Recovering Leader

Ten Leader Types - Which are you? Your Boss?

Introducing Ten "LeaderTypes" from the Recovering Leader. From emails and web traffic, I’ve noticed a lot of interest in evaluating, assessing, and categorizing leaders. So you’ve challenged and inspired me to design my own, which I started several years ago. Since then, I’ve developed and revised my ten "LeaderTypes" based on more of my executive coaching work, interviewing many leaders... Read more →

Chemistry + Inflection Point = Great Coaching Outcomes

All engagements can be powerful, but significant, positive changes require coach and client to be well-matched (great chemistry), and client to be at an important inflection point in their development. Champion athletes receive frequent coaching. Similarly, the best executives and aspiring leaders -- the ones who you want to retain -- are curious and hungry for new ways to upgrade... Read more →

LeaderTip: Maximizing Your Human Capital

Leaders need to be adept at launching their people into effective, independent action. That requires selecting / retaining people who are capable, self-motivated, and engaged in the aims of the organization and its leadership. It also requires the one(s) in charge to enable them to do their best work by providing the leeway, resources, support, and coaching they need. Both... Read more →

The Why and How of Your Next Promotion

Suggestions and considerations to help you move up At its best, a promotion to a more senior level of responsibility can challenge, energize, and reward you, and enable you to accomplish something of greater meaning in your professional life. Moving up isn’t for everyone—it may not be important to you, and/or you may be happy with the level of responsibilities... Read more →

Leadership Delegation:Trust, Verify, Consequences

Just a few thoughts today on elements of delegation. 1. TRUST Give someone a task, project, or “to do” that fits them (role, responsibilities, capabilities) and you think they can and will do it well. Give them clarity: WHAT you want and WHAT success looks like, WHEN you want it done by, WHY you want it – how does it... Read more →

Unleash Your People’s Best: Stop Telling Them What to Do

During the course of our coaching work, one Chief Operating Officer client told me: “I need to tell them what to do and how to do it, or the ball will stop rolling.” Guess what? She’s exhausted, hasn’t taken a vacation in documentable history, and her people are frustrated. “Why doesn’t she just do my job for me? She’s practically... Read more →

Are You a Manager or a Leader: Complete Analysis of Survey Results (Final)

In June, 2009 we started taking a sharp look at the distinctions between manager and leader. I developed a 20-question online survey (“Are you more of a manager or leader?”) that's so far received 139 responses. Given the volume of info, I broke my analysis into several blog posts that cover all 20 questions. Previous posts had analyzed the results... Read more →

Stuck in D2D? Leadership: Be Present About the Future

Our recent leadership survey showed a startling 35% of "leaders" spend the majority of their time on day-to-day tasks and issues. Are they victims of current world economic crises? Sarbanes-Oxley mandates? I don’t think so. They’re not victims … they’re volunteers. Your attention is your choice, not a mandate. Let’s think about it. Imagine you’re captaining an ocean-liner. Now let’s... Read more →

Self-aware Leadership Watch: Is Your Ego Your Amigo?

Fundamentally, a healthy ego is a good thing. It serves a simple and vital function: to keep us separated from each other in our own thinking. Without it, there’d be no sense of self versus other, and I’d have no way of telling myself from you. However, a mismanaged ego can be anything from a minor liability to majorly overbearing.... Read more →

13 Things You Should Know About Company Culture / Organizational Culture

Choreographing, or at least dancing in step with your organization’s "culture" is critical to leadership. Move well with it, and it enables you to get great things done. Buck it, or be victimized by it, and it can be your downfall. What do I mean by "culture?" There are many definitions, but I think of it as the unspoken yet... Read more →

What is Self-aware Leadership, and Why Should You Care?

It leads to sustainable effectiveness . . . Today's tumultuous conditions require leaders to master speed, turbulence, and complexity, upgrading from traditional leadership competencies to new and more flexible strategies for leading organizations. Building greater self-awareness must be a high priority. Self-awareness is not a common theme in leadership literature, and the practices that lead to it aren’t easy to... Read more →

Leadership: Being in a Beginner's Mind

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few" —S. Suzuki (Japanese Zen priest, ?-1971) Certainty and effective leadership do not tend to work well together. One executive's predecessor left him with a piece of parting advice: "Just never show them you’re not sure." Under this predecessor’s watch, the organization not only stagnated,... Read more →

Think Like an Owner, Not an Employee

People who think and act like owners are happier, healthier, and more effective at work. Layoffs, dinosaur management styles, "do more with less," and constant role/responsibility reshuffles are the new "normal." And, these things certainly haven't made it easy for folks to have a sense of ownership and engagement in their companies. In fact, I had a junior executive tell... 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 →

When a Leader's High Standards Turn Toxic

Consider a leader who’s smart, task-oriented, and has high standards. If their ambient level of stress is low, then their expectations of others and themselves likely aren’t problematic. If it’s high, then they may have a “should” problem—something I see in my coaching practice fairly regularly. These are leaders who fit the profile, and who are constantly disappointed and frustrated.... Read more →

Ethical Leadership: Make the World a Better Place

My work as an executive coach has me working with leaders constantly. I can’t help but notice that they have a wide variety of reasons for doing what they do. When asked, they tell me things like this: “My job as a leader is to motivate people,” or “I’m here to tell people what to do and how to do... Read more →