Before this month passes us by, I’d like to take a closer look at the 2 great American leaders we honor every February. Although some view Presidents’ Day as a way to recognize all American presidents, many believe that this minimizes the legacies of the men whose great leadership in fact spurred the creation and evolution of…
See Yourself as Others See You
One of my clients recently shared this brief video when responding to a blog post, and I loved it! In this interview for Fortune magazine’s “The best advice I ever got” series, Eric Schmidt – Google executive chairman and former CEO – makes a couple of keen observations about the value of leadership coaching, and…
E-Mail Slavery + 2 Steps to Avoid Becoming Sony
Sony’s “private” e-mails are now getting pasted all over the news and Internet. Talking heads everywhere are lamenting the fact that this “could happen to any company.” Top Sony executives are apologizing and mentioning that the e-mails were hastily written between friends, without much sensitivity. And of course (this is the United States, after all),…
What E.T. & Lou Gerstner Teach Us About Excellent Customer Service
We all remember that iconic little alien E.T., who so wanted to get in touch with his home ship that he repeated his “E.T. phone home” mantra right into the #15 slot of American cinema’s top 100 quotations. But what our present day ETs (Executive Teams, that is) don’t always remember is that anyone who…
Peel the Paint: 4 Tools for Discovering Purpose
Your life purpose is like a 100-year-old, natural walnut bookcase that’s hidden in the back corner of a consignment store. It’s beautiful and valuable at its core, but it’s been painted over so many times that no one imagines it’s priceless. With lots of work, the original wood will begin to show. (But even then,…
Lessons from Managing Nobody
I spend my days discussing leadership qualities with executives of every stripe. And, at times, with non-executives – with people whose job it is to manage absolutely no one. Sure, the content of the conversation changes based on what a person’s role is within the organization. But much of the big-picture context – the focus…
