katie

Executive Career Counsel from Scott Fenton, VP/CIO, River Wind Systems (An Intel Company)

One of the best ‘perks’ of my business is being warmly introduced to my clients and colleague’s all time favorite mentors and leadership role models. Anyone who knows me can quickly surmise that I am a leadership nut—I have an insatiable curiosity to understand what makes the best and the most influential leaders tick. In light of my forthcoming book, The “Suite” Spot, I have been collecting interviews with some of these men and women for the past few years. Today, I wanted to share some sage wisdom from one of these gentlemen, Scott Fenton, VP/CIO of River Wind Systems (An Intel Company). Thank you John Ragan for the introduction. Enjoy and let us know what you think about Scott’s counsel: On confidence: “I began [...]

By katie| 2014-05-28T02:11:10+00:00 May 27th, 2014|

Want to Win Friends & Influence (Powerful) People? Start by Building Trust

Do you ever wonder what X factor or DNA sequence charming and powerful people embody that allow them to attract and directly impact very important people? These are the women and men who are able to build consensus, drive critical initiatives and in a nutshell get things d.o.n.e. throughout their lives. What is the crucial ingredient to their sustained success? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>TRUST<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< It is true. Infinitely successful people are able to establish and build trust with those they surround themselves with AND they entrust those around them to support them in achieving their goals. How does one build trust? In two simple steps: Disclose and Seek Feedback. Rinse and Repeat. By consistently following this two step process, as proven by the Johari Window, you will build [...]

By katie| 2014-05-20T17:23:33+00:00 May 20th, 2014|

Want to Super Charge Your 2014? Check This Out:

I have always been the type of person who lives in the ‘tomorrow’ (what’s next, how can I position myself for my next best thing…) versus the ‘yesterday’ (coulda, woulda, shoulda mentality). As a result, I started thinking this weekend about where I have netted out so far with my 2014 resolutions, goals, dreams (or whatever you call your aspirations for business and life beyond the office) and I thought it would be helpful to collectively evaluate where we all stand as we look ahead to the remaining half of 2014 over the next month or so. Care to join me? Just like any diet, or desire for a shift in our inputs and outputs throughout our lives—the best way to really make a calculated [...]

By katie| 2014-04-28T19:13:33+00:00 April 28th, 2014|

Join our #SuiteSpot Movement

I vividly recall the moment I vowed to myself that I would not settle until I found my “suite spot” that point of balance, unique to each and every one of us, when we realize the folly of trying to “have it all” and begin looking for the right mix of personal and career success. I was 30 years old, living in Manhattan, working at a job I once found fascinating but was now driving me crazy. I came home one night to my ‘table for one’ Manhattan studio apartment, slumped into my futon and wondered how my once bright-eyed exuberant self had turned into this sad, lonely, workaholic drudge. What went wrong? I had been faithfully following my carefully crafted career plan from the [...]

By katie| 2014-04-21T20:14:17+00:00 April 21st, 2014|

How to Manage Your Underwhelming Boss

Do you have a boss who leaves you starving for more…direction, feedback, inspiration, vision, and the list goes on and on? Research show that the greatest determinant of whether one stays or quits their job is the centered on the quality of their relationship with their boss. But I often see more muted scenarios where my clients certainly don’t hate their boss, actually they really respect them in many regards, but are quenched for more…direction, feedback, inspiration…..and there just does not appear to be as deep a well as they’d hoped there be from their superior(s). So, what’s an aspiring high flyer such as yourself supposed to do when faced with a boss who isn’t terrible enough to make you want to leave your job, [...]

By katie| 2014-04-12T19:45:13+00:00 April 10th, 2014|

How Storytelling Just Changed My Life

Over the past few weeks I have addressed four remarkable audiences in Portland, Spokane, Boston and New Jersey. The first opportunity was my most nerve wracking speaking experience to date. Rather than expounding from my areas of business expertise, I was asked by Melody Biringer, founder of Urban Campfire, to disclose how I overcame one of my largest personal challenges. The exact assignment was: if you were leaving earth on a spaceship, what one lesson would you share before you departed? After several iterations and lots of angst and sleepless nights over how deep I would go with this talk—I took the floor that night, lowered my mask and gave what was described as an incredibly raw, painfully honest and transformative talk about how [...]

By katie| 2014-03-26T19:01:13+00:00 March 26th, 2014|

How to Create a Great Offense for Office Politicking

I was teaching at an educational conference in Spokane last week and I asked the audience how they best navigate office politics. A woman in her 60’s raised her hand, stood and with a huge smile plastered across her face, she proudly proclaimed, “I found the solution to navigating office politics—I work from home!” The crowd bellowed with laughter and likely a tinge of jealousy of her workplace arrangement. The reality is tackling office politics and perhaps workplace or institutional sexism layered on top, is not often addressed in business courses or motivational books. And yet the topic and matter at hand continues to rear its head in old, new, big, even small companies everywhere. Office politics can be defined as the jockeying for limited [...]

By katie| 2014-03-17T14:09:51+00:00 March 17th, 2014|

How Behaving Strategically is like an Annoying Diet

Here’s what comes to mind when I think about behaving in an even more strategic manner than I do today: Slowing down Delaying gratification Digging deep Applying measured, sometimes mechanical and inorganic practices Forcing myself to seed for long term growth Behaving in a counter-intuitive manner Taking the road less traveled Assess objectively what may have felt good and satisfying and even intoxicating Don’t some of these attributes sound like being on a really annoying diet? As I evolve in my own career, I find that pushing myself to think, plan and behave in a strategic manner can feel much like putting myself on a diet that I really don’t want to stick to. You see the opposite of practicing strategy in my business [...]

By katie| 2014-03-10T17:50:32+00:00 March 10th, 2014|

How to Unlock Your Own Mysteries & Embody Work-Life Blissfulness

“We live in a postmodern age when it’s pretty hard to come up with anything new, especially on a fundamental level… There’s always someone playing faster, louder, more distorted. So you can’t really go anywhere except into yourself. All that’s left is to figure out who you are….” -Tuck Andress, via Pitchfork by Ryan Dombal This quote hit me like a ton of bricks this weekend not only on a personal level but also as a development instructor who is immersed in the daily process of helping very intelligent and successful people ‘up their game’ throughout their lives. And the truth is, there is nothing wildly new or ‘emerging’ about how to continue to build a life that is chock full of clarity, influence and [...]

By katie| 2014-02-24T20:03:46+00:00 February 24th, 2014|

How to Re-Wire Your Psychology Towards Risk Taking

Genuine and sustainable success demands courage, hustle, integrity and a willingness to learn from others. It requires you to step outside of your comfort zone almost every day and explore the possibilities of ‘what if?’. These habits are often deliberate and intentional actions that do not just happen by default. They occur after you have taken the time to determine what specific measurable goal you want to achieve and what your strategy is to arrive at that place in time. Does all of this sound oh so familiar to you or does it sound like I am speaking to you in a foreign language? If you are hungry to learn more about this tantalizing topic, join us for tomorrow’s Katie Kelley Networks Leadership Academy class, [...]

By katie| 2014-02-10T21:17:10+00:00 February 10th, 2014|

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