About 3 years after my wedding – there is no other way to put this --- all hell broke loose. On the upside, our leadership coaching and training business was booming. We were growing in staff, clients and revenue every year. On the down side, I was full-throttle back into over-work mode: travelling constantly to work with clients, co-authoring a book, and trying to co-lead a firm while realizing that my business partner and I had fundamentally different strategies and approaches. My work -- once a source of fun and fulfillment -- was a now place of growing conflict and … [Read more...]
My Story, Part II – Out of the Pan, Into the Fire
February 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Toward the end of 1999, my employer The Coca-Cola Company held layoffs for the first time in the company’s 100+ year history. At the time, my career was flying high. I was part of an internal, elite group of executive coaches and consultants doing cutting edge work – using organizational learning to create competitive advantage in the marketplace. I was increasingly being sent to work with senior executives overseas on the business, and receiving top reviews from my bosses and my customers alike. And then, suddenly, the gig was up. The CEO at the time was ousted – bad for him … [Read more...]
My Story, Part I – My All-Consuming, Corporate Life
February 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment
My story begins much like every other, Type-A personality’s story. A perennial straight A student and over-achiever, by the time I was 24 I had my master’s from an Ivy League school and launched my career. Like many of you, I eventually became a corporate HIPO (high-potential leader) targeted for advancement and future leadership roles. Working inside of global companies like The Coca-Cola Company and Ernst & Young (Big 4 consulting), I spent 12 years climbing the corporate ladder. I never said “no” to an opportunity – at Coca-Cola alone, I had 3 major promotions in 3 … [Read more...]
Your On-line Presence: Helping or Hurting Your Career?
August 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Whether you know it or not, you already have an on-line presence…even if it is a lack thereof. (Just to be clear, if compromising pictures of you from your Facebook or MySpace page are not easily found, that is and will ALWAYS be in your favor.) But, if you are one of the many who have not yet established your on-line professional persona, that is actually not a good thing. So the real question is the following: is your current on-line presence helping or hurting your career? Google, Bing or any other search engine is now the first tool of recruiters and prospective employers. Even if … [Read more...]
How to Order Your Own 360Reach Assessment
August 17, 2009 By
As an executive coach, I love many things about this tool. First, it can fit anyone’s price range. Second, it is completely automated and done through email and takes only 10 minutes of time for raters to respond – so the response rate tends to be higher than average and the data more reliable. And third, I love that this tool provides invaluable insights, whether you are: a leader looking for feedback; a high-potential wanting to advance your career; a job seeker in this tough employment environment; an entrepreneur looking to start or grow your own business; or an HR manager … [Read more...]
360Reach Assessment Tool & Personal Branding
August 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment
The 360Reach Assessment is the world’s first and leading personal branding assessment. It has been used by nearly one million people globally, both by individuals looking to advance their careers and by leaders and professionals within some the world’s largest corporations (including American Express, British Telecom, J&J, JPMorgan, Microsoft, Starwood Hotels and Warner Brothers Studios). The 360Reach Assessment enables you to gather external feedback on multiple variables: your personality characteristics (“brand attributes”), leadership competencies, strengths, weaknesses … [Read more...]
What Value Do YOU Add? – Part 2
August 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Whether you are a leader/manager or a professional/individual contributor, this series of postings is for you. Below are the three things you need to know, in order, to sell yourself and keep your career moving forward: Know who you are – your values, strengths, weaknesses, and personal “brand” Know how you are perceived by others – their interpretation and assessment of those factors Leverage that information to market your unique value/brand – your communication strategy and plan so the perception you want becomes the one you get Yesterday I promised you an on-line tool to … [Read more...]
So Let Me Ask You: What Value Do YOU Add?
August 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I’m going to put this on the line today – if you cannot answer my question above in a meaningful way, you are putting your future career and even your current job at risk. Most of us know that the old system of employment for life passed away decades ago. But today employment, period, is morphing into an entirely different animal. I don’t think we know fully yet what that new world will look like, but it is shaping up to be a very different cycle of job deaths and rebirths than we have seen before. What I mean is that there is a strong case that we are not simply going through a … [Read more...]
Here’s a Question: What Value Do I Add?
August 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I have been reflecting on this question a lot lately. Not from the perspective of personal insecurity or doubt (though I have my days), but rather from the viewpoint of other people: a) What real value is this blog for high-potential and high-achieving leaders delivering to individual careers and corporate talent pools? b) What gifts or talents am I really using to contribute to the world on a broader scale? It would be easy to dismiss my pondering as the typical questions of middle age, since I hit my 45th birthday this July. Many friends and family are struggling with … [Read more...]
Provoke Your Customers
March 24, 2009 By
The cover story of the March issue of the Harvard Business Review (HBR) is Provoke Your Customers, by Lay, Hewlin and Moore. For anyone who is wondering how to create customer value and stand out among your competition with customers in this down economy, it is worth a read for two reasons. First, it delineates the difference between solution selling and “provoking” your clients into a whole new way of thinking about their business. It talks about a strategy of helping clients put a name to a problem they already feel, but can’t quite articulate yet. Provocation selling pushes … [Read more...]
