Recovering Leader

Leaders: Put Away Your Blackberry

Misuse of a blackberry or PDA is a liability when it comes to leadership. Recently I was interviewing a CFO of a Fortune 100 company about a coaching client of mine, who is one of his direct reports. We were talking about my client’s habit of whipping out his device during meetings and one-on-one conversations. The feedback from my client’s... Read more →

Monday LeaderTip: Taking Time to Develop Yourself

Working on your own ability to lead makes great business sense. Without developing yourself from time to time, those familiar tactics and strategies you used to succeed earlier in your career become liabilities in a top job. When you hit major transition points—job changes, promotions, failures, meltdowns, or simply surprisingly frank feedback—spend time and resources to work on developing yourself.... Read more →

Self-aware Leadership Watch: Leader Acting as Pilot or Passenger

Step out of the cockpit of your leadership for a moment and take a look at how the trip is going. Turbulence, storms, navigational changes, difficult crewmates / passengers, and the need for acceleration or deceleration are the facts of life. Yet, if you’re a leader, then you’re at the helm, whether or not you’ve got a firm grip on... Read more →

A Top Executive Job Never Comes with a Roadmap

Most people are promoted to positions of leadership based on their accomplishments as an individual contributor. As they continue to move up the ranks through the years that follow, absent any significant focus on developing themselves as leaders, their outmoded tactics and strategies for “leading” become liabilities—or at least fail to act as the assets they could be—and their performance... Read more →

Monday LeaderTip: Capitalism with Care

Profit and beating out the competition have traditionally been the “heart” of capitalism. Over time this kill-or-be-eaten mentality comes at the expense of too many jobs, careers, and even companies, as recent crises have demonstrated. Yet progressive leaders and organizations take a more benevolent approach. They understand the tremendous return on investment in treating employees, customers, and communities in a... Read more →

New Role? 10 Things You Need to Know About Your New Boss

So, you've gotten that great leadership job, or promotion, or move into a new role you've been seeking. Congratulations! You’ve heard various things about your new leader—or maybe not, and/or maybe you have a theory or two about them. But what do you REALLY need to know? Starting off day one asking your new boss a barrage of questions may... Read more →

Podcast Interview on Executive Coaching

Here's a podcast of an interview I gave yesterday to Milton Lopes, PhD, of Voice America Business. The topic: How Executive Coaches Promote Ethical Behavior During a Time of Scarcity Download Lopesinterview02-12-09 Let me know what you think! David Peck Read more →

Monday LeaderTip: Accountability

Research shows great leaders credit others when things go well, and accept direct accountability when they don't. Others credit themselves with success, while sidestepping / outsourcing failure, especially those who let fear get the best of them. True accountability transcends credit or blame; it's about facing facts, and taking the next right actions. Ask yourself how you—and those around you—handle... Read more →

Launched "Leadership Unleashed" Redesign Today

Thanks to the tremendous hard work of Ray J. Kelly (Producer/Copywriter), Dave Mathews (Web Developer), and Barb Seitz (Graphic Designer), the redesign and implementation of our Leadership Unleashed corporate website is done. Check it out! -- and let me know what you think! David Peck Read more →

Weekend Leadership: A Personal Reflection

I'm on my way back to the desert after two days of seeing clients in the Bay Area. I found myself wanting to write about leadership, as I always do, but have other things on my mind, and in my heart. My Mom's starting six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatments on Monday. Her type of brain cancer, known as... Read more →

Leader as Narcissist Piggy: From Hubris to Humility

"Shame!" says President Obama to lard-slurping CEO's. And yet, many wonder. . . What could posses the head of a sinking multi-billion dollar firm to spend tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to remodel a bathroom in the executive suite? What could possess a multi-billionaire to commit suicide because they're worth a billion less than they... Read more →

Best Universities -- Top 100 Leadership Blogs

Christina Laun at Best Universities' blog came up with their list of Top 100 Leadership Blogs, and it's worth a good look. My thanks to her and Kelly Sonora for pointing it out! David Peck Read more →

EQ Leadership Watch: Stand in the River of Your Feelings

So often I get asked by clients (and friends/family for that matter) about those darker moments, when pain, sadness, fear, or anger well up -- what to do with it? Certainly we're not acculturated to feel our feelings, particularly in the professional setting, notwithstanding the work of Goleman on Emotional Intelligence. So what to do with the pain? Denial, avoidance,... Read more →

Monday LeaderTip: Sudden Shifts

Setting priorities for others is part and parcel of being a leader. Yet, from time to time, life has a way of suddenly reshuffling the deck of what’s important. Whatever shift may confront you, it’s only human to try sticking with the status quo. Leadership at such times is about feeling your feelings, standing up and accepting the new situation,... Read more →