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The Charisma Trap – when it helps and when it can get in the way of your leadership
I recently had a coaching conversation with one of the most charismatic and effective leaders I have worked with. She has an extraordinary ability to make people feel seen, heard, and excited to follow her lead. In our conversation, we looked at how her charisma (and...
You are the problem. Here’s why and what to do about it.
"Your problem isn't the problem. Your reaction is the problem." ~Anonymous I was talking to my kid about this earlier this morning during our run. I was acknowledging how I can still get caught fighting against something that’s going on in my life, as if pushing...
The benefits of wiping the slate clean
Recently a client was grappling with a difficult work relationship and trying to figure out how to move forward more effectively with this colleague. There was a lot of history between them, a history riddled with misperceptions, rigid beliefs about each other, broken...
What if your next mistake is exactly what you need?
“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not making decisions.” ~Catherine Cook Years ago, a client said, “We make every mistake once.” I’ve clearly never forgotten that. It was a customer presentation at a large telecommunications firm we all know. I was...
What to do when your team won’t talk to each other
I was meeting with a client the other day, and he was lamenting about the leadership team he’s on. “We’re just not willing to have the hard conversations,” he told me. “Everyone is afraid of giving tough feedback to each other, so nothing gets said.” Unfortunately, we...
Motivation is an internal job
“You can take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go.” ~Jeanette Rankin We know how others should act. We know what they need to do. We know, often without a shadow of doubt, the best plans for their future and personal development. The...
Five questions to ask before accepting that meeting request
I have been out of the regular daily office scene for over a decade now, and there are a few new things in today’s workplaces that I would probably have a hard time with – one of them is open office space. As someone who values my quiet time to think through an issue,...
Why you must make time to look back to understand
“Life must be lived forwards, but can only be understood backwards.” ~Søren Kierkegaard I was on a coaching call with a client the other day, and we were discussing a decision they had made a few months ago about which job to take. “It was a hard choice,” they said to...
Why tough conversations are so tough to have – and what to do about it
I think it’s something we all have in common. There are simply some conversations we don’t want to or don’t know how to have. We either avoid the conversations or the person/people we should be having the conversations with, plunge into the conversations recklessly,...
Predict the future by creating it
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” ~Abraham Lincoln We partner with our clients as they think and plan strategically – creating safe space and facilitating conversations so that leadership teams can question and evaluate their current practices,...
How safe are you from people who push your buttons?
We all have them. The people who push our buttons. Who set us off just by looking at us or saying one word or even just entering the room. The colleague who never seems to take on his share of the work. The team member who seems to have a reason why she can’t be in...
Don’t let “one day when” steal your now
“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” ~Omar Khayyam “I’ll be happy when I get that promotion.” “It’ll be good when the project is completed.” “I can rest and enjoy when I’m better at…” As Executive Coaches, I think we’ve heard them all. The “as soon...
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