Next Level Tips for Women Leaders

Last month, I was interviewed by Kristi Hedges, executive coach and columnist for WomenEntrepeneur.com, on how women leading their own businesses can develop themselves for next level performance. The article came out this week and Kristi did a great job putting it together. It's a perfect time of year for it as lots of folks are still mapping out their development game plan for 2011.

A lot of what we talked about applies to leaders in other organizations or who happen to be men. Here are the first couple of questions to give you a flavor of what we covered:

How does next-level leadership apply to women entrepreneurs?

Leading a business, like life, is an ongoing series of transitions. With just about any transition, there are different results that are expected. If you need different results, you likely will have to do some things differently. There are things that have worked for you in the past that you'll need to keep doing, but there are also new behaviors and mind-sets that you'll have to pick up, and others that you'll need to let go of to lead and succeed at the next level.

What are some typical habits you have seen that entrepreneurs need to let go of?

The lowest-rated behavior in our research on leaders is the skill of pacing oneself by building in regular breaks from work. That can be a particular challenge for entrepreneurs who are trying to do it all. The entrepreneurial mind-set is often that of the "go to" person. You've gotten where you are because you get stuff done. You're the closer. It's all too easy to get sucked into that mind-set and lose your perspective.

The interview continues with some easy, low cost or no cost steps you can take to raise your game this year. Check it out at this link.

And, if you're working on your roadmap for this year, be sure to join me on January 13 for a conversation on "Charting Your Course in 2011 with a Life GPS®."