![Not Bad Teams - Only Bad Leaders] Amazing leaders can turn a seemingly motley group of people into a highly functioning unit.[/caption](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fofsa244f%2Fproduction%2F37bf0c6d09bb614bdc52c3bf2e480377a088a1e3-600x400.jpg%3Frect%3D0%2C13%2C600%2C375%26w%3D480%26h%3D300&w=3840&q=75)
Leadership Development
Author
John Mattone
World's #1 Executive Coach
World's #1 Executive Coach and author of 11 books. Former coach to Steve Jobs and PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico. Pioneer of Intelligent Leadership, transforming nearly one million leaders across 55 countries.
World's #1 Executive Coach (Globalgurus.org, 2019-2024)M.S. Industrial/Organizational PsychologyFormer Coach to Steve JobsAuthor of 11 Books (5 Bestsellers)Distinguished Senior Fellow, Hult International Business School
![Business Reputation] Reputations that take years to build can disintegrate in an instant.[/caption] In the world of athletics, Lance Armstrong had a stunning fall from grace after having been found to be using performance-enhancing substances. In 2012, a long and distinguished career fell apart practically overnight. These are just three instances where extreme leadership immaturity led to disgrace, but there are countless other examples that may not make national headlines. Success and respect today doesn't guarantee success and respect tomorrow. The immature leader is the leader who is more concerned with personal gain than with the well-being of the organization he leads. The values, beliefs, thoughts, emotions, and actions of the immature leader ultimately become roadblocks to the greatness they and their teams expect. In fact, you can sum up the difference between an immature leader and a great, mature leader with a single word: character. Sadly, over the past century, cultural values have shifted away from character-driven leadership and toward personality-driven leadership. Author Susan Cain describes this "culture of personality" phenomenon in her 2012 book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Won't Stop Talking. Go back before the turn of the 20th century and you'll find that strong moral character, thoughtfulness, fortitude, and hard work were highly prized. The advice manuals of the era emphasized character traits like citizenship, duty, honor, integrity, manners, and morals. By contrast, advice manuals in the 21st-century value charisma, media attention, and the ability to draw a crowd. This shift in values is apparent in today's corporate world. Rather than rewarding character, too many companies embrace a leadership culture based on personality and charisma, with less emphasis on honesty and integrity. But whatever the era, the great leaders are the ones who understand that honesty and truth are the strongest pillars upon which success, positivity, relationships, and teamwork are built. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fofsa244f%2Fproduction%2F9c304c25295a229e4a034ca985ea9154aa63b332-545x415.png%3Frect%3D0%2C38%2C545%2C341%26w%3D480%26h%3D300&w=3840&q=75)
Self-Awareness & Character
The Relationship Between Your Character and Your Destiny
Intelligent Leadership
The 4 Essential Phases of the Intelligent Leadership Executive Coaching Process
![CEO Success] I'm glad we have CEOs like Eric Schmidt who are willing to talk about why coaching is an outstanding investment for the best and the brightest. If we are going to move this needle in a positive direction, more CEOs need to acknowledge their work with a coach and the benefits they experienced. Most, however, still require coaches to sign non-disclosure agreements to ensure their work together is kept strictly confidential to the outside world. As a CEO coach, I respect this decision, and I understand where it comes from. Yet, I strongly believe that the best of the best CEOs (like Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Genpact's Tiger Tyagarajan, Xerox's former CEO Ann Mulcahy, and FedEx Freight's former CEO Bill Logue) would cite their willingness to be vulnerable and engage in coaching as one of the singular decisions that allowed them to break through and achieve leadership greatness. The vulnerability decision is one that some leaders make early in their careers, while others only realize the value of vulnerability later. Some leaders never make the vulnerability decision. And this leads to my second powerful reason why CEOs need a coach. An effective executive coach will help the CEO realize the value in vulnerability and guide them effectively to make this decision, and to make it so that everyone benefits. That decision to be vulnerable is without question the toughest, yet most liberating decision an executive will ever make, whenever it happens in the career trajectory. It's about admitting that while you are good, you're not as good as you could be. Internalizing and coming to grips with this powerful realization, and then having the courage to share this with peers, employees, and board members is a breakthrough experience precisely because it frees you up to focus on two critical levers for improvement: strengthening your gifts and talents and addressing your leadership deficits. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fofsa244f%2Fproduction%2F7238cb27965b71ad94f22b0e6e71dfda57d4c743-1545x2000.png%3Frect%3D0%2C517%2C1545%2C966%26w%3D480%26h%3D300&w=3840&q=75)
Self-Awareness & Character
Vulnerability: The Surprising Component of CEO Success
![Intelligent Leadership Wheel] Let's begin with the Helper Trait. First, an important definition. When I refer to the word "predominant", I am referring to the highest scoring trait on my assessment, the Mattone Leadership Enneagram Inventory (MLEI). This means that if your highest scoring trait on the MLEI is in fact the Helper, then it is your most active trait of the nine and, therefore, it has more impact and influence on how you behave and are perceived by others. Leaders who are predominantly Helpers according to the Map of Leadership Maturity are often respected because of their strong desire to empathize and to help others. Yet this wonderful attribute can also lead to many of the challenges leaders of this predominant type encounter. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fofsa244f%2Fproduction%2F826a13ff9655a470f8f9e1463e71d9bf953f84dc-319x319.png%3Frect%3D0%2C61%2C319%2C199%26w%3D480%26h%3D300&w=3840&q=75)
Leadership Styles
Understanding Your Helper Leadership Trait
Leadership Maturity
Unleashing True Greatness in Leaders Using the Map of Leadership Maturity
Organizational Culture
Leadership, Management, and Superior Customer Service
💡Leadership Insights
Blog
Improving Leadership Qualities And Your Happiness
Leadership Development
Reporting to a New CEO? 6 "Must Do's" to Ensure You Survive & Thrive!
Organizational Culture
Dos and Don'ts of Organizational Transformation
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