KILUVU

Forget slogans and posters. Forget mission statements. Forget culture decks. A survey of over 400,000 people across the U.S. found that when employees believe promotions are managed effectively, they are more than two times as likely to give extra effort at work -- and to plan for having a long-term future with their company.

But wait, there's more: When employees believe promotions are managed effectively, they are more than five times as likely to believe their leaders act with integrity.

The result? At those companies, employee turnover rates are half that of other companies in the same industry. Productivity, innovation, and growth metrics outperform the competition. For public companies, stock returns are almost three times the market average.

Running a business is an inherently emotional experience. Even the most stoic leaders are bound to find themselves becoming invested not only in outcomes, but in people and processes as well.

While emotional leadership is often regarded as a liability, lack of personal investment can also bring about negative outcomes.

I’ve learned that the best leaders are those who can recognize emotionally-charged situations, rise above the passions of the movement, and maintain a level head. Good leaders are quick to listen and slow to anger.

Imagine you could have a skill where--in any given conversation with colleagues, clients, or subordinates--you could be keenly aware of, and even experience, their feelings and thoughts.

Sounds like some X-Men-like psychic superpower right? Well, what if I told you that anyone can have this uncanny ability and use its strength and charm to have successful conversations?

Well, you can. The superpower I refer to is called empathy.

But this skill--and it is a learned skill available to anyone--is often misunderstood because there are variations of it. I'll get to the science of it shortly.

You have a great product or service. You have the funds to make it happen. Now, the big question is "Do you have the people to stand by you and execute?"

The biggest question for entrepreneurs today is how to create a culture to keep your dream growing to its full potential. The answer is by creating a place for people to continue to develop both professionally and personally.

Dividing professional and personal development is an oxymoron. One feeds the other. And when you have an environment of mutual respect and open communication, more people want to hang around with you and make magic at work. The hardest part of work is the people piece. It needs on-going attention to keep productivity high and stress low.

Here are 11 questions to ask yourself and your team to make sure you are heading in the right direction.

Your brain takes mental shortcuts all the time in order to make decisions efficiently. Because that takes place unconsciously, we can never fully control these "cognitive biases" that help us deal with the outside world—and, ultimately, survive in it. As practical as they may be, though, some of these biases can be problematic.

But the first step toward gaining a little more leverage over how your brain—and others' brains—make judgments is simply to understand the rules it follows to do so. Getting better acquainted with these three may help you become more influential with others.

Ask the members of any team if they want to institute better processes, and be prepared for them to roll their eyes. “‘Better processes’ means ‘more bureaucracy,’” someone will mutter. But ask that same team how much they enjoy doing projects the hard way — duplicating efforts, scrambling to meet deadlines when someone drops the ball, or bearing the brunt of customer fury — and you can expect the floodgates to open.

Why do people love to hate “process” but rail against disorganization? It is because most people associate processes with checklists, forms, and rules — the overseer breathing down their necks. Not surprisingly, leaders wanting to foster innovation and creativity are reluctant to institute such rigid controls and procedures.

In any fast growing company, it's natural that conflict arises. It holds true at just about any company -- every type, every stage. Doesn't matter what market or size.

You'll see it happen most between functional areas. Sometimes marketing and operations will be at odds. Sometimes, it's marketing and sales, or sales and finance. Technology may want to go one direction, marketing another. Finance might lean too conservative.

It's why it's super important for your leadership team to have strong interpersonal skills and interactions. You can't rely on hiring great people alone. You also need to set the pace for solid interactions, help create and foster them. Nurture it at every turn.

We accomplish it a few ways at my company.

We're already more than a week into January, but I'm still slowly working my way through all the "best of" year-end lists out there (there are so many of them!). Combing through these recommendations may be time-consuming, but it's worth the commitment, I've found, as sometimes you turn up an absolute gem you missed earlier in the year.

Take the post titled "The Two Minutes It Takes to Read This Will Improve Your Writing Forever," by marketer Josh Spector, for example. As short as it is useful, the piece is one of the most recommended posts of 2016, Medium informs me. It's not hard to see why.

Spector offers five dead-simple changes you can make to basically any piece of writing in a matter of seconds that will make it more forceful and compelling. We'd all enjoy reading a bit more if more writers followed his tips.

First the bad news: 85 percent of companies report an urgent need to develop their leadership pipeline. But only 40 percent believe their current pool of high-potentials can meet their future business needs.

Now the good news: With Millennials taking over as the largest working generation, it would behoove current leaders to identify who amongst them have the key leadership traits that lead to success.

The brutal truth of what to look for in your high potential leaders. This will make or break your organization.

Emotions play an active role in almost all of our decision making. That's one reason why emotional intelligence, the ability to identify, understand, and manage those emotions, is such an invaluable skill. 

But how specifically does emotional intelligence help us with our daily tasks? Here are three tips to make sure your next presentation is emotionally intelligent:

1. Don't get anxious. Get excited.

All of us get nervous before a presentation, even if we've done it hundreds of times. So take that nervousness and turn it into something positive: enthusiasm.How do you do that exactly?

Spend those final few moments reviewing your favorite parts of the presentation. Remind yourself why you're doing this, and focus on the value you have to deliver to your listeners.

Now, take that enthusiasm and give a talk that you passionately believe in.