Legendary NCAA football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant said, “It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.” And you can’t prepare to win without taking an honest look at your weaknesses.
How honest are you with the person you see in the mirror?
It’s not easy to admit to weaknesses, let alone bring them into the light, but humanity has long known of the importance of doing so. Most major religions include purification rituals and holidays… Read the full article >
Most people look to make their life better by adding something. Get healthy by exercising more. Get the team more productive by adding more people. Be more successful by gaining more knowledge. In fact the opposite is true. To get better, you need to remove things.
When I discovered I had a tumor 15 years ago, one of the things I learned along the path to vitality was that I had to remove things from my life to get healthier. It is not that I didn’t add things…. Read the full article >
I have come to see that leadership is about small moments.
It is rarely a big moment, with bells ringing and horns blowing, when a leader in name becomes a real leader. But rather a small moment – a moment when an executive suddenly sees that they can make a subtle shift to get different results.
Much of the time I am working with executives in a jam: trying to bring their team to new heights within the chaos… Read the full article >
As the NY Times cited this weekend, a new study at M.I.T. last month confirmed that many of you reading this need to just shut up.
I agree. In my experience working with top teams, many executives are talkers, to the detriment of team performance. These talkers are often articulate and captivating, which makes it seem like they are adding value when they speak. But over time, when they open their mouth, others just check out of the… Read the full article >
A key aspect of a leaders job is transmitting a sense of positivity to keep the culture enthusiastic and engaged. No one can argue with that, or can we? Sometimes the happy face is not warranted, and team managers have to temper it by injecting a dose of reality into the mix.
The research now shows clearly that CEO’s are way more optimistic than the average person. In fact 80% are ‘very optimistic’ according to research of over 1,000 sitting CEO’s by… Read the full article >
In todays world of positivity and happiness, I say Go Negative!
Thank you Greg Hayes, the new CEO of United Technologies, for an important lesson on executive negativity, leadership and success. At a recent investor conference he said “I love to point out the negative as we think about next year, just to keep everyone’s expectations in line.” (WSJ Nov 26, Page B2)
What? Focusing on the negative? Today it is en vogue to set positive, optimistic… Read the full article >
Every company has one. Even if it isn’t written down. It is a list of people who are promotable into top leadership roles. Having coached leaders around the world for 20 years, I have found these 3 ways to help you get on “the list.”
1. Don’t be blackmailable
Don’t do things in personal and business life that would prevent you from getting on the list.
For example, in coaching the executive team at a multibillion dollar manufacturing company,… Read the full article >
90% of the leaders I have coached over the past 20 years are women.There is one reason that some get labeled as bitchy. Learn what it is and 7 strategies to change that negative perception.
No one likes being called a bitch. It’s insulting and demeaning. Worse yet is getting a negative reputation for just doing your job. At work, women leaders sometimes have this problem to the extreme — especially if they do their job very well. Instead of being lauded as a high-achiever or considered for a promotion when they take charge and push people to create… Read the full article >
