A dear friend of mine came over a few months ago for a glass of wine and asked me, “What’s the half-life of a strategic plan?” She’d just completed one with her team. Everyone voted to implement it immediately, and yet one executive began to stray from it within a couple of days! “Half-life” [...]
Tilting at Windmills Many of our “enemies” are illusions–specters of past traumas or the product of misguided beliefs. We allow old narratives to play out again and again, unquestioned. We simply draw our swords and start swinging, just as Don Quixote does in Miguel de Cervantes’ novel. That’s where the term “tilting at windmills” originated. [...]
Your leadership and management skills can be dramatically improved by taking a page out of the motorcycling playbook. This past weekend I took a training course in how to drive a motorcycle from Rider Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota. To say I stretched myself would be an understatement. I was left fatigued at the end of each 9 hour day. [...]
Few Employees Want to Be Told What to Do Only six percent of employees wish to be told what to do by their boss, according to a survey by CO2 Partners. The overwhelming majority, 94%, prefer to be asked questions by their supervisor. The directive workplace has been in decline since the 1970s. Today it’s [...]
What type of culture do you have–Control, Collaborate, Compete, or Create?
It’s okay if you fall somewhere in between two of these types of cultures (flexing across one dimension–vertical or horizontal), but if you’re unable to locate your culture definitively in this model, you run the risk of being pulled in too many directions at once (of being drawn and quartered).
Assumption Bias restricts the possibility of change for both the leader and followers. It acts like a steel safe, locking in a static belief system and locking out the possible alternatives. The greater the power leaders have, the more vulnerable they are to assumption bias because their coworkers are unlikely to challenge them. Here are [...]
I love the saying, “It only took me twenty years to be an overnight success.” Recognition from others can come in an instant, but building a success often takes years. And it takes grit.
We have all heard the phrase “Culture eats strategy for lunch (or breakfast, or dinner).” But what exactly does it mean and what, as a business leader, can you do to improve your organization’s culture?
From Therapeutic to Performance As executive coaching continues to expand, the field is shifting away from a therapeutic model to a greater emphasis on business performance, leadership, and communication. Coaching has already changed significantly since it emerged barely 15 years ago. Coaches initially came from psychology or counseling, and their mission was to solve a [...]
Despite the growing popularity of executive coaching, common misconceptions persist. These misconceptions revolve around the nature of the work executive coaches do and the results they’re expected to achieve. It’s time to uproot the most persistent and pernicious of these misconceptions. 10 Frequent Misconceptions About Executive Coaching: “I don’t have issues and don’t need executive [...]
Betrayal at Work Betrayal is a violation of trust, which is why it feels so gut-wrenchingly awful and can come as such a shock. We often don’t or can’t see it coming. And we’re often left flatfooted in terms of how to deal with it. Our anger or resentment may cause us to want to [...]
Rethinking Leadership Infographic was developed by Sammi Cohen. To develop your own infographic, reach out to Sammi Cohen. Rethinking Leadership In working with leaders, I have found asking questions is a sorely undervalued technique. Many equate asking questions with losing power, looking like a fool, or admitting defeat. Some believe that asking questions will simply waste [...]
Decision Model A model can be anything that defines a process (iterative, linear, or chaotic) in which you move from a particular starting point to a desired destination. Some models are rather straight forward. Take, for instance, planning a business trip from Rochester, MN (my home town) to Los Angeles, CA to attend a conference. [...]
If your work or routine needs revitalizing, pack up and go somewhere else. Go to a coffee shop, the public library, a local art center, the park, even a hotel lobby. You might not only get new ideas and new routines, you might also get new customers or contacts.
Don’t let power–or the quest for more power–derail your leadership. Keep yourself grounded with Emotional Intelligence and Servant Leadership; these leadership guides will remind you of the importance of generosity and community–both to your development and to your organization’s.
