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4 Examples of Successful Leadership

By Career Guidance

Transition to a leadership role can be challenging. You may not be used to giving direction and being someone who must set an example for everyone else. Even long-time leaders know that there is always room for improvement where leadership is concerned. Leadership is especially important in the world of high-profile CEOs, venture capital investors, and the high-level professionals who support them. Here are four examples of successful leadership.

Practice Accountability

Great leaders don’t make excuses when things go awry. They take full responsible for their decisions and performance. They own up to their mistakes and work hard to become better for their team. They don’t shift the blame to their employees because they understand that part of their role as a leader is to motivate employees and make sure they live up to their potential.

Don’t Dwell on Failures

The best leaders don’t let failure bring them (or the team) down. As humans, it is natural to feel disheartened when we experience failure and often obsess over the mistakes that were made. But as a leader, you need to maintain a positive attitude. It’s important to accept failure as part of the job, learn from it, and move on. Otherwise, it’s just going take longer for you to succeed.

Action-Oriented

When there is a problem or crisis, great leaders don’t wait to take action. They acknowledge the problem and find a solution. Sometimes, leaders will take their time when they need to make an important decision because they fear making the wrong choice. Be willing to take risks. You need to inspire confidence from your employees and clients. Inaction won’t accomplish this.

Rethink Hierarchy

When most people think about the hierarchy of a business, they imagine the CEO and other executives at the top of a pyramid and everyone else is below them. Great leaders, however, don’t see themselves as the most important part of their company. They understand that one of their biggest responsibilities is to support their team and provide them with the guidance, mentorship, and resources they need to perform at the top of their game and make the company successful.

When an organization has exceptional leadership, it attracts and retains better talent. Strong leadership also ensures that your employees stay motivated and morale and productivity stay high. To improve leadership, practice accountability, learn to bounce back from failure quickly, take prompt action, and provide the team with a support system.

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Areas of Growth in High Profile C-Level Support

By Career Guidance, Hiring Strategies, Leadership

Exceptional executive support is at the heart of any successful organization. High profile C-level support is experiencing growth in several major areas, including family office directors and chiefs of staff. Below is a closer look at some of the areas of growth in  high profile C-level support.

Family Office

C-level support has become increasingly prominent in Family Office Management. Family office directors and directors of operations—the people who manage the entire family office, estate, and staff, serve a role similar to a COO. Directors can help hire staff, manage property taxes and LLCs, and handle critical HR issues. High profile Family Office businesses need experienced support staff who understand the value of confidentiality and efficiency.

Chief of Staff

Chiefs of Staff serve many crucial functions. They assist with project management, communicate with direct reports, organize board meetings, help strategize, and act as the right hand to the CEO. They problem solve and manage direct reports, often shielding the CEO from direct involvement with issues that arise. The C-level support ensures day to day operations run smoothly and leadership remains organized, strategic, and productive.

Trends in Executive Support

Five years ago, these types of support roles were not being recruited for very much. Recently that has changed. These are not run of the mill executive assistants. Salaries for these roles range from $200,000 to $500,000. In this high-tech environment, the number of millionaires and ultra-high net worth individuals has exploded. C-level support professionals usually need advanced business and administrative degrees. Some even have Doctor of Jurisprudence degrees.

Business Experience

Support staff at this level also need a high degree of experience. Often this business experience comes from serving as an executive assistant and then growing into more operational roles. Most executive assistants at the C-level also have some legal background and understand business operations. These professionals may have worked as personal estate managers, director of operations, paralegals, or attorneys. Sometimes, executive support staff grew up in the world of high-profile executives and have established connections within this dynamic and high-stakes field.

Recruiting Top Support Professionals

In the past, people didn’t actively recruit for C-level support roles. But now as the number of high-profile millionaires has increased, executive support roles have become more important than ever. When hiring for C-level support positions, seek out professionals with extensive educational, professional, and operational experience, as well as a sense of confidentiality. A recruiter steeped in this world can help you find C-level support staff who fit well with the company’s culture, operational requirements, and the executive.

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Top 7 Podcasts to Start Your Year Off Right

By Career Guidance

January is the time for a fresh start. It’s the time we put the baggage from the previous year behind us and focus on what we can do to improve. These seven podcasts will help you stay focused and inspired in 2020 so you can start the new year off right.

Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations

In Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations, Oprah interviews thought leaders, health professionals, prominent writers, and celebrities about topics that focus on being your best self. She discusses everything from forgiveness to the importance of keeping a positive mindset. Some of her guests include Cheryl Strayed, Dr. Phil, Michelle Obama, and Wes Moore.

How I Built This

How I Built This by NPR tells the story of some of the most successful companies in the world and how they became household names. The episodes centered on Airbnb founder, Joe Gebbia, are particularly insightful. He discusses how a simple idea to help himself pay rent led to a multibillion-dollar empire.

The Tim Ferris Show

The Tim Ferris Show is one of the top business podcasts in the world. Some of his guests include Neil Gaiman, LeBron James, Tony Robbins, and Reid Hoffman. In each episode, Tim Ferris analyzes a successful performer in areas including business, sports, and investing, and figures out the tools and tactics each guest used to fuel their success. He discusses topics like morning routines, time management, diet and exercise routines, and more.

Work Life

Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist. His podcast, Work Life, discusses the science of how the mind has the ability to make work enjoyable even if it isn’t your dream job, focuses on topics such as valuing feedback and turning work frustration into a source of positive energy.

Meaningful Conversations

Meaningful Conversations with Maria Shriver teaches how to use self-reflection to find meaning in life and relationships. To be your best self you have to be able to connect with the people around you.

On Purpose

On Purpose with Jay Shetty is another popular inspirational podcast. Shetty is a monk turned content creator who shares the wisdom he has gathered conversing with the people around him. He discusses topics such as making better decisions, goal setting, and how to be more present.

A Better You

A Better You by Guy Raz focuses on self-improvement. Part of the Ted Radio Hour show Raz did on NPR, he discusses how self-improvement is easy to start but hard to follow through on. He touches on the importance of embracing rejection, how to overcome fear, and more.

As the new year kicks off, many of us want to focus on improving ourselves. These podcasts will help you jump start your resolutions for 2020. Following through on your goals can help you find fulfillment in your professional and personal lives.

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As Women Get Closer to the C-Suite, Something Confounding Happens

By Career Guidance

In the United States, many young women aspire to success. Almost three quarters of female professionals start off their careers with the goal of one day reaching the C-suite. A recent study conducted by Egon Zehnder showed that while women remain ambitious through most of their career stages, their ambition drops off when they reach senior management.

Why Does This Happen?

It seems confounding that women professionals aspire to reach the C-suite but lose focus and determination just when they’re closing in on their goal. The problem is that women in the workplace face consistent challenges when it comes to career advancement. As women advance through their careers, they observe these challenges and the idea of reaching the C-suite starts to feel more farfetched. They see women being passed up for promotions for men who are younger and less experienced than them, and eventually this affects their morale.

Professional Challenges

Women in the workforce report several major challenges that influence their prospects for career advancement. Three of the biggest obstacles women face are expanding their skillsets, finding opportunities to highlight their abilities and potential, and balancing their professional and personal lives. Essentially, there aren’t enough opportunities for development and many face more pressure for work-life balance than their male counterparts. Gender and age bias are also major issues.

Diversity and Inclusion

What can we do about it? The first step is to confront age and gender bias in the workplace. Not everyone agrees on the value of diversity. While diversity helps develop a creative, forward-thinking work environment, some leaders worry diversity leads to too many differences in thought and opinion. Diversity issues tend to come from the top down. To keep women motivated, leadership needs to overcome age and gender biases and actively work to create more inclusive workplaces.

Career Advancement

Career advancement is the other key. The study also showed that women receive less mentorship and career development training the older they get. Interestingly, women in the C-suite rely heavily on mentorship, advocacy, and other career development resources. The use of these resources increases with seniority but decrease with age. Career advancement resources need to be made more available to older professionals and leadership needs to encourage female professionals to work closely with mentors throughout their career.

When women start their careers, they strive to climb the corporate ladder. But the closer women get to the C-suite, the harder it becomes for them to advance. Part of the problem is a gender and age bias, and part of the problem is a lack of consistent mentorship and career development. Now is a good time to review your organization’s efforts toward greater inclusivity, mentorship, and skills-building programs. As companies evolve to meet the needs of women in leadership roles, we’ll see fewer women’s ambition wane and more women reaching the C-suite.

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