Michelle Ray

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Business Motivation

It really does start with you!

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When you think of the word leadership, what comes to mind? It isn’t surprising that the majority of people associate specific meanings to leadership that include authority, position, seniority, being at the helm of an enterprise, or having ultimate responsibility for bottom line results. However, in order to achieve success as a leader, one needs to have the capacity to take charge of oneself first.  To be a quintessential leader requires a specific mindset, along with certain professional traits and attributes that inspire individuals to perform at his or her best. Sadly, many leaders fail to understand the need to practice personal leadership in all interactions.

Therefore, the essence of leadership is about strength of character, regardless of one’s position in an organization, association, political party etc. In addition, we may falsely assume that a person’s “title” denotes credibility. As many of us have experienced, credibility must be earned rather than given. And this has nothing to do with a plaque on a door or a desk, or a title on a business card. It’s about who you are at the core that truly matters, rather than what your title indicates.

So no matter what your role is in an organization, no matter what industry you work in, it’s not about your job or “pecking order” in your organization. What is most important is to understand that leadership is a choice. It is a reflection of how you see yourself. Are you an initiator? A change agent? A provocateur? Do you have the capacity to inspire yourself and take responsibility for your actions? Leadership really does start with you.

Whether you are on the front line, or a senior leader,  or perhaps running the company…running your business, you are  ultimately accountable for your own behaviours, choices and how you decide to interpret your circumstances.

In the workplace, we are all one hundred percent responsible for creating the atmosphere. We all make a contribution everyday that leads to a particular culture.  It’s about you being conscious of who you are and it’s about your character that truly matters above all else.

What are you doing on a daily basis to take the lead in your professional and personal relationships? Ultimately, relationships with your colleagues and on a grander scale, with all everyone that you interact with? You have an opportunity on a daily basis to be the best version of you, to mentor others, contribute to your workplace and lead by example. In short: We can all choose to become the leaders of our own lives.

This article is a transcript of a video on YouTube.

Michelle Ray (Twitter) is one of the best international leadership keynote speakers in Vancouver. She helps you discover your potential through presentations, coaching and consulting. With over 20 years of experience Michelle has worked with hundreds of companies around the world. She is taking bookings for speaking engagements and can be contacted at MichelleRay.com

Myths and Truths About Motivational Speakers

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What makes the best motivational speakers stand out from the rest?

Are they even relevant anymore?

Thousands of professional speakers describe themselves as “motivational”.

That means the term is still highly pertinent, both in business and in life.

Not to mention, conference organizers still seek out speakers who can stimulate thought and provide attendees with actionable, practical takeaways.

A Google search reveals almost 4,000,000,000 keyword results for “motivational speakers”.

But here’s the thing: not all motivational speakers are created equally.

[Read more…] about Myths and Truths About Motivational Speakers

Great leaders share success and let others shine

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One of the biggest turnoffs for just about anyone at work, is to be around a leader who takes all the credit.

It’s very important, if you wanna practice authentic leadership, to share your successes with the team, to share team success, to not be the person who is only focused on yourself, and thinking to yourself, well I’m automatically gonna look good when they look good. Now that’s gonna happen. But when your total focus is on you, and wanting to look good of the sake of looking good, your team is gonna recognize that in a heartbeat. And it really does turn people off. And they notice that about you.

So, remember that getting the team excited about success is an intangible motivator. And that means it’s something that you can’t put a price on. So why would you wanna take all the credit and have people feel like they made no contribution? That can be easily remedied by taking a step back, being humble, and recognizing that people can bask in their own glory of success. And you helped to make that happen.

This article is a transcript of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNVakwUu2hs&feature=youtu.be on YouTube.

(Twitter) is one of the best international leadership keynote speakers in Vancouver. She helps you discover your potential through presentations, coaching and consulting. With over 20 years of experience Michelle has worked with hundreds of companies around the world. She is taking bookings for speaking engagements and can be contacted at MichelleRay.com

“Dead Wood” Employees

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This article was originally posted on November 9, 2016, and has been updated.

