The Becker Briefing - December 2022

Greetings!

Another month has passed with its own share of up and downs. However, I want to thank all my subscribers, followers, and readers in supporting the Becker Briefing thus far. And I would like to invite more of you to subscribe to future newsletters in which I share my professional life updates and some interesting topics dealing with the business and leadership world.

The holidays are in full force, and it’s usually an exciting time for most people. Regardless of what occasions you do or do not celebrate, I believe we all share the idea of enjoying each other’s company and celebrating life. Our success and our failures are apart of us. We should be grateful for what we have, strive to be better in our professional and personal roles, and be as agile as we are adaptable.

Give Thanks

The holiday season brings joy but also brings some people anxiety and sometimes sadness. They have their reasons but it’s good to reflect on what you’re grateful for, which may just be the way to lift spirits. Through gratitude, you get to show appreciation for all that you find meaningful in your life. Having gratitude can make a difference in your life. When you acknowledge the important things that you have then you may feel a boost in your mood, your can have a better outlook on life and feel ready to face challenges.

Remember to think about and thank the little things. This in itself goes missing in our daily life. With so much going on and following a busy lifestyle makes it difficult to be showing consistent gratitude. Gratitude really does help people feel more positive emotions. Those positive emotions lead to a better lifestyle since your health is better, your relationships are more sustainable, and you can deal with negatives in a better manner. Instead of thinking of what you are missing, if you express gratitude for all that you do have can greatly improve your mental well-being. It would be less likely for you to be anxious or feel depressed either.

Leadership Readiness

As you move up the ladder and get more responsibilities your status, income, and benefits grow. The desire to get into a senior leadership role is almost intoxicating, but people don’t always realize what goes into it and what it requires to be successful in those types of roles. You must realize that as you grow, each progressive step becomes harder to achieve. Each step requires more time, energy, and focus than the last. And with these changes, your work life balance also gets more difficult as you move up. There’s a certain level of leadership that is required for you to be successful as you move up the ladder in a company. However, there are times when companies prematurely promote someone to a leadership position because of the knowledge and expertise they may have on a particular subject.

The biggest reason executives fail is due to their ability to lead effectively at the level required of their role. Ultimately, it results in bad business and the people under them won’t follow. There is hope though to improve someone’s leadership skills. You need to make sure that they have a high level of motivation, self-awareness, and humility. If you aren’t motivated to improve or change, then it’s just not going to happen. Next, self-awareness is being aware of different aspects of the self, including traits, behaviors, and feelings. When we see ourselves clearly, we are more confident and more creative. But that’s not all, we also make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively. Finally, no matter how high of a role you get to, if you can’t take feedback and humble yourself to hear others’ perceptions of your leadership abilities, then you won’t be open to change. Don’t settle into what has worked for you to get you this. When you stop growing as a person, you stop expanding your mind, you stop learning new skills, and you stop improving old ones. If you feel as though you are unprepared for the new responsibilities as a senior executive, ask for someone to coach you or ask your employer for training.

Embrace Uncertainty

From an early age, we are conditioned to know the solutions to all kinds of issues. So, it’s normal that when something is uncertain, we feel stressed.?Now, instead of trying to avoid these feelings, learn to acknowledge and embrace the discomfort as an expected and normal part of the learning process. By doing this as a leader, you are shifting your mindset from a “Know it all” to “learn it all.” Many leaders might feel isolated as they face the continuous change and uncertainty in the challenges they face. Part of this sense of isolation comes from an implicit belief that they need to solve all the issues themselves.

The organizations that are most likely to succeed in this uncertain future need to be agile, able to overcome resistance to the high levels of uncertainty and change. There is a heavy need to be ready to seize new opportunities and quickly adopt new and improved ideas. Leaders need to increase their levels of communication to get rid of fears and anxiety by addressing the associated shock, resistance, confusion and possible stress associated with ongoing uncertainty and change. Business leaders need to show authority and confidence in defining new directions with specific goals in order to continue to motivate and inspire their teams. Those goals include building organizational unity of culture with values, such as honesty and trust. Learn how to lead effectively through these uncertain times and you’ll see how it affects your team and business for the better.

I hope that you enjoyed The Jim Becker LinkedIn Newsletter and that it's helpful to you!

Connect with me on these social channels where I try and share tips and thoughts regarding career or leadership advice everyday.

LinkedIn

Instagram

Twitter