First-Time Leaders Accelerated℠
Leading people is the most important responsibility in the world, yet, alarmingly, 60% of first-time leaders fail. With over 4 decades of experience in leader development and culture improvement, I created this podcast to help you solve 3 critical and costly people problems: 1. Endangered People Skills: The Communication Paradox 2. Peer to Leader, Now What? 3. Sunday Feelings About Monday Mornings If you’re a first-time leader, someone who hires or promotes first-time leaders or a solopreneur building your first team, this is your podcast. I’m Timothy Dean Smith, your host & coach. Monthly, from January through July, I’ll offer you concise, practical solutions you can apply immediately and benefit from for a lifetime. If you find my solutions valuable, share this podcast with your collages, wherever they listen to podcasts. Leading people is the most important responsibility in the world and I’m here to ensure your leadership matters. Thank you for listening to the First-Time Leaders Accelerated℠ Podcast. Take care. If you need a Leadership Speaker or you need help with Leader Development and/or Culture Improvement, visit tdspi.com and Click on Meet Me. I look forward to our "get to know each other" conversation. Treat people like they make a difference and they will.
Episodes
A common pitfall for first-time leaders is, the "Fix-it" Obsession. I will explain why "rescuing" your team often leads to burnout for you and stagnation for them. You attempt to be the hero, but you become a bottleneck, holding your team back.
If you need assistance assessing and accelerating the tran...
Often when a peer is select to lead their current team, the process is mistakenly viewed as a promotion, when it’s actually a career transformation and transition.
If you need assistance of a first-time leader trainer, coach and/or dysfunctional culture improvement, click here, schedule our "get to know each other&qu...
This episode is about recognizing and taking the first step to correct Leader Illusion.
If you think you’re leading but feel like no one is following, your initial instinct is usually right. You are probably experiencing leader illusion. People may give you the illusion they are following you, because they must, due to yo...
This episode is about how others see you differently, when you transition from an individual performer to first-time leader. I will be focusing on what I believe is the most important leader skill, Self-Leadership. Self-leadership is a fancy way of describing how you lead your life. Often, the most difficult person to le...
This episode will be my final episode of 2025. I will be focusing on what I believe is the most important leader skill, Self-Leadership. Self-leadership is a fancy way of describing how you lead your life. Often, the most difficult person to lead, is yourself.
If you need a Leadership Speaker or you need help with Leader ...
Often leader candidates don’t receive proper people-centered leader training? You can learn to be a leader in a classroom, but you can’t become a leader in the classroom. There is a huge difference between learning leader skills and experiencing them. You can’t teach experience. Once you are trained, you need to gain exp...
If the leader candidate is lacking one or more of the four prerequisites, the candidate should not be promoted to a leader role. Doing so would be a recipe for failure, not to mention, create a lot of distress and loss of money. It is okay for the leader candidate to remain an individual performer.
If you need a Leadershi...
To be a great people-centered leader, you must genuinely care FOR and ABOUT people. You need to do both.
1.Caring FOR people is doing something for their well-being and helping them grow. It’s something you do to demonstrate you care for those you lead.
2.Caring ABOUT people is being emotionally concerned about their well-...
We live in an “always on” and “always connected” world. We expect instant gratification, either accessing information or receiving a response.
Are you prepared to lead people? Find Out
If you need a Leadership Speaker or you need help with Leader Development and/or Culture Improvement, visit tdspi.com and Click o...
It's unfortunate but all too often organizations unknowingly get rid of their best people and simultaneously wreck their culture, in three easy steps. I will explain how and why this problem occurs and how to fix it.
Are you prepared to lead people? Find Out
If you need a Leadership Speaker or you need help ...
New Year's resolutions should not only consider improving existing processes but also have an atypical consideration of whether those processes should continue to be performed at all.
Are you prepared to lead people? Find Out
If you need a Leadership Speaker or you need help with Leader Development...
Late Sunday afternoon or early Sunday evening, many people start thinking about Monday morning and their return to work. These thoughts reflect their feelings about their work culture.
Are you prepared to lead people? Find Out
If you need a Leadership Speaker or you need help with Leader Development and...
Many things in life are cyclical. Leading people is no different. Today I will explain the People-Centered Leader Cycle.
Are you prepared to lead people? Find Out
If you need a Leadership Speaker or you need help with Leader Development and/or Culture Improvement, visit tdspi.com and Click on Meet Me.
I ...
Remember, it’s more than having the right people on the bus, those people need to be in the right seats. This means the right people should be performing using their strengths.
If you need help with Leader Development and/or Culture Improvement, visit tdspi.com and Click on Meet Me.
I look forward to our "get to know ...
Improvement and adaptability are our two most important abilities for survival. Just focusing on continuous performance improvement will not necessarily sustain an organization. Adapting to our everchanging world is important to remain relevant.
Visit tdspi.com and select one of two options:
Click on Find Out to ...
When you transition from individual performer to first-time leader, often you inherit something you did not create. Unless you are an entrepreneur, hiring your first employees, you inherit everything, including the Vision, the Mission, the people, the culture and organizational history.
Referenced Episodes:
...
Delegation is the process of entrusting another person, to perform something other than their primary responsibility. In this episode you will learn why delegation is more than getting things done.
Are you prepared to lead people? Find Out
Treat people like they make a difference and they will.
Often top performing individuals are promoted to a leader role, based on their current performance. The flawed assumption is, they will be successful leading people, just as they led themselves, as an individual performer.
In this episode you will learn why it's okay to say "No, Thank You"
The common problem I solve is twofold:
1. Only 5% of companies have a leader development strategy, because most companies don’t have this competency on staff.
2. 60% of first-time leaders fail.
I have a phrase that sums up why 60% of first-time leaders fail. I call it:
“Get rid of your best people an...
Perspective is not what you look at it’s what you see. It’s your point of view of the world. Everyone sees things differently. Five people could watch an event and each might have a different recollection, based on their perspective. We are all born with varying perspectives and our perspectives continue to be developed ...
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