LEADERSHIP MINTS

New R-Rated Book Provides Tool for More Convenient,
On-Going Leadership Development Training
During Regular Staff Meetings

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

The 5-minute Leadership Mints Break is coming to a staff meeting room near you thanks to the publication today of a new R-Rated book (R for Relationships) designed to solve the leadership development dilemma: leaders who are too busy to develop other leaders.

Leadership Mints, 101 Bite-Sized Ideas to Freshen Your Bottom-Line Thinking, by Peter Jeff – available on Amazon.com and booksellers everywhere (ISBN 978-0615936970 – personalizes leadership principles through 101 stories, most of which can be read in 5 minutes or less.

Like their candy counterpart, these Leadership Mints can be consumed like a breath mint: quickly, and easily anytime, anyhow, anywhere but particularly and most conveniently during any regularly scheduled staff meeting.

The new 282-page book gives leaders a viable tool to solve a conundrum in the leadership development community: Need vs. Time. The need is evident: The most vital role of any leader is to develop other leaders, most leading leadership development authorities agree. The time is not as evident or available. Research shows that leadership role of — Leaders Developing Other Leaders -takes a backseat to day-to-day problem-solving.

In fact, Leaders Developing Other Leaders ranks 4th from the bottom according to what leaders actually do, according to the Leadership 2012 Study Focusing on Trends and Best Practices, conducted by Corporate University Xchange, a global learning and leadership research firm. Leaders say they are too busy to coach others and too busy to have their direct reports attending as many leadership development seminars and workshops as they might like .

Leadership Mints solves that time crunch and launches the debut of the 5-minute Leadership Mints Break during a regular staff meeting. Participants can discuss the key learnings -called an ImproveMINT-in a Leadership Mint story that can be digested (read) in 5 minutes. Many leaders rotate the leader of the 5-Minute Leadership Mints Break to give all staffers a flair for teaching and developing other leaders.

Most but not all of the 101 Leadership Mint stories can be read in 5 minutes or less. The reading time for each Leadership Mint is printed just below its headline which reinforces the book’s founding concept: Invest a few minutes reading for a lifetime of leading.

For the first time leaders have a tool they can use in a timely fashion to share their vision and values as they discuss the leadership principles in Leadership Mints that could have the added benefit of facilitating more frequent feedback for leaders and their direct reports on various performance issues spotlighted in the book from conflict management to creative thinking to public speaking.

On a personal note: A big hearty THANK YOU to so many readers of this blog who encouraged The Leadership Mints Guy to package this Leadership Mints into a book form so that ImproveMINTS would be more visible, accessed and shared in real time. On the job.

Now the blog in book form serves as a handy reference guide and targeted problem-solving tool at your finger tips instead of 5-6 clicks away and buried deep in cyberspace Need help reprimanding others? Flip to Mint 64. Need help fending off your critics? Flip to Mint 62. Need help focusing? Flip to Mint 70.

Sprinkled with provocative headlines like Slipping Into the Girdle of Innovation (Mint 28) or Leaders Are Great Kissers (Mint 35), Leadership Mints concludes each story with an ImproveMINT — a one-line, call-to-action that summarizes the key teaching to do today to enhance your leadership skills in one of 16 different competencies from attitude to writing. See the list below that includes the Leadership Mint title and Mint number :

ATTITUDE (5)

Becoming the Chairman of the Bored, Mint 41
Firing Up Your Personal Zamboni, Mint 8
Height Insight: Attitude More Than Altitude, Mint 21
Self-Control The Ultimate Power, Mint 63
Whistle While You Work, Mint 31

BODY LANGUAGE (2)

Arming Yourself With Body Language, Mint 73
Kiss ‘n Tell: Leveraging Your Face Value, Mint 72

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT (3)
Get Off Your Buts, Mint Mint 55
SCORE Don’t Get Sore, Mint 64
Throw ‘em a LIFE Line, Mint 65

CREATIVITY (8)

5 Ways to Ride the RODEO of Mint Creativity, 12
Coloring Beyond the Bottom Line, Mint 13
Off-The-Wall Creative Thinking, Mint 32
Problem Solving At 250 Miles Per Hour, Mint 24
Raising the Flag in Your ImagiNATION, Mint 11
Smelling the ROSE of Creativity, Mint 20
Uncorking Bottled Up Creative Resources, Mint 27
What’s Your YQ? Mint 5

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (14)

