The Executive Coach

Did you know that leadership is proven through actions, not words?

Leadership happens in times when it matters most. One of the greatest modern day examples is former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his handling of the World Trade Center tragedy. The world watched as he made a habit of taking on difficult tasks that most people would avoid. His habit of addressing the multiple conflicting issues provided us all with comfort and confidence that things would somehow be eventually OK.

Habits are formed through repeated and deliberate action. Discipline and courage are required to make the tough decisions and follow through with sometimes unpopular actions. Leaders step up when leadership and clear direction is needed most.

Putting It Into Action

Ask yourself, what are the tough decisions or difficult situations that everyone has been avoiding and you feel need to be addressed? Volunteer to take on those things. Make this reflection and action a regular quarterly habit. If you need help staying on track, assign a coach to keep you accountable for making tough decisions and handling difficult situations. Ask your boss which tasks that she or he dislikes the most. Volunteer to take on those things as a regular habit.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph

Did you know that compliments are a powerful communication tool?

As a manager and leader, you need to encourage engagement and build loyalty. Managers and leaders build loyalty when they celebrate their employees' successes with heart felt compliments.

Acknowledgement and public appreciation is the most underutilized management communication tool. Most employees leave their direct supervisors not their organizations. Most employees leave their direct supervisors because they are not acknowledged, not appreciated and not complimented.

Genuine compliments re-energize your employees, suppliers, channel partners and stakeholders. We are programmed to please others. Genuine compliments have the following qualities:
-lack of over the top flattery
-sounds realistic
-specific, not general phrases like 'good job'
-timely, as soon as possible after the successful event
-given in moderation
-never compromised by a qualifier
-public if possible
-reinforced with a token of appreciation

Putting It Into Action

Put together your weekly plan to recognize people for their unique and exemplary contributions. When you offer your compliments, make sure they are genuine, realistic, timely, thoughtful, specific and offer encouragement. Purchase a box of 'thank you' cards and write a quick note of appreciation. Use your weekly planner as a tool to record great achievements and then periodically give praise by quoting those specific achievements. There is no such thing as too much communication when it comes to those that you count on. Use compliments as a key engagement tool.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph

Don't you just love life's little contradictions?

To get more in life, you have to give, give, give. To get more in life, you have to have less. You must have less:
-clutter
-distractions
-demanding, zero added value clients, suppliers, employees or partners
-busy work
-employees dependant on you
-pointless meetings

Simplicity can help provide you with clarity and focus. Describing a situation via a simple metaphor can paint a much more vivid picture than a thousand words. Repeating your main message in a meeting or presentation or speaking slowly in 3-8 second sound bites will help your audience listen and retain the information and understand its importance. Presenting without countless, overly detailed PowerPoint slides, allows your powerful messages to break through the clutter of noise and people fighting for our attention. Think of the most effective leadership speeches, slogans and marketing campaigns -- they communicate a common theme and use one or two strong but uncluttered messages.

Putting It Into Action

Do not stop providing people with the details, facts and figures that they need. Provide details as support or an appendix to your main message. Tell people what you plan on telling them, tell them, then review what you just told them. Paint visual images, use video, use props to help people remember. Purge your work space at least twice per year. During important phone meetings, clear your desk and stand up to add energy to your voice. Get your main hypothesis down to a 30 second radio commercial, where every word used must add value and repetition is key. If you want to be quoted by media or stakeholders, speak in powerful 3-8 second sound bites.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph

When you go vacation or sneak away to the cottage for the weekend, do you bring your laptop and/or blackberry?

When was the last time you truly 'unplugged' yourself from your professional or personal obligations? When was the last time you actually took an extended vacation? Many business professionals I speak to, struggle just to take one or two weeks of their earned vacation per year. It takes most busy professionals a few days to unwind and forget about the office and a few days before the break is over, they begin thinking about returning to work. If you are only taking extended weekends or one week long vacations, you are not resting.

