The Problem With Coaching
Today's rant has been building inside me for a while now. The text that follows is not going to sit well with a number of those in my profession, but hey, that's never stopped me before. During a recent interview, I was asked how I felt about the coaching profession - I jokingly referred to myself as a coaching heretic and went on to say that I really don't like the word "coach" as a descriptor…
Culture Trumps Strategy – Not
Does culture trump strategy? I think not, and I'll explain why. Even though I have seen this phrase quoted by some very bright people whom I respect, it just doesn't resonate with me. I thought perhaps I was misunderstanding what was being said, so I decided to Google the phrase "Culture Trumps Strategy" and found that Stanford offered an Entrepreneurship Lecture by this title, I found several…
Questions and Team Building for CEOs
An army of one isn't really much of an army is it? And I can assure you that any CEO who views him or herself as an army of one will fail. Whether you like it or not, your success as a CEO will be largely tied to your team building ability. Not only do great CEOs understand how to recruit a top executive team, but they also understand how to build cohesion among team members through collaboration…
Humility and Leadership
News Flash – the phrase "humble leadership" is not an oxymoron. While many people immediately conjure up an image of the ever so confident, bombastic extrovert without an ounce of humility as the picture of what constitutes a real leader, nothing could be further from the truth. As my wife has always said, "Those who talk the most usually have the least to say." While feigned humility is the…
What All Great Leaders Have In Common
All great leaders have one thing in common: They read voraciously. Did you know that the average American only reads one book a year? Worse than this is the fact that 60% of average Americans only get through the first chapter. Contrast this with the fact that CEOs of Fortune 500 companies read an average of four to five books a month. Even more impressive is that some of the most successful…
Leadership, Fear & Failure
“Fear” and “Failure” are NOT dirty words, but you’ll find most leaders treat them as such. They go out of their way to hide their fears and explain away their failures rather than confront them and learn from them. One of my pet peeves is the current trend of labeling fear as a weakness and failure as unacceptable. In fact, things have gone so far that the word failure is quickly being removed…
Leadership & Presence
Can you be a true leader without possessing a presence? In my experience, very rarely...I'm not referencing the wannabe leaders oozing bravado, false confidence, arrogance, or self-delusion spun as confidence. Nor am I referring to the weak, innocuous or timid, who while viewing themselves as leaders, are perhaps the farthest thing from a leader. Rather I'm addressing those true leaders who…
Leadership & Perfectionism
This may be difficult for some the get their heads around, but perfectionism is not a leadership trait. Leadership requires attention to detail and a commitment to quality but rarely does it require perfection. While leadership doesn’t require being perfect, it does require doing what is needed and necessary. Perhaps one of the biggest flaws with the concept of perfection is found in who defines…
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