Category: Newsletter

By Gary Cohen on April 10th, 2012

5-15: The Report for People Who Have No Time for Reports

Recently, a coaching client of mine in a global 100 company vented about how much time his department spends writing reports that go unread by company leaders. I told him about 5-15 reports. The concept is simple–the report should take no more than 5 minutes to read and no more than 15 minutes to write. [...]

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By Gary Cohen on November 24th, 2011

Executive Coaching 2011 Annual Survey

In an annual survey by Sherpa Partners, they identified that business or consulting experience is by far the most sought after trait of an executive coach.

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By Gary Cohen on November 24th, 2011

Does Change Happen to You or with You?

When you build a successful company, department, NGO, or team, you build upon successes. It’s tricky to reproduce success, however, because many decisions were both context- and time-bound. Had you made those same decisions with different people, in different circumstances, or at another time period in the growth of your organization, you may not have [...]

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By Gary Cohen on November 18th, 2011

Customer Intimacy vs. Customer Satisfaction

When helping clients with strategic plans and business model generation, I encourage them to choose one of three paths. These paths are clearly and effectively outlined by Fred Wiersema and Michael Treacy in The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market: 1) Operational Excellence – Lowest Cost 2) Product [...]

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By Gary Cohen on November 16th, 2011

Where Does a Coat Closet Fit in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

A client recently told me of her excitement at inheriting a VP’s office. In her organization, like many others, the CEO gets a couch, two sitting chairs, small conference table, and large desk; VPs get a smaller desk, credenza coat closet, and two chairs for guests; while directors get the same, less a coat closet. [...]

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By Gary Cohen on November 14th, 2011

What is the committee in your head saying, and why?

In cartoons, when a character is faced with a tough decision, an angel appears on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Each gets an ear. In real life, we don’t just hear two voices when faced with a tough decision. We hear many voices. You might have the voice of a teacher, parent, [...]

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By Gary Cohen on October 31st, 2011

Does your calendar reflect your values?

As you go about your day, ticking off items on your to-do list, you may feel a rush of accomplishment and pride. But how long does that feeling last? Does your level of satisfaction and fulfillment reset the next day? When you look at the past week, month, or year, have you accomplished what your [...]

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By Gary Cohen on October 21st, 2011

How do you belong to the world?

What if you pursued your core desire? The thing you feel you were born to do? Fear of failure keeps many of us from pursuing our core desires. But it shouldn’t. People fail all the time. Steve Jobs did, as did just about every other significant inventor. They learned from failure. It made them stronger [...]

What are the long-term consequences of multitasking?

In an article for The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Divided Attention”), David Glenn examines some of recent scholarly findings about multitasking, including the work done by Clifford I. Nass, a professor of psychology at Stanford University. “Heavy multitaskers are often extremely confident in their abilities,” says Nass. “But there’s evidence that those people are actually [...]

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By Gary Cohen on October 10th, 2011

Three Easy Steps to Boost Your IQ

Dr. Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King’s College London University, found the IQ of those trying to respond to messages and fulfill work obligations fell by 10 points. That IQ drop is equivalent to losing a night’s sleep or twice the drop seen by those who just smoked marijuana! If you don’t want to appear sleep-deprived [...]

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By Gary Cohen on September 28th, 2011

Death by Triangulation

“We don’t see the world as it is. We see the world as we are.” –Anais Nin The health and efficiency of an organization can often be judged by how often triangulation occurs and whether or not it is tolerated by leaders. Here’s how triangulation starts: Victims approach Rescuers with information about what a Persecutor [...]

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By Gary Cohen on September 19th, 2011

Why am I talking? (WAIT)

At a Global 100 company, a new senior executive sat down with his division heads a week ago and told them to WAIT. His mentor, who ran and built this company, shared that same advice with him. At that time, the senior executive was confused. “Wait for what?” he wondered. WAIT, he learned, is an [...]

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By Gary Cohen on September 10th, 2011

Are you trying to boil the ocean?

Big ideas are terrific. There’s no harm in thinking big. Acting prematurely on these ideas is the problem. Many visionaries move from start to finish in their minds quickly and skip many of the steps in between necessary for execution. That’s how they wind up trying to boil the ocean. Are you trying to boil [...]

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By Gary Cohen on August 31st, 2011

100 days of humility

Dave Balter wrote for Inc. Magazine about the importance of humility for business leaders. The response to the article was so strong he created this site to collect people’s personal stories about ego and humility in the workplace. It has many interesting stories, including some from Guy Kawaski and Seth Godin. I hope you enjoy [...]

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By Gary Cohen on August 30th, 2011

Are Your Employees Eating Alone?

One-Third of Employees Lunch at Their Desk in a recent study done by Right Management. According to this study it is clear that these employees have not read the book Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. When companies have their employees eating at their desk it may show productivity but it also reflects on isolation between [...]

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