January 2006
|
Appraising Alliances and Allies
Webster's Dictionary offers a simple definition of an ally: one who is associated with another as a helper. Alliance has a slightly different twist: an association to further
the common interests of the members. CEOs often use "allies" and "alliance" freely
and without specificity. So let’s get specific and ponder the conscious formation of
alliances and choice of allies.
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December 2005 |
Succeeding at Succession
Three of my CEO clients are at various stages in the succession process. This column identifies the very personal questions that a CEO needs to ask himself, both about
himself and his successor. (This column specifically applies to a male succeeding a
male; however, it may be of interest in other types of gender succession.)
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November 2005 |
Katrina Lessons for CEOs
Katrina has held many lessons for us as citizens and as human beings. This column
explores two lessons Katrina has for CEOs.
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October 2005 |
Authentically Asserting Authority
As CEOs we’re called upon to assert authority all the time. We have “the last word” in dealing with major customers and vendors, officers and key employees. We oversee major capital expenditures, mergers, acquisitions and dispositions. We have final approval of the image our company presents to the public and of the major community causes our company supports.
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September 2005 |
North to Alaska
ON BOARD THE MS RYNDAM OFF THE COAST OF ALASKA Anne and I were married before my last
year at Yale Law School. We were exuberant. The sky was the limit. We were going to have six kids (we ended up having four) and we were going to live in Alaska. During that final year of school I wrote to several firms in Alaska. The classic response was from a partner of a firm in Juneau, “When you’re in Juneau, look me up.” We never made it to Juneau and instead spent our meager savings on a trip to Indianapolis, Kansas City and LA. I accepted an offer in Kansas City.
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August 2005 |
Stayin’ Alive
As CEOs, we know we’ll have to deal with opposition—from competitors, from the government, from various groups with vested interests other than our own. What we don't always anticipate, or at least deal well with, is opposition from within our organizations.
After all, we’re the chosen leaders—we have the vision, we have the leadership expertise, and we have the company’s and its employees’ best interest at heart. Why would anyone mount an effort to resist, undermine or openly oppose?
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July 2005 |
Dedication, Education, Graduation
In the past few weeks I’ve attended the dedication of two granddaughters in a religious congregation, and the graduation of our youngest daughter from a masters program in not-for-profit management. The conjunction of these two events has raised for me the issues of how we dedicate and educate ourselves as CEOs, and what constitutes graduation for us.
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June 2005 |
You Gotta Have Heart
Since last July I’ve taken four segments of an advanced course in "Relationship Systems Coaching" that focuses in part on the healthy functioning of executive teams. Faith Fuller, one of the founders of this approach, has graciously consented to my use of course material for this column.
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May 2005 |
Metaview
We are asked as CEOs to give an overall perspective on our businesses, whether
for analysts, bankers, vendors, customers, directors, stockholders, regulators, or
even as responses to inquiries by business acquaintances or friends. We are the goto
persons for the broadest perspective, the “metaview.”
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April 2005 |
Quiet
Key Colony Beach, Florida—Our visitors for the last two weeks have left, and Anne and I are looking forward to two weeks of peace and quiet. For me, this prospect raises
the topic of the role of quiet in a CEO’s life.
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March 2005 |
The Three-legged Stool
As CEOs, you may be familiar with the "three-legged stool concept" the core philosophy of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc. The first leg is McDonald’s itself, the second its franchisees, and the third its supplier partners. As Kroc said, the stool is only
as strong as each of its three legs. You may not be as aware, however, of the three-legged stool you sit upon each day you hold your CEO position. Its three legs are achievement, trust and the "personal."
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February 2005 |
When Your Ship Comes In
A large part of being a CEO resides in the hope of a financial payoff. That hope "hovers in dark corners/before the lights are
turned on" (Hope, Lisel Mueller). If you’re
patient, prudent, plan well, and have a little bit
of luck, one fine day the light may very well be
turned on and your ship will come in.
|
January 2005 |
Significant Other
CEOs rarely talk publicly about what their significant other means to them.