Unplugging from the office, your stakeholders and all of your requests for time delivers the following benefits:
1. Allows you to rest your total mind and body
2. Allows you to reflect, celebrate and learn from your recent past and achievements
3. Provides you with time and solitude to think about where you are heading in the future
4. Connects you to something new to help you grow
5. Develops your ability to delegate
6. Develops your employees who can now take on stretch roles
7. Strengthen lapsed relationships
8. Meet new people
9. Develop your appreciation for different people away from work
10. Expand your knowledge about different people, cultures and places
11. Learn new ways of seeing or doing things
12. Allows you to make a major change or start a new phase of your life

Putting It Into Action

You have no excuses, think of the twelve reasons above. Book your remaining vacation this year. Research your extended break next year. Book your multi week vacation and make sure you get to visit a new area. Working vacations and staying connected to the office are not true, reflective re-energizing vacations. You owe it to yourself and your stakeholders to reinvent and recharge yourself every year.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph

If you where a brand, what would you be?

Brands communicate what type of product or service experience to expect. In an ever complex and fast moving world, brands can provide us with familiarity and comfort. When successful brands deliver on a brand promise, we know what to expect.

What does your brand say about you? What attributes, values, norms and preferences define your brand? Our leaders and recruiters need to have a familiarity and comfort with people that we surround ourselves with.

If your brand promise does not define who you are, you need to rebrand yourself. If you are trying to undergo a career transition, you need to rebrand yourself. If you are hoping to move into a new industry or a new geographical area you need to rebrand yourself.

Great brands generate emotions by painting visual, auditory and sensatory images. Successful brands build expectations and consistently positive experiences. The best brands tend to stand out from a crowded marketplace and are sought after for their strong connections to their consumers.

Putting It Into Action
Brands use slogans, sound bites and visuals to be memorable and communicate their sustainable competitive advantages.

Within the next few weeks, come up with a 3-8 second slogan that communicates your brand. Who are you? What value can you bring to the marketplace? What is your brand promise? Is your package (image) consistent with your brand promise? Combine your brand promise and your slogan to come up your 30 second radio commercial and 2-3 minute image. What you say about you and how you present it, creates expectations. Delivering on expectations wins customers. Consistently delivering on expectations and delighting customers builds loyalty.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph

Did you know that the greatest impediment to becoming great is being good?

In his global blockbuster Good to Great, Jim Collins makes the hypothesis that the greatest barrier to becoming great in your business is being good.

I think the same holds true for your career. Being good at what you do, prevents you from making a fundamental leap frog to being great because:

1) Success is equated to a validation of the past and present.
2) We are too focused on current customers and challenges.
3) We are too focused on current sector and not redefining what business you are in or should be in.
4) Too focused on managerial obsessions of cost cutting and efficiency improvements.
5) Our organizations and reward systems reward short term goal attainment and incremental improvements.
6) We strive to mitigate risk or are risk averse by nature.
7) There is comfort and an illusion of security in sticking to what we know.

Restructuring your career or business will help you close the performance gap. You should instead plan for a renewal, taking advantage of new opportunities.

Putting It Into Action:

In general, professionals who make drastic and revolutionary changes in their career directions failed to invest in small but progressive evolutionary moves towards new careers.

Find a sustainable way to make money in the present to support and prepare a career or business transformation for the future. In business, our cash cows fund our research projects and exploratory products and services. For your career, you may want to join a Board, volunteer, join a professional association, attend a conference or work on a project or consult in the area that you think you want to gravitate towards.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph

How can you plan the future when you are struggling to meet the needs of today?

Leadership is the future. What are you doing today to prepare? I recently interviewed the Dean of one of the world`s best business schools. I asked him, `` What makes a great leader?`` The first words that came out of his mouth was, `` A clear vision of the future.``

Professor Vivay Govindarajan of Michigan University, talks about Box 1, Box 2 and Box 3 Thinking. Box 1 Thinking is Manage the Present and it is unfortunately what most companies think is strategy. Box 2 Thinking is Selectively Forget the Past. Box 3 Thinking is Create the Future.
To effectively and strategically plan your business and career strategy, you should start with Box 3. Visualize and conceptualize your vision for the future and begin to create what it will look like.

Putting It Into Action:

Many of us are stuck in BOX 1 because we are somewhat successful and are often obsessed with making marginal improvements. We think that our success is a validation of our past actions and strategy.

Chances are you are somewhat unsatisfied in your career or business because you have settled on marginal success. Global events like the rise of China and India will re-write the business fundamentals. You must plan out a forward looking vision of the future in a space that is not currently or in the near future being met by cheaper sources of labour (Box 2 Thinking). You must develop a date specific action plan to achieve future success. It may help to meet regularly with a group of forward looking visionaries who are looking forward to rewriting the rules in their favour.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph

Would you like to know the ten characteristics that the world`s most successful companies and their leaders practice?

