There is a huge difference between being a manager and being a leader. For many who take the leap into business ownership, the task of becoming an inspirational and effective leader is the biggest challenge of their entrepreneurial journey. Can someone even learn how to make the transition from employee or manager to leader? Join Michael and Jim as they provide answers to this critical leadership question.
The greatest leaders develop a keen sense of perfect timing. Just like a gifted farmer, they know when to till the soil, when to plant the seeds and when to harvest. Are there times when you're too late to the market? Or when you hold onto a strategy when it's no longer bearing fruit? Join Michael and Jim as they share hard earned lessons in being a leader for all seasons.
If you're a leader, you're going to make bad decisions. And, if you've been leading for a long time, you're going to have made quite a few of them. For entrepreneurs, making decisions is a daily responsibility and the bad ones can literally take a company down. Join Michael and Jim as they share strategies on how to best remedy those inevitable slip-ups, whether they are small ones or enterprise threatening.
All dreamers must first be fools. For entrepreneurs, this is especially true in that we must often risk so much in order to pursue our dream. And so many times, we're chasing a vision that only we can see. Still, there are those occasions when the party is clearly over. When the dream has become a nightmare and we're only hanging on because we're too deluded to do anything else. Join Michael and Jim on this business critical topic.
Momentum is a welcome friend to any business owner. It's exhilarating for you and your team when you're on the right track, and picking up considerable steam. But, what happens when you suddenly realize your vision is off course and needs to take a sizable detour? Navigating through a difficult transition is one of the most challenging leadership tasks you'll face. Join Michael and Jim as they share their past stories and offer solutions in making it through the inevitable difficult patches of y...
Leaders resist change. And their teams often resist change as well. Yet, in today's world, if you're not constantly enhancing your practices, services and products, you'll be left in your competitors' dust. And sometimes, you need more than just a tweak. You may be at a point where your career or your organization needs to pivot in a whole new direction. Join Michael and Jim as they share critical insights into knowing when to pivot, and how to pivot effectively in order to create a brighter fut...
One of the most difficult entrepreneurial feats is getting partnerships to work. It seems like everyone wants to start a business with a partner, but then no one wants to stay in the partnership. It's the number one failed business model. This is because successful partners require advanced relationship skills to make them endure the test of time...and business. Join Michael & Jim as they offer hard earned insights into making partnerships work.
So many entrepreneurs have partners. So many partnerships fail. Yet, there are many of these team-based entities that thrive and are stronger with two, three and even more partners. Why is it that partnerships are so challenging? How should a business owner or organizational leader make the decision as to whether they team up, or go it alone? Before you make that decision, you must tune into this podcast episode! It could be life-changing for you as Michael & Jim share critical lessons they'...
Every business owner has faced a period of time when the bills are coming in faster than the checks. Worse are those times when the cash in the bank is rapidly running out. It's like when the fuel light turns on in the car and you're not sure you'll make it to the next station. Join Michael and Jim as they discuss strategies on how to keep your business from ending up on the side of the road.
Each and every day, entrepreneurs face a plethora of decisions to make. Many are small. But, some are quite significant. And, there are plenty of marketing campaigns and sales representatives encouraging these business owners to "Just Do It". Sometimes, these decisions include whether to open a new business in the first place. Join Michael and Jim as they share their insights into knowing exactly when you should...just do it...or not.
Struggling with the Millennials in your business? Or maybe you're a Millennial who is challenged with leading a Gen X'er or a Baby Boomer. Although no one wants to be labeled, there are broad patterns of behavioral variations across generations. As a leader, it's important to be sensitive to differences in experience and attitudes. Join Michael and Jim as they take on this hot topic and provide key insights into leading across the generation gap.
Anyone who has ever tried their hand at being a leader or entrepreneur knows the journey can aptly be described as being on a roller coaster. There are unbelievable highs. There are frightening lows. And there is often both fear and exhilaration. The reality is, you're either taking a ride...or you're being taken for a ride. Join Michael and Jim as they share their insights into developing an acumen for riding entrepreneurial roller coasters.
There is a mindset that is holding leaders back more than just about anything else. Not only will this constrain your effectiveness in leading your team, but it will send you down a daily road to disappointment and depression. Could there be one word that will free you up from this mindset? Could it change everything for you almost instantly? Join Michael and Jim for twenty minutes of mind shifting that will change you as a leader...forever.
Burn out. Depression. All too often, these are the real experiences of business owners as they face a sense of being trapping in a cage of their own making. If an entrepreneur loses their sense of vision, their feeling of hope, they will find themselves rapidly on a downward slope. Join Michael and Jim as they share their own struggles in this area and reveal how to gain victory over this common entrepreneurial affliction.
It's been a business objective for companies to have their employees feel like they are part of their corporate family. Yet, so many organizations fall short in this area because their efforts are often perceived as forced and contrived by their staff. Too few businesses are able to create a genuine sense of family. Join Michael and Jim as they explore authentic and effective ways to build a healthy family atmosphere in your company.
