Leadership Archives - Jeff Havens | Keynote Speaker | Leadership Keynote Speaker

The Power of Negative Thinking

Jeff Havens — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:06:36 +0000

We’ve all heard about the power of positive thinking. And I’m pretty certain that somebody has encouraged you to “look on the bright side” when something isn’t going the way you’d like. But have you ever considered the power of negative thinking? By which I do not mean being hopelessly pessimistic. Maybe there’s some value…

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Why Engage with People That Think Differently Than You

Jeff Havens — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 15:35:42 +0000

I like it when people agree with me. I think most of us do. It’s hard not to enjoy hearing that others think our ideas, attitudes, and beliefs are right. In fact, I’m sure the world would be a much simpler place if everyone just agreed with every single thing I ever did or said. …

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How Using Both/And Can Change Your Life

Jeff Havens — Tue, 06 May 2025 13:36:43 +0000

The April 2025 issue of National Geographic featured an awards show of sorts – 33 individuals around the world whose work (at least according to National Geographic) is improving the world in some way. Many of them, as you might imagine, are doing things related to the environment. Several, however, were businesspeople, and two in…

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Why You Should Ask Dumb Questions

Jeff Havens — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 19:46:24 +0000

Recently my 8-year-old son came home from school and asked me if I knew how many uses for the peanut George Washington Carver had discovered. After silently thanking his teachers for encouraging his love of random information, I admitted that all I knew was that it was a lot. “More than 300,” he told me…

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What Does “Good” Constructive Feedback Look Like?

Jeff Havens — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 20:27:32 +0000

So, the people you work with and employ could stand to improve in various ways. That fair, since it’s true about all of us. But talking to people about the mistakes they make or the ways they might improve is a delicate and often difficult task. So here we’re going to discuss how to provide…

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Composing the Perfect Interview Question

Jeff Havens — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 17:27:45 +0000

In this article we’re going to talk about how to craft strong, insightful questions to ask during your next interview with job candidates – not what those specific questions should be, since that will depend on your particular industry and circumstances, but rather what your questions should be trying to do. The right questions have…

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How To Take Initiative

Jeff Havens — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 18:49:52 +0000

Making important decisions, acting like a leader, being a person your colleagues can count on to get the job done – all of these are qualities associated with “taking initiative.” So if there’s a lot of extra initiative lying around, odds are you’d like to take some of it for yourself. Doing so, however, can…

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Negotiate Like a Child

Jeff Havens — Thu, 05 Jan 2023 16:08:51 +0000

I’m just coming off a very lovely few weeks with my family. We saw friends, went skiing, and spent 12 solid hours on Christmas day together in the living room playing with new toys and games. It has been great. And it has also been educational. Because sometime during all this family-ness I realized that…

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The Most Important Sentence in Leadership

Jeff Havens — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 15:17:39 +0000

At its most basic, effective leadership consists of two key components. One of them is the human element – that’s the part where you’re showing and telling the people who work for you that you’re glad they’re there. This is the piece of leadership that gets the most attention, because there are an endless number…

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What You Can Learn from Pig Farmers and Pharmacies

Jeff Havens — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 14:52:14 +0000

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about my job is the opportunity to meet people living in places I would otherwise probably never go, doing things I know almost nothing about. It’s given me a chance to see a much broader cross-section of the world than I think most jobs allow for, and my…

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