DANCING WITH MONSTERS

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Allow me to introduce Joe.??Joe is a down on his luck vampire and the protagonist in my upcoming book Dancing with Monsters.??Joe has lost his confidence and feels stuck.??A monster’s main job is to scare children, and yet that no longer seems as easy as it once did.??Worse yet, the administration in Monster Land thinks the solution might be to make him lead a team of other misfit monsters with even less ability!

The process was painful, but he did it.??He grappled with his own imperfections, eventually realizing they are just unique traits to be appreciated and leveraged.??He helped his quirky team realize the same thing.??Then he just followed the advice his grandfather gave him at vampire camp many years earlier.??

Grandpa explained leadership like this:??you just have to respect them – which means don’t be a dictator, be straight with them, help them see the glass half full, and don’t act – because they’ll know.??So that’s what Joe did, and this advice helped him turn a rag-tag group of underperforming monsters into the most innovative scare machine ever seen in Monster Land.??

A lot of people use complex models and rules to explain leadership.??I find that the best approaches are simple.??I expand on these and others simple ideas in the book’s discussion section.??

What about you???Have you found yourself stuck like Joe???How did you get moving again???What about leadership???Do you have a simple idea or rule that works???Share it with us!??Dancing with Monsters will be published in April of 2023.??

TODD’S TIPS

A presentation tip:??stop apologizing!??Never say, “I’m sorry,” “wait I forgot,” or “I apologize.”??If you make a mistake, pause, collect your thoughts, and keep going as if everything is just fine.??Don’t explain your errors when presenting… unless it’s a factual issue that truly matters.??If it’s a non-essential faux pas or a delivery error, (e.g., you forgot something, used the wrong word, have a small error on a slide) just keep moving.??Normally I preach what it means to own your decisions and your behavior, but not with most errors during a presentation.??When you address them, you make them bigger, it ruins your momentum, and it creates doubt about you.??Mistakes happen – just move on!

WHAT’S UP WITH DR. D?

Course news:??Writing is now complete for the next four courses.??We will shoot them in my studio in two weeks!??Topics include sustainable engagement, leading in every direction, judging your growth as a leader, and this super fun course:??the top ten rules for highly effective leadership (ten of my all-time favorite leadership best practices).??

Speaking:??I just delivered a virtual keynote for a few hundred young leaders at the Naval Information Warfare Center – too fun.??Good people doing important work.??Next up is a gig for a bunch of teachers and staff at a school district in Houston.??I love education audiences.??In fact, I just booked a big one in Portland, Oregon in September for the national meeting of school business officers.??Most of my audiences are corporate – which is wonderful – but a change of pace is great too!?

Dancing with Monsters:??I found an illustrator!??I’m excited to see how he brings my characters to life.??In other news:??my publisher BenBella Books just signed up a new author for his next book.??Maybe you’ve heard of him???It’s Patrick Lencioni – the single most successful business fable book writer in history.??Kinda cool.?

Until next time – stay safe, go learn something, maybe help someone, or at least do something interesting!

All my links in one place:??https://linktr.ee/drdewett.?

All previous newsletters here:??https://bit.ly/3zbXVqa.