1,092 words of content including 12 powerful questions to help you be successful and happy. Approximate reading time: 4.37 minutes. And isn't your Happiness worth it?

This newsletter speaks to Leadership, Happiness, and Coaching in your life and work.

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1. Join me at The Leading EDGE
2. The Questions You Need To Be Asking
3. In The Workplace: Leverage The Power of Questions
4. The Executive Happiness Coach®

Leadership as Theory can be learned in a classroom, but Leadership as impact must be experienced, through experimenting and taking risks.

Real learning occurs only when you leave your comfort zone. We propose to take you to your Edge where you will experience new connections, new perspectives, and discomfort - on purpose.

Join me and other leaders in The Dance of Leadership, the inaugural session of the Leading EDGE Series.

Meet a cross section of other edge-curious leaders from across Northeast Ohio as we together explore how your physical presence and movement speaks volumes about you and your Leadership style.

Whether you think you "dance" or not... you do. Everyday.

Your Leading EDGE Series Hosts are: Jim Smith, The Executive Happiness Coach® and Sue James & Craig James, from CatStrat & Screwball Universe City.

Come to the Edge... and leap into new Leadership!

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Do you want to be successful?

In today's digital world, with all information a few clicks away, your success is less often about what you have in your head and more often linked to your ability to research a topic, sort through the mountains of data, and discern what is truly important. Pay attention to that and let go of the rest.

The companion skills of Critical Thinking (the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking) and Curiosity (a strong desire to know or learn something) are critical to success. This is why our education systems are, ever so slowly yet inevitably, shifting from rote memorization to teaching kids how to learn. And it's why smart organizations value talented people who are Curious Learners over those who are experts in yesterday.

Curiosity is thinking beyond what you normally think about. It's about embracing the Not Knowing, looking at things from a different angle, exploring yourself and the world in different ways. To think critically and learn through curiosity, you must nurture the skill of asking great questions.

The power of a question depends on your purpose and the context in which you ask it. In general, close-ended questions are for gathering facts while open-ended questions are for exploring. (For a quick comparison, visit here.) Open questions are a powerful tool for leading, for coaching, and for building your own self-awareness.

• What's GOOD about <this>? Your most primal emotion is fear. But if you always start with fear, your questions become about what is wrong, dangerous, impossible, and so on, and you shut down. So thank your fear for protecting you, and then move intentionally into Optimism.
• What wants to emerge or shift here? Unless you are dead, there's always something bubbling under the surface. Giving voice to what wants to emerge allows you to explore new possibilities.
• WHO do I choose to be? Notice this is a very different question from "what do I need to do?" It invites you to make a conscious choice about how you show up, what energy you will bring, or which mood will best serve you.
• How do I feel about <this>? Our cultural predisposition around data collection - especially in the workplace - is to gather facts that appeal to the intellect, e.g. what do I know, what do I think, etc. The human being that you are is also emotional and physical, so be sure to check in with your gut and heart, and check in with your body and physical sensations.
• What are three things I know to be true? Sometimes the constant barrage of media hype can affect your worldview. When that happens, come back to who you really are. What are your values? What do you believe, when you take the time to think for yourself?
• What is most powerfully holding my attention right now? This question can be quite powerful when you are feeling stuck, when you are in a procrastination mode, or when you are feeling overwhelmed.
• What am I ignoring? There's always more going on in any situation than you are giving active attention. Sometimes stepping back and taking in a bigger picture or focusing on different details can completely shift your take on a situation.
• What is one step I can take to begin moving forward? It's easy to get overwhelmed in a world that's moving so fast. When that happens, try letting go of everything except the NEXT thing. When you concentrate all your energy into a tight and narrow focus you become like a laser, cutting through your stuckness.

Whether you write out your responses or simply ponder these questions in your conversations with self or others, I promise you will increase your self-awareness and open new possibilities for success. Enjoy!

Plenty. Happiness Principle #9 says Pay Attention: Look. Listen. Notice. Personal inquiry helps you notice where you are right now.

Principle #8 reminds you to Stimulate Your Development: Surround yourself with environments and people that continually challenge you, energize you, and literally pull you forward. Powerful questions do all of that and more.

Finally, there's Principle #11, Speak the Truth: Stop playing games. Recognize that though the truth may sometimes sting, it is the starting place for all progress. Asking these questions of yourself can help you see the truth about what you are doing/not doing to support your own happiness and success. When you use the questions with others, you help them see their own Truth, as well.

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The 13 Principles of Happiness challenge you every day to question what you are doing to build a happier life. Download a copy today and post it on your cubicle wall or fridge at home. Think happy.

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Great Leadership is not about how smart YOU are, but how effectively you can pull together the knowledge, skills, and passion of your team to deliver results. Powerful questions will help you figure out what is really happening outside of your office and what your team needs from you to help them succeed.

To truly leverage the power of questions in your organization, allow and encourage everyone to ask the following questions regularly.

• What do you need from me? If you seek to nurture teamwork, this question reminds those who ask it that everyone in the organization depends on someone else for their work; and conversely, that everything you do flows to or supports someone else. Ask it up, down, and across at all levels.
• Why are we doing this? / Why are we doing it this way? If your organization strives to continually improve, this awesome question fosters curiosity as an organizational competency. It's a question that uncovers the story behind confusing or complicated processes, often revealing the "real" reason (such as "uhm...we don't know" or worse, "we've always done it that way").
• How can I make this better? One of my early workplace inspirations was a colleague whose credo was to never leave the office without making some small positive difference, either in a person or a process. When you ask this question, allow it to be an invitation, not a burden.
• What can I learn from this? Mistakes happen. When every misstep or error leads to damnation, you instill fear in yourself and others. Instead, allow mistakes to turn into conversation about what needs to happen differently. If failures result in curiosity about learning, you create a culture that allows people to be human and in which everyone becomes more comfortable taking risks.

Remember, Leadership is not about a title. Anyone can be a Leader who asks great questions to open new perspectives.

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Do you seek support to create the new Leadership habits you will need to succeed at the next level? To explore how you can engage a coach to make that happen faster and easier, write me back or visit here for more info.

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The Executive Happiness Coach® is a global provider of Executive Coaching and mentoring services. With clients on six continents, my passion is to help build a Happier world and workplace, one Leader at a time.

Contact me to create more Happiness, Leadership, and balance in your life.

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View past editions at http://www.TheExecutiveHappinessCoach.com/resources/archives/.

Copyright © 2014, All Rights Reserved. Reproduction for publication is encouraged, with the following attribution: "From HAPPINESS@TheSPEEDofLIFE, by Jim Smith, PCC, The Executive Happiness Coach®. For more tips on Leading with Happiness, visit www.TheExecutiveHappinessCoach.com."

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