The X-Factor of Great Leadership
Character is a critical ingredient in your leadership. It influences your thoughts, feelings and actions. Be intentional with it. This week’s blog is the second in an occasional series on character. Click here to read the first installment. Last year, the CEO of Procter and Gamble, one of the world’s largest consumer product companies, did something surprising. […]
Arnold Palmer: More Than A Great Golfer
A few weeks ago, we learned that thousands of Wells Fargo employees had opened fraudulent accounts to meet the bank’s “cross-selling” goals. The story was jaw-dropping. 5 years? 5,000 employees? Over 2 million sham accounts? Really? During that entire stretch of time, no Wells Fargo leader (who still works there!) ever paused to say, “Hey, […]
Ledecky, Neymar, and Getting Gritty
Late last year a board member gave me feedback on a CEO I was coaching. He concluded his comments with, “…and he has GRIT!” The word stood out to me at the time. I had not heard it recently, especially to describe a leader. But since then, I feel like I’m seeing and hearing it […]
How To Do Better By Doing Nothing
A few weeks ago, a colleague forwarded to me a sales coach’s June newsletter that admonished readers to avoid “laziness” and “overcome the dog days of summer.” He basically shamed his readers for taking time off. This glorification of “all work, no play” has become fairly pervasive in our American society. In 2015, more than half […]
Spieth’s Incredible Comeback
Leaders blow it—sometimes to the point of embarrassing themselves. Some examples of leadership “fails” I’ve either witnessed or heard about: • A CEO loses his temper and shouts at a colleague in the middle of a nice dinner at an upscale restaurant with spouses at the table. • A Sales VP, embarrassed by poor quarterly […]
Coaching Millennials To Lead
Last year’s comedy, The Intern, features Robert De Niro as a retiree who can’t stay retired. He decides to return to the workplace as a “senior” intern, assisting a start-up CEO, played by Anne Hathaway. Here’s a great clip from the film that portrays the millennial Hathaway seeking assurance from De Niro as she collects […]
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 […]