Positive Leadership with Dr. Dave Martin

In every work environment, there is a subtle dynamic at play: power dynamics. Commonly referred to as 'office politics', power dynamics refers to the distribution and exercise of power within any organization.

Understanding the nuances of power dynamics and, more importantly, how to use that knowledge is a key part of making any organization run smoothly. On the other hand, the misunderstanding of how power works within a particular organization can lead to a lot of dysfunctional behavior that will place great stress on the organization and may even do great harm to a leader's career. So take some time to learn the basics of power dynamics: who's got it and how to use it to benefit your organization and your career.

When I talk about leadership, many people I talk to don't think the topic relates to them because they mistakenly believe that to practice leadership, they have to be 'in charge;' they have to have an official title to practice leadership.

Nothing could be further from the truth. At its core, leadership is about influence. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less. I have witnessed far too many managers who have official titles but can't lead their organizations because they are clueless about influencing people. I have also witnessed people at the organization's frontline who are not in charge but are tremendous informal leaders because they have developed this knack for influencing people at every level.

In this episode, I explore how to lead when you are not in charge and discuss some practical tips for leading when you're not in charge. Enjoy.

Cybersecurity - that is the security of your digital assets - is important for every organization. In this short podcast, I talk about how the leader sets the tone for creating a culture of cybersecurity within their organization.

In today's ultra-competitive corporate and organizational environment, leaders need to develop a laser-like focus on their customers, clients, and the markets they serve. Leaders must also be flexible, open to change (often at a moment's notice), and also be concerned with always improving their efforts to develop products and services. This is where agile leadership comes into play.

Agile leadership is loosely based on a methodology that was first used in the software development industry in the early 2000s. Agile quickly spread to many other industries and organizations, as the incredible of using this leadership methodology became too significant to ignore.

In this podcast, I talk about agile leadership at length by discussing my journey into the use of agile leadership. Enjoy!

In this final podcast on Emotional Intelligence, I take an in-depth look at some advanced soft skills that are an important part of the emotional intelligence equation; teamwork, problem-solving, and building professional relationships with all of your professional contacts. These more advanced soft skills are often underrated by leaders of all professions, especially the skill and time that it takes to build professional relationships with everyone in the workplace, be it your team, your bosses, your customers, and even your key stakeholders. Yet those that take the time to develop these advanced soft skills will find that they are often called upon to step in as leaders because they are known as having such great abilities to work with people in a wide variety of situations, and will often rise to the top of the organization based on the strength of their relationships.

I apologize for taking such a long time off between podcasts; I had some personal and health issues to attend to. I'm glad to be back.

I want to continue on with our Emotional Intelligence series by talking about the 4th element of EI; empathy and compassion. I've recycled an earlier podcast I did on this subject that is very relevant to our discussion of Emotional Intelligence. Sit back and enjoy.

The internal motivation that drives a leader is an important part of emotional intelligence.  In this episode, I talk about how to improve your own internal motivation and why that is so important to leadership, and why it is such an important part of the emotional intelligence equation. 

Just another shout-out to my continued listener support.

Positive Leadership has now been heard in:

- 28 Countries 

- 34 of the 50 United States (and Washington DC)

- 96 US Cities

We are up to 56 episodes and they've been downloaded 1526 times.  

Again, thanks for your listening support, and as I always say when I sign off, I'll talk to you again ... real soon!

The last time we talked about Emotional Intelligence, we talked about the need for a leader to have a strong emotional self-awareness, especially about being self-aware of how their emotions affect others in the workplace. Well closely tied to this need for self-awareness, Is the need to control your emotions in your interactions with your subordinates, peers, and even your bosses. It does one little good to be self-aware of your emotions if you have little control over them.

NOTHING will strip you of your right to authentic or inspirational leadership quicker than your loss of self-control. One of the hallmarks of great leaders is their ability to stay ‘cool, calm, and collected’ even in the worst circumstance when the world seems to be coming apart around them. Leading during times of great crises requires a great deal of self-control. Improving our self-control is a vital part of improving our emotional intelligence.

