Blog · John Mattone

How Keeping a Journal Can Boost Your Leadership Skills

June 21, 2017 By John Mattone

It feels good to finish the last task of your workday, so why would you want to stick around for a few more minutes and reflect on the events of the day? One excellent reason is that it can make you a better leader. In fact, you’ll find that world-class leaders across many fields of study keep or kept journals. Sir Richard Branson, Nelson Mandela, and Frida Kahlo are just three examples.

Chances are, the world leaders you most admire keep or used to keep a daily journal.

One Harvard Business School study found that setting aside just 15 minutes at the end of the workday to reflect and write in your journal can help you improve your performance measurably. Compared to employees who did not spend the last 15 minutes of their workday writing and reflecting in a personal journal, employees who did performed better by 22.5% on a test about a particular customer account.

Action and Reflection Complement Each Other

Action and reflection can have a positive symbiotic relationship. Reflecting each day on what has worked and what hasn’t can help you correct course before you go too far off track. Being an effective leader is in many ways like being accomplished in a sport. And the best athletes in the world regularly review their games, their stats, their backhand, or their form so they’ll be armed with a little more knowledge next time they practice or play. When you regularly reflect on your performance and take the time to record your thoughts, you prime yourself for better action the next day. It’s a positive cycle.

Keeping a Journal Can Help You Manage Stress

Many psychologists and executive coaches recommend keeping a journal because it can be a highly effective method for managing stress. Writing down what happened with honesty and candor helps you gain the proper perspective – if not now, then a few days or weeks hence. It also helps you build your self-awareness: where you excel, where you have difficulty, what energizes you, what drains you, and what derails your performance. Self-awareness and acceptance of both strengths and weaknesses help you develop emotional intelligence, which is widely considered to be a key factor in successful leadership.

Ask Yourself Explorative Questions

If you don’t want to face a blank journal page, have a list of questions on hand to prompt reflection.

So, should you simply open up your journal to a blank page and start writing? If that works for you, that’s fine. But many people need a prompt of some kind to get their thoughts flowing. Consider asking yourself open-ended questions like the following:

What is weighing on me at this time?
What has gone well today and why?
What challenges did I face, and what created them?
What requires my attention tomorrow?
How do I feel about my performance as a leader today?
What exciting thing have I learned about that’s going on in the world this week?
What has contributed to my happiness (or the happiness of my team) this week?

Consider Incorporating Artwork to Your Daily Reflection Time

Some leaders find that incorporating reflection on works of art during their daily journal-writing time helps get them into the right headspace to consider the day and the week in perspective. In fact, some journals for writing come with pictures of artwork that you can reflect upon. But you can go elsewhere for your artistic inspiration too. A favorite website filled with works of art in top museums can help you find material for reflection, as can books or sites that feature spectacular architecture, or even natural beauty.

Interestingly, this is true even if you work in a technical field. A study from 2001 found that doctors in training developed better diagnostic skills after taking an art appreciation course. Art helps us appreciate complexity and the validity of alternating viewpoints, and it can help us choose a train of thought to pursue when writing in our journals.

As a leadership coach, I want my clients to engage in activities that will make them better leaders, better businesspeople, and better human beings. Keeping a journal is just one way that leaders can regain perspective, correct course, and prepare themselves to excel again tomorrow. I would be delighted for you to check out my books, as well as my speaking and training services. Leadership is fed by numerous sources just as a mighty river is fed by many smaller streams. My goal is to help leaders like you understand and shape their leadership abilities for the benefit of themselves and their organizations.

How to Unlock South Africa’s Leadership Potential

June 19, 2017 By John Mattone

A true leader, whether in the boardroom, in Parliament, or on the pitch, is the person who is willing to look ahead, pursue a plan, and have the courage to say, “I’ll go first.” The South African business environment today is volatile, and leadership in this environment requires exceptional courage. Yet, there’s no question that South Africa will continue to present tremendous opportunities for leaders who are willing to step up and help steer the ship in today’s tumultuous water.

Without integrity, “leadership” is largely empty.

The 2016 Human Capital Trends Report by Deloitte reported “engagement” and “culture” being top priorities in South Africa (and globally), followed closely by leadership. In 2016, an impressive 90% of South Africans rated culture as either “important” or “very important,” but only 53% said they were ready to tackle the issue in their organisations. Just over one-quarter of organisations in South Africa report that they are doing an “excellent” job building positive organisational culture, and nearly one-third report that their organisations are “weak at integrating social community and corporate programmes.”

Ultimately, the leader who can drive culture is the leader who can be trusted. And while trust may feel unquantifiable, the effects of trust (or lack thereof) sooner or later show up in terms of bottom-line results. Likewise, leadership isn’t a “soft” skill, but one that can be quantified in terms of an organisation’s success, and its reputation. Think of the banking sector in South Africa and its challenges. Mistrust of banks is common, and this combined with fear of fraudis holding back the country in terms of moving toward cashless transactions and the benefits that go with them.

Trust is constructed on a foundation of character and competence, with character being more important. People of good character or bad character can develop better competence, but character is a more stubborn trait that can be more difficult to alter – especially for the better. After all, if having a poor character still allows someone to have what they want, then why bother trying to develop good character? So how can a country where trust in leadership is low turn things around to where its plentiful natural resources can be turned into measurable social benefit?

