I am a great fan of the social networking site for professionals, LinkedIn. It is a powerful business tool. While discussing its use and value with a group of business people whom I was coaching, I made a promise to write recommendations for everyone in the group.
I was, as usual, feeling drained and tired by the time I got back to my office after facilitating the executive coaching session. I wanted to keep my word, so I spent about an hour writing 30-50 word referrals for each of these clients and posting them on LinkedIn. Then I got on with my usual work.
I noticed that something important that night; (more…)
Tony’s executive coaching has been very valuable to the growth and development of DIAMOND Marketing. For example, he’s helped us identify and then develop key business relationships that have taken the firm to a higher level. We were unaware of most of these potential partners before working with Tony. All have paid significant dividends.
Through my association with the group, I was pleased to acquire two additional clients. While the business and personal support is what I generally expect from the group, getting new business was a bonus.
When the same topic comes up during two teleclasses for executive coaches, I give it detailed consideration. What are the ethics of coaching a client toward producing a specific result that will have direct, significant impact on the coach’s personal finances. At first, I felt okay making an agreement to share in my client’s increased sales, profits, stock price, etc. I was also comfortable with making my fee contingent upon the client producing a particular result.
I am now sure that is a bad idea.
“…to make a statement about ends that do not justify all means is to speak in paradoxes, the definition of an end being precisely the justification of the means”
I shifted my opinion during the second teleclass. I saw that if I, as an executive coach, become attached to a particular tangible outcome, whether it affects my compensation or not, I will be taken away from executive coaching toward some sort of manipulation. The coach would (more…)
Lessons for managers from how the Army re-made itself between Vietnam and Desert Storm.
I was moderating a conference of business owners in the late 1990s as they lamented the poor work habits and other failings of “Gen-Xers.” Finally, I’d had enough so I said, “Say what you will about body piercing and Starbucks, I don’t think that’s the key issue. It looks to me that our generation’s contributions were the drug culture and Vietnam while the present generation has given us the Internet and Desert Storm.” The question becomes, how did this happen? Into the Storm provides part of the answer.
I am a baby-boomer who came of age in the Vietnam era, so my interest in things military was slight and my general opinion of military organization, I’m ashamed to say, came more from Catch-22 and MASH than reality. Yet, the U.S. Army has done some huge and useful things, so I was willing to take a fresh look with this book.
In the aftermath of Vietnam, “the Army began a revolution in (more…)
I worked directly for Tony at pingMEDIA and found him to be focused, insightful and a great manager. He was able to break down any opportunity and effectively go after it efficiently. Tony’s knowledge and enthusiasm was instrumental in the company’s development. In my professional life, Tony stands out as the most honest and honorable person I have ever had the good fortune to work with.
I keep a graphic representation of my calendar on the World Wide Web so clients can choose the best times to request appointments with me. It is just an image of my availability; I do not reveal with whom I am meeting. Clients still need to contact my office to set the actual appointment.
Clients and other coaches often ask how I do this. I created a simple (more…)
I have been repeatedly surprised to hear from many of my CEO executive coaching clients that, of all the many skills needed for the top job, one area where they often readily admit weakness is in financial insight. They rely on their accountants or a “numbers geek” to watch and even interpret company results. A fundamental reason for this blind spot is, I believe, that so many CEOs are highly visual, intuitive thinkers. Rows of precise digits are not their preferred form of communication. It is essential, therefore, to display financial and quantitative data visually to have it used and absorbed by these executives.
Tony has the unique ability to bring out the best in you. In executive coaching sessions, he can articulate thoughts so clearly that you understand yourself and your options better after just a quick conversation.
He is a straight shooter, knows when and how to dig deeper to get to the root of an issue, and stays on top of your goals so you achieve more fulfillment in your own life, personally and professionally. I HIGHLY recommend him.
Tony’s ability to cut through the clutter and get to the heart of an issue very quickly, keeps us on our toes and eager to attend our one-to-one executive executive coaching calls as well as our group meetings. It is what Tony brings to the table – his ability to focus the dialog and bring out the best in the members – that sold me on membership in his CEO coaching group.
Integrity is usually a major conversation when I coach groups of executives. It almost always comes up in the context of arriving to the meeting on time or returning promptly from breaks.1 This leads to a discussion of consequences, by which people mean punishments for not being on time: fines, humiliation, etc. This opens a powerful examination of monitoring, enforcement, and integrity throughout the organization.
Consequences come in two flavors. Imposed consequences are punishments contrived by an authority exerting its power to compel behavior. Natural consequences are what reality delivers in response to actions. If I (more…)
Only the modern age’s conviction that man can know only what he makes, that his allegedly higher capacities depend upon making and that he therefore is primarily homo faber and not an animal rationale, brought forth the much older implications of violence inherent in all interpretations of the realm of human affairs as a sphere of making. [p. 228]
We are perhaps the first generation which has become fully aware of the murderous consequences inherent in (more…)
Having known Tony since the early 1990’s, I’ve always found him to be a masterful people-connector, a technologically savvy businessman, and a powerful coach and facilitator with a keen ability in the domain of sales. Spending time with Tony is always energizing and educational.
The renowned author of The Tao of Physics weaves a yet broader tapestry of reality in The Web of Life. Capra’s readable survey goes beyond quantum physics and eastern mystics to encompass biology, consciousness, and the ecology of the entire earth. From chaos and complexity science, through Heidegger and the Systems Thinkers, right up to the Gaia Theory, Capra explains in fascinating detail the key ideas of twentieth-century philosophers and scientists whose insights may be propelling all of us into the post-modern era.
Selected excerpts from the book. [My comments in brackets.]
p. 6 A social paradigm, which I define as “a constellation of concepts, values, perceptions, and practices shared by a community, which forms a particular vision of reality that is the basis of the way the community organizes itself.”
Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
widely attributed to Nathaniel Hawthorne
Don’t aim at success–the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run–in the long run, I say–success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.
The New York Times has an interesting article about psychiatrists who treat the very wealthy. While coaching is distinct from therapy, there is wisdom that applies equally to both. From the article [My comments in brackets]:
More than a dozen therapists who are respected by their peers in the counseling of extremely wealthy patients said in interviews that… (more…)
worked directly for Tony at pingMEDIA and found him to be focused, insightful and a great manager. He was able to break down any opportunity and effectively go after it efficiently. Tony’s knowledge and enthusiasm was instrumental in the company’s development. In my professional life, Tony stands out as the most honest and honorable person I have ever had the good fortune to work with.
Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
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