Top Rated Ski Resorts in Colorado

Just got back from skiing in Colorado.  It was such a great trip.   So if you are thinking about skiing out west here is a list of the top rated ski resorts in Colorado:

• Vail Mountain Resort
• Aspen Snowmass
• Telluride Ski Resort
• Beaver Creek Resort
• Breckenridge Ski Resort
• Keystone Resort
• Purgatory Resort
• Steamboat Ski Resort
• Copper Mountain
• Arapahoe Basin
• Silverton Mountain
• Wolf Creek Ski Area

If you are near Chicago, check out ski areas near Chicago on the Travel page.

(C) 2022-23 jspublishing.blogspot.com

Servant Leadership Traits

Servant leadership is leading by example - creating a culture based on a core set of principles and values

Servant leadership is building a community based on core principles and values, which in turn drives meaning and purpose for individuals, empowering the team to be a more caring, just, trusting, and higher performing organization.

Leadership with a true desire to serve is about enriching lives, building organizations driven by purpose, and leading by correct values and principles.  This all leads to creating a more innovative, trusting, and caring team.

Core traits of Servant leaders are:

1. Empathy / Compassionate –Looking to understand the real needs of their staff and seek to address them.   Taking time to listen, understand, and help people.
2. Good listener – Listen to people before speaking their minds.  Important to give your undivided attention.  Pay attention to notice body language and tone.
3. Self-Control - Ability to control one's emotions, desires or the expression of them in behavior, especially in difficult situations.
4. Empower and heal those around you – Servant leaders focus on their staffs emotional health and feeling of completeness.  Making sure folks have access to knowledge and resources to establish a peaceful and healthy work environment and culture
5. Patience – Keep composure and respond appropriately to every individual
6. Optimistic - See the opportunity in everything, and be willing to attempt things no matter whether somebody else thinks it’s impossible or not.
7. Be aware – Be aware of yourself and those around you.
8. Trust – Communications need to be specific.  It is important that they are disseminated to every single level of the organization.  Transparency forments trust and trust has a direct correlation to work performance.
9. Encouragement – this is the hallmark expression of a servant leader.  Experts say this is a tremendously powerful tool for leaders
10. Respectful – Being respectful is very important when working and dealing with people.  Show people they are important by the respect you give them.
11. Bring the Vision Alive – Create a vision and mission statement that provides a sense of purpose for the entire team.
12. Be accountable and practice good stewardship – Take responsibility for the actions, behaviors, and performance of yourself and the team.
13. Build Community – Serve and build an empowered community that you can walk and be among
14. Be proactive and anticipate team needs – Anticipate future events and how they will impact the team.  Use experience, knowledge, and understanding to anticipate and take care to make sure you have already built and empowered the organization to effectively handle these future events.
15. Commit – It is important to analyze staff member needs and develop them accordingly.  A servant leader's main focus is the people so commit to your staffs education and development.
16. Integrity – Follow ethical and a correct set of principles and values

Servant leaders truly desire to serve and develop their staff.  The 16 traits are qualities that Servant leaders exhibit to lead and empower employees.  

The results of servant leadership are impressive - higher employee engagement, low turn over, and a higher performing organization.

Share your thoughts on servant leadership and leadership in general.  

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(C) 2022-23 jspublishing.blogspot.com

Leadership – What is it and what traits make a good leader?

This week I read 2 articles on leadership that are important to discuss.  The first article is by Adam Enfroy and the 2^nd article is an article on the Center for Creative Leadership website.   👍

Both articles provide a list of the best leaders’ leadership traits.  While there are many similarities there are surprisingly some differences in the lists. 

Leadership is very important as it impacts every level of an organization.  So, topics and articles about leadership are important to read and learn from.  Check out the related post "Journaling - An important tool for  Leaders" as it emphasizes the importance of journaling as a leader.

Great leaders are extremely important in an organization and we explore leadership and the traits needed for great leaders in this post.

So, why is leadership an important skill? 

Adam Enfroy asserts in his article, “Leaders inspire others to follow a certain path in life.  . . . . Without leaders, it is very difficult to manage large groups of people, set unified goals, and make progress.” 

What is leadership?

Steve Jobs is credited with saying, “Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could.”

My personal and professional experiences confirm this statement.  True leaders inspire their folks and support their team to accomplish things that are seemingly impossible.

I feel true leaders are servants who are willing to do the right thing, hold themselves, and others accountable, take charge, and help others.

List of Leadership Skills

The first article by Adam Enfroy states, “There are certain leadership characteristics, traits, and skills that ultimately build the most effective leaders.” 

My experience confirms Adam Enfroy’s article, “11+ Leadership Qualities:  A List of Skills to Make a Good Leader” in that it accurately identifies necessary qualities for exceptional leadership.

