People Don’t Just Leave Bad Bosses.
They Leave Leaders Who Never Saw Their Potential. There was a stretch of my career when I came home from work drained and dejected more often than not. I worked for managers who were more focused on office politics than on production, and who seemed to look right past me. My wife, Jana, would get […]
Strong Enough to Fail
The Research Is Finally Catching Up to What I’ve Been Teaching for Years A newsletter landed in my inbox this week from the Positive Psychology team, the same organization that has spent years building strengths inventories and helping coaches match clients to their natural talents. The subject line was almost a confession: When strengths stop […]
The Color of Success
I learned the color of success on my first trip to Bali, Indonesia. The magical color of success is gray. My wife and I landed in Bali after speaking at conference in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. I had just given a keynote titled, “Flexible Authenticity”. When we arrived in Bali, we noticed the three colors of black, […]
People Not Performing? Look In The Mirror
Managers love their people to perform according to their expectations. But are your employees delivering the way you desire them to? Or are they behaving the way you allow them to? Do you allow your meetings to start late? Do you allow your direct reports to interrupt you without a scheduled meeting for non-emergencies? Do […]
The One Skill Executives Struggle With Most
I have been coaching senior executives for 14 years. The skill I spend the most time helping leaders develop is delegation. It is my most requested topic by CEO peer groups. In my presentation I refer to the work of William Oncken, “Time Management Who’s Got the Monkey.” In these scenarios, monkeys represents important tasks. […]
Be Positively Infectious
Science has proven that our attitudes spread and catch like a virus, which can infect all of us, for good or bad. Blaming is an infectious disease. Have you ever noticed how a boss or a co-worker in bad mood can quickly impact the emotions in the office? Our negative and positive emotions will ripple […]
How To Beat The Odds of Quitters Day
Many of us began the new decade with resolve to be better, eat healthier, use time more wisely, be more present, save more, earn more, achieve more, experience more. If you are like me, you were full of conviction the first week in January. However, it is my experience as an executive coach, many of us […]
The Truth About Authentic Leadership
People regularly worry about the implications of their behavioral profile and tendencies. They say, “give me the bad news.” Very often I get asked what is the best leadership style? I am a licensed behavior analyst and I have interpreted thousands of surveys over the years. It has been my experience that every style has […]
To Fail or Not to Fail?
My article “Are You Failing Enough?” Was recently discussed in a podcast. Also discussed was an opposing view from an article titled “To Be Successful, Stop Learning From Failure”. The idea of positive psychology looks at how we can be the best. I agree with idea of looking to successful examples, role models and mentors. […]
Collaborating With a Difficult Peer.
I recently spoke at an International conference in Europe including a daylong workshop about communication and delegation. One of the participants asked to meet me for dinner to discuss a difficult co-worker. He is a manager and spoke to me about a peer that often fails to deliver commitments on time, thus affecting this mangers ability to […]