leaders

Real Time Feedback for Busy Leaders [February 2012]

by amiel · Nov 28, 2012

Warning: this issue contains ideas that may be hazardous to your leadership blind spots.

According to leadership research, 70 percent of what we learn comes from on-the-job experience. People who elevate their leadership capacity do so by taking on challenging assignments that teach them the lessons they need to learn to guide their organizations into the future. And they learn–really learn–from those experiences.

How an individual best learns depends on many factors, but one practice that works well across the board is receiving specific, requested, ongoing and real-time feedback from a rich variety of competent observers. Such feedback allows leaders to see things they cannot see on their own, expand their perspective, gauge their progress in better leveraging their strengths and improving on their “Achilles Heel” weakness, and enroll others as allies. Let’s break these words down: [Read more…] about Real Time Feedback for Busy Leaders [February 2012]

What are you practicing today? [September 2011]

by amiel · Nov 25, 2012

What’s the one thing you can do today…and tomorrow…and the day after that…to be a better leader?

There may be no more important question to ask.

And it’s not as simple as it sounds. I’m asking you to identify the one action that, if practiced every day, will have the largest impact on your capacity to make a positive difference in the world through people. Yes, we’re talking about leverage, and of a very particular kind: leverage through practice.

We don’t talk a lot about practice in organizations. Sure, we use the term “best practices,” but not in the same sense as we practice sports or the performing arts. So let me define the word “practice”–more specifically, deliberate practice–with some help from Geoff Colvin, author of Talent is Overrated. A deliberate practice is one with the following attributes: [Read more…] about What are you practicing today? [September 2011]

Odes to Two Leaders [June 2008]

by amiel · Nov 23, 2012

These are not technically odes (elaborate three-part lyrical verses), nor do they correspond with individual leaders I have coached. But I so enjoy the word “ode” that I had to use it. And I feel so honored to know leaders like these that it was only natural to create such composite portraits.

Ode to the Skeptic (Who Wasn’t)
They told you to stop pushing back against decisions, to quit being the Devil’s Advocate at every meeting. They said they were tired of the doom and gloom, wanted you to lighten up, stop furrowing your brow and smile more. Most importantly, they said, it was time for you to start offering solutions rather than complaining about problems.

At first, you thought the feedback was a bunch of crap. First, if you didn’t point out all the obstacles to success, then who would–and then where would the organization be? Second, you had a word for what others called doom and gloom: realism. Finally, even if it would help the company for you to act differently, why bother trying? After all, people don’t ever really change. [Read more…] about Odes to Two Leaders [June 2008]

Leaders want to be loved. What’s so wrong with that? [May 2008]

by amiel · Nov 22, 2012

Over the past year I received similar introductions to five bright executives in different organizations. Before each assignment began, I was cautioned, “(S)he’s very hard-nosed. Doesn’t like touchy-feely. We advise you focus on business outcomes. No soft stuff.”

In each situation, I took this advice with several grains of salt. In fact, you might say I ignored it entirely. Sure, the coaching focused on outcomes at each stage of the program. I don’t know any other way to do it. But it also included the soft stuff–quite a bit of it–and the results were universally positive.

In all five instances, I began the first face-to-face meeting by asking these executives to tell me (among other things) what gets them out of bed in the morning and what keeps them up at night. All of these “hard-nosed” leaders answered the questions and did so in a way that felt real to me. I learned about the twists and turns in their careers, their early role models, the causes they cherish, the people (and pets) who matter most to them, and the disappointments and anxieties that eat away at them. [Read more…] about Leaders want to be loved. What’s so wrong with that? [May 2008]