First impressions are everything. Nowhere is that more true than for the new manager.
This talk delves into the most common mistakes made by new managers, examining why they happen and how to avoid them. Too many mistakes too soon and your ship is sunk before you’ve had a chance to set sail.

-Gain insights on how to build a foundation of trust with employees from which all future success will flow
-Learn how a little proactivity with employees will prevent a lot of reactivity (and a lot of headaches!) down the road
-Discover how to increase self-awareness and develop your managerial style
-Explore the sociological realities of being in a leadership role

Organizational cultures, like people, have their own personality and values. You can feel it as soon as you enter and begin interacting with those they employ. In this talk, we’ll cover the five common characteristics found in successful organizations.

- Explore the importance of corporate identity
- Examine the role organizational values play for both internal and external customers
- Discover the importance of authentic communication
- Identify how to increase organizational trust

The work of a leader is different. The skill set that made you a great individual contributor isn't enough. It's not about what you can individually accomplish, but what you can accomplish through others. And that's where the complexity begins. Success as a leader is directly related to your emotional intelligence - your self-awareness, your ability to regulate your emotions, your ability to empathize and connect with your employees. Intelligence doesn't guarantee your success as a leader, but emotional intelligence will.

- Identify the importance of self-awareness
- Discover the principles and benefits of self-management
- Examine how to identify other’s emotions and personalities
- Discover how to influence and impact perceptions and emotions in others

- And Other Life Lessons from Dr. Seuss
Fun is good. Could we all use a little more of it? We sure could. Dr. Seuss set out to liberate children's imaginations. One of his enduring principles was to respect children's ability to understand the world around them and thus included life lessons in all his stories for kids of all ages. Where we end up, I really don't know, but oh the places we'll go.

- Recognize the importance of fun and creativity in one’s personal and professional life
- Identify profound life lessons that emerge from stories
- Reconnect with one’s inner child

Recreation contains the word recreate. Recreation is literally an opportunity to re-create ourselves. We need time to play, frolic, explore, and renew. Individuals often report that they had no idea how stressed and anxious they were until they left an unfulfilling job. And even those that love their work, need to take a break. Creating space to learn, relax, and contemplate is a lost art, but essential for contentment.

- Identify why cultures glorify staying busy
- Recognize how we created our current stressed-out state and the interventions necessary to create a new existence
- Identify the benefits of vacation, travelling, creativity, and play
- Explore the concept of contentment

It is a fact that if you combine people, a common environment, and enough time there will be conflict. It is not a possibility, but an inevitability. We must then learn to plan, prepare, and manage this conflict in a healthy manner. Dealing with conflict can be intimidating, but there are tangible team and organizational benefits that transpire when we are not only able to deal with it in a healthy, mature manner, but also harness it’s energy for good.

- Identify the common causes for interpersonal and organizational conflict
- Recognize and manage emotions associated with conflict
- Explore effective tools and tips on how to dialogue and have productive conversations

Identifying difficult people...that's the easy part. Dealing with them? Well, that's a different story. Hoping and wishing that things will somehow get better hasn't worked. You need tools and strategies to deal with the stressful, emotional, and difficult interactions that occur. Keep your cool. Take a deep breath. (And maybe even bring a mirror to take a look at yourself.) This presentation will give you practical, everyday skills to deal with those challenging individuals in your circles.

- Explore the characteristics of difficult individuals
- Define a “difficult person”
- Identify effective strategies to cope with challenging people and behaviors
- Examine how to communicate authentically, calmly, and effectively

How Your Personality Can Hinder or Help Your Personal Effectiveness
Most of us would agree that connecting with others is largely about speaking their language. The problem is that because of our personalities and how we are hard-wired, we are often communicating in different languages. In this session, we will explore the foundational personality principles based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and how we can apply that understanding to our everyday interactions with others. The first step is understanding our own preferences of communicating and interacting in the world. Once we recognize that, we then can begin to look for clues on how others prefer to communicate and interact and adjust our influence accordingly. But it begins with a solid foundation of self-awareness of who you are and how you come across to others. This interactive, information-packed session will get you talking (or mulling- depending on your personality) about your relationships in a way you've never done before.

- Accept the notion that we tend to see others as broken versions of ourselves
- Recognize that individuals have different personalities and communication styles
- Identify your personality, preferences, and communication style
- Understand how to recognize differences in others
- Adapt your personality and communication style to improve your interpersonal effectiveness

Life is about choices and in this day and age we have more choices than ever.  In fact, we can get overwhelmed and paralyzed by all of the options. Life IQ is about figuring out who you are, what kind of life you want to lead, and making the choices to achieve it.  Simple tools such as self-awareness, personal values, time/life investment, and personal and career goals will bring much needed clarity for the huge questions (marriage, kids, career) and the everyday questions (What should I have for lunch?).  

- Make faster and more confident decisions
- Increase self-awareness
- Identify and incorporate personal values
- Determine how and where you invest your time and life
- Explore personal and career goal setting

How to Attain Success in Your Personal and Professional Life
Successful people have certain characteristics in common. These individuals are in our circles. They encourage us, inspire us...we are better for having known them. Over fifteen years ago, I made a list of my favorite people on earth and began to examine their influence and what made them so special. I found that each of them was a S.T.A.R. and I uncovered the characteristics that led to their personal and professional success.

- Identify the importance of self-awareness
- Discover the power of self-regulation
- Determine the sources of self-confidence
- Explore the importance of being teachable
- Identify the characteristics of ambitious individuals
- Explore the importance of resiliency in dealing with life’s challenges

Work/life balance is an outdated concept.  In a technological world where we are constantly available, working with individuals in different time zones and all over the world, the idea that work has a set time that begins and ends is now the exception and not the rule.  We need a new paradigm in how to approach and integrate work and life that reflects our goals and values. Working smarter, not harder involves prioritizing the minutes in our days and applying our values in how we live our lives.

- Explore the history of work in our culture
- Identify the role work plays in our lives
- Examine one’s ideal integration of work and life
- Determine the correlation between money and happiness
- Assess how saying “no” can ultimately get you what you want