Billions of dollars are wasted each year by companies who compromise on standards. Many leaders endanger themselves and their organizations by permitting a “good-enough culture.” This danger of mediocrity fortunately has a remedy. “Only the mediocre are always at their best.” ~ Jean Giraudoux, French essayist The good-enough culture plagues an organization in every aspect of its opera...

Many leaders are unaware of how their lack of authenticity chips away at people, breeding dissatisfaction, distrust and disloyalty. Organizational effectiveness and productivity suffer when workers view leaders as inauthentic. One out of three people distrusts his or her employer, according to the 2017 Edelman “Trust Barometer.” Four out of five don’t see authenticity in their leaders’ performance...

Organizations waste vast amounts of time, effort and money each year by failing to recognize or correct dysfunctional teams. A PricewaterhouseCoopers study of 200 global companies across various sectors?involving more than 10,000 projects?found less than 3% successfully completed their plans. Similar research reveals 60%–70% project failure rates. In the United States alone, IT project failures cause estimated loss...

Given the financial and societal impact of global business, there’s an urgent need to understand leaders’ personalities. If we fail to appreciate how personality influences strategic decisions, we risk selecting leaders who are incapable of setting an organization’s direction. We are in the midst of great social, economic, scientific and political change. Intelligent approaches count more than ever if w...

In the last decade, leadership-development experts have enthusiastically pushed to improve their clients’ strengths instead of addressing their weaknesses. This approach may have some success in growing individuals’ effectiveness, but it’s fundamentally flawed. Strengths training and coaching have somewhat of a cult-like following among HR and coaching professionals. Leaders are encouraged to develop t...

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” ~ Bill Gates Receiving feedback with grace is a valuable leadership skill, yet many managers struggle with it. While we’re often quick to critique others, being on the receiving end involves an entirely different set of emotional and psychological skills. Few leaders deny feedback’s benefits, but their openness to hear...

The increasingly complex and chaotic marketplace poses an urgent need to grow better leaders. Companies that seek to maintain competitive advantages require strong leadership. Leaders remain confused, however, about how to strengthen their competencies. Formal training and higher education haven’t sufficiently prepared them for all of the 21st century’s disruptive innovations and global challenges. While some...

Managers who effectively harness their coaching skills reap multiple benefits. Their employees are more committed, willing to put in greater effort and are less likely to leave.Coaching’s impact significantly affects people and profits within organizations committed to training managers, guiding performance and developing employees.Most managers have had some training in coaching people for high performance. Ten years ago,...

The Inner Game of LeadershipEffective leaders master the C-suite competencies: setting strategic direction; communicating an inspiring mission; understanding financial data; planning and coordinating resources; and ensuring that processes, systems and people achieve results.Most leadership-development efforts focus on these responsibilities, but they’re ultimately insufficient. Great leaders must address the inner game of l...

In spite of wide-spread coach training, most of the time managers aren't using coaching skills to grow and develop their people. Instead, many managers still believe in their role as a problem solver, cutting short conversations with employees by providing solutions, advice, and answers. Yet managers with a coaching style usually find that their employees are more committed, willing to put in greater effort, and are less li...