Are You Too Good To Get Better? Mint 22
Becoming an Eye-Deal Leader, Mint 69
Beware of Spraying Praise Like Perfume, Mint 60
Dare to Be Humble, Mint 54
Flash Your Lt. Columbo Badge of Confusion, Mint 82
Goosing The Goose Bumps, Mint 37
Leaders Are Great Kissers, Mint 35
Leaders Are Lovers, Mint 36
Pissing People Off, Mint 62
Power Lunch: Feeding More Than Your Ego, Mint 61
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Putting The Spell on Others, Mint 38
Saying I’m Sorry The Write Way, Mint 91
Staying in Touch With Your Humanity, Mint 59
Valuing Your Vulnerability, Mint 51

FOCUSING (3)

Beyond Where the Cookie Crumbles, Mint 10
Narrowing Your Attention Span, Mint 26
The Wall Street Journal. PERIOD, Mint 19

LISTENING (4)
Confessions of a Listener: Father I Have Sinned, Mint 67
Listen: Do You Want To Know a Secret? Mint 68
Making LOVE To Your Audience, Mint 70
Who’s Farding In the Car? Mint 88

HUMOR (2)

E-QUIP Yourself With Humor, Mint 18
Lighten Up & Enlighten Yourself, Mint 17

INNOVATION(4)

Barking Up the Innovation Tree, Mint 29
Improvising When Your Cupboard Is Bare, Mint 30
Slipping Into The Girdle of Innovation, Mint 28
Touch the Face of a New Idea, Mint 14

MEETINGS (5)

Blessing The Team’s Inner Sanctum, Mint 97
It’s Showtime & You’re the Emcee, Mint 93
Make Your Meetings Snap, Crackle & POP, Mint 95
Passionate Introductions Enliven Meetings, Mint 94
Praying to the Meeting Gods, Mint 96

PERCEPTION (11)

Analogy: Turning Huh? Into Aha!! Mint 78
Are You Forty or Forte? Mint 6
Beware of Jumping To a Conclusion, Mint 25
Breaking Out of Your Perception Prison, Mint 15
Broadening Your Funnel Vision, Mint 23
Burn Away the Weeds to Unleash the Seeds, Mint 9
Interruptions: The Spice of Life, Mint 7
Kiss My Atlas! Mint 2
Parachuting: From Fright to Insight, Mint 4
Where You Stand Depends On Where You Sit, Mint 16
Yabba Dabba Doo On Monday Mornings Too, Mint 1

PUBLIC SPEAKING (11)

Billiiooooonnnns: Tuning In Your Tone, Mint 99
Breaking Through The Dam Of Indifference, Mint 75
FLIRT-ing With Your Audience, Mint 71
Kissing Sleeping Beauty, Mint 100
Public Speaking in a Bathrobe and Beyond, Mint 81
Rehearsing: Stick It To Your Audience, Mint 98
Speak Loudly & Carry a Sledgehammer, Mint 77
Speak Up With Confidence: Join Toastmasters, Mint 101
Stories Breathe Life Into The Bottom Line, Mint 84
Take Your Audience for a Joy Ride, Mint 83
Tuning In to WII-FM, Mint 76

RELATIONSHIP BUILDING (13)

Affirm Long Before You Inform, Mint 46
Balancing Act: Preserving Your Relationships, Mint 56
Climbing Down From Your Ivory Tower, Mint 66
Collaborating to Play the 19th Hole, Mint 48
Eggs-elence in Diversity, Mint 57
Feeding Friend-zy, Mint 43,
Feeding The Birds To Seed Your Message, Mint 58
Getting to Know You: Up Close & Personal, Mint 52
Guarding Your Golden Eggs, Mint 47
Heart Transplant of Another Kind, Mint 42
Investing Together in a Mutual Trust Fund, Mint 53
Parlaying Your Pygmalion Power, Mint 50
Playing Your ACE in a Stacked Deck, Mint 40

STRATEGIC THINKING (6)

Make It Simple Not Simpler, Mint 33
Quick Start = Half Done, Mint 34
Savoring Your M&Ms- - Magical Metaphors,Mint 79
Sound Off: Listening to Yourself Think, Mint 85
Stewing Your Ideas In a Crock Pot, Mint 74
Taking The Scum Off Your Mind, Mint 3

TEAMWORK (5)

Declaring Your Interdependence, Mint 44
Exercising Your Navel Intelligence, Mint 39
Filling In Each Other’s Gaps, Mint 45
Partnering Power: How Sweet It Is! Mint 49
Playing The Name Game, Mint 80

WRITING (5)

Business Cards:
The Handshake You Leave Behind, Mint 90
Catching the 5:15 Train of Thought, Mint 92
Churning Your Spilled Milk, Mint 86
Give Your Problems Their Last Writes, Mint 89
Writing a Pre-SCRIPT-ion For Your Audience, Mint 87