Oh, there may be a reference to "my other half," "my better half," or a favorite picture
on the desk or credenza. But what does this
person really mean to them?
|
December 2004 |
Balance
Is Not Bunk (Executive Coaching)
My son-in-law likes to stir the pot. He certainly stirred my pot about
ten days ago when he e-mailed me from Geneva, and attached an article
from Fast Company entitled “Balance is Bunk.” |
November 2004 |
The
Clone, The Complement, and The Complete Team (Executive
Coaching)
As I watch my clients build their companies, there
seem to be three discrete organizational stages—cloning
themselves, obtaining a partner whose abilities complement
their own, and, over time, assembling a complete team.
This column offers some thoughts about each of these processes. |
October 2004 |
Appearance & Reality
This last weekend I attended my fiftieth high school reunion in the small
town where I grew up, one hundred miles west of Chicago in tall corn
country. |
September 2004 |
No
Inspiration
I sit down to write a column and no inspiration comes. The well is dry.
I’m submerged in some kind of summer miasma, and appropriately
enough, this column is looking like a real “labor” in celebration
of Labor Day. |
August 2004 |
Finding
Company
Ask a CEO to define the word “company” in the midst of a
busy day and he or she may say “my company, the one I own [or head].” There
may even be a little impatience with the question in the press of the
moment. Ask the same question at the end of a workday or on a weekend,
and the answer may very well change. |
July 2004 |
At
Ease
It’s that time of year—holidays, vacations, long weekends,
favorite getaways, far vistas, refreshing the mind, the heart and the
soul. |
June 2004 |
Movin'
On: Seasons of a CEO's Life (Executive
Coaching)
My wife and I move this week, the eleventh time in our married lives,
although we’ve lived where we now are for eleven years. As we discard
what we no longer need or use, I am taking the opportunity to consider
how we as CEOs “move on” in our lives, from one season to
another. |
May 2004 |
Convene,
Confer, Convoke
At the International Coach Federation Conference in Denver, Colorado,
I came upon something I had not seen before—a format on how to
get the most out of the convention. It seems to me that this format contains
really worthwhile directions for everyone, including CEOs, on how to
get the most out of any convention you’re attending. |
April 2004 |
Fluid
Positions (Political
Coaching)
It’s the legislative season. This week I had the opportunity to
visit Annapolis for a day as part of a delegation supporting positions
of a regional CEO group. This column addresses participation in the legislative
process. |
March 2004 |
Extra
Time
As you receive this issue of SmartCEO, you will be experiencing what
we on Earth who follow the Gregorian calendar experience ninety-seven
times every four hundred years—an extra day, Leap Day, February
29! |
February 2004 |
Groundhog,
It's Your Shadow, Deal With It (Spiritual
Coaching)
Up in northwest Pennsylvania, venerable Punxsutawney Phil is peering
out from his hole. He says, “No sunlight? Great! I won’t
be able to see my shadow and can stay out here. I miss the sunlight,
but that shadow really gets to me.” |
January 2004 |
The
Attraction of Risk (Executive
Coaching)
As CEOs, we like broad-based challenges. Our motto may very well be, “Bring
it on, whatever it is! I’m up to the challenge.” |
December 2003 |
Failure
Remembered (Spiritual
Coaching)
For a CEO, the word "failure" can call up sweaty palms, down-cast
eyes, furrowed brows, deep sighs, faraway looks, "Oh mys"—each
with its own meaning, association and emotion. |
November 2003 |
Foreign
Perspective
Bruce Beach, Ontario. Anne and I are here for the thirtieth year. The
blue waters of Lake Huron stretch out before us. It's ten days after
Labor Day and the cottages around us are empty. I have my daily routine
of riding my bike five miles into Kincardine (a small town of 12,000),
having coffee, reading the paper, riding back, having a beer, a swim
and a nap. Walks on the beach with Anne, sunsets, star-gazing and card
playing fill our evenings. It's pretty idyllic. |
October 2003 |
We
Are Fam-i-ly!
