Leaders Blog

After a year of challenges, Sheri Sesay-Tuffour, Ph.D., CAE, CEO at the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board, shares her advice and lessons learned in 2020 for the road ahead. 

Over the past few months, the NAIFA 2025 Strategic Plan Committee has been hard at work. The Committee has identified three Priority Goals that form the basis of the Plan. These are:

1. Membership Growth

2. Brand Amplification

3. Member Experience

The above requires a new approach to membership recruitment that supplements the current methods. The individual lead membership funnel remains active. NAIFA will continue with its enterprise efforts by adding additional bulk membership purchases. 

What does a true leader look like in 2021? Warren Buffet recommends selflessness, generosity and honesty. Speaker, executive coach, podcaster and syndicated columnist Marcell Schwantes also gathered these five traits to elevate your leadership.

Optimism. Hope. Confidence. Three words that Delta CEO Ed Bastian kept repeating during his latest earnings call. It's no secret that this has been one of the most challenging times in the history of U.S. aviation (among many other industries), yet Ed Bastian remained positive in his message. 

Over the last 20 years, Bernard Coleman has worked in numerous different industries-tech, politics, non-profit and state government. Over the years, he has received great leadership advice, and awful leadership advice. Below are the five leadership lessons Bernard has received that he considers invaluable in growing in as a leader:

1. You're only as good as your last performance. 
2. Heroics don't scale. 
3. All you have is your reputation. 
4. Your attitude determines your altitude. 
5. Hold fast. 

How powerful can a question be? Carly Fiorina, author of the weekly LinkedIn newsletter Leadership Matters, has this to say, "Sometimes the single most important thing a leader can do is ask the right question and actually listen to the answer."

NAIFA is offering a new membership called the NAIFA 100% Agency program. The new program provides a group membership, a new logo, a promise to be politically active and additional publicity as part of the new membership program.

 

The new program was rolled out on the January Membership Chairs call.  If you have an agency that is interested, please refer the lead to Dennis Cuccinelli and/or send to recruitment@naifa.org.

NAIFA is pleased to announce that The Fortis Agency, headquartered in Holmdel, NJ at the beautiful Bellworks Complex, has become a 100% NAIFA Agency. Under the new membership program, The Fortis Agency has enrolled all of their advisors as NAIFA members and enrolled them in NAIFA’s grassroots advocacy programs.

We are so grateful for the time that you spend dedicating to our great association! As you know, you are the NAIFA brand! If you've spent any time with me at all, you also know that the only thing that's more marketable than a NAIFA member is a NAIFA member holding a puppy. To help keep marketing you and get you the recognition you deserve, we like to feature you in our various gallery pages.

In 2020, leaders faced a lot of challenges. Adjusting to a pandemic, addressing social injustice and learning to lead virtually to name a few. In the LinkedIn newsletter, The Future of Work, Jacob Morgan shares 15 leadership lessons that he believes are crucial for leaders to learn in order to succeed in the future.

1. Leading by example.
2. Creating your own luck.
3. What culture is and what it isn’t.
4. It doesn’t have to be crazy at work.
5. What to do if you feel stuck at work.
6. How to lead with courage.
7. How COVID-19 has changed leadership forever.
8. How leaders can serve their employees.
9. Creating a mission that resonates with employees.
10. People are the solution, not the problem.
11. Why leaders need a short attention span.
12. The best leadership lessons can come from those around you.
13. How to think like an entrepreneur.
14. Putting people ahead of profits.
15. Creating culture for a remote workforce.

"You’re going to know failure if you are brave with your life."
– Brene Brown