The price paid by society for lack of trust can be quantified in economic terms. South Africa’s economy is coping with pressure on exports and mining production due to constrained commodity prices, weaker demand, and sluggish trade. On top of this, political unrest and weak growth have caused South African currency to slip, accompanied by rising inflation. Trust and the accountability on which it is built are the most crucial elements in overcoming these economic and social challenges.

For trust and accountability to become embedded into a company’s culture, they must be demonstrated from the very top. Leaders must be transparent about what they’re doing, and they have to own their mistakes and make amends for them. It’s simple, but not easy. Yet the results of a culture of accountability can be disproportionately good. When leaders set an example of accountability and “ownership” of the good and the not-so-good, the example spills over into the work of the entire team. As a result, pursuing and achieving goals that align with the company’s mission becomes the default.

Accountability also grounds an organisation in reality. Leaders who don’t use their position to make their mistakes disappear, or to cover them up help prevent dangerous phenomena like “groupthink,” which has the potential to block out reality. Additionally, accountability makes space for constructive conflict – the kind that leads to breakthroughs and innovation. Responsibility is the state of mind that allows a leader to put in the work necessary to build character and trust. Responsibility cannot exist without accountability, and it also cannot exist without courage.

Accountability that starts at the top inspires the entire team to align their goals with the organization’s mission.

South Africa in 2017 and going forward must navigate weak growth, tight monetary policy, high unemployment, and a struggling tax base. Infrastructure problems and a shortage of skilled labour compund these challenges. Stark inequality also remains a problem, but although growth is forecast to be weak, it is expected to improve in 2017. Meeting South Africa’s National Development Plan goals by the year 2030 can be done, but it will require focused effort, starting with South Africa’s business and political leadership.

Difficulties remain, but the break with the past that took place during the 1994 elections heralded a new South Africa, one with tremendous promise that can be fulfilled through outstanding leadership in both business and the public sector. The development of coalition administrations in South Africa will allow smaller political parties to play larger roles, and while this raises hopes of more productive pluralism, it also heightens possibilities for corruption. It’s up to South Africa’s leadership, in parliament and in corporate boardrooms, to focus on the positives and take steps to prevent the negatives.

Trust is the closest thing we have to being able to see into the future. It must be earned over time, and it can be lost in an instant. On a corporate or governmental level, unlocking greatness in leadership begins with the C-level leaders themselves who must demonstrate the courage to “think different and think big” while counterbalancing this thinking with heavy doses of vulnerability and humility. One of the great lessons I have learned coaching people like Steve Jobs (Apple), Roger Enrico (PepsiCo) and hundreds of other executives was that their greatest act of courage, in fact, was showing their vulnerability. For Steve Jobs, it took him nearly his entire life to even understand the power of being vulnerable. In the case of Roger Enrico, he learned this vital leadership lesson much earlier. Call it an irony or paradox. The reality is this: no leader can grow and help their organizations grow and transform into agile machines unless this decision is understood, embraced and executed by all leaders and employees.

Great leadership starts with the CEO and the C-level team. That’s why so many leading institutions invest in C-level executive coaching and leadership development initiatives aimed to “raise the bar” on current leaders but they also invest heavily in developing future leaders. This is not about “soft skills” (though they may be addressed as part of coaching and leadership development), but about good business. Like smart business practices, excellent executive coaching delivers quantifiable, bottom-line results. And when exceptional leadership is in place, built upon trust, accountability, and responsibility, those qualities spill over into the organisation as a whole, benefiting all.

I have spent over 30 years helping my executive clients realize their leadership potential with proven coaching and leadership development strategies that produce measurable results. Making the most of a nation’s business climate requires that businesses and public entities invest in their own excellence and ensure that their top leaders have access to the tools and techniques they need to provide leadership that measurably contributes to long-term economic growth.

I am looking forward to my next visit to South Africa the week of July 17th.

Shrink Your Ego, Grow Your Leadership Skills

June 7, 2017 By John Mattone

Much has been written about the value of looking beyond your limitations. But it’s important to acknowledge that in order to look beyond your limitations, you have to know they exist and know what they are. Awareness of inherent biases is the starting point to achieving excellence – whether in business or life in general.

To successfully navigate limitations, you first have to recognize them.

One unfortunate problem, however, is that people are often guilty of overestimating their competence in skills that they’re actually not that good at. This phenomenon is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. Being unaware of one’s lack of skills is a tremendously detrimental cognitive bias. So, in order to excel, you have to recognize your shortcomings. When we don’t know what we don’t know, we curtail our ability to achieve excellence.

Say you learned to swing a bat playing ball in the backyard with other kids, and developed a reasonably powerful swing. If you join a team, and the first thing the coach does is correct your hand position on the bat, you may react in a couple of different ways. If you dismiss the coach’s expertise, your swing won’t improve. But if you realize that this person knows their stuff and try what they’re suggesting, your “good swing” may soon be knocking them out of the park. In other words, don’t let your ego crowd out your true abilities.

Don’t Confuse Ego with Confidence

Ego and confidence have some commonalities, but they are not the same things. The person who is confident will listen to and follow advice. The person who is overconfident, on the other hand, may listen to advice, but is likelier to dismiss it. Here are some other behaviors that indicate a person’s ego is overinflated:

Not looking for flaws in one’s own plans. It isn’t exactly fun to pick apart your plans looking for problems, but it’s the only way to set yourself on a path toward continuous improvement.
Trying to do everything yourself. Independence and initiative are good. But doing everything yourself because you’re convinced no one else can is a sign of overconfidence rather than healthy confidence.
Considering some tasks as “beneath” you. This is the flip side of trying to do everything yourself. Sometimes, particularly early in starting a business, you have to be willing to do tasks you might otherwise consider menial.
Continuing in the wrong direction. A big ego is great at keeping a person from correcting course when it’s necessary. Likewise, it takes true confidence to admit you’ve made a wrong turn and fix things.
Alienating people inexplicably. Leaders who have ego problems ultimately alienate people because they don’t take feedback, refuse to learn new approaches, or dismiss valid viewpoints.

