Managers coach better when they have been coached well. What happens if they haven’t experienced good coaching? Unfortunately, research indicates that only 75% of managers do more managing of tasks than they do coaching. In addition, they only invest 18% of their time in people management activities. In other words, good coaching doesn’t happen often […]

Lately, habits are habitually on my mind. I hear so many people, and so many professionals, talk about their desire for personal change- change within themselves and change outside of themselves. (Controllable change & uncontrollable change) It seems uncomfortable-almost wrong-to settle for anything in its current state. So, if we’re that uncomfortable with being where […]

Remember in the movie I, Robot, where the droids are activated as a group, and they begin to overtake the human population? It is a frightening idea with a lot of action. You could think of customers beginning to behave like that.  Customers have the power, and they are demanding better service. Market changes are […]

As soon as the word ‘coach’ enters the scene, subtly but seriously, an underlying tone is set for all coaching discussions. The coach has the expertise and the other persons needs the knowledge or skill. Power is divided. Authority is accomplished. And roles are recognized. The coach has all of the answers and dictates what has […]

In leadership, as with most things in life, working hard is often required to reap the rewards. To bench press 300 pounds, we must start lifting weights that are a bit smaller than we hope to one day handle. To bike 80 miles, we must practice pedaling shorter increments. To excel in calculus, we must […]

Many people harp on the all-too-disorderly whirlwind way of doing business these days. Today, even when we leave the office, we’re always accessible, we’re in constant contact with others and typically, we’re expected to be “on” all the time. If we don’t respond to an email or a text within a certain amount of minutes […]

Here are two real examples and very contrasting ways to deal with death in the workplace. Have you experienced these? Which do you prefer? The Death of a Colleague: No Grieving Allowed Pete worked for his company 40 plus years. He worked his way up to executive. He continued to work into his 70’s as a […]

Over the years, I have coached leaders confronted with management problems that sometimes conflict with the very ethics that a company proclaims. I admire most people who are managers. They are hard working, stuck right in the middle of an organization and bombarded by customers, executives, employees, shareholders, and vendors. When things go well, employees […]

Famed management theorist Peter Drucker wrote over twenty years ago, “We have a dearth of leadership.” This is even more true today but not for the greatest leaders of all-time. Recently, in Davos, Switzerland the global business and political elite gathered for the World Economic Forum. While these leaders reveled in the perceived better economic news, some […]

 “The zone” is a point where athletes reside when they are at their peak performance, even while almost at ease. It’s been called the Holy Grail of sports. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes it as being ‘in the flow’. He said in his Ted talk, “There’s this focus that, once it becomes intense, leads to a sense of ecstasy, […]