Dabo Swinney and DIY Leadership Training
Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney has his team watch a movie together the night before every game. The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted this ritual, noting that after the viewing, Swinney “holds a meeting to impart a lesson or theme drawn from the film to motivate, inspire or focus them on the following day’s challenge.” This […]
Are You The Expert All The Time?
A CEO recently had me sit in on a weekly meeting with one of his direct reports. I noticed several things: The CEO did more talking than his SVP. The CEO talked in a way that conveyed he knew as much or more than his SVP on the topic at-hand. The CEO was quick to […]
SWOT Yourself.
Racing, racing, racing. Push it to the limit. Racing. Quick pit stop. And then, racing again. As I think about many of the leaders I know, racing characterizes the last few weeks of December and first week of January. Racing to close deals. Racing to finish projects or annual reviews (ha!). Racing to get the […]
The #1 Saboteur in our Conversations
Why are some conversations with certain people so difficult? I recently sat in on a difficult conversation between two senior executives – let’s call them “Brad” and “Stephen.” Brad was giving Stephen feedback on a project Stephen had completed recently. He told Stephen that, while he was pleased with the final result, there were aspects […]
Continuous Feedback
Why are we still doing Annual Reviews? Their very title speaks to why they are so bad: Annual = happens once a year Review = looking backwards Do we really believe that looking backwards once a year helps people get better? My daughter, Ellie, interned this past summer at a fantastic company in Richmond called […]