The Detrimental Effects of an Oversized Ego on Business

The egomaniac who associates having to learn something with weakness isn’t going to sustain their business over the long term. Like it or not, the world changes, and leaders who insist on going one way when the market is clearly going another will run into problems. Egotistical thinking can lead a person to reject innovation due to risks, but it can also lead a person to pursue innovations that are ill-advised.

Another crippling effect of overconfidence is excessive reliance on the past. While experience has tremendous value, relying entirely on what worked in the past is short-sighted, blinding you to new technology, new attitudes, and new information.

Finally, overconfidence can lead people to react to setbacks in an overly personal way. Paradoxically, this can stem from having a definition of success that is based on other people or other companies’ definitions of success. Having your own definition of success and understanding that sometimes business setbacks are not personal is a sign of healthy confidence.

An out-of-control ego can make a person take things far too personally.

Negative Behaviors That Result from an Overinflated Ego

Have you ever spent time with someone who confused ego with confidence? If so, you probably noticed some of these negative behaviors:

Not listening – or residing in a “bubble,” unable or unwilling to listen to others’ concerns or arguments
Always assuming credit – even when it’s not warranted. This is an excellent foundation for the building of resentments.
Inability to admit mistakes – because the ego is vulnerable and insecure, while true confidence has the ability to accept mistakes and move forward
Preoccupation with status – rather than prioritizing service and meeting needs
Underestimating challenges – because the ego doesn’t always take harsh realities into account

Best Practices to Cultivate

Fortunately, it’s not only possible but better for the business (and a leader’s status) in the long run to phase out ego-driven behavior and decisions in favor of those that indicate real, earned confidence. Here are some simple best practices to adopt to help this happen:

Practice giving credit where credit is due.
Seek wisdom from mentors, and choose mentors you can trust to tell you the truth. Commit to listening to them with an open mind.
Ask team members to teach you things. How did that engineer funnel output from the fluid dynamics model straight into a spreadsheet? How does your intern schedule social media posts in advance? This practice gets you more comfortable with collaboration.
Own your mistakes.
Work with your team to create a shared vision that everyone can rally around.

Don’t Stifle Curiosity and Never Stop Learning

Have you ever noticed how young children (and sometimes eager new hires) display curiosity about the things going on around them? This is a quality that nobody is too old or too experienced to dispense with. We’re surrounded by information online, and as a leader, you’re probably surrounded by people who have expertise that you can benefit from.

Some leaders indeed have exhaustive expertise on a particular subject, and that’s great. But the world changes continually, and there’s always more to learn that can make you a better leader. Don’t let your own ego stand between you and the excellence of which you’re capable. I encourage you to have a look at my books that will be relevant if you’re interested in maximizing leadership potential, as well as my speaking and coaching services. Leadership is a wonderful opportunity. Learning to shrink your ego means there’s that much more space for your leadership qualities to grow.

‘Authenticity’ Under the Microscope: What Does It Mean for Executives?

May 24, 2017 By John Mattone

We humans like the word “authentic” because we hate being deceived. When something or someone isn’t as portrayed, we misplace trust and waste our time. The meaning of “authentic” in the sense of being real and being entitled to acceptance as true dates back to the mid-14^th century. Over the intervening years the word has picked up connotations of trustworthiness – that someone or something isn’t just a particular way on the surface, but down to the very essence.

Authenticity is closely related to the concept of genuineness, and is fully expected of all top leaders.

The concept has taken on revived importance in the 21^st century, possibly due to the massive amounts of information the internet age has brought us. No longer is it easy to hide behind a façade of competence, because eventually someone will crack that façade, and everyone will find out, since information travels at the speed of electrons now. Here are some thoughts on authenticity and today’s executive.

Impediments to Authenticity in Leadership Positions

First, today’s leaders often encounter obstacles to authenticity. With expectations higher than ever of our leaders, today’s executive must “walk the talk,” or they can count on being exposed. As one possible example, think of the executive who touts the importance of work-life balance, but who arrives at the office at the crack of dawn and stays late every night. What kind of mixed signals do employees pick up from that?

Additionally, most everyone – executive or not – dislikes acknowledging weaknesses. But the leader who gives the impression of being superhuman sets an unhealthy precedent. By appearing “perfect,” a leader can inadvertently give their “less perfect” subordinates a great excuse not to try. After all, few people can be as “perfect” as their leader appears. Typically, it’s not easy for leaders to know whether they’re perceived as authentic unless they ask and make clear that they want honest feedback. This can be challenging, but worthwhile.

Characteristics of the Authentic Leader

Leaders who can truthfully label themselves as authentic are self-aware enough to understand their strengths, their shortcomings, and the fact that they have emotions like everyone else. An authentic leader doesn’t come across as an entirely different person in private as in public, and they don’t panic and try to cover up mistakes or weaknesses.

