I’m not one to quote Ronald Reagan often, but I love this visceral metaphor: “I know it's hard when you're up to your armpits in alligators to remember you came here to drain the swamp.” And I sure have been up to my… (something!) in alligators lately. The past year or two have brought us [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Communication'
Up to your armpits in alligators?
Nice Guys Who Finish First
(Quick note: this entire conversation refers to women as well as men. Sad truth is, however, that when we’re talking about executives, most of them are still men.) I coach a lot of “nice guys” and some who wonder why people don’t realize how nice they are “on the inside.” And here’s the sad part: [...]
The High Cost of the Unsaid
Several of my clients this week are experiencing the negative symptoms that come when we don’t say what needs said. Our bodies don’t like holding the energy of “calling b.s.” when we neglect to do so, or of stepping over something that we needed to say. This can manifest as headaches, anxiety, irritation, stomach upset, [...]
Your Presence is Requested
You usually go to a spinning class on Tuesday nights, but tonight you have a headache. You’re really swamped, so attending the cross-functional team meeting today is really a stretch. You have a 1:1 scheduled with a member of your team, but that’s the only time today your client can meet. You’re late to a [...]
Hold Your Questions
Shhh! I’m onsite right now with a client leadership team. They’re experimenting with new behavior: listening. There’s a presenter delivering an update right now…. She’s not a member of the team, but has presented to them before. She keeps pausing in astonishment, because they’re not interrupting her. It’s so different than what she’s used to, [...]
Boss = Host
You’re the boss? That means you’re the host of any meeting where you’re present. Why? Because your senior position endows you with a gravity that nothing else can completely overcome. Of course, it’s likely that someone else will often be running the meeting, driving the agenda, or presenting information. But when it comes to the [...]
What do you really wish you could say?
Often when I’m coaching someone on a communication challenge, the question that breaks open the situation is: “What do you REALLY wish you could say?” So often, we don’t give ourselves permission to say what we truly mean. The reasons we give for holding back what we truly mean are many and varied. And not [...]
How to Name an Elephant – Part 1
We’ve got a reputation, Sara and I, for being the people to bring in when there’s an elephant in the room that’s holding your business back. We get people talking, and when the dynamic is too subtle or too big for the team to name themselves, we go ahead and call it out for them. [...]
Still trying to solve last year’s problems?
We just received the latest ezine from the brilliant company Media Skills Training, headed by our dear friend Lorraine Howell. Imagine our surprise and delight when we saw that our lunch with her last week had been so enlightening that she wrote her ezine about it. We’ve quoted it below, because the message we shared [...]
What other people really think of you… and why
From the latest draft of the introduction to our new book, "The Elements of Executive Presence: "Our experience with over 2000 executives and leaders tells us that while most people who hold or aspire to leadership positions want to have a deeper, wider, more compelling impact, most think that’s a technical challenge and few know [...]