Positive Leadership with Dr. Dave Martin

In every work environment, there is a subtle dynamic at play: power dynamics. Commonly referred to as 'office politics', power dynamics refers to the distribution and exercise of power within any organization. Understanding the nuances of power dynamics and, more importantly, how to use that knowledge is a key part of making any organization run smoothly. On the other hand, the misunderstanding of how power works within a particular organization can lead to a lot of dysfunctional behavior that will place great stress on the organization and may even do great harm to a leader's career. So take some time to learn the basics of power dynamics: who's got it and how to use it to benefit your organization and your career. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

It has been just over one year since I started the Positive Leadership Podcast. This is just a shoutout and a “Thank-you” to all of my listeners and subscribers. This podcast has proven more popular than I ever thought possible, so thanks to everyone and I’m all ears for ways to make it even better in the year ahead. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

When I talk about leadership, many people I talk to don't think the topic relates to them because they mistakenly believe that to practice leadership, they have to be 'in charge;' they have to have an official title to practice leadership. Nothing could be further from the truth. At its core, leadership is about influence. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less. I have witnessed far too many managers who have official titles but can't lead their organizations because they are clueless about influencing people. I have also witnessed people at the organization's frontline who are not in charge but are tremendous informal leaders because they have developed this knack for influencing people at every level. In this episode, I explore how to lead when you are not in charge and discuss some practical tips for leading when you're not in charge. Enjoy. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

Cybersecurity - that is the security of your digital assets - is important for every organization. In this short podcast, I talk about how the leader sets the tone for creating a culture of cybersecurity within their organization. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

In today's ultra-competitive corporate and organizational environment, leaders need to develop a laser-like focus on their customers, clients, and the markets they serve. Leaders must also be flexible, open to change (often at a moment's notice), and also be concerned with always improving their efforts to develop products and services. This is where agile leadership comes into play. Agile leadership is loosely based on a methodology that was first used in the software development industry in the early 2000s. Agile quickly spread to many other industries and organizations, as the incredible of using this leadership methodology became too significant to ignore. In this podcast, I talk about agile leadership at length by discussing my journey into the use of agile leadership. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

In this final podcast on Emotional Intelligence, I take an in-depth look at some advanced soft skills that are an important part of the emotional intelligence equation; teamwork, problem-solving, and building professional relationships with all of your professional contacts. These more advanced soft skills are often underrated by leaders of all professions, especially the skill and time that it takes to build professional relationships with everyone in the workplace, be it your team, your bosses, your customers, and even your key stakeholders. Yet those that take the time to develop these advanced soft skills will find that they are often called upon to step in as leaders because they are known as having such great abilities to work with people in a wide variety of situations, and will often rise to the top of the organization based on the strength of their relationships. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

I apologize for taking such a long time off between podcasts; I had some personal and health issues to attend to. I'm glad to be back. I want to continue on with our Emotional Intelligence series by talking about the 4th element of EI; empathy and compassion. I've recycled an earlier podcast I did on this subject that is very relevant to our discussion of Emotional Intelligence. Sit back and enjoy. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

The internal motivation that drives a leader is an important part of emotional intelligence. In this episode, I talk about how to improve your own internal motivation and why that is so important to leadership, and why it is such an important part of the emotional intelligence equation. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

Just another shout-out to my continued listener support. Positive Leadership has now been heard in: - 28 Countries - 34 of the 50 United States (and Washington DC) - 96 US Cities We are up to 56 episodes and they've been downloaded 1526 times. Again, thanks for your listening support, and as I always say when I sign off, I'll talk to you again ... real soon! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

The last time we talked about Emotional Intelligence, we talked about the need for a leader to have a strong emotional self-awareness, especially about being self-aware of how their emotions affect others in the workplace. Well closely tied to this need for self-awareness, Is the need to control your emotions in your interactions with your subordinates, peers, and even your bosses. It does one little good to be self-aware of your emotions if you have little control over them. NOTHING will strip you of your right to authentic or inspirational leadership quicker than your loss of self-control. One of the hallmarks of great leaders is their ability to stay ‘cool, calm, and collected’ even in the worst circumstance when the world seems to be coming apart around them. Leading during times of great crises requires a great deal of self-control. Improving our self-control is a vital part of improving our emotional intelligence. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

In this episode, we are traveling down the path of trying to improve our own emotional intelligence. How do we do that? It starts with a desire for self-awareness that comes from our desire to also be spiritually aware - that is, our drive to understand the higher purpose for life outside of ourselves. I make the argument that if we don't start from a place of our own spiritual awareness, we can't really hope to become self-aware, because we are too consumed with our own needs and passions. People that are driven from a place of extreme self-centeredness don't make good leaders, because they are usually to be too self-absorbed to become self-aware or consider how their emotions affect others. It is only through our desire to seek out a greater good that we can begin to improve our self-awareness. I finish this episode by discussing some ways we can practically improve our self-awareness. It is the emotional intelligence component that all the other EI components depend on - and if we don't improve our self-awareness, we won't be able to improve any other component of our own emotional intelligence. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

