The more a man speaks, the less he is understood. - Abraham Lincoln
The other day I ran into a fellow who is the reluctant president of a board that I'm on.
He's an accomplished individual but rather quiet and reserved by nature. I don't think he enjoys his leadership role but I used this chance encounter to ask again about a pending issue for the board to resolve.
I calmly stated my position, asking for time for us to consider this thorny issue. He did not respond and the "deer in the headlights" look on his face made me want to... Continue Reading
It is wonderful time of year for giving and receiving and we at Executive Coaching Concepts would like to reinforce how wonderful it has been to have developed relationships with each of you and to benefit from the connections we have made and the opportunity to have been of service over the years.
This Holiday season I would like to focus on the importance of expressing gratitude.
One author I reviewed talked about the benefits of doing a "gratitude journal", and how it made him connect better to all the wonderful people, places, and things... Continue Reading
I was recently discussing a sensitive issue with a client regarding a senior member of his leadership team. The approach my client decided to take was both clever and empathic and avoided straining any relationships along the way.
I mentioned to him that I thought he had excellent political sensibilities and he responded by saying that he never wanted to be regarded as a corporate politician. I said that all politics are not necessarily negative but are the responses to different types of influence within an organization. I explained tha... Continue Reading
I was at an interfaith service recently and a Muslim cleric stated the following:
While it feels good to hate what we believe is bad, what is really bad is the hating mind.
I thought a lot about that.
In today’s politics - national, state, and local - we see a lot of effort to demonize or delegitimize the other side and their perspectives – “hate” from the opposition. We see this play out on the national stage daily and that negativity is very corrosive - oftentimes I simply have to turn off the TV.
But when we “hate” (o... Continue Reading
I met with one of my most admired clients last week and we had an interesting discussion about his efforts to maintain momentum for all the initiatives that he has underway.
This is the second company I have worked with "Sam" at and he is currently President and CEO of a firm that is rapidly approaching over $10 billion a year in sales. Sam is bringing on two key staff, has a culture / strategy initiative underway, and has his team negotiating several important acquisitions.
I am consistently amazed at the energy Sam brings to his lea... Continue Reading
There is an interesting Ted Talk about Grit, which is defined as having the passion and perseverance to invest in a pursuit of longer term results. The presenter is Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.
Grit requires stamina to stay with a task or cause. We are reminded that life is like a marathon, not a sprint.
I thought about this recently when I went on an adventure in the wilds of Wyoming to see the solar eclipse. My brother invited me in January and it sounded like lot of fun so I went all ... Continue Reading
I recently gave a speech on the subject of "Delivering Results in an Era of Change" to a group of CEOs that are members of the Association Forum of Chicago. This is a 4000 member organization that serves the large number of associations that are headquartered in the area. The overall theme of the meeting was Construct, Deconstruct and Reconstruct.
Over the last several months I have seen that theme repeated with clients and their relationships with peers and subordinates in organizations that can be consistently characterized as undergo... Continue Reading
A recent article in the Chicago Tribune related the story of how a leader provided a strong affirmation to one of his employees who was taking a day off to "focus on my mental health".
This was interesting because the leader was lauded by many for being supportive when one of his staff informed everyone via email of the reason for her absence from work for a few days. He was quoted as saying that he uses such an example "as a reminder of the importance of using sick days for mental health and that you are an example to us all, and help u... Continue Reading
Willy Steiner is the President of Executive Coaching Concepts and has been committed to directing leadership growth and accelerating team development for the past 20 years. 