In the beginning of the article Adam states, “The most important qualities of a good leader include integrity, accountability, empathy, humility, resilience, vision, influence, and positivity.” 

Great leaders also make it safe for people to speak up and communicate problems and issues within the organization without retaliation and work to fix them.  Truly great leaders look to serve and assist their folks to solve team and organizational issues.

The article includes the following list of qualities and skills most important to look for in a great leader.

1.   Effective Communication
2.   Integrity
3.   Accountability
4.   Empathy
5.   Humility
6.   Resilience
7.   Vision
8.   Influence
9.   Positivity
10.  Delegation
11.  Confidence
12.  Open-Minded

I would add these:  1) Great listener, 2) Expectation setter, 3) Has lots of energy 4) Works to anticipate the needs of the team, 5) Servant leader, 6) Emotionally Intelligent, 7) Good Storyteller

Excellent leaders excel in Active Listening – which is listening and paying attention to every single individual person they are leading and other folks they deal with or work with.

I agree with Adam that, “without integrity, no real success is possible.” 

Great leaders look to do the next right thing even when no one is watching. 

Adam’s article says, “Good leaders, and even great leaders, are not born; they are made.”    So, if you are looking to get into leadership my advice is that is is very important to study what makes a great leader.

Adam believes, “people can obtain good leadership qualities through teaching and learning these skills over time.”

Read the entire article at:  https://www.adamenfroy.com/leadership-qualities#:~:text=The%20most%20important%20qualities%20of,they%20never%20thought%20they%20could.%E2%80%9D

Center of Creative Leadership

The second article is on the Center for Creative Leadership’s website titled, “What Are the Characteristics of a Good Leader?”

Based on research from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), it was found the best leaders consistently possess these 10 essential leadership qualities.  Several align with the list in Adam’s article but some are different.

1.    Integrity
2.    Ability to delegate
3.    Communication
4.    Self-Awareness
5.    Gratitude
6.    Learning agility
7.    Influence
8.    Empathy
9.    Courage
10.    Respect

CCL, says, “leadership is a journey — different teams, projects, situations, and organizations will require you to apply these leadership characteristics in different ways throughout your career.”

I believe the Center for Creative Leadership article states a very important truth when it says, “It’s also essential to realize that leadership is a social process. It’s less about a strong or charismatic individual, and more about a group of people working collectively to achieve results together. If you demonstrate several of the characteristics of a good leader but fail to grasp this, chances are you won’t get very far on your own. You may be well-liked and respected, but it will be challenging to accomplish team or organizational goals.” 

Read the article from the Center for Creative Leadership at:  https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/characteristics-good-leader/

Please share your thoughts and experiences about leadership in the comments below

(C) 2022-23 jspublishing.blogspot.com

Lake Geneva Winterfest - February 2 - 6, 2022

Winterfest starts today and runs through February 6th.

The City of Lake Geneva will hold the 27th Annual Winterfest, featuring the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Championship February 2 – 6, 2022. As the only national snow sculpting championship in the United States, Winterfest welcomes the most talented and award-winning sculpting teams from across the country.  The snow sculpting competition runs 11am Wednesday through 1pm Saturday at Riviera Plaza and Flat Iron Park along the beautiful shore of Geneva Lake. It's FREE to attend and view, and sculptures will remain on display through Sunday (and until they melt).

Winterfest Snow Sculpture

Regarded as the gold standard of snow sculpting competitions and draws over 60,000 guests annually to enjoy snow sculptures and an array of fun winter-inspired events and activities throughout the region.

The winter fest has many fun events and activities including “BONFIRES ON THE BEACH.”  Bonfires on the beach includes cozy bonfires, live entertainment, warm drinks, and tasty s’mores and other treats.

Besides the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Championship competition Winterfest includes a local school snow sculpture event, a fire and ice bar, the downtown ice sculpture walk, a snowball white party, and the Riviera Ballroom warming center. 

Free shuttle bus service is available for the Winterfest.

Beside the winter fest Lake Geneva has a variety of activities for all ages.  

In the winter Lake Geneva offers many options for fun and unique activities:  Ice skating, skiing, festivals and special events are just a few things you can do in the area throughout the winter. Bundle up and head out for these fun activities.

In the winter at Grand Geneva located at:  7036 Grand Geneva Way  Lake Geneva, WI 53147 Ice Skating and a Sledding hill are available.  You can also do snowshoeing or cross country skiing there.

To find out more about Winterfest go to:  https://www.visitlakegeneva.com/winterfest/

Or check out more travel information and destinations to visit on the Travel Page.

