Parenting and leadership share core skills, including emotional regulation, clear communication and boundary-setting, writes Jessica Wilen, an executive coach and founder of A Cup of Ambition. Wilen shares six lessons from parenting that translate to leadership, including the importance of maintaining your composure, being clear about what needs to happen and why and the ability to admit mistakes and repair any damage.

Put it into practice: Just as parents need to instill confidence in their children, leaders must also resist micromanaging their team members and allow them the autonomy they need to learn from mistakes, Wilen writes. "Autonomy is not abdication. It requires clear expectations, appropriate guardrails and support when needed."

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Be assertive in your leadership by being directive, speaking with conviction and leading with both authority and empathy to increase your chances of a promotion over leaders who are quiet, conflict-averse and reluctant to make tough calls, writes executive coach Joel Garfinkle. Improve your presence as a leader by being more enthusiastic, asserting yourself with respect and letting senior leaders see you engaging in difficult conversations and addressing issues head-on, Garfinkle advises.

Put it into practice: Don't mistake assertiveness for aggression, which lacks the balance of empathy and can undermine trust and relationships, Garfinkle notes. "When leaders consistently show strength with respect, confidence with empathy and direction with purpose, they don't just get noticed. They get promoted."

Get your audience excited about the topic of your presentation (even if it's a dry subject) by working to infuse your voice with enthusiasm and a feeling of purpose, writes public speaking coach Gary Genard. Practice by thinking about how you'd convey your information to a friend or family member to infuse some excitement and think "about listeners and what they really need from you in this presentation," Genard advises.

Put it into practice: Before your talk, spend time listening to podcasts, audiobooks and other speakers and notice how they use the power of their voice, Genard advises. "You need to be able to hear when you're hitting the right notes of authenticity, credibility, honesty and emotional commitment (and a lot more besides) when you're speaking."

Your role in performance improvement. You report that 80% of the time, associates fail to rectify PIP behavior with only some chance of success. The big question here is why don't they succeed more? If you're putting someone on a PIP, ask yourself if the plan is reasonable and achievable. Assess what assistance or resources they'll need to successfully complete it. This might mean more of your time coaching them, investments in training or tools or helping them navigate challenges with their coworkers.

You can be a critical determinant of the person's success or failure with respect to a PIP. Avoid the temptation to write them off as not being "fixable" -- remember -- you likely hired them at one point because you saw what they were capable of. Help them achieve that level of performance again.

-- Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS, which includes TITAN -- the firm's e-learning platform. Previously, he worked at McKinsey & Co., Capital One and Scotts Miracle-Gro. He is a West Point graduate and author of three leadership books: "One Piece of Paper," "Lead Inside the Box" and "The Elegant Pitch."

As AI advances, leaders must become "reinventors" -- advocating for a culture of progress over perfection -- and lead with courage and humility, says Accenture CEO Julie Sweet. "At this moment, when every industry is changing, when the basis of competition is changing, when the technology is new, when we all have to learn new skills -- the fact that you have to learn new skills to do your job is not a negative. It's a positive," Sweet says.

The Dogosophy Button, developed at the Open University's Animal-Computer Interaction Laboratory, allows dogs to control household appliances, such as a fan. Initially designed for service dogs to help their owners, the device is now available to the public. The button is blue, which dogs can see well, and it has a textured surface for easy use with a paw or snout.

I have been a paid public speaker since I was 17 years old, using my voice as a radio DJ, reporter and anchor and later (and still) as a leader in spiritual settings. When I started, I was pretty awful. I still have cassettes of my early work, featuring me stumbling, bumbling and mumbling. Early in my career, the manager of one station I worked for spent hours with me refining not only my delivery but also my pronunciation and diction, helping me eliminate any trace of my southern accent.

I have since honed my skills, using not only body language but also the volume, tenor and power of my voice to create excitement, anticipation and raw emotion in my audiences. As Gary Genard points out, the power of your voice, when used effectively, can make even the driest of subjects exciting, even moving, if you spend time getting your voice right.

When you sound like you mean it, even while delivering this quarter's numbers, your audience will be hanging on every word. Genard notes that training your ear to be able to hear when you're hitting those "right notes of authenticity, credibility, honesty and emotional commitment" is key to sounding like you're emotionally invested in your message.

Genard points out that when we're telling our friends and family something, our voice naturally conveys our excitement, fear or interest. That's the real you, and you know how to express all the emotions you're feeling with your voice. Bringing that voice into the business arena can inject more power and credibility into your next presentation.

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