I’ve had a few recent inquiries from bright, talented people who want coaching. They’re all in significant roles that can bring tremendous value to the company. Unfortunately, they work for Luddites who won’t pay for coaching. In fact, their efforts to ask for mentoring from their boss resulted in a cold shoulder and comments such […]
A fellow executive coach and I had a good call recently when he suggested that most everyone is on their heels right now, both in business and personally, and the future is foggy. As I’ve been a longtime proponent of slowing the game down and asking the right questions, I thought I’d share a few […]
Has your culture changed because of coronavirus? Has the insidious disease crept into your organization like a stealthy criminal? Not overtly, but like a termite eating at your foundation. It’s not the disease, of course, that might be gnawing on your culture, but rather the changes it caused. Asynchronous communication, delayed feedback, stilted social bonding, […]
We have many pine trees in our yard and love them. Except, of course, for what they do to our gutters. The picture is actually from the front of my house. After a quick trip to the Homeadvisor website and a bit of research on Google, I decided that I needed gutter guards. 10 minutes […]
I recently read Robert Gates’ book, “Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World,” and was struck by his section on Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been a quagmire for decades — never really a country, just warring tribes. The Soviets sent more than 1 million soldiers there, lost […]
A recent piece in HBR asks, “Is CEO a Two-Person Job?” I didn’t think so when I wrote this, and I still don’t. I am impressed and appreciative of the relationship that these two leaders have developed but wouldn’t try to duplicate this arrangement unless you have an existing mind-meld, glued-at-the-hip, soulmate relationship going that […]
Of all the questions a CEO must answer, “What’s our strategy?” is one of the most daunting. If you can’t explain it in a few sentences, how can your people execute it? Significant changes to company strategy (e.g., “Where do we play, and how do we win?”) are frequent in startups but less so in […]
One statement I’ve heard too many times over the years is, “I wish my boss would talk to you/read your stuff/get a coach.” In truth, many organizations don’t foster honest conversations, nor do they use any type of 360-degree feedback process. So many senior executives breathe their own exhaust, believing they lead and manage effectively […]
John Common, CEO of Intelligent Demand, is a friend who’s helped companies with organic revenue growth for years. We had an interesting call recently, and he shared what CEOs do wrong, from a chief revenue officer’s (CRO’s) perspective, in supporting growth: They don’t know about or believe in One Revenue Team — they don’t view […]
I have a confession. Decades ago, in my undergraduate Psychology program, I routinely dropped classes with team projects. I found nonfacilitated group exercises excruciating! I had the same experience in graduate school. Group projects took so damn long to get going, and group members’ dysfunctional behavior (never mine, of course) drove me nuts! Funny, however, […]