Dec 3, 2015 | leadership, Uncategorized
While being ahead of the curve can be a lonely place (so many are content to tolerate the status quo, even when it’s clearly stale) I’m used to it! My thinking, my perspective and my proprietary programs can be disruptive, challenging prevailing assumptions and up-ending convention. But happily, with time, some early adopters — those rare evolved leaders who understand that success involves both innovation and a resistance to conformity —catch on and help normalize the new. This is an exact sweet spot for dtkResources, as it’s here where we can create change and generate impact. x Take, for example, the ritual of annual performance reviews which are universally loathed (by the rater and the recipient!) and often feared. The current wisdom finally understands the negative impact and collateral damage this process can cause. And so, there’s (again – finally!), a movement afoot started by a growing number of Fortune 500’s to ditch the process, especially the part that has to do with numerical rankings. In contrast, affection is growing for the more qualitative aspects of the formal review but as long as the review remains ‘formal’ and annual (or even semi-annual), its impact and value will always be limited. x Over two years ago, when I first unveiled my answer to this huge problem with my proprietary “Dynamic Intel,” firms were still invested in the formal, quantitative review process. 360s were also on the scene but were most often deployed on a one-off basis and in response to a particular disconnect or dysfunction. It’s hard to uproot the status quo and at the time, Dynamic...
Oct 26, 2015 | Uncategorized
It was a busy and very rewarding September for dtkResources and we’re extremely gratified to have been able to deeply serve our niche markets. On September 17, we hosted a table of ten women — Table 44 — at the Crain’s 50 Most Powerful Women luncheon at Cipriano in New York City. Each woman at our table is powerful in her own right and, because of the diversity of professional and personal interests, we’ve formed the core of a powerful mastermind group. If each was individually powerful, you can only imagine what we can do together. On September 21, I taught a workshop on Effective Communication for the ‘NextGen’ affinity group at JPMorganChase in New York City. Effective communication is one of the three tentpole skills I feel must be mastered to perform and flourish in the current business environment. Working in this space is a passion of mine, as I created and hosted a series of conferences — see bubble2boardroom.com — dedicated to helping college grads navigate out of their ‘bubble’ to become contributing and successful professionals…almost from Day 1. Then on September 29, I ran a full day of professional development for Operation Reinvent, teaching women soldiers some of the critical skills they’ll need to succeed in the civilian workplace ( a niche for dtkResources since 2011 when vets were first invited to attend a bubble2boardroom conference). The event, which took place on the Fort Bragg, KY army base, was attended by 40 soon-to-be vets hungry for help not only in navigating their transition but also in demystifying the world of civilian work. The fascinating — and frankly, distinguishing — aspect of the...
Apr 16, 2015 | critical thinking, gender roles in business, leadership, women
The core take-aways covered in my “Picking Up” program are designed to provide structured foundational skills to exactly track along the lines of the problems women face when moving up the ladder. The first problem is that women feel they’re not heard. The solution? An age-old, somewhat tired term with often over-simplified explanations: Effective Communication. Before you yawn and say you’ve heard this before, I promise you’ve never heard it this way. While others bemoan how things should be, I’m in the reality business. I start from the point of where things are, no matter how inconvenient, uncomfortable or unpopular. And the current reality is that the language of business is male. We don’t have to like it. But we do have to use it as our point of departure. This is important to accept because men and women have very different communication styles — our brains are wired differently. In my work, I help women become better able to decode the differences. Only then, will they be able to leverage the different styles for competitive advantage. You can probably bet your bottom dollar that men aren’t trying as hard to understand the language of women. And in fact, men often find our style — our mode — uncomfortable, inscrutable and basically just too probing. There, of course, lies the rub. Especially when 83% of those “at the helm” — making advancement decisions — are men. So, women professionals, here’s my challenge: Make it your mission to become aware of verbal and non-verbal communications. Study the really profound differences in how men and women communicate. And then, create a plan...
Mar 19, 2015 | coaching, critical thinking, gender roles in business, leadership, personal development, women
Earlier this month, I read an article entitled, “Breaking the Glass Ceiling by Ignoring It.” It was a fabulous title and a decent article, but it left a lot still left unsaid. You can read it for yourself here Following are my comments on the topic of “Ignoring The Glass Ceiling”: The numbers are clear about the dearth of women in top leadership spots and the discussion on this can get quite complex from a policy point of view (e.g. to quota or not to quota) but what’s also clear is that there’s much women can do ON THEIR OWN to improve career progression and management. The problem with interviewing women who have ‘made it’ is that they’ve often been impervious to the metaphoric slings and arrows that side-track many many more women who don’t have the same innate resilience. (I prefer resilience to toughness, as resilience allows women to endure without impact while also retaining the ‘soft’ skills that make us so perfect for leadership in a complex global 21st Century marketplace.) So, for the majority of women, it’s true we don’t ask, have difficulty being heard, struggle with being recognized and in the end, haven’t deliberately gone about the essential practice of building influence. In response, I’ve created a program called “Picking Up Where ‘Lean In’ Leaves Off,” designed to help the atrophying pipeline of women to equip themselves for ANY obstacle, glass ceiling, sticky floor, whatever. I do this by focusing on 3 tentpole skills essential for career success: 1. Effective communication (replete with how to avoid ‘girl traps’ that make us less than effective – or respected – communicators) 2. Developing...
Feb 13, 2015 | Uncategorized
Perfectionism is the enemy of progress, and it’s a girl trap that I am constantly arming my female clients to defeat. Leadership is tough, especially when stepping into it for the first time, driving an unpopular — but necessary — initiative or when speaking against the conventional. A desire for perfection, if she lets it, will sabotage a woman’s ambition, credibility, ability to lead and paralyze her ability to act. Striving for perfection is such a common girl trap as, unlike men, we mistakenly feel we need all the answers before we speak or act. As rising leaders in a time of constant change — demanding innovative, creative solutions — we have to tolerate uncertainty, accept risk and make the best, reasoned decisions given the information we have. As a result, we may not always get it right but if we can’t risk sometimes getting it wrong, we aren’t leading from the front. So, the dtkMindset — in addition to being a cornerstone of evolved leadership —creates the space for the critical thinking that enables us to contextualize both risk and opportunity by insisting we see what’s happening on the ground as well as the landscape from 10,000 feet. The 21st Century global marketplace demands we do both: if we’re blinded by the need to be perfect, we’ll miss the view! If we work and wait for perfect, we’ll stay put a long time. Bottom line: pulling the plug on perfectionism isn’t easy. I’ve been there. But, with awareness, help and practice, it is possible. Your...
Dani Ticktin Koplik —
Leadership consultant, executive coach, change agent and passionate professional development expert and speaker. You can learn more about Dani and her clients by visiting dtkBio page. 