While authentic leaders are results-driven, they understand that authenticity is a process, and not a result. And they’re not afraid to lead with their heart either. This doesn’t necessarily mean that authentic leaders have to be all warm and fuzzy, all the time, but that they demonstrate empathy and understanding, especially when difficult decisions must be made.

Leaders who demonstrate that they have true empathy are far more authentic than those who lock up their emotions.

Authentic Leaders Have True Impact

Sometimes, it’s not possible to gauge a leader’s authenticity until after the fact. We have all at one time or another felt duped by someone we admired who turned out to be someone completely different from who we thought they were. One question we can ask along the way is whether a leader (whether that’s an executive, a teacher, a mentor, or a political leader) is making an impact on others. Authentic leaders are fundamental to genuine and lasting change, and if they’re not, they’re just entertainers and not leaders.

Coaching to Overcome the “Authenticity Paradox”

The so-called “authenticity paradox” partly stems from our sometimes unreasonable expectations of those elevated to the highest leadership positions. Unfortunately, when a new CEO or other leader admits they need help or are otherwise in awe of their responsibilities, they can lose credibility with important people.

Fortunately, more businesses now realize that their top executives don’t spring fully-formed and fully-prepared from their previous position, and offer leadership coaching to help them address their needs as they cope with all their new responsibilities. Being an effective executive requires being able to step outside the “comfort zone,” and needing help for this is 1) nothing to be ashamed of and 2) something that can be effectively addressed by a competent executive coach.

Authenticity is something we expect in the products we buy, the people we get to know, and the leaders we trust with our loyalty. But there’s nothing magical in attaining the rank of a high-level executive that confers authenticity. It’s something that has to be tended and worked on like a garden, and that’s true for anyone who strives for authenticity. Authenticity is just one quality that I work with executives on in my executive coaching services, which I invite you to check out. Because I know from my decades in business that without authenticity, all the success in the world rings hollow.

How Your Values Influence Your Company Culture

May 22, 2017 By John Mattone

If you’re a CEO, then your values show through and affect your company culture whether or not you deliberately set out to have an impact. In fact, the importance of understanding how your words and actions affect others in your company cannot be overstated. Strong leadership is a necessary ingredient to strong company culture, but not always in the ways you think.

Your values are reflected in your everyday actions as a leader.

Following through and doing what you say is the key to your team being grounded and understanding the direction the company is moving, and that’s true whether they agree with all your values or not. Simply knowing what is expected and how they’ll be held accountable makes for a stronger company culture. Your company will have a company culture whether or not you set out to shape it. If you don’t do your part to shape it, you’ll have little control over the organizational culture develops organically. It might not be a good one.

The Importance of Knowing What Your Values Are

Knowing your values gives you a starting point. It’s where you connect with your team and your company. Retention, commitment, and inspiration all depend on leaders knowing what they value and communicating it. Misalignment of core values can result in a variety of systemic problems, and values can’t align if you can’t articulate what they are.

Think of words and phrases that resonate with you, ones indicating an organization that has its act together and solves problems ethically and consistently. Words like

Integrity
Collaboration
Ingenuity
Authenticity
Respect
Innovation
Teamwork

can help get you started if you’re unsure how to put your values into words. Knowing your top four or five values and being able to communicate and demonstrate them creates fertile ground for a thriving company culture.

Demonstrating Behaviors and Setting Expectations

There is no substitute for walking the talk. Your example speaks volumes, and your people look to you for leadership. Therefore, it’s essential that you do what you say you will, and communicate your expectations for yourself and your team clearly. This is especially true during times of change, whether that’s moving to a new location, replacing IT infrastructure, or redoing pay and benefits. Take the lead, or people won’t follow.

It’s during times of change, like relocations, when the need for leadership is felt most acutely.

An excellent way to demonstrate positive behavior and create healthy expectations among your workforce is to be willing to improve your own professional skill set as well as providing your people with the resources, tools, and opportunities they need to do the same. Many new CEOs invest in executive coaching in order to improve leadership skills, but coaching also helps leaders better define their values and develop ways to hold themselves accountable – which are essential to leadership that inspires loyalty.

Knowing When to Zig When Everyone Else Zags

At the same time, new research is showing that your leadership style does not have to exactly mirror company culture. In fact, there are benefits to having a complementary, rather than identical style of leadership to your organizational culture. A recent study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that companies are most effective when the CEO’s leadership style and the organizational culture differ in key ways. Mostly it’s a matter of the two complementing each other.

When CEO leadership and company culture are indistinguishable, the resulting conformity can ultimately fold in on itself, placing the company in an unhealthy “bubble” or echo chamber. But CEOs whose leadership style zigs when the company culture zags results in less cultural myopia, and keeps the organization from being too insular. For example, a “relationship-oriented” corporate culture is often perfectly complemented by a task-oriented leader. The two approaches bolster each other and balance each other out.

Your Accountability Creates a Culture of Accountability

You cannot expect accountability from your team if you don’t hold yourself accountable. Everyone makes mistakes, and when the CEO acknowledges their mistakes and moves forward constructively, it sets a strong example for everyone else. Without accountability measures, your influence will rapidly wane.

You can demonstrate accountability by communicating your own job description and how your own performance is measured. When people know what success looks like, and when their roles and deliverables are defined in understandable, reasonable ways, team members are far more likely to hold themselves accountable as well.

I have written a number of books on corporate culture and leadership, and I encourage you to check them out. Leadership without values is hollow and ineffective, and I would be honored to accompany you as you become the exceptional, effective leader you are meant to be.

