Leadership

How Midsize Companies Can Thrive In the Great Resignation

In the wake of the Great Resignation, a seismic shift is occurring in the job market. Big bureaucratic organizations are witnessing an exodus of employees seeking greener pastures and more fulfilling work experiences. For midsize companies, this presents a golden opportunity to attract top talent and enhance their competitive edge.…

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5 Critical Insights for New C-Suite Leaders

The leap from functional leadership to the C-suite is more than just a promotion. Above all, it’s a fundamental transformation in how you must think, act, and lead. Here are 5 critical insights every new C-Suite leader needs to know to navigate this career transition successfully. Embrace the Identity Shift.…

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Get on The Right Ski (A.K.A. trust yourself to stop wasting energy)

Kris LaPoint and I with my new ski

Sometimes, we need to slow down and think. It’s in reflection that we begin to make meaning of the things that have come at us so fast that all we can do is either duck or grab hold and deal with what’s coming at us. The last several years have…

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Quiet Quitting: How CEOs Can Stop the Trend

Are you worried that some percentage of your workforce is checked out? You’ve probably heard of ‘quiet quitting’, but how can you be sure it isn’t happening in your organization? I view engaged employees as those who act like they own the place even when the boss is not around.…

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5 Expectations of the C-Suite

Do you run a company and sometimes wondering what expectations you should set for your C-Suite team? Do you scratch your head and wonder if they really “get” it? Or does it feel like you’re playing whack-a-mole resolving issues that should never get to you in the first place? After…

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5 Ways To Attract & Retain Employees without Ping Pong Tables

Ping Pong

Are you struggling with employee retention? There is no question that the market for talent is tough. If you’ve been trying to recruit great people, you know that it’s not showing any sign of letting up. But as we level off from the pandemic chaos, we have reached an inflection…

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Forget DEI As We Know It

Want to make a relevant DEI Statement? Are you tired of struggling with what to say about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues? Do you care about the environment, social justice, and the good of the world, but don’t want to dive headfirst into a political debacle? What do you…

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6 Critical Conversations Senior Teams Need to Have About ChatGPT

Introducing ChatGPT

Is the buzz you are hearing about ChatGPT increasing to the point where it is difficult to ignore? Are conversations about how to leverage it met with confusion? What are the legal implications? Are you beginning to fear that your competition will beat you to the table with something you…

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Preserving Cash: A CEO’s Guide to Navigating Economic Uncertainty

Preserving cash during turbulent times is a critical task for CEOs, but they must also ensure that they do not become penny wise and pound foolish as the repercussions of that can last long after the turbulence subsides. Here are a few things CEOs and other senior leaders should keep…

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Executive Onboarding Into a Team With a Strong Legacy

Executive onboarding often means taking the reins as an incoming senior leader in an established organization with a deep legacy and a strong team. This can be a daunting experience. If you’ve ever worked at a place like Delta Airlines, AutoZone, Walmart, or Coca Cola, you know what I mean.…

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Thriving in the Storm: Leveraging Executive Advisors During Economic Downturns

As the world economy continues to test the resilience and adaptability for businesses, corporate leaders are under immense pressure to navigate through turbulent times. These times demand foresight, strategic thinking, and the ability to make tough decisions. An executive advisor can offer invaluable support in steering through troubled waters, anticipating…

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How to Ask for an Executive Coach

How To Ask For An Executive Coach

Are you taking on a stretch assignment? Responsible for delivering breakthrough results? Are you being asked to deliver a project where the stakes are high and the risk of failure is great? Perhaps it’s a new product, a new business, a turn-around or a merger integration… or maybe it’s just…

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Starting Off Right Leading a New Team

Starting Off Right With a New Team

  Have you landed the big promotion? Taken on a new role? Changed companies, or just taken over a new area in your company? If you have, chances are, you’ll want to make a great impression on your new team and demonstrate visible leadership to them and to your leadership.…

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Even Great Leaders Need An Executive Coach

Even Great Leaders Need A Coach

You think you’re a pretty good senior leader. Your people seem to like you (at least they say they do). Results and performance reviews are good, and you receive the occasional accolade. Maybe you’ve even had a recent promotion or two and there isn’t a lot of negative feedback. Why…

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How To Get The Most Value from an Executive Leadership Coach

Do you have an executive leadership coach? Are you thinking about executive coaching or business advisor services? Do you want to be sure you get your money’s worth from the investment? How will you know it will be a valuable use of your time?  Coaching and business advisory has been…

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Three Secrets To Success At The C-Level

Secret to succeed

Congratulations. You’ve got a seat at the proverbial table! Whether you’ve got a c-level title or not, your seat on the leadership team gives you influence as well as a lot of responsibility to balance.  I’ve been coaching and consulting with C-Level leaders for nearly 30 years. I have seen…

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How To Get Promoted Sooner

How To Get Promoted

It’s a tough competition for roles at the top. In nearly 30 years of coaching and consulting with the c-level and those who want to get there, I’ve seen more than a few interesting tactics for climbing the corporate ladder. Some work. Some make people angry and destroy trust. And…

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Top 4 Executive Onboarding Mistakes

Onboarding Mistakes To Avoid

If you are starting a new executive role or onboarding executives into roles where it is important that they hit the ground running and contribute quickly, there are a few things you should know. Data shows that rigorous executive onboarding programs can reduce time to full productivity by 40% and…

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20 Ways to Deepen Work Relationships

20 Ways To Deepen Work Relationships

Are you fed up with Zoom fatigue? You got a break, but now there is no end in sight. Do you miss the everyday casual interactions and office friendships? Are you new to an organization and finding it hard to get to know people and grow work relationships from your…

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3 Strategies Organizations Need To Reengage In 2021

3 Strategies Organizations Need To Succeed In 2021

As we face another year of adapting to disruption and driving growth in a landscape of rapid change organizations and leaders need these 3 strategies to set themselves up for success.