In the last episode on emotional intelligence, we developed a good operational concept of emotional intelligence. We said that emotional intelligence was this capacity that someone had to “be aware of, control, and express their own emotions” in such a way as to create positive interactions with people that led to positive relationships. Then we took a deeper look at what this meant and broke emotional intelligence into its five elements or components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. So, how should we use emotional intelligence and our emotional intelligence skills in the workplace? To answer that question, in this episode, we’ll explore each component of emotional intelligence and present some solid examples of how leaders use each one of the elements to either diffuse a potentially explosive work situation, deal with conflict, or use emotional intelligence to enhance and improve the workplace. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

Daniel Goleman, a well-known author and psychologist who did some of the best-known research on emotional intelligence (or EI), found that “truly effective leaders are distinguished by a high degree of emotional intelligence.” Goleman says, “without it, a person can have first-class training, an incisive mind, and an endless supply of good ideas, but he still won’t be a great leader." Many studies have been conducted about emotional intelligence since Goleman’s groundbreaking work in the late 90s. They have pretty much all backed up his initial results. Because emotional intelligence is so important to great leadership, I've decided to spend the next few episodes of positive leadership discussing this vital topic. I want to break this discussion around into basically three areas. I’m going to spend the rest of this episode talking about the attributes of emotional intelligence. Then in the next episodes, having taken the time to really understand what emotional intelligence is, will break down how to use it in the workplace and how specifically as leaders, we can all improve our emotional intelligence. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

In the last episode, I talked about the importance of lifelong career development. At the end of the episode, I promised to talk about leadership's role in career development. It’s an important role, but unfortunately, few managers and leaders actively engage in this vital role. Professional development matters to employees because they know how vital good career development is to help them improve their skills and knowledge, which holds out the promise of career advancement and increased job satisfaction. According to a survey by LinkedIn Learning, 94% of the employees who took this survey said they would stay with a company longer if the company would take the time to invest in their career development. The same survey found that 78% of employees would even take a pay cut to work for a company that invested in their career development. This entire idea of career development is so important to most professionals that its absence can actually lead to increased turnover. So if a leader cares about long-term employee retention and satisfaction, they will take some time out of their busy days to develop long-term strategic professional development plans for themselves and their employees and staff. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

Everyone needs to approach their career development from a lifecycle perspective, rather than narrowly focusing on a specific career or industry. Why? Well, it’s always been the case that an individual’s career can be somewhat in flux. However, in the last 20 years, with the extremely rapid development of the Internet, and as we approach what many people call web 3.0, this idea of managing one’s career from a lifecycle or lifespan approach is more important than ever. It also has become an important aspect of most Western knowledge economies. In this episode, I define the lifecycle career development approach, discussing the various phases, the importance of keeping up with occupational trends, and the technical and 'soft skills' needed for continuous lifelong career development. Staying flexible, keeping current with marketplace occupational trends, and engaging in life-long learning to constantly upgrade your technical and soft skills during your entire working life will ensure that you will be successful today and in the future. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

Welcome to my 50th episode of Positive Leadership and my first one of 2023! I thought a good way to start the New Year would be to talk about the importance of innovation. Innovation is a key driver of economic growth and is essential for businesses to stay competitive in today's rapidly changing world. But driving innovation in large organizations and large corporations is usually a tall order. By their very nature, large organizations create some pretty significant barriers to innovation that can only be overcome by intentional leadership. I conclude this episode by talking about those barriers and suggest some practical, positive ways that leaders can overcome these barriers and help develop organizations that value innovation. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

Dr. Dave disagrees with those who don't believe encouragement is an important attribute of leadership, but with those respected leadership experts who say it is a core element of leadership. In this episode, Dr. Dave uses the stories from some of the legends surrounding General Ronald Fogelman and President George Bush Sr as examples of leaders who were known for their eagerness to encourage everyone around them. It is part of their lasting legacy. Being known as an encouraging leader can be part of your legacy as a leader as well. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

Just a quick shout out thanking everyone for their interest and support. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

You just got that new promotion or the new job that you always dreamed of getting one day. But now that you're in the job, you have some real anxieties that perhaps you're in over your head and you're not ready to take on that new position. These are quite normal feelings to have. It's a phenomenon called the imposter syndrome. In this episode of positive leadership, I talk about the imposter syndrome; what it is, and how to quickly overcome it. It's a good listen for anyone who is struggling with feelings of inadequacy that often comes with taking on a new job or position with more responsibility. Thanks to SMSgt Joseph Hunt of the 51st Civil Engineer Squadron at Osan AB for giving me the inspiration for this important episode. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support

Unfortunately, what often passes for leadership is nothing more than positional power. A charismatic business entrepreneur who has positional power can often achieve great results. Still, it comes at a horrible price for their subordinates, the organization, and even the country as a whole. After taking Elon Musk to task for his 'hard-core' work philosophy, Dr. Dave makes a case for replacing this positional power (which is often very abusive) with real compassionate and empathetic leadership. He points out that people who work longer hours are not more effective or efficient, but rather it's how people are treated that makes for a productive organization where people want to really come to work. Enjoy! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-martin935/support