How to Become Certified as an Intelligent Leadership Executive Coach

May 17, 2017 By John Mattone

Building a successful career as an executive coach requires that you learn to sell definable outcomes rather than simply “coaching.” People are willing to invest their time and resources when they are confident they are buying a measurable solution to a challenging-to-define problem. It’s about learning what a leader wants to be able to say about themselves a year from now, articulating that vision, and charting a path to get there.

As your clients drive to the office, what’s on their mind? What are their goals?

My Intelligent Leadership Executive Coaching Certification Program is being offered two times in the month of June as a global online program, and it’s an outstanding opportunity for you to build your business and brand as an executive coach. Upon completing certification, you will be able to offer your clients a proven coaching process and tools that are guaranteed to produce results and deliver an impressive ROI.

The Intelligent Leadership Executive Coaching Initial Mastery Certification is accredited by the International Coach Federation. For completing it you will receive 22.25 Coaching Continuing Education Units and 21.75 Core Credits. Delivered over three days, this coaching certification program immerses you in leadership coaching development so that you can help leaders (and leaders in the making) to unlock their full potential. You’ll also have access to optional year-long follow-up so you can fully master this coaching process. Plus, this certification will advance you toward the “Advanced” and “Master IL Coach” levels.

Program Elements and Core Coaching Skills

During this immersive, two-day program, you will gain competence in:

Skills self-assessment for executive coaching
Context and behavioral interviewing and debriefing
Creating a leader’s Core Purpose Statement
Defining a leader’s strengths and gifts and making an Action Plan to maintain them
Defining a leader’s skills gaps and creating an Action Plan to address them
Defining the value of leadership growth for the client, their organization, and other stakeholders
Bringing stakeholders and mentors into the coaching process
Developing Action Plans for growth and change
Practicing behavioral reinforcement
Measurement of leadership impact and growth
Building your own coaching brand
Analyzing and debriefing the Mattone Leadership Enneagram Inventory (MLEI) and Strategic-Tactical Leadership Index-360 (STLI-360) assessments

Program Agenda

The workshop is packed with activities to help you develop as a respected leadership coach.

Before the workshop, each attendee will complete the MLEI and receive a personalized MLEI Client Interpretive Report. Each attendee will also complete the Executive Coaching Self-Assessment prior to the workshop. The workshop’s first day begins with an overview of the John Mattone Executive Coaching Process and continues with reviews and discussions of coaching proposals and contracts. Participants will learn to understand the Wheel of Intelligent Leadership and the Stealth Model for engaging with clients to understand their needs thoroughly. They’ll also learn how to use the MLEI and Input-Output Processing Template (IOPT) for debriefing after a client completes the MLEI.

The afternoon session includes how to measure, interpret, and debrief a client’s outer core using the STLI-360 as well as how to use the assessment-driven Individual Development Planning tool (ILDP) and other resources. Participants will also learn how to engage stakeholders and mentors in the process of leadership behavioral change.

Day Two begins with a focus on articulating leadership growth areas, defining the value of leadership growth for clients and stakeholders, and a review of example emails and messages to stakeholders and mentors. A Stakeholder Meeting practice exercise will cap off the morning. The afternoon session picks up with a leadership story exercise, an MLEI exercise concerning predominant and least-mature traits, and a Core Purpose Statement exercise. The use of LeaderWatch mini-surveys to measure leadership impact and improvement will be covered, before a session of sharing results and commitments from participants’ Executive Coaching Self-Assessments.

Your Certification

This certification program is accredited and approved by the International Coach Federation and includes certification to administer, interpret, and debrief the powerful MLEI as part of leadership coaching. Furthermore, those who complete the certification will be qualified to administer, interpret, and debrief the STLI-360, and will have access to a complementary library of resources of executive coaching tools, including templates, guides, exercises, and sample worksheets for use in your own coaching tool kit.

The goal is no less than your becoming the most effective executive coach you can be, and I think I’ve developed a sound program for doing that. As one of my Certified Executive Coaches, Charmaine Yvette Allen of South Africa, kindly put it, “John’s holistic A-Z approach is simple for coaches yet powerful for the executive.” The workshops will be offered June 6-8, and June 27-29, and I would be delighted to have you participate. Simply call (407)268-5593to get started. I also invite you to learn more about my leadership coaching services.

Honored & Humbled: My Ranking as the World’s #2 Coaching Professional

May 10, 2017 By John Mattone

Research organization Global Gurus ranks and recognizes leading experts worldwide in categories like leadership, communication, management, education, and customer service. Recently the organization named the World’s Top 30 Coaching Professionals for 2017, as voted on by industry experts, and I was honored and humbled to discover that I was ranked #2 on the list, second only to the world-renowned Marshall Goldsmith.

Research organization Global Gurus recently ranked global coaching professionals for 2017.

As you can imagine, it is an enormous honor to be in the company of some of the world’s most respected executive coaching experts, and this recognition is profoundly meaningful to me. I also know I wouldn’t have attained this status without the input and inspiration of the amazing people I have had the opportunity to work with over the years.

What Is Global Gurus?

Global Gurus is a research organization that ranks leading experts worldwide based on votes by qualified industry professionals and credentialed academics. They do not give consideration to organizations that advertise on their sites, but rank leaders based on the number of qualified votes that they receive. People who choose the professionals recognized by Global Gurus are people who know their subject matter. They’re people who actively support knowledge and personal or organizational development in their fields, and they must apply and be accepted as a Guru Judge.

