Coaching Increases Leader’s Charisma

by | Client Comments, For Business Owners

OD Practitioner

Organizational coaching has been found to positively affect leadership, increasing charismatic behaviors and the ability to inspire and impact followers.1 The results of a study done by the Corporate Leadership Council2 indicate that executive coaching helps improve management capabilities in experimenting with new approaches, shifting to an enabling style of managing, successfully dealing with difficult performance and team issues, and freeing up time for strategic thinking through more effective delegating.

–Bennett & Bush
Coaching in Organizations
OD Practitioner

 



1Kampa-Kokesch, S. (2002). Executive coaching as an individually tailored consultation intervention: Does it increase leadership? Dissertation Abstracts International, 62(7), 3408.

2Corporate Leadership Council Report. (2003, May). Maximizing returns on professional executive coaching (Catalog Number CLC1X8YD2) Washington, DC: Author.


Creative Conflict

by | Communication, Conversation, & Confrontation, For Business Owners, Leadership Development, Meetings

 

 

I heard one CEO executive coaching client summarize the tremendous value of his coach’s listening and probing by saying, “This is where I come to get my answers questioned.” Top executives, especially those operating in a strong corporate culture, can find themselves in an echo chamber where everyone seems to be saying the same thing, thereby confusing their mutual agreement with reality. It is the most “obvious” assumptions that most severely constrict our thinking.

Alfred P. Sloan

Gentlemen, I take it we are all in complete agreement on the decision here,” he started, and everyone nodded their heads in agreement. “Then,” he went on, “I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until the next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement, and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.”

–Alfred Sloan
GM 1923-1956

 

 

Creating the Organization’s Values & Vision

by | For Business Owners, How to Set Goals

 

 

I tell my CEO executive coaching clients, prior to the executive offsite, that the CEO can dictate the values statement, perhaps with some team input on word choice. If the organization’s stated values are not entirely consistent with the CEO’s personal values you are in for a rough ride. The CEO must embody and have an emotional commitment to the vision, so it largely comes directly out of him or her, too. I like to start the offsite at a dinner where the CEO clearly and emotionally states the values and vision. Then, with those guideposts, the team can get to work on strategy, tactics, milestones, etc.

A question naturally emerges when I suggest this sequence: what about the executives who do not share the CEO’s values or vision? This helps smoke them out early and by “out,” I mean resigning from the company. Any compromise on values is a step into the abyss, what Bion called “non-work.”

 

 

Key Skills for Entrepreneurs

by | For Business Owners, Leadership Development



A study found remarkably high rates of dyslexia among entrepreneurs, as compared with corporate managers and the general population. What I found particularly interesting was the list of traits dyslexics develop that have them become entrepreneurs more often, have multiple companies, and an above average number of employees.

The dyslexic entrepreneurs reported as good or excellent at: (more…)

Optimism is a Strategy

by | For Business Owners, Leadership Development, Quotes and Aphorisms

Noam Chomsky

Optimism is a strategy for making a better future.

Because unless you believe that the future can be better you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.

If you assume there is no hope, you guarantee there will be no hope.

If you assume there is an instinct for for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world.

The choice is yours.See it at Amazon

–Noam Chomsky
American linguist and political activist

Two Yous: Who is driving?

by | For Executive Coaches, Leadership Development

Colin WilsonI went through extreme depressions, glooms. There was one occasion on which I decided actually to commit suicide.

I’d got into this state — I was working as a lab assistant at the school, and what would happen was that I’d make tremendous efforts to push myself up to a level of optimism. I’d do it in the evenings by reading poetry, thinking, writing in my journals, then I’d go back to the school the next day and blaaahhh, right down to the bottom again. This was the feeling of The Mind Parasites — there’s something that waits until you’ve got lots of energy and just sucks you dry like a vampire. This sudden feeling that God was (more…)