It’s been a while since I have written in this blog. The reason, I have taken a brief leave of absence from my normal preoccupation of making my living with my mouth—public speaking and coaching. Instead, I have been preoccupied with the restoration of a 100-year-old house I own situated on 7 acres in Waltham, MA, just outside of Boston. In my next career, I intend to be a gentleman farmer. Well, if truth be told, I am normally a rather lazy person, but when I put my mind to something, like this project, I become what the late great Peter Drucker called a “monomaniac with a mission.”
Read more →Team of Rivals, a biography of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
“For those who say they stand for slavery, I suggest that they try it themselves.” Abraham Lincoln
Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book on Abraham Lincoln entitled “Team of Rivals” is in my opinion a masterpiece and a wonderful companion to anyone who is in the position of coaching leaders. It portrays Lincoln as ambitious and humble, a powerful leader and vulnerable, a master politician and a master of human nature. The thing that impressed me most about the book was Lincoln’s ability to take a stand on issues like the Emancipation Proclamation, replacing General McClellan, and pardoning a deserter, but did so in a way that did not make others around him feel belittled or humiliated, even those who tried to publicly destroy him.
Masterful Coaching Tip: Forget the Need to Be Charismatic and Smart…Remember Detective Colombo
Imagine you were a world famous business guru, like Tom Peters, standing up in front of a crown of 1000 people in a $1000 business suit. You fully intend to come off not only as charismatic and talented, but as one of the most intelligent people on the planet. STOP!!!! This approach is great for talking in front of a big crowd, but is 180 degrees opposite to how you want to show up in a coaching conversation. Instead…
Read more →Masterful Coaching Tip: Questions to Catalyze a Powerful Coaching Conversation
One great way to enroll people in a coaching relationship is to have an initial conversation where you talk about how coaching can help people realize an Impossible Future for themselves and their business. Then, if people are intrigued, have them fill out a short questionnaire, which supports people to self reflect on their issues and opportunities and catalyze a powerful coaching conversation. Here’s a questionnaire I recommend.
Read more →Masterful Coaching Tip: Plan for the Future, Play for Today
I think that perhaps the thorniest issue I have come across in executive coaching is not whether someone has a vision—“game plan”—but whether they can execute on that amid the pressure of doing their day job and delivering short-term results. I have found that it is very easy for an executive coach to get a decision maker excited about a new leadership roadmap or game-changing strategy, however, all too often, you discover when you check back a month later that nothing very much has happened.
Read more →You Have a Passion for Growth But Hit a Wall…
Here is a letter we wrote to test with CEOs of emerging businesses. Let us know if you are someone we should be talking to, or if you can refer us to someone else in an emerging business.
Dear CEO, We have selected you, and are sending you the enclosed “Your Coach in a Book” because our investigation has shown that your company has tremendous potential for growth, and we believe we can be of help to you.
Read more →Masterful Coaching for Emerging Business: Draft of New Business Concept
It was only a few years ago that Google was an emerging business. Today, Google has produced 2 billionaires and 1000 millionaires.
At Masterful Coaching, we are pondering starting up a new business under the Masterful Coaching brand name for the CEOs and executive teams of $15 to $50 million companies. The structure of the program will include both Executive Coaching and Team Coaching, but the overall focus will be on “Business Coaching.”
Read more →Kissinger as Coach
I bought a copy of Henry Kissinger’s “The White House Years” over thirty years ago. It remained totally unopened until last Sunday morning when I was searching for something to read in my house in Ogunquit, Maine. Two minutes later, I had a powerful “aha” experience. Kissinger was philosophizing that, when you are young, you have many new experiences so awe inspiring that time almost stands still.
Read more →My Latest Reincarnation: Work on Your Business vs. In Your Business
For as long as I can remember, I have made my way in the world being a masterful coach/ business guru who can walk into a CEOs office or conference room and charge abundantly for my words of wisdom. Helping people deal with their leadership, business, and career challenges on the corporate chessboard with all of its vagaries is for me like attacking an intensifying crossword puzzle with relish. At the same time, I’ve been strongly influenced by a talk I heard a number of years ago by Michael Gerber, author of the E Myth, who said that any entrepreneur worth his salt should “work on the business” vs. “work in the business.”
Read more →The Capital Grill: A Great Setting for a Coaching Conversation
In my field of executive coaching, a lot of conversations happen in great restaurants where you can indulge in what one of my clients, Bill Scott of Colonial Pipeline, calls the three basic food groups: 1) steak, 2) scotch, and 3) cigars. When I met with Professor Wen, I wanted him to feel free to confide in me during our conversation, so I decided to not take him to a Chinese restaurant where he might be seen or overheard. I chose to take him to the Capital Grille, which I have never been disappointed in.
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