“I’m done.” If an employee is telling you this, it means she has reached her limit. For one reason or another.

It could have nothing to do with low morale, lack of opportunity, or a dislike of her job.

She may be ready to move up, move on or begin a new chapter in her life.

All perfectly reasonable reasons to leave a position.

However, she may have shut down or become apathetic. Or maybe she is sucking the life out of her co-workers by being negative day in and day out.

Also known as a “dead wood employee”.

[Read more…] about “Dead Wood” Employees

Passionate Leadership: 12 Key Traits That Distinguish The Best From The Rest

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This article was originally published on September 7, 2016, and has been updated.

Do you remember your first encounter with a passionate leader?

The reality is that any leader can be passionate…if they know what to do.

But first, let’s look at why this is so important. [Read more…] about Passionate Leadership: 12 Key Traits That Distinguish The Best From The Rest

How Great Leaders Exhibit Decision-Making Excellence

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So as a leader, how would you describe your skills when it comes to decision making and understanding what’s involved in the decision-making process? Are all the decisions made by you, or are there times where you need to be able to be able to engage your team in the decision-making process?

I believe that this is a critically-important skill and something that leaders need to consider as to whether or not they already have it in their repertoire of leadership competencies. So what would you say about your ability to make those decisions and to be able to engage others, and to know when to be able to engage others? Because sometimes the worst thing you can do is to not make any decision at all. And that can be extremely costly to your business, to the future of your business.

And recognizing that by standing still, it may actually be the worst thing that you can do. So sometimes making a decision, even if it might mean that you make a mistake when you make that decision, is totally okay. Because at least you’ve moved in a particular direction rather than just been frozen in time. And, again, making that decision can be a game changer for your business. So it all has to do with your confidence to make the right decision and to know when to engage others to help you make the best decision for your business.

This article is a transcript from Michelle Ray’s Leadership Secrets at YouTube YouTube.

(Twitter) is one of the best international leadership keynote speakers in Vancouver. She helps you discover your potential through presentations, coaching and consulting. With over 20 years of experience Michelle has worked with hundreds of companies around the world. She is taking bookings for speaking engagements and can be contacted at MichelleRay.com

Emotional Intelligence as a Leadership Trait

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As a leader your ability to hone your emotion intelligence is absolutely one of the best things you can do for yourself. Emotional intelligence is all about managing your own emotions and being in tune to the emotions of others, being really dialed in, recognizing when you yourself have to keep your own emotions in check. And as a leader this is, it goes without saying that you are gonna be invariably, and you are everyday being pulled in a myriad of different directions.

So, to manage your emotional intelligence, as Daniel Goldman says, emotional intelligence is everything. And it’s one thing to have intellect and to have a great business sense and to have business acumen, but all of that can be undone so quickly if we aren’t sensitive to our own emotions and the emotions of others recognizing when we are feeling frustrated, when we’re feeling angry, when we’re feeling impatient, when a meeting isn’t wrapping up as quickly as we’d like it to, when someone else might be rambling on, but what they are saying is really important in that moment and you as the leader can sense that in yourself that you need to give that airtime to other people. So, emotional intelligence is actually also equated to how charismatic you are, how much energy you have, how you channel that energy in the right direction, how you’re able to bring other with you without being over the top, being able to manage yourself and how much emotion you bring into every situation. So, people need to feel that positive vibe from you.

They need to feel that energy. But, they can also be just as aware of when you might be frustrated, when you might be getting angry, when you might be losing it. And all of that can have an impact of course on your overall business. So, the best leaders know how to manage themselves, how to manage their emotions, and how to recognize the emotions of others, and be sensitive to that as well.

This article is a transcript from Michelle Ray’s Leadership Secrets at YouTube YouTube.

