Unleashing Your Inner Leader An Executive Coach Tells All

Leverage your brand of leadership for maximum results

Unleashing Your Inner Leader: Executive Coach Tells All presents the premise that there is a powerful leader inside each of us. The focus is on real life exercises and case studies to help you discover, release, and leverage your inner leader: to reach heights in your career that you never thought possible. The book discusses the individual’s impact on the organization and which professional behaviors most frequently demonstrate leadership competencies. Conduct a “forensic intervention” to find out what is going awry in your professional development, or what has gone wrong in the past, and craft a strategy to overcome obstacles, gain unmistakable clarity about yourself, and focus your abilities to match organizational needs.

Great leaders start their assessments from the inside out, and their passion is so strong that it permeates their organizations and builds the culture, regardless of rank. They inspire their teams by sharing the spotlight and encouraging coworkers to excel, operating with clean authenticity to maximize results. Unleashing Your Inner Leader helps you recognize where you fall on the leadership spectrum, and provides practical advice for shaping your brand of leadership to capitalize on your authentic capability and potential. You’ll find expert insight as an executive business coach guides you to:

• Evaluate your strengths, values, and personal impact to craft a vision for the world around you
• Discover what’s holding you back from maximum effectiveness
• Tap into your undiscovered potential, and inspire your team to excellence

• Recognize what it will take to move you and your organization to the next level

Vickie Bevenour (Coach Vickie) is a leadership strategist and owner of the coaching firm the RDW Group, Inc. Using her natural passion for excellence, she inspires and activates business leaders to use their Inner Leader all day, every day, to become the top 2 percent in their world.

Preface xiii

About Me xv

About the Book xvii

Acknowledgments xix

Chapter 1 You and Your Inner Leader 1

Part One of the Book 2

Part Two of the Book 3

Part Three of the Book 4

How to Read This Book 5

Change Model: Unleashing Your Inner Leader 6

About You 7

You and Your Inner Leader Chapter Summary 8

Part One Know Yourself…Authentically  11

Chapter 2 Strengths: Who Are You? 13

What Is a Strength? 14

Using and Leveraging Your Strengths 16

Strengths Exercise 1: Discover Your Strengths 18

Strengths Exercise 2: Building Your Strengths Statements 22

Strengths Exercise 3: Communicating Your Strengths Statements 25

When Strength Becomes a Weakness 26

Strengths Chapter Summary 29

Chapter 3 Values: What Do You Stand For? 31

What Is a Value? 32

Values Drive Decisions and Behaviors 34

When Values Are Misaligned 36

Values Exercise 1: Discover Your Values 39

Values Exercise 2: Align Your Values and Behavior 40

Values Chapter Summary 42

Chapter 4 Impact: What Do You Do? 43

Get Your Results Noticed 44

Impact Exercise 1: Build Your CAR Stories—Challenge, Action, Result 45

What Is Your Career Currency? 51

Impact Exercise 2: Use CAR Stories as a Record of Career Currency 52

CAR Stories for Career Leadership and Success 53

Impact Chapter Summary 60

Chapter 5 Personal Brand: How Do Others See You? 61

What Is a Personal Brand? 62

Personal Branding Is about How Others Perceive You 66

Are You on the Career Ledge? 68

Five Steps toward Personal Branding 71

Personal Brand Exercise 1: Who Are You? 73

Personal Brand Exercise 2: What Do You Do? 73

Personal Brand Exercise 3: What Is Your Unique Promise of Value? 74

Personal Brand Exercise 4: What Are Your Results? 75

Personal Brand Exercise 5: What Are the Benefits of Your Results? 76

Examples: Personal Brand Statements 77

Putting Your Personal Brand to Work 81

Personal Brand Exercise 6: Communicate Your Personal Brand Daily 83

Personal Brand Exercise 7: Communicate Your Personal Brand on Social Media 83

Personal Brand Chapter Summary 84

Part Two Evolve Your Inner Leader 87

Chapter 6 Productivity: How Do You Get Work Done? 89

How Disciplined Are You? 90

The Great DANE 92

Productivity Exercise 1: Eliminate the Bottom 30 Percent of Your Work 100

Productivity Exercise 2: Say No to One Work Task per Day 101

How Good Are You at Saying No? 102

Managing Your Energy for Success 104

Productivity Exercise 3: Build a Recovery Routine to Sustain Results 106

Productivity Exercise 4: Build a Long-Term Recovery Routine to Sustain Results 107

Productivity Chapter Summary 110

Chapter 7 Mentoring: Helping Others and Helping Yourself 113

What Is Mentoring? 114

Steps to Working with a Mentor 114

Mentoring Exercise: Six Steps to Find and Work with a Mentor 115

What Should I Work on with My Mentor? 117

Mentoring Chapter Summary 118

Chapter 8 Personal Language: What Does Your Language Say about You? 119

Do You Talk Too Much (and Say Nothing)? 121

Do You Ask the Right Questions? 122

Personal Language Exercise 1: Make a List of What Questions 124

Is Your Personal Language Sabotaging Your Effectiveness? 130

Personal Language Exercise 2: Change Your Favorite Phrases 131

Three Tips to Effective Personal Communication 132

Personal Language Chapter Summary 135

Chapter 9 Career Evolution: Where Are You Going? 137

What Is Your Next Step? 142

Successful Career Evolution Process Phase 1: Discover Your Story 143

Successful Career Evolution Process Phase 2: Network 147

Career Evolution Exercise 1: Appreciate Those Who’ve Helped You 154

Successful Career Evolution Process Phase 3: Interviewing 157

Career Evolution Exercise 2: Tell Your CAR Stories 158

Successful Career Evolution Chapter Summary 161

Chapter 10 Career Evolution: Building Your Leadership Legacy 163

Building Your Leadership Legacy 165

What Is Your Definition of Success? 165

Success Exercise 1: What Will Success Look Like? 166

Success Exercise 2: Uncover Your Subconscious 169

Find Future Success in Your Past 170

Success Exercise 3: Turn off the Self-Doubt and Turn up the Facts 172

Living Your Leadership Legacy 174

Career Evolution: Building Your Leadership Legacy Chapter Summary 180

Part Three Inspire Your Inner Leader  183

Chapter 11 Guiding Principles 185

Guiding Principles 186

Guiding Principles Chapter Summary 195

Chapter 12 Letting Go of Me to Get to Us 197

Letting Go of Me to Get to Us 198

Letting Go of Me to Get to Us Chapter Summary 203

Chapter 13 Reflecting on the Past to Get to the Future 205

Reflecting on the Past to Get to the Future 205

Reflecting on the Past to Get to the Future Chapter

Summary 211

Chapter 14 When You Become the Inspiration 213

When You Become the Inspiration 213

When You Become the Inspiration Chapter Summary 218

About the Author 221

Index 223

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