The Building Champions Leadership Development Blog
Drawing upon their decades of leadership experience—and the hundreds of conversations they have each week with leaders across the country—our team of coaches deliver insights, strategies, and tips to help you improve how you lead and live.
How AI is Transforming Decision-Making
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly growing, but no matter how capable it becomes, human discernment will always be needed—and that’s where leadership comes in. AI should be viewed as an assistant. It can pull together information in a matter of seconds, preview options, and tackle routine work so you, the leader, can stay focused on the human side of the business. AI won’t replace leaders, but it is a tool to be utilized by leaders. In this article, we cover how AI can help leaders make decisions faster, how it reduces bias, and what leaders should be aware of when factoring it into their decision-making.
4 Ways to Welcome Innovation
Innovation is often born of necessity, but it can be proactively fostered when given time, space, and creative freedom. As a leader, you can invite your teammates to innovate through your leadership: by modeling curiosity, asking honest questions, and resisting the urge to provide quick answers. By encouraging your teammates to seek answers for themselves, their resourcefulness may lead to new ways of thinking or working that might not have otherwise been realized.
In this article, we share four ways a leader can welcome innovation to their team and foster an organizational culture of creativity.
Creating an Environment of Collaboration
Collaboration is key to team effectiveness. But it requires effort to create a team culture where it is fostered. For healthy collaboration, teams need a high-trust environment where partnership is expected and ideas are shared freely—and that necessitates leadership.
In this article, we discuss how a leader can create an environment of collaboration within their teams so that people learn to work together creatively, strategically, and purposely.
Leveraging Adaptability in an Evolving World
Adaptability in an ever-changing business landscape is key to effective leadership. Remaining flexible yet focused on your organization’s long-term vision is how you foster innovation during times of uncertainty. Adaptable leaders examine their current ways of doing business (without ego), realign resources quickly when needed, and steer their organizations forward while keeping purpose and vision front of mind.
In this article, we share three recommendations for you to employ within your own organization so that you can remain adaptable and competitive in today’s environment.
The Agile & Adaptable Leader
In our complex, fast-paced, modern world, leaders need to be both agile and adaptable. The leaders who thrive are those who can move with purpose, flexibility, and wisdom. They set a clear direction, respond quickly to what’s unfolding, and keep their teams focused and energized through uncertainty. That blend of speed and flexibility is not accidental; it’s built through disciplined self-leadership and a strategic, future-facing mindset. In this article, we define leadership agility and adaptability, explain the equal importance of both, and share how you can strengthen them through one-on-one coaching.
Resilience to Results with Vision-Driven Leadership
If you're in the mortgage business and have been for at least the past three to five years, you're a working, practical definition of resilience. It's no surprise to anyone that the market fluctuates with respect to real estate in general, and the mortgage business in particular. We've all become accustomed to those fluctuations. However, the severity of those fluctuations, in recent years, has redefined market volatility.
How to Recognize and Approach Advancement Opportunities in Your Career
How do you take your career to the next level? Learn how to identify career advancement opportunities and reach your professional goals using leadership skills.
The Power of Connection
In March 2020, the global pandemic wiped the calendar clean. All events were cancelled. We moved to remote work, and the apartment I had merely slept in became the walls that protected me. And I didn’t notice at first, but the lack of social interaction began to wear on me. I felt tired, lethargic, uninspired.
Understanding and Harnessing Executive Presence
The key element at the center of executive presence is a high level of confidence and an ability to easily make connections with the people around you. Having executive presence means showing your value, and that you belong in the room where it’s happening. This trait can be hard to define and even harder to learn, but it’s not impossible to cultivate.
3 Ways to Calculate Vision
As humans, we spend a lot of time looking forward, to both determine our direction so we know what’s to come and build excitement for future experiences. And as leaders, it’s one of the most important things we bring to our team. After all, leadership without vision is just management.