If you've been in business for any length of time, you probably have had to face the hounds of bill collection at some point in your career. It's one of the lowlights in the entrepreneur's film reel, but it's also one of the moments that will define them as a leader. You're discouraged as the checks fail to arrive on time, and your stomach churns as the bills flow in with "past due" stamped on them. Join Michael and Jim as they openly share their past challenges in this area and as they reveal s...
As leaders and entrepreneurs, we get it. If we don't clearly understand the needs and wants of our clients, we won't be in business for very long. Yet, this isn't always as obvious to our employees who many times are only able to see things from their own perspective. Join Michael and Jim as they share ideas on how to teach your staff to see things from a customer's viewpoint.
Leaders and entrepreneurs are uniquely adept at doing the impossible. It's how we're designed. Yet, the real challenge is leading our team through an impossible task. How do we accomplish critical, and extremely difficult assignments, without burning out our entire staff? Join Michael and Jim as they discuss this topic and provide key insights into improving this important skill in your leadership toolkit.
Many times, it's the worst thing that can happen to a leader. First, there is a knock on the door, followed by, "Boss, you've got a minute?" Having your best person letting you know they are leaving the company can ruin any business owner's day, and in many cases can cause significant damage to the company. Join Michael and Jim as they discuss how best to cope with this most unfortunate, and all too common, situation.
Maybe you hear this too often from your team: "You never listen to what we have to say." No. You don't want to be that type of leader. Because, you'll only chase away the sharpest, most creative minds. At the same time, you can't take in everyone's ideas, all of the time, or your vision will always be "under construction" and won't ever make it out of the garage. Join Michael and Jim in the 25th episode of the Two Are Gathered Leadership Podcast to get their unique insights in how to be both a g...
If you're going to be a leader. If you're going to be an entrepreneur. Then you're going to end up with knots in your stomach. By nature, leaders are always pushing things to the limit, and demanding the most out of themselves and their teams. Yet, this doesn't mean you should be a nervous wreck and a wrecking ball in your organization. There is a better way. Join Michael and Jim as they share practical methods for untying those crippling knots of tension in your life....
Anyone can start. Be a finisher. This is a powerful statement for leaders and entrepreneurs. But it's one many struggle with in a mighty way. Coming up with an idea on a cocktail napkin is the fun part of starting a business or new venture. Yet, it's the ability to reach the finish line that separates the wannabes from the highly successful. Join Michael and Jim as they provide insightful strategies that will help you and your team finish...and finish well.
Entrepreneurs and leaders are among the most innovative people in the world. Yet, this same extraordinary creative skill can prove to be a great weakness as well, as chasing butterflies can be a distraction to achieving their most business critical goals. Join Michael and Jim as they discuss this phenomenon and provide detail strategies for keeping both leaders and their teams focused on success.
In this challenging environment, providing competitive salary and benefits is essential to building a great team. But, did you know there is a motivator that your employees crave above all others? Study after study shows this critical role in your leadership responsibilities will have more impact on the long-term performance of your team than anything else. Join Michael and Jim as they share the importance of ringing the victory bell in your organization.
Every leader gets overwhelmed. In fact, the ability to deal competently in the face of overlapping priorities is one of the most critical success factors of a leader. Yet, it's also one of the most unpleasant tasks and the cause of tremendous stress, and oftentimes lack of sleep. Join Michael and Jim as they share key strategies in both avoiding and dealing with the entrepreneur's common ailment of being overwhelmed.
No one wants to work for an intolerable grump. And the truth is, few will. Yet, even the kindest, most beloved of leaders find themselves in a position at times when they must make difficult and unpopular directional shifts. In fact, if you aren't being disliked on occasion, you're probably not much of a leader. Join Michael and Jim as they dive into this challenging topic of leading successfully through controversial and uncomfortable decisions.
Could your company benefit from a dramatic boost in productivity? Would you like to increase your own ability to make the most of each and every day? If so, listen in as Michael and Jim share the productivity boosting concept of "Clutch Time", which is a lesson learned many years ago on a farm far away. This episode will change the way you approach your work habits from here on out. It will also provide you with a powerful way to inspire your team to greater success.
Every business launches with great expectations. Yet, oftentimes it doesn't take long for the daily grind, extraordinary pressures and recurring disappointments of leading a venture to take its toll on even the hardiest of entrepreneurs. Are you finding yourself a little burned out with your business? People who don't understand what's at stake will say, "Just do something else." Michael and Jim will share with you insights and strategies based on real life experience that will actually help you...
When you lead alone, you greatly reduce your odds of being successful as a leader. Even leaders are safer and stronger travelling in packs. This is especially true if they share their unique journey with other like minded, high responsibility bearing professionals. Join Michael and Jim as they discuss the many virtues of being part of a leadership peer group. They also share the secrets to making these groups strong, and how to start one from the ground up. This is much more than tactics, this i...
As a leader, how many times have you asked yourself this question: "Am I the only one here who cares?" If you're like most business leaders or entrepreneurs, this is a question posed often. But, is it healthy for us to be in this mindset? Will it destroy our team and our ultimate goals for success? Join Michael and Jim as they explore this topic and offer one powerful word that will forever change the way you think about your employees.