(Twitter) is one of the best international leadership keynote speakers in Vancouver. She helps you discover your potential through presentations, coaching and consulting. With over 20 years of experience Michelle has worked with hundreds of companies around the world. She is taking bookings for speaking engagements and can be contacted at MichelleRay.com

Valuing Diversity and Difference

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In leading others as SHRM say, one of the most important things that we can do is value diversity and differences in others. To be able to celebrate those differences is gonna make you successful as a leader, and it’s gonna make your organization successful. Because we want to be able to embrace differences and not to categorize people because they are different. That is the key to having success for our organizations.

It’s never been more relevant than it is today. Do you value diversity? Do you value diversity, gender diversity, cultural diversity, divergent thinking? That is what makes you a great organization. That is what makes you an organization that is separating yourself from the competitors, separating yourself from your competitors. Because people are watching you. They are watching you as a leader. They are watching you as an organization. Make no mistake that you as a leader, when people are assessing your business, are assessing the opportunity to work for your organization. They are looking at your ability to recognize and celebrate diversity. Because if we look at the world through a myopic lens we are in trouble.

We need to be able to celebrate all the differences that are out there in terms of people, in terms of their way of thinking, in terms of the way that they are operating. My hope is that for you as a leader you will always remain open minded.

Because, as a famous poet Anonymous once said, many an open mind should be closed for a repairs.

This article is a transcript from Michelle Ray’s Leadership Secrets at YouTube YouTube.

(Twitter) is one of the best international leadership keynote speakers in Vancouver. She helps you discover your potential through presentations, coaching and consulting. With over 20 years of experience Michelle has worked with hundreds of companies around the world. She is taking bookings for speaking engagements and can be contacted at MichelleRay.com

Setting the Vision when Leading Organizations

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SHRM identify that one of the competencies that we need to have as leaders is the ability to set the vision. They identify this as one of the key competencies when it comes to leading organizations. Setting the vision is all about being transformational.

It’s about being focused on the future. On the other hand, leaders who are transactional are going about the day-to-day functions associated with leadership. And whilst all of those are critically important, the idea of being future focused is above all else. It means that you have an eye on tomorrow and that you are thinking about the vision in everything you do. It’s about big picture thinking and sometimes we get so caught up in the minutiae of the day-to-day, that we lose sight of that vision.

Great leaders are always cognizant of the vision and they’re able to take people along with them to realize the vision of their organization. Think about great leaders that you have come across in your own life. Great leaders that you have studied. Why have you admired them?

I would say the great majority of leaders that I have admired are the visionaries. So great leaders are those who are able to keep their eyes firmly fixed on the future.

This article is a transcript from Michelle Ray’s Leadership Secrets at YouTube YouTube.

(Twitter) is one of the best international leadership keynote speakers in Vancouver. She helps you discover your potential through presentations, coaching and consulting. With over 20 years of experience Michelle has worked with hundreds of companies around the world. She is taking bookings for speaking engagements and can be contacted at MichelleRay.com

Key Leadership Traits: The ability to Take Risks

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SHRM defined one of the most important competencies in leading organizations as taking risk. The ability to risk. Without question, we want to be conscious of taking calculated risk. There is a difference between taking extraordinary risk and taking calculated risks. What kind of a risk taker are you? If we don’t take risks, we simply stand still. Of course today, it’s impossible to move forward without taking some kind of risk. That involves of course being able to let go of the fear and trust yourself. Trust in who you have around you. Trust in your decisions. Trust in your decision-making ability that you are able to take that next step.

Some of the risks we take may seem overwhelming initially, but once you’ve taken that risk and you’ve lived to see the result, you realize that what you actually did will give you the energy to continue to take risks. Being a risk taker doesn’t necessarily mean you are the risk taker extraordinaire, but you have an ability to embrace your fears, move through them and take the next step to take the risk.

This article is a transcript from Key Leadership Traits: The ability to Take Risks YouTube.

(Twitter) is one of the best international leadership keynote speakers in Vancouver. She helps you discover your potential through presentations, coaching and consulting. With over 20 years of experience Michelle has worked with hundreds of companies around the world. She is taking bookings for speaking engagements and can be contacted at MichelleRay.com