Last week, a client asked me this question: “Is it okay to hire my friend/cousin/other connected person in my ecosystem?” I replied that it could be terrible–particularly if and when the job comes to an... Continue reading
An executive asked me the other day, “When a company hires you to fix a problem, what do you look for?” It varies from organization to organization, but I described a pretty typical set of... Continue reading
This post originally appeared on Forbes. Don’t be surprised if you recognize yourself in the pages of The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears Into Your Leadership Superpower by Morra Aarons-Mele. Most of us are anxious in some... Continue reading
We bring a lot of mental and emotional “stuff” to our conflicts—things that we do without thinking about them consciously. I’ve thought a lot about this “unattended baggage” since my wonderful chat with Richard Atherton,... Continue reading
Before taking on a new coaching client, I asked his boss if she thought he really wanted to change. I told her I wasn’t interested in working with him unless he was willing to change... Continue reading
Truly good leadership is not a fixed thing. It’s situational and requires sizing up the reality around you and adjusting to it. It’s the opposite of doing whatever worked for you in the past even... Continue reading
When an executive-coach colleague asked me about the benefits of learning how to do team coaching, I couldn’t give her a simple answer. She saw it as a tool for improving intrateam relationships, boosting team... Continue reading
Between layoffs, reorganizations, and people being promoted into different work groups, it’s pretty common to inherit team members you haven’t chosen or about whom you know little or nothing. Some of these folks might not... Continue reading
There is a lot of disruption in the workplace these days with so many people coming and going. Given what we know about the importance of having good friends and strong relationships at work, it... Continue reading
I say this to clients all the time: Bad structures and bad systems break good people. And broken people break others. But while we may notice when a person behaves badly, we don’t always perceive... Continue reading
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