Problems at more senior levels of management are rarely because individuals lack intelligence, skills, experience or confidence. A problem boss is almost always about behavior — poor behavior.
Sure, the guy is smart, but his default motivator is yelling. She’s knowledgeable but takes credit for everything. You either know, work with, or watch, these so-called “leaders.” So, have I! [Read more…]
When I was growing up the worst thing you could be called or described as was “bold.” It implied brazen, outspoken, bucking the system, and not a team player. Being bold was alien to my culture, gender role, and family messages. Fast-forward a few decades. I have taken a 180-degree turn. I now pressure myself to be bold enough to push the envelope, speak up, do the unexpected, and ask for, or give myself, what I need. [Read more…]
For quite some time I have been saying to my executive coaching clients, “If you’re not on LinkedIn, you’re not in the world of work.” This is especially true if you are looking to move to another company or organization, switch careers, vet a potential customer, or find the next great addition to your team. [Read more…]
“I should’ve, could’ve, would’ve,” the three cries people who never really became what they had the potential to become often say. It’s too bad because now, more than ever, needs and opportunities exist in a broad range of fields, locations, and levels — independently, locally, nationally, and globally. More than one CEO has [Read more…]
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel.” —Maya Angelou
Stumbled upon this quote and almost immediately had a visceral reaction. I contemplated the question, “How do you deal with your feelings?” I flashed back to experiences in grade school, high school, my first job, my last corporate job and everything in-between. While I have many wonderful memories of good people doing right by me, what makes my chest tighten are the times I was made to feel, worthless, different, incompetent, and unwanted. [Read more…]
I was administered my first 360 review as a Senior Manager. I was instructed to hand out forms to my direct reports that would be collected and scored. HR would let me know when the results were in. The day of reckoning came and I found myself in a room of other Senior Managers and the Head of HR. We were given an envelope containing our scores. As we opened our feedback sheets there was dead silence. Some people went pale, others got angry, there were many “whats!!!!,” a few seemed quite content. Everyone then stood up, left the room, and that was the last I ever heard of or discussed my 360 review. [Read more…]
I’m a big advocate of creating goals for myself and others. I encourage my executive coaching clients to create goals for themselves and the people they lead and manage. The challenge is to know the types of goals and how to use them constructively. [Read more…]
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…]
People call or e-mail me on a regular basis saying they are thinking about hiring an executive coach but they’re not sure how to determine who’s good, who isn’t, and which person would be the best fit for their coaching needs.
I’ve worked exclusively as an executive coach for almost 15 years. I think it’s quite easy to narrow down your choices to a select few coaches. Then, there is a bit more work to be done. It’s all possible and really quite simple if you follow a few suggestions. [Read more…]
In another career (as you know I’ve had a few) I joined a large, brand named, organization as a senior leader of a newly forming division. The concept, while not new, was different from the core business. When I interviewed for the job, my future boss gave me the challenge, “You‘ll be in charge of creating the culture of this group.” I accepted not knowing exactly what that meant or how I was going to do it. I knew many groups evolved into what they became, somewhat haphazardly, with only a select few working from a defined vision. I also knew we had to be the latter because 598 of the 600 people who worked for me were not in Headquarters but working at 60+ locations and haphazard could easily turn into chaos. [Read more…]