walk into a room, the tone and words they use, and the power
   they possess.
2. A Leader with Confidence – This leader shows their confidence by their humility. They give power away by empowering others and they are okay not being the smartest person in the room. Their tone and words impact and inspire others.

Some might think this second type of leader is weak because they show their vulnerability. However, it’s just the opposite; it’s their healthy level of confidence that allows them the courage to show all of who they are. They don’t hide behind a confident outside. Others benefit from knowing and experiencing all of them.

Confidence only on the outside is arrogance. This type of leader can be seen as a pretender, which will lead followers to want to relocate themselves in search of different leadership. (more…)

This week I attended a webinar hosted by Dan Rockwell (Leadership Freak blogger) as he interviewed Stephen M. R. Covey on the crisis of trust. If you attended this learning event, I think you’ll also agree that it was an excellent webinar, and Covey made some great points about trust and leadership. One, in particular, struck a chord with me as he talked about the importance of vulnerability in regards to leadership and in building trust.

He said, “Vulnerability is influence-ability.” Now, that, my friends, is a powerful statement! And what is leadership, again? Influence! So, vulnerability increases our ability to influence (lead) others. (more…)

I couldn’t stand it any longer. I can only take looking at streaked and water stained windows so long, and my tolerance was at its end. So this weekend, on a whim, I geared up with last week’s newspaper and a bottle of Windex and prepared to attempt what few seek out to do… clean windows. I only needed to clean a couple of windows, but my Maximizer strength kicked in and before long I had all the windows facing the front and the side of the house cleaned inside and out!

How did such a small project lead to such a large undertaking? Well, I made a rookie window-cleaning mistake. (more…)