Gary Vaynerchuck is a successful entrepreneur, author, and CEO of VaynerMedia. Among marketing professionals, he is known for his skill in social media marketing and brand building in the digital space. He is also known for tireless work ethic. He has frequently pointed to gratitude as his motivation. He wrote: Knowing that I was born…
Leadership Communication
How Should I Confront My Leader?
In my latest book, How to Ruin Your Life, I share how isolation typically leads to destruction. Leaders are not the only ones who face the temptation to abandon community, but the temptation for isolation is strong for leaders because they can use the guise of “it is lonely at the top.” Since writing the…
The Biggest Way People on Your Team Know You Value Them
Unless you are a robotic leader without any heart, you want your team to know you care for them. More specifically, you want each person on the team to know he or she is valued. When there is a healthy relationship between team member and supervisor, work is much more enjoyable and rewarding. When trust…
3 Phrases That Continually Betray Leaders and Team Members
On healthy teams, dialogue can be robust and transparent. When there is trust, communication can be open and honest. Getting to solid decisions can happen much faster on teams that trust one another. When there isn’t trust, even routine decisions take insane amounts of time as people waste time building alliances with pre- and post-meetings…
3 Small Actions to Make Your Leadership Meeting More Effective
I recently filmed a video for all those who serve on our team in our stores—2600 folks who daily help believers navigate their faith journey. Right as I was about to begin filming, a leader in our store operations wisely and respectfully reminded me to try and stay under five minutes because of how much…
5 Characteristics of Meetings That Develop (Not Deteriorate) the Team
Meetings can be used to develop the culture of the team, or they can be used to deteriorate the culture of the team. Meetings can be used to develop people, or they can be used to demoralize people. There really is no such thing as neutral meetings. They either develop or deteriorate. Here are five…
Starting a YouTube Channel: An Update and a Video
A little over a year ago Chris Martin suggested I take some of the blogs/articles I have written and turn them into five minute Facebook Live videos. For the last few years Chris has been the one to nudge me in all things social media. I agreed to give it a shot, so we started…
3 Practical Ways to Crush Meetings without Crushing the People in Them
There is a big difference between crushing a meeting and crushing people in the meeting. I first heard that phrase from Carey Nieuwhof when Todd Adkins and I joined Carey for a recent podcast. Leaders must learn to crush meetings, to lead them effectively. They must utilize them to communicate clearly, to ensure the team…
4 Ways Leaders Can Express Gratitude to Those They Manage
Max Depree once said that the best people on your team are really volunteers, no matter if you pay them or not. They are volunteers because they can utilize their skills and talent elsewhere and they choose to utilize them on your team. Which means, of course, that you must lead with much more than…
3 Reasons You Must Have a Strategy if You Blog
As I shared recently, I never intended to become active on social media. My boss intended it for me and I am glad he did. It has helped me formulate thoughts more clearly, has pushed me to keep learning, and has broadened the types of people I can connect with. At first, I did not…