It’s all about conversations. Every tool and assessment I’ve used as a coach to CEOs is really just an entry point into a conversation. In the work I do, people most effectively gain understanding and find their own way by talking, not taking tests or assessments. I stopped using most assessments and other tools because, […]
“Many CEOs and leaders you meet from the outside seem to lead exciting lives,” Matt Murray, former editor of the Wall Street Journal, told me recently. “But in real life many of them are not very functional human beings.” —Peter Vanham, Fortune, CEO Daily The idiom “it’s lonely at the top” has been around a long […]
If you’re a senior leader and serious about not breathing your own exhaust, not becoming the smartest person in the room, and getting too big for your britches, there’s only one vaccine available: willingly take some abuse. If you’re more Putin than Gandhi, it’s already too late. There’s no antidote, only a vaccine. However, if […]
“Would you like fries with that?” has been around as a revenue enhancer since I was very young. Seems like a good question and no doubt enhances revenue (and waistlines) significantly. At some point, however, upcharges are damn annoying! I wrote some years ago about my wife buying a monkey backpack for a 1 year […]
My friend and I raced to Alcova, Wyo., one night to fish the Grey Reef section of the North Platte River. After spending the day on the Cache la Poudre River outside of Fort Collins, Colo. we were heading to “the Reef,” which has thousands of large trout per mile. We figured we would have […]
As I write this, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics just finished, and I just watched arguably the most talented skier ever — Mikaela Shiffrin — make tragic mistakes in three events she had a high likelihood of winning. Shiffrin is on the podium so often that when she doesn’t do well, it’s shocking — though […]
Over the holidays I was pondering what I wanted for my clients in the coming year and it occurred to me that I would want the same things for anyone in a leadership role. Short and sweet, here is what I hope for you in the coming year! I hope that you and your family […]
I had a three-hour drive from a client meting to the airport recently through mountainous terrain. Luckily, my rental car had satellite radio. I was listening to the news on NPR when a feature piece on reducing traffic accidents came on. If the two-lane road were not full of curves (or if I were driving […]
Perhaps your dad or mom was a successful entrepreneur. Or perhaps you’ve been a hardworking, loyal part of the machinery that helped build a company. Now, however, you’ve been promoted to CEO and are wondering: “Do I deserve this? Will people respect me? How do I change course without upsetting Dad or Mom or the […]
Some of the most rewarding work I’ve done is work with new CEOs. The gap from senior executive to Chief Executive Officer may not seem that large but every CEO I’ve worked with would tell you that it is much larger than it appears. An MBA doesn’t prepare you to be a CEO though it […]