A 2006 study by Fortune Magazine and the HR consultancy, The Hay Group, rated the Fortune 1000 and Global 500 based on corporate reputations.

The top ten keys they found that separated the best organizations from the worst organizations were:

1) Increased Clarity – consistent and focused communication at all levels
2) Integrated Culture – part of their DNA, embedded in their operations
3) Global Alignment – alignment around values and culture
4) Consistency – maintain a long term focus and consistent customer experience
5) Focus on People – proactive strategy to develop all levels of talent, provide mentorship and coaching
6) Better EQi – great awareness and improvement of Emotional Intelligence
7) Increased Diversity – leadership and management team shows diversity in sex, heritage, lifestyle and backgrounds
8) Team Builders – team players and collaborative culture
9) Open Culture – healthy discussion, challenges and constructive criticism
10) Intense Innovation – built into culture, expected from all levels and rewarded

According to the study, the Top Ten Companies included: General Electric, Toyota, P & G, Fed Ex, Nokia, BP, BMW, etc. Nine of the Top Ten are consistent performers, being on the list in 2005.

Putting It Into Action:

No matter what your level in your organization, it is imperative that you begin to embrace, illustrate and champion the above listed ten leadership keys.

Conduct a leadership competencies gap analysis to identify your strongest strengths. Improve on your strongest strengths by planning and implementing a weekly key leadership strategies action plan. Move to a lesser dominate skill only once you are fully leveraging your strengths.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph

Have you heard the expression, your eyes are the mirror to your soul?

The mirror neuron resides on the right side of your brain, the creative side. The mirror neuron is amazing because it mirrors 100% of what the eyes see, subconsciously. Only your consciousness knows whether the event actually happened.

How much of what you learned from high school has remained with you? If you are like most people, you study for exams, perform an information dump and then forget most of what you learned shortly thereafter. We are no longer in high school and we are too busy and life is moving to quickly, to not retain our learning.

In order to retain our learning, the human mind must see it, interact with it and do something with it. We should be teaching to the right side of the brain and storing it in the left (logical or rational) side of the brain. Instead, we tend to teach it in the left and expect the right to go get it, understand it and retain the new knowledge. E-learning with individual follow-up or coaching is the usual solution.

Learning today requires:
1) Motivation -- for the individual (rewards, money, career enhancement, etc.)
2) Coaching – interactive and two way
3) Retention – practice is reinforcement, have them summarize into own words
4) Transference – application to own scenarios and go forward plan = ownership

Putting It Into Action:

Do not dump learning and e-learning on everyone and force them to use it. Ensure that the four requirements mentioned above will be met. Implement or champion your training in phases. Start with your most enthusiastic learners, followed by early adopters, middle adopters and lagers. Save the die hards for last. Look for higher visibility and higher impact opportunities to apply the new learning. Get testimonials along the way and have the first batch of trainees attract the next batch to attend the training sessions.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph

Did you know that those who accept and adapt to change will survive?

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution holds true in business and in your professional career. Evolve or perish.

Here are some hard facts:
• 90% of the products and services that you will use 10 years from now are not currently available in the marketplace
• Knowledge will double in the next 7 years vs. more than the 100 years it took to double last time and a million years the time before that
• 60% of future careers don’t yet exist
• Increased complexity equals increased inability to solve your own problems which results in increased frustration and anger

Reflect on how the four facts above will have a profound affect on you and your team’s careers and on customer behaviour.

China, India and other quickly rising economies may seem foreign to some of us. Accept that these countries are already fundamentally rewriting the rules of financial markets, demand and supply of renewable and non-renewable resources and consumption levels in our own backyard.

Putting It Into Action:

Surround yourself with forward thinking visionaries who can’t wait for the future and are taking steps now to prepare themselves. Embrace continuous learning both in traditional in class formats and increasingly with on-line, interactive and with knowledge sharing on-line communities.

Reflect on the four facts above and the rapidly developing economies. Learn as much as you can, as quick as you can, and begin to map out a proactive strategy to try to stay ahead of the relevance curve for both careers and business.

With you along the path towards success,
Joseph