What Global Gurus Has to Say

Global Gurus very kindly recognized my work as a keynote speaker and executive coach, and in particular my work with the late Steve Jobs and former PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico. I was especially honored that Global Gurus stated that I have “earned a global reputation for possessing a special ability that unlocks and unleashes greatness in leaders at all levels” because that is exactly what I set out to do with every keynote speech, every new book, and every coaching relationship I participate in.

It’s wonderful knowing the people I speak to are all capable of greatness.

This Ranking Is a Tremendous Honor

As pleased as I am with this wonderful vote of confidence, I know that this is no time for resting on laurels. Leadership has no timeline, and there’s no time to waste when it comes to working with the world leaders of today and tomorrow. For example, I offer a powerful program accredited by the International Coach Federation that is worth 22.25 credits for coaches or for any other person who is ready to expand their skills and credentials. I am as excited as ever to look to what lies ahead and seek out new opportunities with the help of supportive professionals like you.

I Want to Help You Achieve the 4 A’s

In conclusion, I have long recognized four game changers that benefit professionals in any industry, whether in their work or their personal lives, and those are:

Altruism
Affiliation
Achievement
Abundance

These “4 A’s” are foundational to achieving not only greatness, but sustained greatness and a lasting legacy. I invite and encourage you to check out my books and also my speaking and training services. The future is bright and promising, and I want to help you make the most of it.

Expert Interview Series: Laura Huckabee-Jennings of Transcend About How Executive Coaching Can Help Build a ‘Fearless’ Leader

May 4, 2017 By John Mattone

Laura is the founder and CEO of Transcend, which helps senior leaders overcome barriers to sustainable business growth by getting the most out of their people and teams. Recently, we sat down with Laura to discuss the qualities of a “fearless” leader, and to hear her thoughts on executive coaching, conflict management, and changing organizational culture.

Tell us a bit about your background. Why did you decide to lead Transcend?

Working in Fortune 100 companies and in strategy consulting, I saw first-hand how strategy, people systems, and teams succeed or fail based on culture, leadership, and the integration of strategy. A scientist and businessperson by training, I wanted to create a more effective way for organizations to perform better over time using data-driven and scientifically-proven methods for building people and organizations. When I started Transcend 15 years ago, we began working with senior executive clients to be more strategic in their planning of business, time, and resources; and we now work on developing or supporting high-performing cultures across all levels of the organization – starting at the top.

Since your company talks about “fear-proofing an organization,” how do you go about achieving that goal, given that many people view fear as something beyond their control?

Creating an organization that is “Fear-Proof” involves recognizing the impact that fear has on our lives on a daily basis. We are not talking about cowering in the corner fearing for our lives, but rather the small social and organizational fears that keep us stuck in patterns of behavior that may no longer be working. They keep organizations from developing healthy levels of trust, transparency, conflict, and innovation.

Fear is indeed out of our control. We all experience some level of fear each day, and we may not acknowledge the anger and frustration that develop from a deeper fear. However, as our clients develop a greater level of self-awareness and hone their own thinking skills to better recognize and manage their emotions, they can overcome the habits that inner fear generates, and also be more transparent about their feelings and aware of their impact on the organization.

When an organization is “Fear-Proof,” the individuals and teams support one another in managing the emotional content of interaction and reaction and become more intentional in creating relationships that deliver powerful business results. This allows leaders to be more strategic, more proactive, and more focused on the business.

If someone were to say to you, “It’s easy to talk about being ‘fearless’ when managing a team or company, but that doesn’t do much to reduce the real-world consequences of failure in the corporate world,” how might you respond?

Lately, “failure” has become a favorite word in the business community as a source of learning and growth. We know that there are real consequences for business failure. We also know that the science is clear on how fear impacts our ability to create success, and that fear of failure narrows our ability to think, innovate, and collaborate, and it actually increases our chances of failure at any given task. By overcoming fear, we are able to identify many more ways to generate business success and improve our probability of success.

Fear creates a state of stress and often overwhelms us. The magic level of stress to create focus and a state of intense concentration and productivity called “flow” is generated by excitement and vision for what you could create – and for some people, a little competitive drive. Fear creates an excess of that stress and drives us towards overwhelm, reduced creativity and focus, and more probability of failure. So the best way to improve your success ratio is to remove fear from the equation.

As a leader, what’s the first step in changing the culture of a team or organization into what you want it to be?

For a leader to change the culture of an organization, they have to be able to articulate clearly what they want to see and why it is important to the organization and its future. We work with leaders to identify core values and then describe them in terms of specific behaviors. We think about culture as a set of values supported by artifacts, rituals, and lore that reinforce the values and bring them to life on a daily basis.

The second thing a leader needs to examine is their own personal behaviors and that of their most senior team members. Are they living the culture as they want to see it, or is the culture perceived as something we want from “them” – i.e., other employees? People are excellent detectors of inconsistency, and they will always default to what you do, not to what you say. We believe that “The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate,” (Gruenert & Whitaker) and it starts with the most senior team. Talk about culture, identify behaviors, and practice them at the highest management level first.

What are some of the common leadership-related obstacles or challenges that are facing millennials these days?