In this episode, we are traveling down the path of trying to improve our own emotional intelligence.  How do we do that?  It starts with a desire for self-awareness that comes from our desire to also be spiritually aware - that is, our drive to understand the higher purpose for life outside of ourselves.  

I make the argument that if we don't start from a place of our own spiritual awareness, we can't really hope to become self-aware, because we are too consumed with our own needs and passions.  People that are driven from a place of extreme self-centeredness don't make good leaders, because they are usually to be too self-absorbed to become self-aware or consider how their emotions affect others.  It is only through our desire to seek out a greater good that we can begin to improve our self-awareness.

I finish this episode by discussing some ways we can practically improve our self-awareness.  It is the emotional intelligence component that all the other EI components depend on - and if we don't improve our self-awareness, we won't be able to improve any other component of our own emotional intelligence.

In the last episode on emotional intelligence,  we developed a good operational concept of emotional intelligence.  We said that emotional intelligence was this capacity that someone had to “be aware of, control, and express their own emotions” in such a way as to create positive interactions with people that led to positive relationships.  Then we took a deeper look at what this meant and broke emotional intelligence into its five elements or components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

So, how should we use emotional intelligence and our emotional intelligence skills in the workplace? To answer that question,  in this episode, we’ll explore each component of emotional intelligence and present some solid examples of how leaders use each one of the elements to either diffuse a potentially explosive work situation, deal with conflict, or use emotional intelligence to enhance and improve the workplace.

Daniel Goleman, a well-known author and psychologist who did some of the best-known research on emotional intelligence (or EI), found that “truly effective leaders are distinguished by a high degree of emotional intelligence.” Goleman says, “without it, a person can have first-class training, an incisive mind, and an endless supply of good ideas, but he still won’t be a great leader."

Many studies have been conducted about emotional intelligence since Goleman’s groundbreaking work in the late 90s. They have pretty much all backed up his initial results.

Because emotional intelligence is so important to great leadership, I've decided to spend the next few episodes of positive leadership discussing this vital topic. I want to break this discussion around into basically three areas. I’m going to spend the rest of this episode talking about the attributes of emotional intelligence. Then in the next episodes, having taken the time to really understand what emotional intelligence is, will break down how to use it in the workplace and how specifically as leaders, we can all improve our emotional intelligence.

In the last episode, I talked about the importance of lifelong career development. At the end of the episode, I promised to talk about leadership's role in career development. It’s an important role, but unfortunately, few managers and leaders actively engage in this vital role.

Professional development matters to employees because they know how vital good career development is to help them improve their skills and knowledge, which holds out the promise of career advancement and increased job satisfaction. According to a survey by LinkedIn Learning, 94% of the employees who took this survey said they would stay with a company longer if the company would take the time to invest in their career development. The same survey found that 78% of employees would even take a pay cut to work for a company that invested in their career development.

This entire idea of career development is so important to most professionals that its absence can actually lead to increased turnover. So if a leader cares about long-term employee retention and satisfaction, they will take some time out of their busy days to develop long-term strategic professional development plans for themselves and their employees and staff.

Everyone needs to approach their career development from a lifecycle perspective, rather than narrowly focusing on a specific career or industry. Why? Well, it’s always been the case that an individual’s career can be somewhat in flux. However, in the last 20 years, with the extremely rapid development of the Internet, and as we approach what many people call web 3.0, this idea of managing one’s career from a lifecycle or lifespan approach is more important than ever. It also has become an important aspect of most Western knowledge economies.

In this episode, I define the lifecycle career development approach, discussing the various phases, the importance of keeping up with occupational trends, and the technical and 'soft skills' needed for continuous lifelong career development.  Staying flexible, keeping current with marketplace occupational trends, and engaging in life-long learning to constantly upgrade your technical and soft skills during your entire working life will ensure that you will be successful today and in the future.

Welcome to my 50th episode of Positive Leadership and my first one of 2023!

I thought a good way to start the New Year would be to talk about the importance of innovation. Innovation is a key driver of economic growth and is essential for businesses to stay competitive in today's rapidly changing world. 

But driving innovation in large organizations and large corporations is usually a tall order.  By their very nature, large organizations create some pretty significant barriers to innovation that can only be overcome by intentional leadership. 