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3 Ways To Stop Killing Resilience

Build Organizational Resilience By Stopping Inequality

Here are 3 ways to build resilience by minimizing power struggles and equipping people to feel safe, heard, and able to give their all.

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Secrets To Building The Bedrock Of Resilience

A Foundation For Resilience This is the Spit Bank Lighthouse. It doesn’t look like much, but this structure has stood in the middle of Ireland’s Cork Harbour since 1853 and there is an awful lot we can learn from it as we recover from a pandemic. It starts with core…

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5 Ways To Accelerate Leadership Reengagement After COVID-19

As the debate on when to ease restrictions wages on and we all get tired of hearing about this ‘new normal’ we can’t seem to define, many leaders are struggling with a lack of things they can control about their organization and team’s future and how to ensure leadership reengagement…

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How To Build Resilience In The Midst Of Disruption

There’s no question, for most of us, these have been some tough weeks. For some, the impact has been minimal. Maybe you’re adjusting to working from home and dealing with the challenge of moving meetings around and trying to do things virtually. For others, the stress of quarantine, impacts on…

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5 Strategies to Build Resilience While Leading Virtually

Leading Virtually

Leading virtually through disruption is tough. If you’re currently in that situation, there’s no easy way to get through it. It’s even more difficult if people are not on the same page, working in different spaces, dealing with their own family challenges related to the crisis, and you’ve got to…

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How Teams Unconsciously Sabotage Results

Have you ever been driving a car headed towards your new home, having recently moved, only to find yourself suddenly turning down the familiar street towards your old home? How did that happen? I’ll tell you how. You were so busy thinking about something else – your conscious mind was…

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What Every Leader Needs To Know About Adaptive Leadership

“To lead is to live dangerously.”

It is no longer enough to do things better, faster, and cheaper. The challenges leaders face today are more complex and don’t have a simple solution.

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Food: The Secret Barrier to Organizational Resilience

Food: The Secret Barrier to Organizational Resilience

Inclusion is About Food (and other things) There has been a lot of talk about inclusion. What is it? Do we need it? If you’re trying to increase organizational resilience, there is no time for debate. Building a resilient organization cannot happen without inclusion. When we hear “inclusion” we may…

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3 Qualities of Resilient People

3 Qualities of Resilient People

Why Resilience? Most athletes spend about 90% of their time training to be able to perform at peak levels 10% of the time. For example, professional football players train six days a week to play one game on Sunday. Business leaders are a different story. They are expected to perform…

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It’s Time To Think About Leadership Differently

Adaptive Challenges

Adaptive Challenges Have you ever wondered why things are a bit more difficult at work recently? Do the types of challenges your team faces every day somehow just seem harder and more complex? Does it take longer to get things done because you can’t get people’s attention on the real…

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Creating Alignment: 4 Qualities of Aligned Organizations

  “The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths, making a system’s weaknesses irrelevant.” – Peter Drucker Imagine a company where everyone – from the CEO to the newest intern – shows up knowing EXACTLY what they need to do every single day, even on those days…

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No One Said It Would Be Easy: Business Architects In The Digital Age

Business Architect

Defining Business Architecture Today, many organizations still struggle to define what the role of a Business Architect should be and how to clearly articulate the value of Business Architecture to leadership. So let’s start by dispelling some popular myths about Business Architecture. Business Architects are NOT: assigned the next ‘hot…

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Authenticity: The Catalyst To Building Resilience

Resilience Requires Authenticity

“Your authentic self is who you are when you have no fear of judgment, before the world starts pushing you around and telling you who you’re supposed to be. Your fictional self is who you are when you have a mask on to please those around you.”  – Dr. Phil Authenticity…

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The Shocking Truth About Faith In The Workplace

Faith in the workplace

Uh oh. The topic everyone avoids in the work place. Faith. I did too until I realized how important it is to great leadership. Leadership is hard. It is lonely at the top and anyone who leads others gets stuck in difficult situations from time to time. It’s what leaders…

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Resilience: It’s Not About Bouncing Back

When you ask the question, what is resilience, the first and most common thing people usually say is, bouncing back. Or maybe, bouncing back from adversity. It seems to be the common understanding. It is also one I would dispute. Have you ever watched a ball bounce?  Let’s just say…

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Part Two: How To Avoid Humor That Hurts (What To Do Instead)

If you read my last article, you heard about the C-Level leaders I’ve observed recently who used bad humor as a vain attempt to connect with their audience. Sadly, this is, more common than one might think. As ineffective and toxic as this approach is though, there is a reason…

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Why You Need A Capability Model Instead of A Competency Model To Drive Strategy

I’ve had a lot of conversations lately about building competency models. I’ve built a lot of them and frankly, I’m not sure I get the value-add, given some much larger, more concrete priorities, but here’s what I’ve been told when I asked why the company wanted to invest the time…

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Can We Really Trust Performance Management?

One of my smaller clients recently asked me if they should consider an automated performance management system. You know the type – for a huge investment, employees can enter their objectives, managers approve them, and then self appraisals and manager performance appraisals are done right in the system. The same…

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