Recovering Leader

Three Must-do Practices for Leading Change

Beyond a great vision, strategy, roadmap, and a capable organization, the leader's or team's ability to build broadbased and sustainable support is the key to leading transformative change. Here are three great ways to do that. Read more →

How Bully Bosses Can Change Their Stripes

Bullying is trending—in schools, on social media, and across the political landscape, and more recently, it's common to hear accusations that certain managers create hostile workplaces by acting like bullies, too. When can these mean managers change? Read more →

How Relatable Are You as a Leader? Upgrade Your Interface!

The more aware you are of how your way of interacting impacts others, the more you can lead them in a positive, inspiring, sustainable way. It’s that simple. The reverse is also true. Read more →

52 Top Leadership Strengths You Need to Know

Every time I start coaching someone, I interview 8-12 of their colleagues. They list for me real-life strengths and development areas. Over 10 years, I've collected thousands, and recently analyzed them to look for common themes. 52 leadership strengths appeared repeatedly, and they fell nicely in 4 themes Read more →

11 Declarations of Personal Leadership

Our professional selves emerge from how we create and revise ourselves as people in the world. So for anyone wanting to be their best as a leader, as I do, it's equally important, in my view, to reconsider every so often what we stand for in the area of personal leadership -- meaning, as we define and redefine our self each day, what must be true for us to feel right with life and the world? Read more →

“Good and Ready” is the Secret to Major Professional Growth

As a coach, I am referred to those who are ready / willing to change, and those who are not. Here's a little trade secret: if you have to push hard, to try and force someone into making a change, it won't work, or it won't last, unless they are otherwise ready and willing (in which case, forcing is overkill anyway.) Read more →

Leading Well: 10 Ways to Keep Good People from Caring Less

Every person who truly cares about the quality, volume, and overall mission of his or her work is a tremendous asset to any organization. In my experience as a coach and c-level executive, I learned the hard way how important it is to select people who care, and de-select people who don’t care. That’s basic leadership – surround yourself with... Read more →

Top 10 Things I Wish I Knew the Day I Became a Leader

When we get promoted to positions of leadership, we don't get a manual. Here are the things I wish I had known on day one of my leadership journey. Read more →

Leading from the Rut: 7 Ways to Snap Out of Complacency

It’s not easy to admit you’ve become complacent, but it gets the best of us, so you’re in good company -- the good news: there are steps you can take. Read more →

Lance Armstrong's Remedial Lesson in Leadership and Hubris

Lance Armstrong is a case in point about why leaders and public figures need to show us how hubris can be kept in check Read more →

The Many Rewards of Spotlighting Your Team

It’s all too common for an executive to be the spokesperson for their people in high-visibility / high stakes situations. Yet it’s often good leadership to do the exact opposite. By focusing the visibility spotlight on your people, you enhance their contributions and learning, and upgrade your own ability to participate, gaining useful perspective on their solutions, ideas, and results. Read more →

Truth About Leader Development: People Can Change

The subjectivity of change bias and the three ingredients for sustainable change. In my line of work, I’m often asked whether people can TRULY change. The short answer is: yes. The longer answer is: yes and it takes three ingredients. Before we look at these key ingredients, it’s important you watch out for your own bias. Essentially, sad but true,... Read more →

Why a Leader's Emotional Impact Matters ... A Lot

“Why do I need to worry about my people’s feelings? Why don’t they automatically just FEEL like doing their best? They’re lucky they have a job! Am I there to coddle them?” These are bottom line beliefs and questions among my executive clients who tend to be more task / directive / deadline-driven. Some are thinking these things mainly when... Read more →

Over-thinking Challenging Situations

The outcome you achieve after facing a challenging situation—for better or worse—is limited by your assumptions or “story” going into it. In fact, walking into almost any potentially difficult conversation, our understanding is at best incomplete, no matter how much forethought we’ve given it. It’s human nature to prepare for what may be difficult, particularly if we are under normal... Read more →

Listening to Your Struggle’s Message

In Western culture we tend to think anything worthwhile should be difficult. Along those lines, it’s easy to miss when a struggle is trying to tell you that it’s time for a change. Fixated on our goal, we soldier on, trying ever harder. Then, exhausted, we see in hindsight that the signs were reading, “I need a change” all along.... Read more →

Making a Smooth Transition from Peer to Leader

Promotion from peer to leader is a common thing, yet can be a problem for some. It's often a feeling of apprehension about what now-former peers may think, what's "supposed to be different" now that you're in charge, etc. So here are six considerations in making this transition smoothly: 1. Determine Your Point B “Must-haves:” Carve out a period of... Read more →

Leadership and Responsibility

Leadership requires the discipline to claim responsibility when something goes wrong. It may be daunting, but it’s necessary—it propels those affected by the problem from confusion to solution, enabling the right actions to be taken. Concerns about saving face, job security, and/or institutional liability are no foundation for leadership. In fact, the longer you delay, the more collateral damage you... Read more →

Monday’s LeaderTip: Worry Management

We all worry about the future at times, and leaders are no exception. Some even hang onto it, believing it to be an effective motivator. Yet the positive results you achieve are in spite of—not because of—the strain and stress of your worries. When you notice yourself doing it, call it for what it is: counterproductive, nagging, self-inflicted negativity about... Read more →

Goldman Sachs Leadership Lesson in Addiction

What can we learn from our friends at Goldman Sachs? Are they ready to have an epiphany, face their bad acts, and recover? Is Sen. Carl Levin’s committee likely to help propel them toward healing? Okay, well, no and no. Yet maybe we should toast Goldman Sachs anyway. Give them a wink, and tell them we’re here for them whenever... Read more →

Monday’s LeaderTip: Leading by Inquiry

Certainty and leadership do not coexist. Even when you have (or think you “should” have) the answer, it’s much more effective to challenge your people to solve their own problems. By asking questions, you are affirming and supporting the capabilities of your team. Answer their questions with your own questions, and don’t worry about displaying your uncertainty. You’ll find creative... Read more →

7 Leadership Strengths Are Weaknesses When Taken Too Far

Consider a few of the typical strengths a leader may have: maybe they're a good delegator, a great relationship-builder, results-oriented, decisive, etc. Interestingly, our strengths become weaknesses when we overuse or misapply them to the situation. That's why I often hear my clients' colleagues say, "It's his strength, but also weakness at times..." So it's important to know which of... Read more →

LeaderTip: Pattern of Leadership

Lessons in leadership are most evident in the mirror of our own successes and failures. Underlying them are patterns of recurring beliefs and assumptions worth a hard look from time to time. Such reflection opens them up to the revisions necessary to guide you to the next step in your development. Those who don’t spend time being schooled by yesterday’s... Read more →

LeaderTip: Informed versus Involved

Understanding the details has never been more critical for effective leadership. Yet it’s important to walk the line between being informed and getting involved. In my coaching practice, I’ve seen many examples of executives confusing command of the details with commanding the troops as to what do to about them. That marginalizes their skills, even as it drains your time... Read more →

Letting Go of Lonely Leadership

“It’s lonely at the top” is not the way of leadership. If that’s the case for you, the quality of your leadership, your life at work, and your P&L, would likely be enhanced with some work on changing how you relate to others. I’ve seen this play out in my executive coaching work with clients. Their successes add up to... 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 →

When a Harsh Personality Preempts Leadership

Leadership is not—and should not be—a popularity contest. Yet a difficult personality will render ineffective even a highly talented executive. As a result, their potential contributions will go unexplored. Consider a leader with world-class talent in a specific area, yet whose lack of interest in relating well to other people is seen as arrogant and argumentative. We’ve all met one... 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 →

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 →

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 →