I conclude this episode by talking about those barriers and suggest some practical, positive ways that leaders can overcome these barriers and help develop organizations that value innovation.  Enjoy!

Dr. Dave disagrees with those who don't believe encouragement is an important attribute of leadership, but with those respected leadership experts who say it is a core element of leadership.

In this episode, Dr. Dave uses the stories from some of the legends surrounding General Ronald Fogelman and President George Bush Sr as examples of leaders who were known for their eagerness to encourage everyone around them.  It is part of their lasting legacy.

Being known as an encouraging leader can be part of your legacy as a leader as well.

You just got that new promotion or the new job that you always dreamed of getting one day.  But now that you're in the job, you have some real anxieties that perhaps you're in over your head and you're not ready to take on that new position.  

These are quite normal feelings to have.  It's a phenomenon called the imposter syndrome.  

In this episode of positive leadership, I talk about the imposter syndrome; what it is, and how to quickly overcome it.  It's a good listen for anyone who is struggling with feelings of inadequacy that often comes with taking on a new job or position with more responsibility.

Thanks to SMSgt Joseph Hunt of the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron at Osan AB for giving me the inspiration for this important episode.  Enjoy!

Unfortunately, what often passes for leadership is nothing more than positional power.  A charismatic business entrepreneur who has positional power can often achieve great results. Still, it comes at a horrible price for their subordinates, the organization, and even the country as a whole. 

After taking Elon Musk to task for his 'hard-core' work philosophy, Dr. Dave makes a case for replacing this positional power (which is often very abusive) with real compassionate and empathetic leadership.  He points out that people who work longer hours are not more effective or efficient, but rather it's how people are treated that makes for a productive organization where people want to really come to work.  Enjoy!

This is a self-awareness podcast - something important to every aspiring leader.  If you are frustrated with your position in life, move on to more exciting opportunities - but close the door on your current situation first.

Far too many organizations today lead by "exception management" because they have lost the focus on their primary mission and goals.

In this episode, Dr. Dave explores why organizations lose their focus and discusses some practical ways for leaders to refocus their organizations.

In the competitive global marketplace, you must add value to your work. Don’t be shy about telling people how you contribute. 

Great products and services don’t ‘just happen.’ They require as much planning, leadership, and shepherding in the implementation process.  As a leader, hat’s the value you add to the process – make sure everyone else knows it. The survival of your career may depend on it.

Over the many years that I have been in the workplace, I have observed a lot of really bad - I mean awful - management practices.  Whenever I observed something bad, I would make a mental note to NEVER, EVER be guilty of it myself.  

I have shared some of my worse observations, so you can also learn to be an observer of bad management just so you won't ever be guilty of it yourself.  

Creating a professional, studio-quality podcast can seem like a very intense, time-consuming process.  That's why I think many people who would like to create podcasts don't do so - they don't think they have the time.

It certainly doesn't have to be that way.   I want to show you my process for creating very professional, studio-quality 8 to 10-minute podcast episodes in as little as two to two-and-a-half hours, from an idea to the final studio-quality podcast that people will enjoy. 

While quite a departure from the previous positive leadership podcasts, I was encouraged to put together this podcast in which I outline all the steps of my podcast system; the hardware, the process, and the software used in creating these podcasts.  I have used this process to create podcasts on vital leadership topics.  In just four-and-a-half months of using this system, my audience has grown to include listeners in 21 countries on 5 continents and 26 of the 50 United States.  I hope you find this podcast useful as a tool to start your own podcast, whatever the topic may be.

We finish our little mini-series on virtual teams with a look at some automated collaborative software applications.  Dr. Dave discusses how he uses various collaborative software suites to engage with his virtual team members.

In the previous two episodes on virtual teams, Dr. Dave discussed the nature and unique characteristics of the virtual team environment.  In this episode, Dr. Dave turns his attention to the core theme of this mini-series on virtual teams and remote employees, that is, how to properly lead virtual teams and remote employees to get the very best from their efforts.

