I recently read an article in The New York Times where the author quoted an article from Science about findings from a recent research project. The purpose of the study was to see what people would do to avoid introspection. The scientists believed many people have become so wedded to the idea that busy, too busy, is good. They would do almost anything not to have the quiet isolation that introspection requires. In some cases, subjects were willing to endure shocks just to be able to have something to distract them from being completely still. [Read more…]
Termination of an Employee
Recently a few of my executive coaching clients have been faced with the challenge of deciding if an employee should stay or go. Employee termination is never an easy decision (in fact, if it becomes too simple or “no big deal” you should check yourself). On the other hand, many otherwise competent managers and leaders torture themselves with the decision, and more importantly fail to take timely action. [Read more…]
Are You Trustworthy as a Leader and Employee?
I recently read an interesting article in the Harvard Business Review by a professor at Northeastern University. Professor David DeSteno has performed research and written on the topic of trustworthiness. In his HBR article “Who Can You Trust?” he gives examples and applies his findings to situations where organizations are making deals with vendors or partners. In turn, I am attempting to apply his [Read more…]
Using Personal Leadership
In past issues of the Competitive Edge Report I discussed some of the aspects of leadership. Recently a number of my coaching clients have been faced with extraordinary challenges—layoffs, downsizing, natural disasters or unexplained illnesses. Helping them deal and address these life and career-changing events has made me appreciate the power of personal leadership. [Read more…]
Three Essential Qualities of a Great Supervisor
We’ve all had our share of poor or mediocre bosses, but what qualities do most great supervisors seem to have? I would argue three of the essentials are transparency, flexibility, and leadership.
Here’s what they look like in action. [Read more…]
This Long Tail is Not a Tall Story
I try to read all of the books on the Wall Street Journal’s Business Best Seller List. Most have interesting ideas and their language seeps into the lexicon of the world I coach. Keeps me knowledgeable and fluent.
If you haven’t read “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson I suggest you take a look. It is a more developed version of his well known Wired article (October 2004). Mr. Anderson is the award-winning editor-in-chief of Wired. He was formerly a researcher at the Los Alamos. [Read more…]
The Implications for Not Implementing
At a recent summit there was only one banner hanging on the stage. It read:
“The biggest difference between an average income and financial freedom is implementation.” — Bill Glazer
Rings true to me. [Read more…]
Career Action Strategy Toolkit — The Essentials
LinkedIn profiles, resumes, bios, networking plans, these, and many more items should be a living part of every manager, executive, and leader’s career action strategy. While most of my executive coaching clients would agree, you’d be surprised (maybe you wouldn’t) how few of them have any, no less a current assortment of career tools. [Read more…]
Recognition on the Job
I had an interesting and rewarding time working with the leadership team of a fast growing company at their annual offsite. With exploding growth, and partners working in top gear for months, if not years, they were ready for new and next steps to get them to an advanced level with less stress. They invited me to be their team coach. [Read more…]
Raise the Bar — Focus on Successes
The story tells of an interaction between a parent and his high school-age child. The adolescent presents with a report card of four As and one D-. Because of our prejudices and experiences, we the reader are inclined to think the parent is going to either lecture or at least focus on the low grade. We’re fooled. The father applies another strategy with an approach that I think is applicable to leading and managing others, and useful in our own self-management. [Read more…]
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