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Han Solo (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Climbing the corporate ladder - or figuring out when to jump off - has never been harder. Luckily you can learn everything you need to know from the ultimate business renegade: a the spice smuggler from Corellia who became a general, and saved a galaxy.

Here are four spe­cific musts do's that can absolutely increase your level of pas­sion and your direc­tion which will enable you to con­tinue to grow your capac­ity.

Take a good look at your Busi­ness Vision. As you read it, are you find­ing your­self excited and com­pelled to con­tinue push­ing for­ward and giv­ing your all to the cause? If your vision does not com­pel you, then how can you expect it to com­pel those you lead to stretch and grow?
If it com­pels you, the next ques­tion you must ask is this: "can I plan from it?" If you vision is not clear, it will be very dif­fi­cult to build plans and strat­egy from it. Your vision should help you to see who your cus­tomer is, what value you will bring to them, what prob­lem your team, ser­vice or prod­uct will help solve. It should help you to see what your team will become and what you will build at some point in the future.
Now look at your Busi­ness Plans for the year and the quar­ter. Your desired out­comes, dis­ci­plines and improve­ments must be very clear. These three things should fit on one page and should truly direct your actions and impact your calendar.
And then finally, if you have done the pre­vi­ous three things and are still not see­ing things clearly, you are wise to under­stand that self lead­er­ship always pre­cedes team lead­er­ship. Your chal­lenge might be deeper and big­ger than what is hap­pen­ing voca­tion­ally. You could really ben­e­fit by spend­ing a day review­ing or build­ing your Life Plan. An effec­tive plan is com­pelling and clear in how it directs your think­ing, your actions and ulti­mately your results.

Instead, leaders need to start by really caring about what other people have to say about an issue.  Research also shows that active listening, combined with empathy or trying to understand others' perspectives and points of view is the most effective form of listening.  Henry Ford once said that if there is any great secret of success in life, it lies in the ability to put oneself in another person's place and to see things from his or her point of view -as well as from one's own.

In the survey, employees called out the kind of management offenses that point to a striking lack of emotional intelligence among business leaders, including micromanaging, bullying, narcissism, indecisiveness, and more. In rank order, the following were the top communication issues people said were preventing business leaders from being effective:

Making the move from coworker to department manager was a tricky transition because, as the new manager, Margo was responsible for the productivity and results of her department. Oftentimes, former coworkers, either because of jealousy or out of habit, didn't want to treat her as the boss - they wanted to continue treating her as one of the peer group. Here are 7 tips for making the transition easier:

Coaching, however, deserves careful thought and practice. Here are some specific opportunities to improve our daily coaching efforts.

Confirmation that companies are on the right track in demanding frequent coaching sessions comes from Google's "Project Oxygen," the company's rigorous, data-based analysis of what makes great managers. Technical expertise made a difference, but only a small one. The single most important differentiator between good and great managers? "Be a good coach."

Present over Perfect is full of thoughtful insights and beautiful writing. I want to highlight three practices from the book that can help leaders like us avoid the trap of perfectionism and stay engaged in the present.

"Listening" to our own well-being, and paying close attention to our important relationships and reset buttons - very critical to our quality of life! We only get 1 chance, after all.

One of the most important, leadership skills to develop in managers is the ability to coach effectively-including how to connect with employees and get the best out of them on an ongoing basis. From my own experience, here are three employee performance management best practices I've found effective in turning frontline managers into first-rate coaches.

Brad came back from his time off with a list of twenty key habits that have the power to transform and elevate our leadership. Here are just three that have been especially powerful for me.

Curiosity = Creativity = Innovation. Great article!

A recent complaint we received from a manager: "I do my job, I get my results, and no one has to chase me down or manage me. Well my employees are also 'big boys and girls' and should be able to get results: I pay them top salaries, they were hired because of their competence and expertise, I trust and expect them to get things done. But when things become critical, or go wrong, no one steps up and takes responsibility and delivers results! I don't know what to do!" Like most of us, you're probably nodding your head thinking "I know exactly what that feels like". But before we get too far into lamenting our problems, let's take a look at how "the box" may be distorting this

At first, her role as a leader felt overwhelming, and she was tempted to "pull up" from her failing team. However, she continued to address their challenges, needs, and issues head on even though it drained her and took a lot of time. Soon, however, she was able to make decisions that were for the best of her people and the organization alike. She was able to build trust with her team, who soon saw her competence (an underrated aspect of high trust workplaces) and felt her authentic care. The pile of challenges started getting smaller and smaller. She was able to start moving her team with a speed they hadn't experienced before. This leader now has one of the highest trust teams in the organization and is seen by many as their "best leader ever."

You don't turn an ordinary workplace into a Human Workplace by putting a sign on the door. It doesn't happen because you install a lactation room (although I highly recommend that you do!) or start an employee suggestion program.

The path to a Human Workplace is mental. It's a shift in perspective. It happens when people stop seeing the managers in an organization and the rest of the staff as two different camps.

The examples provided by Sue's boss mainly fell into the first two categories of emotional intelligence: self-awareness and self-regulation. In talking through the examples from her manager, Sue admitted that she wasn't always aware of how her behavior at work was impacting others. So we decided to focus on techniques that would help her better regulate her behavior and identify her emotions.

This scenario is all too common when an individual is asked to make the leap from expert to manager. It's especially common when someone is asked to lead a team of their recent peers. But jumping into the weeds and trying to do everything, even if it works initially, is not a sustainable strategy. Ultimately a manager needs to focus on becoming a successful teacher and mentor in order to help their people develop and grow, and to increase the overall capacity of the team.

The problem is by simply removing the monkey from their back the employee learns nothing which is one of the most important jobs of a leader - to teach. So, the morale of the story is this… when someone comes to you with a problem don't steal their monkey.

"The best managers are those who have an appetite for learning and are willing to work on themselves." - From " Becoming a Manager " by Linda A.Hill

Coaching isn't advocating a point. Coaching isn't teaching existing knowledge. Coaching isn't giving what I call "drive by feedback". The standard for coaching is much higher than that. We should be less casual about its use, and hold it in much higher regard.