Studies show that well-led virtual teams are consistently more productive than their traditional office counterparts.  Yet the overwhelming number of discussions concerning remote teams is how to 'control them' more effectively and efficiently.  Dr. Dave says the problem isn't the remote workforce, it's managers and leaders who have not been trained to lead these remote teams.  Dr. Dave finishes the podcast by offering practical and positive advice on how to lead, rather than control, the virtual teams to allow them to become some of the best employees you'll ever have.

Remote teams are becoming commonplace in today's work environment, even in this post-pandemic era of work.  Well-led virtual teams hold out the great promise of increased efficiency, reduced costs, and greater productivity when compared to traditional brick-and-mortar teams.  Yet, at the same time, remote teams provide managers with unique leadership challenges.  Such is the paradox of virtual and remote teams.

In this episode, Dr. Martin discusses both the benefits and challenges of virtual teams. Before they can effectively lead virtual teams, leaders in every industry must become familiar with both the benefits and challenges of remote teams, as they are the future of work.

A recent in-depth study of the American work environment by the well-known consulting firm McKinsey revealed that at the beginning of 2022, over 92 million Americans were working remotely in virtual teams.  The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the nature of work. Despite the attempts of many more traditional managers to 'bring back the old days' of the brick-and-mortar office, it certainly appears that there is no going back.

The role of positive leadership is even more important than ever because these virtual environments pose some unique challenges that even seasoned leaders have never experienced before.  So join Dr. Martin as he looks at the very nature of the remote work environment and discusses such issues as setting goals in a remote environment, remote collaboration, virtual team management tools, the importance of chat and email etiquette, and other unique challenges of the remote work environment. 

While some companies seem to go out of their way to keep their teams young (despite all the age discrimination laws), the reality is that most companies find their organizations are staffed with multi-generational teams.  In this episode, Dr. Martin talks about the challenges and the necessity of leading multi-generational teams.

In this episode, Dr. Dave draws on a real-life story from the time he was a young lieutenant to talk about the need to practice courageous leadership, no matter what your age.  Being a courageous leader means that you will always take the moral high ground and do what is right - for you, for your people, and the organization.  Enjoy!

The title says it all. Enjoy! I think this is one of the most important podcasts that I have done.

A vital characteristic of any leader is their ability to make good decisions - especially in a crisis.  In this podcast, Dr. Dave explores the importance of making good decisions, ones that are timely, accurate, and based on the best information available. 

Your front-line workforce needs to know that you value their contributions to the organization or the business.  In this episode, Dr. Dave talks about the importance of taking some time out to celebrate achievements. 

In my many years as a leader, a follower, and a student of leadership, I have often wondered what defines great leadership and great leaders.  Certainly, great leaders have many defining characteristics, but where does the desire to embody these traits come from?  There were a lot of men and women in history that held positions of importance but could hardly be defined as great leaders. So what separates truly great leaders from the rest of us?

Dr. Dave says that the answer comes from how great leaders view their calling.  Great authentic leaders all feel they are answering a noble calling.  In this episode, Dave explores what it means to be an authentic leader who answers a noble calling.

Recently, there has been a host of articles on social media about a phenomenon called 'quiet quitting.'  I'm not sure where the concept came from, because my understanding is this is just another catchy phrase for employees who have become disengaged at work.

This is not a new phenomenon, however.  Many studies have shown that employee engagement is a real problem in the corporate workplace.

In this episode of Positive Leadership, Dr. Dave suggests some ways to increase employee engagement at work. 

Last Saturday, I listened to a leadership podcast where I heard a Human Resources manager talk about the importance of developing 'safe spaces' at work.

Safe spaces at work? That's kind of a scary idea.

In what is sure to be one of my more controversial podcasts, I make an impassioned case against this idea of 'safe spaces' in the workplace.  They don't help anyone face the brutal fact that the work environment can be brutal and tough sometimes, just like life. Creating 'safe spaces' only encourages people to flee from their problems rather than face up to them and overcome them.

Leaders don't need to create 'safe spaces.' Leaders must encourage their people to grow, adapt, be resilient, face their problems, and overcome them. 