My focus in writing these columns over the past twenty months has been
to contribute to making you, my CEO readers smart—book smart, street
smart, and sharing-experience smart. The individual topics have come
from whatever is first and foremost in my life each month.
|
September 2003 |
Alone
at the Top
I'm riding my bike up the North Central Trail from Parkton to the Pennsylvania
line. I'm going at a pretty good clip, even though tthe trail rises at
its steepest grade here, when I guy passes me, yelling, "On your
left!" |
August 2003 |
Vice,
Virtue and Rationalization (Executive
Coaching)
Worldcom, Enron, Vivendi, RiteAid, and Chapman Enterprises—allegations
conjuring up images of corporate villains running amok or modern Genghis
Khans pillaging the business and investor landscape. Are the allegations,
if true, merely random eruptions from the subterranean magma of greed,
overreaching, and corruption, or is there more here? |
July 2003 |
Authentic
Leaders (Political
Coaching)
SmartCEO has some interesting statistics in its 2003 media kit about
its readership. Important for a columnist to know, huh? Yes, and for
some reasons I didn't fully appreciate when I began this column.
|
June 2003 |
Power
Through Vulnerability
As a CEO you know that taking risk, subjecting your company to known,
measured and managed vulnerabilities in pursuit of particular goals,
comes with the territory. Risk-taking is the very fabric of entrepreneurial
existence and is a fact of life in the largest of corporations.
|
May 2003 |
Gremlins
in the Executive Suite
As an executive coach, I often use a concept developed by Richard Carson
in his book, Taming Your Gremlin. Gremlins, pictured in the
book as various repulsive-looking lizard-like creatures with leers and
smirks, are constructs for those parts of ourselves that find ingenious
ways to resist change, maintain the status quo and effectively take us
out of awareness of the present moment. |
April 2003 |
On
the Go
You've just left home in the taxi on the way to the airport. You're settling
down as the cab pulls onto the interstate. Then you see it—- a
massive traffic jam. Your stomach knots. You may miss the plane and this
most important business meeting you've been planning for months. You
urge the cabbie to hurry, but you know there isn't much he can do. |
March 2003 |
Take
it to the Next Level? (Executive
Coaching)
My friend, Bill Troyk, is the President of Roadrunner Freight Services,
Inc. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a less than truck load (LTL) carrier. Very
early in his career, I was a mentor for Bill, and we have kept in touch
over the years. He has built his company from scratch to $130 million
annual volume, from one operations terminal in Milwaukee to nine terminals
nationwide, and from six employees (traffic, sales, accounting) to four
hundred employees and one hundred fifty independent contract truckers. |
February 2003 |
Have
You Sent Your Valentines?
Love notes from the executive suite. |
January 2003 |
Curling
Lessons
Staying on target in the dead of winter. |
December 2002 |
What
an Animal! (Spiritual
Coaching)
Getting in touch with your inner beast. |
November 2002 |
CEO
Shintaido (Spiritual Coaching)
Come with me to a hilltop in northern California, well north of San Francisco,
on the edge of a redwood forest, with early morning ocean fog nestling
in the valleys. We're here as part of a leadership course, and it's 8
a.m. on the first day. We begin with Shintaido, |
October 2002 |
A
CEO's Labor
The profitable path of dreams fulfilled |
September 2002 |
CEO
Self-Examination
More introspective rumination from our resident poet, Wayne Caskey |
August 2002 |
Legacy
Balance sheets are important, but don't forget to wonder how you'll be
remembered. |
July 2002 |
A
Change in Perspective
Where you go on vacation is less important than who you are when you
get back. |
June 2002 |
The
Merger
The familiar old tale of long-suffering Sam (a poem) |
May 2002 |
Leadership
Alignment
Does it matter what kind of leader you are? Only if you want to shape
your destiny. |
April 2002 |
The
End of the Line (Political
Coaching)
What does humility do for a CEO? It might help you keep your job. |
March 2002 |
The
Chief Energy Officer (Spiritual
Coaching)
The World only responds to how you tell it to respond. You create it
all. |
February 2002 |
The
Curious CEO
How can you find the hidden capabilities within your company? Remember
to wonder. |
