questions – Nathan Magnuson

5 Questions You MUST Ask Your Young Professionals if You Want to Engage Them

What’s the quality of your conversations with your young professionals? More specifically, what questions are you asking them? In my new book Stand Out!, I share that young professionals today are the leaders of tomorrow. The reason is a matter of simple mathematics. When the Baby Boomers retire, there won’t…

14 Questions to Answer Before Signing Up a Vendor

March 6, 2017 Organizational Effectiveness

I love the opportunity for new partnerships. Having been on both sides of vendor & client agreements, I’ve enjoyed some partnerships so incredible that folks were often eager to work extra long days – and then chum together afterward. Unfortunately, I’ve also observed situations where hundreds of thousands of dollars…

Becoming a Coaching Leader

December 5, 2016 Coaching Leadership Management Organizational Effectiveness

We hear so much about coaching these days. Leaders need to coach more. Employees need more coaching. High performers need coaching. Low performers need coaching. As leaders, how can we know we’ve done enough? And what does a quality coaching conversation actually look like in action? Over the years, I’ve…

What Coaching Leaders Do Differently

September 15, 2014 Coaching Influence Leadership Personal Effectiveness Questions

“Coaching” has been trending corporate buzzword in organizational leadership for well over a decade. We’re all familiar with athletics coaches. But when someone asks us to coach someone to learn a new skill or solve problem, it’s usually in a professional work context. What do coaches actually do – or…

How to Ask Great Questions

August 18, 2014 Coaching Communication Influence Leadership Learning Personal Effectiveness Questions

This post is excerpted from Nathan’s book Ignite Your Leadership Expertise. What if I told you you don’t need to have a solution for every single problem that comes your way in order to be a competent and mature leader? That’s exactly what I’m about to propose. Hopefully it’s as…

Powerful Question #11

November 6, 2013 Powerful Questions

Sometimes when I meet with a leader of a team or a department, I’ll ask a question about priorities that usually raises an eyebrow or two. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the ones who can answer it usually seem to be on top of things a lot more…

It Doesn’t Matter How Much You Care

September 16, 2013 Communication Expectations Influence Leadership Personal Effectiveness

When I first began studying leadership years ago, I’d find myself in conversations when someone would invariably share a leadership challenge with me. Sometimes, I’d even know how to solve it. I’d usually reference a book or an idea I had recently studied. Sometimes in my enthusiasm, I’d even go…

Use Strengths to Understand Your Leadership Style

April 15, 2013 Engagement Human Resources Organizational Effectiveness Personal Effectiveness Strategic Thinking

Recently I wrote about the benefits of taking Gallup’s StrengthsFinder 2.0 strengths assessment. Nearly 9 million individuals have used the assessment to identify their Top 5 signature strength themes. That means there are many leaders out there who have yet to discover the incredible benefit of clarifying and leveraging their strengths. What…

Powerful Question #4

April 3, 2013 Powerful Questions

We’ve all received lots of advice over the years, especially when we were young or starting out on a new project or a new season of life. Some of us may still get loads of advice, whether we ask for it or not. What’s one piece of advice that’s stuck…

Powerful Question #3

March 6, 2013 Powerful Questions

English writer Samuel Johnson once said that “The applause of a single human being is of great significance.” Who is one person who has applauded you in a significant way?

Powerful Question #2

February 6, 2013 Powerful Questions

Everyone has development experiences throughout their life and career outside of formal training programs (school, professional certifications, etc.) that impact the way they perform as a person, professional, and a leader. What’s one of the richest leadership development experiences you’ve ever had and how has it helped shape your leadership…

Mentoring 101

January 21, 2013 Human Resources Leadership Learning Networking Personal Effectiveness

It’s said that King Solomon was the wisest man who ever walked the earth. From the stories it seems his leadership ability was pretty astonishing as well. Imagine what it would have been like to spend an hour with him. What questions would you ask? What problems would you want…