During the time we spend on the internet, we are all exposed to these 'enticements' about how to get rich on the internet.  Just start your own company or go work for an Internet start-up.  Fame, fortune, and riches will all soon be yours.

But is it really that simple?  Hardly.  Research shows that 9 out of 10 startup companies fail, and even 75 percent of all those funded by venture capitalists will eventually fail.

So why go to work for a startup? That's a good question, and in this episode of positive leadership, Dr. Dave wants you to dig a little deeper and ask yourself four very good questions about uncertainty, risk, promises of reward, and work-life balance.  Your answers to these questions will help you in your decision because you need to make this decision with your eyes wide open.

In this episode, Dr. Dave talks about how important respect is - in leadership, in the workplace, and in life.

When leadership styles clash in the organization they can cause envy, jealousy, and other dysfunctional behavior among front-line staff.  Productivity can really take a hit as a result.  In this episode, Dr. Dave explores some of the causes of envy and jealousy in the workplace and talks about how leaders can minimize this issue and create a work environment where everyone can thrive.

Your success in any career in today's knowledge economy is based on your willingness to learn about the technologies in your particular industry.  In today's and tomorrow's economy, this need to always update your personal skills will never stop.   So don't ever stop thinking about your professional growth.  Don't stop thinking about tomorrow.

In this episode of Positive Leadership, Dr. Dave discusses how vital 'keeping your cool' is to leadership.  As a leader, you're the person everyone looks to for guidance on how to deal with crisis situations, whether it's a major system crash, a very bad financial crisis that threatens the company, or even an unforeseen accident or natural disaster.  As a leader, if you can't keep your head about you in these situations, the crisis situation may go from bad to worse, causing tragic consequences and even loss of life.  Crises are the crucible of leadership, it's vital that you 'never lose your cool.'

I recently watched some YouTube videos where the host talked about different great leadership books they had recently read.  I thought this would make a great podcast.  So in this episode, I discuss five books I view as classics.  I think these five books should be on every leader's reading list, whether you are an aspiring leader or a seasoned veteran.

I have a particular bias against meetings in the corporate workspace.  I loathe them.  Eighty to Ninety percent of your meetings are unnecessary, especially in today's communication-on-demand work environment.

But if you absolutely feel you MUST have meetings, I'm offering practical tips to make them more productive.

If your organization was faced with a major disaster in the next 24 hours, would it survive?  Would it? 

 You can't fly by the 'seat of your pants' when it comes to dealing with unexpected events.  If that's your idea of planning for unexpected contingencies, your organization might not survive the next major crisis it encounters - and we all encounter disasters in our life, so we have to be prepared for them.

In this episode, Dr. Dave talks about the importance of contingency planning and gives his listeners some great practical advice on identifying risks and creating a contingency plan.  He concludes by saying the best plans are useless if they aren't tested and gives senior leaders some advice on setting the tone for contingency planning.

So many young people coming out of college right into the workplace by into the myth of their individual hard work above all else.  Then, after performing very well for a decade or so, they are asked to step into management and leadership roles where many fail miserably.  Why?  Because they didn't take the time to learn how to build alliances in the workplace and, when faced with the opportunity to lead, have no idea where to begin.  In this episode, Dr. Martin talks about the importance of building these alliances and gives the aspiring leader some tips based on some of his real-life experiences. 

In this episode, I talk about how critical it is for a leader to write and speak well.  These two 'soft skills' are so essential to a leader that if you haven't mastered them, your leadership, even perhaps your entire professional career, will stall out.  I illustrate some examples from my own career where these two traits were essential to my professional advancement.

We often feel like the only way we can get ahead as aspiring leaders is to take on every single project that senior leaders throw our way.  I mean that's how business is done, right?  Well, not so fast, says Dr. Dave.  Taking on every single project that you're assigned may just be the way to a divorce or an early grave.

In this episode, Dr. Martin talks about the importance of learning how to say no.  He gives you several steps for doing it in such a way that most senior leaders will discover when you have too much work.  And those bosses who insist that you routinely work 70-90 hours just to get things done?  He has some words for them, but also suggests that if there is no way to change this environment, that leaders owe it to themselves to perhaps look for more favorable work environments.