To learn about things to do in Hoffman Estates check out the post at:  Things to do in Hoffman Estates

Journaling - An important tool for Leaders

Importance of Journaling

Two (2) additional recent articles I found from Jeffrey Ton and Aytekin Tank about the importance of journaling as a leader emphasize the benefits of reflection, greater self awareness, and personal / professional growth from the practice of journaling.  

Jeffrey Ton of Ton Enterprises, LLC published an article on his website in August 2020 and the article by Aytekin Tank CEO of Jotform was published on Entrepreneur.com (https://www.entrepreneur.com/) in December 2019.  Both credit journaling to their leadership success.

Aytekin’s article is titled, “How Journaling Can Make You a Better Entrepreneur and Leader”.  Aytekin goes as far as saying, “The most important words you write are ones no one will ever read.”  

In the article, Aytekin Tank highlights that reflection is important in leadership.  And journaling provided an outlet for Aytekin Tank to do just that.

Aytekin’s article states, “Research shows that people who engage in reflection are happier people and higher performers than those who do not. It makes sense. High performers and happy people learn from their mistakes.”  Journaling allows time to reflect on learnings and mistakes and to take actionable steps to grow and move forward.

Aytekin also suggests that journaling provides a creative outlet.  Journaling using freewriting, "cultivates consistency and creativity."

Aytekin Tank is the founder and CEO of JotForm, the easiest online form builder. JotForm was ranked in the 2016 Entrepreneur 360™ List, an annual ranking of the most entrepreneurial private companies in the U.S.

Jeffrey Ton is an author, speaker and led teams in the technology field as small as 5 and as large as 50.  

In the article posted on Jeffrey Ton’s website (https://jeffreyston.com/), the following is included, “Journaling has been a part of many successful leaders for centuries. The library is full of biographies and autobiographies of business leaders, government leaders, and thought leaders. The common thread, most kept some sort of record (uh, journal) of their thoughts, insights, and activities.” 

A journal is a powerful tool.  “Not only does it help you to keep track of details that would be lost to time, but it provides a way to learn from the past…your past. Part of the magic of keeping a journal is to re-read it, weeks, months, even years later. The magic? The lessons change! Why? The journal hasn’t changed…you have!”  

As Aytekin Tank mentions in his article, Jeffrey Ton states with great passion, “Keeping a journal is a great way to understand who you are and what you want and need from your career. I know I have written of this in prior posts…I just can’t emphasize the importance enough.”

Here are direct links to the articles if you are interested in reading them:

• Aytekin Tank’s article:    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/343680
• Jeffrey Ton’s article:  https://jeffreyston.com/2020/08/04/leadership-thought-lets-do-coffee/

In summary, journaling is an important tool as a leader.  It helps develop clarity, enhanced intention, self awareness, and provides time for reflection for personal and professional growth.  Journaling also provides a creative outlet to enhance your thinking, breakthrough creative blocks, and to crystalize your purpose and vision.

(C) 2022-23 jspublishing.blogspot.com

Video on Journaling tips, tricks, and how to

 

Posting this video as it explains the tips, tricks, and pointers for getting stared and staying with journaling.

Leadership and Journaling

Do you want to be an Outstanding Leader?

This week I came across two articles on the importance of journaling as a leader.  

The first is an article on Skip Prichard’s website (skipprichard.com) titled, “Why Journaling Makes Better Leaders”.  

The second is from the Harvard Business Review titled, “Want to Be an Outstanding Leader? Keep a Journal” by Nancy Adler.  

The Harvard Business review article by Nancy Adler starts with the following statement, “Research has documented that outstanding leaders take time to reflect.  Their success depends on the ability to access their unique perspective and bring it to their decisions and sense-making every day.”

As leaders it is important for us to have the courage to share our unique perspective and use it for decision making and action taking.

Nancy Adler concludes her article simply with, “Using a journal regularly will give you the courage to see the world differently, to understand the world differently, and to lead in new and needed ways.”  

The article by Bruce Rhoades on skipprichard.com provides some powerful insight on how journaling helps improves leadership abilities.  

Bruce shares the following areas where he felt journaling improved his leadership abilities:

• Better Organization

• Improved Decision Making

• Improved Demeanor, Attitude, and Judgment

• Enhanced Intention

• Positive Reinforcement

The article goes into further details on each of the 5 areas specifically where journaling resulted in significant improvements.  

The areas of “Improved Demeanor, Attitude, and Judgment”, “Enhanced Intention”, and “Positive Reinforcement” are extremely important to be present and to be a servant leader to your people and in your organization.

   

So, start journaling today to be an outstanding leader, to have the “courage to see the world differently”, and to use your unique perspective to lead and make decisions with purpose and intention. 

Share your thoughts and unique perspective in the comments.