“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.” – Vince LombardiI’ve talked with a few clients recently about whether it was “worthwhile” to invest in their people. One CEO said he wouldn’t put ANY of his direct reports through further training. An SVP decided to postpone coaching because he couldn’t decide whether t...

Last night on WGBH TV’s Greater Boston with Emily Rooney I was invited to be on a panel discussing a new survey that shows record numbers of people are unhappy with their jobs. The Conference Board’s poll, widely reported yesterday in every major publication, concludes that “Americans of all ages and income brackets continue to grow increasingly unhappy at work.” The survey is based on the responses of 2,900 American wo...

I’m often asked how you measure the impact of better communication on your company’s success. Watson Wyatt recently published a 2009-2010 survey that shows communication is a leading indicator of financial performance and a driver of employee engagement. According to the survey, companies that have highly effecctive communicators had 47% higher total returns to shareholders over the last five years compared to firms that ar...

If you want to be successful in sales you know what you need to do. • Find out what the customer wants. • Create a high value proposition for the customer. • Give the customer what they want.Step one is what trips up most sales people.Why?They never find out what they customer REALLY wants.We are so focused on selling what we need to sell and making our numbers that we fail to do the things that will help us truly deeply un...

Tis the season when we are called upon to deliver end of the year performance reviews. Hardly what most people regard as a task of “good cheer.” While these are crucial conversations which can be pleasant, more often they are difficult. Even top performers need guidance, and of course there are those who have slipped or not lived up to their potential. If you tend to avoid conflict or are simply feeling too busy with ot...

I’m often asked whether there is a formula for success in public speaking, and my response has always been, “practice.” Practice is the secret to becoming good and the antidote to fear.But I just had a personal experience that made me realize that practice is only one half of the formula. Ten thousand hours of preparation won’t prevent a meltdown if you’re walking around with stupid, idiotic thoughts in your head.Last wee...

This week I've been thinking about that saying, 'lead by example'. The origin of this well-worn standard is a Chinese proverb, yi shen zuo ze, which means 'to set a good example,' or 'set yourself as the standard.' For thousands of years people have known that a leader's actions must match his or her words. As I have discussed in the 8 principles of Motivate like a CEO, great leaders walk the talk.But is that enough?Yes...

This week I was in Dallas at the Network of Executive women, to deliver a workshop on Storytelling for Business Leaders. We talked about how to become a great storyteller and share leadership lessons through those stories. You wouldn’t believe the number of executives who came up to me afterword to tell me this is exactly what their companies are asking them to do.Top companies have come to embrace the idea that their lea...

I’m just back from an intensive week in which our Bates team coached 23 top leaders of a Fortune 50 company on their strategic recommendations for the organization. There was a lot riding on it for each of them, since the Chairman and CEO of the company and members of the senior leadership team would be evaluating their presentations and providing feedback.What the SLT was looking for were clear, bold solutions to signific...

When you walk out the door to go to work in the morning, what are you taking with you? A cell phone, keys, purse or briefcase, and a bottle of water? These are the necessities, but what about the “successories?” By that I mean, what do you need to take along as the accessories for success?When I think about the most successful executives and professionals I have coached in my career, and the types of things that have mad...