Aviv's Blog » The Key

The KEY: Four Things A Leader Must Do

Aviv Shahar — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:40:23 +0000

You are a leader not because of your title. You are a leader because you help the people you work with. To thrive as a leader you have to do and be four things. You have to be: Informational, Motivational, Inspirational and Transformational.

Read the KEY here.
Listen to the podcast here:

The KEY: Thrive in the New Normal – Part II

Aviv Shahar — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:28:29 +0000

In a recent KEY we shared with you the first five commandments to Thriving in times of uncertainty. This month we bring you the second set of five commandments to help you turn the New Normal into a radical opportunity for growth and development.

The financial recovery is uneven and uncertain. Encouraging signs are mixed with nervous doubts and fear. Will the DOW test the recent low or will it hyper-inflate? How do you thrive during unpredictable and tumultuous time?

The first five practices we focused on in Part One included:

Take care of # 1
Focus on your C-Field
Lead in your I-Field
Work on the main thing
Create overwhelming value

Discover here the second set of five practices and commandments.

Listen to the KEY here:

The KEY: Flying Over Volcanic Iceland

Aviv Shahar — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 20:54:58 +0000

I am writing this Key flying at 36,000 feet, just north of Iceland. After trying for five days to escape Europe with numerous flight cancellations, I am finally heading home to Seattle. What an adventurous journey!

The Air Force brief is, “It’s the one you don’t see that will shoot you down.” The Black Swan message is, “Beware of the trap of preparing for the last swan (crisis) you saw. The next one will be different. Unexpected.” That’s why it’s called a Black Swan.

Read here what I have I learned on this trip.

Listen to the KEY here:

The KEY: At the Top and Empty

Aviv Shahar — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:56:23 +0000

Don was a brilliant executive. He was analytical, disciplined and focused, and he rallied his team to achieve great results. In Don’s mind, his fantastic and steady achievements were supposed to lead directly to the corner office…

This KEY is about the crisis at the top. It is also a hopeful message because the beauty of life is that you can make a course correction. Perhaps you know someone who is going through a similar crisis. Perhaps you can help. Read more here.
© Aviv Shahar

The KEY: The Leader-Coach – What Coaching Schools Will Not Teach You

Aviv Shahar — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:35:55 +0000

Learning coaching techniques, frameworks and methodologies will make you a better and more versatile leader. As a leader-coach you can bring a wider range of tools to the coaching engagement. But there is an essential capacity and quality you see in truly exceptional coaches that no coaching school will teach you and no institution can give you. Discover this essential quality and unleash your power to apply this capacity with the KEY.

The KEY: This Is Your Decade

Aviv Shahar — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:37:13 +0000

In this KEY I share with you my “This Is Your Decade” letter to Edan Shahar. I hope it inspires you to share your thoughts and feelings with your sons and daughters, or with other young people in your circle. Edan edits the KEY letters and he continues to challenge me to clarify and simplify my message.

*****

Dear Edan,

This is your decade. You are 22 and the world is before you. You have grown up and become a nice young man. You make us proud. Your care and maturity, curiosity and drive, leadership and sensitivity, intellect, initiative and social skills are some of your assets. You have many other gifts, some of which you know. Some you will discover in the future. Setbacks and challenges will be part of the journey. It’s what you make of them and how you turn them into growth and development opportunities that will define your path.

Discover The Most Difficult Thing in This World, My 10 Learning Messages and read the full letter here.

The KEY: Acts of Kindness

Aviv Shahar — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:17:51 +0000

As this year comes to a close and a new year and decade begin, we wish you all the good things you worked for and wish for yourself. Living is the greatest gift there is. There is no owner manual. You write your own as you proceed. We wish for you that the next chapter you write is as adventurous and fulfilling as you hope it will be.

I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world. There are many things that deserve and have my gratitude. In particular, in this season of giving thanks, five things that I am grateful for are:

My family. They allow me to be the person I am and give me meaning and purpose.
My clients. They give me opportunity and trust me in our collaborations.
My community of friends. They help me grow and enrich my life with significance.
My teachers. They remind me I’ve only just begun and challenge me to new developments.
Acts of kindness. They make life possible. I was helped by a million acts of kindness, by many people on many occasions, many of whom were strangers. Some helped my next step. Some opened a door that was locked. Some brought comfort. Some rescued me when I was at the end of my rope. Some have literally saved my life. I am here today because of a million acts of kindness. Thank you.

Read the Key Here.

The KEY: A Decade Of Transformation – Who Will You Be?

Aviv Shahar — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:56:21 +0000

A new decade is here, just a few weeks away. Extraordinary! Is time speeding up? Or is it just me? This Key is about “Who will you be?” in this threshold decade. The run up to 2020 is likely to be relentless, surprising…with complex challenges and hopeful breakthroughs. Our message is twofold:

Start as you intend to go on. Be in 2010 the greater person you hope to be in 2020. In wisdom, impact, generosity and more.
Co-create the future you choose to live in.

Read about the Age of Transformation, including five key Transformational Strategies.

The Key: The Ten Faces of Leadership

Aviv Shahar — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:06:57 +0000

Discover the Ten Faces of Leadership and reflect on your leadership strengths. Identify the most critical leadership capacities you must now focus on and exercise. Lead your teams to create the future.

Leadership is situational. The requirements of each situation are unique. Needs and opportunities change and are based on circumstance. Great leaders are adaptive and versatile – they instinctively assess the requirements of the situation, adapt and frame their style and modus operandi to best serve. Here are the Ten Faces of leadership, coupled with the five-color learning code.

The Key: Discover Your Peak Productivity Zone

Aviv Shahar — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:18:23 +0000

This KEY may shock you. It carries both good and bad news. Are you expressing your true talent? Are you as effective and productive as you can be? Your productivity zone is specific. To make the most of it you need to pay careful attention. I am not Malcolm Gladwell; but if I were, this could easily be the subject of my next book. To save both of us some time, I will compress the book into a concise KEY.

A critical mindset both for executives and everyone else is that your most precious assets are your time, your energy and your focus. Effectiveness is enhanced when you bring precious assets into alignment with values and purpose. In this key we explore how to maximize the productivity zone to help you apply your precious assets with this awareness in mind.

Here is the ultimate productivity insight. The idea in short: The most productive people in most fields produce their most important work in 90-120 minutes a day. That’s the bad news. But it’s the good news, too, if you know how to make the most of your Peak Productivity Zone. Top performers produce their most vital work, impactful collaborations and breakthrough innovations inside 120 minutes a day. The peak productivity zone is exercised in five main patterns (templates): Sprints, Solitude, Intervals, Transitory moments and Combinations. To learn about these five patterns and discover your peak productivity zone click here.