A Rising Superstar K.C. and I were celebrating a bittersweet event: her coaching was ending. Again. For now. She and I had first worked together when she was a young rising star at her global firm. The company had felt she could become a future leader, but only if she learned to “play more nicely …
Barking management Reiko and I were exploring the differences between leadership and management. During our conversation, she had wondered whether the two actually sound different. I said to her, “You seem pretty comfortable in both camps, Reiko. Does your version of leadership sound different from your version of management?”
Which is which? Reiko had leapfrogged her colleagues. Now, while still leading her large group of accountants, she was going to become the CFO of a division as well. Her boss, a huge supporter, got her coaching so she could step boldly into her new role while still juggling the old one.
Failing in Front of Senior Leaders Rizwan had a vision for the leaders running his business unit. There were roughly 40 of them and he wanted them to mature as leaders. He was hoping I could create an event that might help them get there faster. We arranged a lunch to trade ideas.
Team turmoil Dalita didn’t like kerfuffles. She felt her emotions deeply but contained them tightly. Her happiest moments and her biggest upsets appeared almost the same. Containing her emotions exhausted Dalita. She could feel the kerfuffles grinding on her spirit.
Consequences of a hijacking Kimberly lowered her eyes and spoke quietly. “I didn’t like myself very much at that point.” I said nothing. “The minute I got back to my office, I knew I shouldn’t have said what I said. I can’t believe I thought, even for a minute, that Max didn’t have my best …
Promotion prompts worry Shalawn was chief medical officer at a regional clinic. Her clinic, along with seven others, had been bought by a national corporation and unified into a network. The corporate owners had taken notice of Shalawn and were promoting her to chief medical officer for the entire region. All eight medical officers at …
In the lion’s mouth Martin had gotten “homework” from me at the end of our first coaching conversation. I’d asked him to seek out some feedback about himself. I was interested whether, when he heard it, he could be curious about it. What did he tell himself about it? Could he report it to me …
Shrinking your blind spot Martin was disruptive. There was a long history of complaints against him. After the most recent grievance meeting, he was “given” a coach: me. The fact that people were upset with him was something Martin knew the way a reckless driver, seeing chaos in his rearview mirror, wonders how all THAT …
Teams at risk Rafael was two months into running the largest team of his career. He wasn’t certain, but he sensed the CEO was about to pit his new team against another team. If that happened, one team’s business would win out over the other’s. No jobs would be lost, but years of work would …