Some of the most challenging issues facing leaders at any age are the rapid pace of change we are seeing in our economies, industries, and technologies that impact every aspect of our organizations. Most millennials respond somewhat differently to this pace of change because they have lived with a faster pace of change throughout their lives and have lower expectations of stability and consistency than older employees as they watched their parents experience layoffs in spite of loyalty to an employer. Millennials have developed different expectations from organizations, as well as how they can contribute to and what they might expect from these companies. They are naturally more self-directed and thinking about the course of their careers from their very first job. They are looking for leaders who inspire and motivate – meaning less management and more leadership. This creates a real challenge for older leaders who did not receive this level of mentoring, feedback, and inspiration and are often unsure of how to provide it or even if it is appropriate.

We also caution leaders to use these generational generalizations carefully, because there is much more individual variation than a generational stereotype would indicate. Some of the most important values for the millennial generation are also important for older workers, so learning to embrace their desire for purpose, collaboration, and greater involvement in decision-making will have a positive impact beyond the millennials in the workforce.

For millennials working to improve their own leadership, there is a need to focus on developing greater self-awareness and high-level communication skills to ask for and receive feedback, to assimilate into a new work culture, and to have transparent dialogue with their manager about long-term goals and mentorship requests. The organization as a whole can benefit from integrating greater transparency, collaboration, and development for everyone, and the millennial generation can be the catalyst for that shift in awareness and focus.

When it comes to conflict management, what do many corporate leaders and managers tend to do incorrectly?

The most common challenge around conflict that we see is an avoidance of conflict. Leaders are afraid at some level that addressing conflict in a healthy manner will not be possible, and that in bringing it out into the open, the conflict will get worse. Many have even experienced conflict conversations that escalated and were not resolved. Conflict that is ignored or buried is conflict that grows and makes itself known in other ways, contributes to dysfunctional politics and a lack of collaboration and trust, and leads to disengagement by the people impacted by the conflict. The leader doesn’t know a better way to engage in conflict, so they avoid it and hope that it won’t matter or will work itself out.

Conflict can get emotional, and emotions are messy; and most leaders are uncomfortable dealing with emotion and prefer a “rational” approach. By not acknowledging the emotion and giving it a place, the emotions ironically tend to become more intense over time and create more problems for that team.

What can a CEO or high-ranking executive gain from executive coaching?

Senior executives are extremely busy and experience stress from a variety of sources, including their competitors, their colleagues, their shareholders, their boss, the media, and their direct reports. It can be exhausting just to keep up with the work and try to focus on the most important goals. At the same time, those executives often have a limited number of people with whom they can truly share their concerns. Family members get tired of hearing about it, and most of their day is spent with people who have a stake in the outcome and may bring some agenda to the conversation.

Executive coaching gives those leaders a safe place to unload their concerns, fears, and frustrations without judgment or repercussion, and a trusted advisor who can help them sort through priorities and perspectives to continue their own development in the role they hold. Great leaders never stop developing, and an executive coach who can hold a mirror to the CEO and help them see how they might be more strategic, more inspirational, or a better leader is a powerful tool to move the organization forward by giving the leader a boost. It also helps that executive to better manage their own stress and focus on the business and organization.

Looking ahead to the future, what will be the main traits and qualities of a successful and fearless corporate leader?

Successful fearless corporate leaders will be judged increasingly by their ability to deliver results year after year and develop an organization that grows. This comes from a greater level of self-awareness and an ability to develop strong collaborative relationships both inside and outside their organization; as well as to develop others effectively through feedback, mentoring, and coaching skills and to be able to align the organization with the strategy for executional excellence. These skills will allow a leader to develop change resilience in their organizations and help retain and develop the talent that is needed to compete.

Do you think leadership coaching might be right for you? Contact John today for more information.

Why Employee Wellness is Key to a Healthy Corporate Culture

May 2, 2017 By John Mattone

Wellness and work productivity are linked. You probably know this from experience, and having experienced days when you were under the weather or under stress and had a harder time fulfilling your obligations. It only makes sense that companies that promote wellness as part of their corporate culture have a competitive advantage.

A wellness program can be an integral part of your positive corporate culture.

A joint study by Humana and The Economist Intelligence Unit found that employees who are part of wellness programs are 12% less likely to have health issues caused by workplace stress, and almost 10% less likely to find their work interfering with their ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Stress is still a problem in the workplace, so company wellness programs make sense. Most employees believe that wellness programs can have a moderate or better impact in stress reduction, and the Humana / Economist study also found that around 90% of employees say wellness programs help them become fitter and happier.

How Companies Can Benefit from Wellness Programs

Employees benefit from working on wellness, but companies benefit as well. Some of the benefits companies with well-planned and well-executed wellness initiatives can enjoy include:

Higher productivity
Lower absenteeism
Lower healthcare costs
Lower levels of work-related stress
More motivated employees
More engaged employees
Greater team camaraderie
Better alignment with company culture and goals

How Leaders Can Inspire a Culture of Health and Wellness

Company leaders can make a real difference in how much of an impact corporate wellness initiatives have. Some positive steps leaders can take include:

Walking the Talk – by participating in wellness programs. Employees trust the behavior or their leaders more than they trust their words, and leaders who actively and regularly participate set a powerful example.
Sharing Positive Results – by, for example, showing statistics on overall employee health risk improvements.
Communicating Regularly – through videos, employee correspondence, meetings, company blog posts, company social media posts, and other methods. Reiterating corporate commitment to wellness reinforces employee commitment.
Making It Easier – by providing healthy cafeteria and vending machine options, installing on-site fitness equipment, or perhaps organizing a monthly fruit and vegetable co-op.

Make it easier for employees to access healthy lifestyle choices every day.

