John (name and identifying data changed) asked me to coach him. He’d recently been appointed as the CEO of his engineering firm, which provides turnkey process infrastructure. John is an engineer and for the last four years had been the senior engineer in charge of production output, reporting to the previous CEO. He asked me […]
“I’ve done it David!” my client, the CEO of a mid-sized professional service provider, told me, the relief in his voice apparent. “What?” I asked. “I’ve canned our performance management process!” he replied. “Fantastic!” I couldn’t help expressing. “I’ll bet you had no push back on that” I tested. “Well actually I did, but not […]
I observed a monthly meeting of a senior leadership team. Present were the CEO and COO and their 8 direct reports – all general managers. When it came time to report on deliverables, the bulk of the reports explained why their objectives hadn’t yet been met. As the last excuse was delivered the CEO shot […]
There is a much complained-about gap between strategy and results. There is also a thriving consulting business in attempting to close that gap. It has given rise to jargon, misnomers and other rubbish that thwarts the desired outcomes. Executing strategy is actually executing the tactics that make up the strategy. We implement strategy and execute […]
Everything we do, whether leader or not, begins with our mindset, doesn’t it? So what characterises the effective leader’s mindset? Firstly let’s agree on what we mean by ‘effective leader’. After all, deploying a workplace psychopath to lead a short term essential crucial task may be justified. She’ll get the job done, at whatever the […]
Enterprises are learning that leadership matters much more than they thought. Sensibly, more investment is being made in leadership development. Here are the seven things buyers of leadership development programs need to know before they buy: Context – that the program is deeply contextualised to their business – full of story, culture, challenges and expertise […]
The issue of unsatisfactory accountability seems pervasive across commerce industry and government. I heard a mine manager of a significant mine tell his direct reports, general managers of divisions, “I’m holding you accountable for the delivery of these actions”. The problem was he said it at the end of each of the five consecutive meetings […]
Just saying “I’m holding you accountable for delivering this” does not mean that accountability has been achieved, even if the response is “OK”. I recently sat in on the monthly meetings of an executive team over three months and heard the leader repeatedly say “I’m holding you accountable for our agreements today”. The problem was […]
I am dismayed and frustrated at the prevalence of leadership cowardice and ignorance, and its resulting high cost. As an executive coach I find that most of the cases I undertake, whilst warranted, are exacerbated by a more senior leader failing to be clear, decisive and timely in bringing the critical issues to the attention […]
I listened to the CEO address his senior managers at their annual conference. He painted a picture of new growth and opportunity, sharing his vision for the coming year and how it aligned with the bigger and longer term vision. I watched his managers pay genuine attention to the oration. It was indeed inspiring. The […]