Potential Pitfalls to Watch For

It’s possible for companies to focus too heavily on say, smokers, by taking steps like introducing smoking surcharges. But initiatives that are too much stick and no carrot tend not to work well. Wellness programs that inadvertently create a culture of shame for those who don’t “pass” arbitrary health markers like blood pressure goals are considered unfair and can cause some employees to avoid participation. Corporate wellness programs simply cannot approach the sometimes fine line between encouragement and bullying.

It’s essential that companies use reliable metrics for measuring health rather than arbitrary ones. For example, body mass index calculations can indicate obesity in a person who is very muscular and not fat at all. And finally and importantly, corporate wellness programs must not in any way breach health privacy concerns. Companies are allowed under new EEOC rules to require that employees share health data to obtain a financial incentive (or pay higher health insurance premiums), but just because you can doesn’t mean you should. This type of heavy-handedness can seriously alienate some of your older workers who possess irreplaceable company knowledge.

Steps for Tying Wellness into Your Workplace Culture

The first step toward making wellness an important component of corporate culture is to assess where your company stands right now through surveys, interviews, and technology. Next, you can use your wellness initiative as an opportunity to learn what cultural changes make sense anyway. If other parts of your corporate culture are broken, a wellness program generally won’t fix them.

Buy-in from managers and executives is essential. A “do as I say, not as I do” approach, or a senior leadership staff that’s indifferent to a company wellness program pretty much dooms the initiative from the start. Kick off the wellness program together in a way that engages employees at every level, and look for opportunities to tie in wellness with your corporate culture. A retailer, for example, may offer additional wellness perks (like free yoga sessions) during its peak sales season.

If you really don’t care about the health and well-being of your team, then you can’t expect your employees to be engaged and invested in what they’re doing. Corporate culture isn’t something that’s topically applied to “the employees,” but an endemic set of characteristics that makes your company unique. I encourage you to check out my books, which go into much greater detail on the importance and how-tos of creating the right corporate culture.

Expert Interview Series: Holly Knower of NACUE On Learning About Entrepreneurship Before Graduating From a University

April 27, 2017 By John Mattone

Holly Knower is the CEO of the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE), which aims to ensure that as many students as possible have the right skill set to be able to set up their own businesses and to become more enterprising. We recently spoke with Holly about the state of entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom and what college and university students are doing to prepare themselves for entrepreneurial careers.

What types of assistance, instruction, and resources does NACUE offer to students who are thinking about becoming entrepreneurs?

NACUE is an advocate for providing a practical and hands-on education, and enterprise societies are pivotal in this, as they honor and champion the success of young people who are acting as catalysts and ambassadors for peer-to-peer engagement.

Enterprise societies are formed of dedicated, passionate, and proactive young people with a genuine desire for entrepreneurship. Our community is encouraged to utilize their time at college or universities in trialing their startup ideas in a safe environment. As part of that, we’re delighted to be able to support their entrepreneurial journeys throughout our interactive events cycle during the academic year.

We work collaboratively with Tata in providing students and graduates with the opportunity to win startup funding as part of our Varsity Pitch Competition. We’re also proud to be able to connect like-minded individuals at our Student Enterprise Conference and provide recognition through our annual Leaders Summit.

How well are universities in the UK preparing students who are wanting to become entrepreneurs? What could these institutions be doing better?

Universities within the UK are going to great lengths in encouraging enterprise and entrepreneurship within their institutions. Over the years, we have seen an increase in the number of embedded incubators at universities and dedicated extracurricular activities to support students interested in entrepreneurship as a viable career option. But collaboratively, we could offer much more support and guidance to young entrepreneurs.

Given that university students are conditioned to avoid failure in their studies and courses at all costs, how do you go about changing entrepreneurship students’ image of failure into a less nihilistic viewpoint which emphasizes learning from mistakes and trying again?

The negative connotation of “failure” should be perceived differently since it is ultimately a learning platform, particularly in relation to entrepreneurship. Failure should be portrayed in a positive light; we need to recognize the efforts that entrepreneurs go through on their journeys. If they are perceived to have “failed,” this will have provided them with an array of expertise and knowledge that they wouldn’t have experienced with “success.” Young people should then be actively encouraged to “try again” and learn from their previous errors in developing a successful startup!

What can students do outside of their university coursework in order to prepare themselves for the world of entrepreneurship?

Students need to have an “entrepreneurial mindset” within the workplace, regardless of the sector they are interested in. Taking advantage of any activities which their institutions are offering will provide them with additional skills to take into the workplace and ultimately make them more employable.

Entrepreneurs in particular need to have a strong network around them that consists of both knowledge experts as well as support mechanisms. They should also be actively exploring opportunities, attending external events to widen their team, and meeting mentors and investors.

What are some of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurial students make when pitching their ideas to potential partners or investors?

They clearly need to be able to articulate their business idea within a short space of time (60 seconds) while covering the topical points. A common dilemma we regularly hear from students is that they are afraid to discuss their ideas because of the risk that someone might replicate them. That’s why they need to learn to describe their idea without giving it all away. It’s risky, but achievable.

What do you foresee for the future of new businesses and entrepreneurship in the UK?

We believe that we will continue to see an increase in the number of students taking the launch in starting their own business. The next few years are going to be interesting ones with Brexit, but also full of new opportunities for entrepreneurs willing to explore them.

Interested in entrepreneurship, but worried about leadership? Join John’s mailing list today for tips and insights on being the best leader you can be.