John Mattone

Keynote Speaker on Leadership, Talent & Culture: John Mattone

Your Inner Core May Be Outside Your Comfort Zone: An Interview

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In 2017, I worked with business and leadership consulting firm BlewMinds to host the very first leadership coaching program of its type in Delhi.

My time in Delhi motivated me to continue pursuing excellence, and I like to think the other participants benefited too.

It was an illuminating experience for me, and I think it’s safe to say that all the participants (including myself) learned a great deal. While I was there, I participated in an interview with BlewMinds partner Shivani Singh, where we talked about the importance of self-awareness in coaching. I invite you to watch our discussion below.

One theme you’ll notice comes up repeatedly is that of self-awareness, of knowing and understanding our innermost tendencies and strengths. You would think that every CEO is well-tuned to that inner core, but it is not as common as you may think.

Your Inner Core May Be Outside Your Comfort Zone

Self-awareness is insight into your own innermost attributes: your beliefs, emotions, character, and values. Self-awareness is remarkably empowering, because knowing yourself honestly and deeply helps you make the best choices. Yet self-awareness isn’t easy for many people. They may be hamstrung by what they think they should believe or feel, and they may try to build an entire identity around beliefs and values that don’t match up with what’s actually inside their soul. At best, it hinders leadership, and at worst, it can lead to burnout and breakdown.

The truth is, many people’s innermost character remains an unexplored territory, and this is a shame. Knowing oneself thoroughly and honestly is actually the key to building true and unique leadership – leadership that is rock-solid and can withstand the winds of change that are constantly blowing in our world today.

Unleashing Sustainable Leadership Requires Looking Within

Identifying our innermost character requires temporarily tuning out the many distractions of modern life.

One thing I comment on in my interview with Ms. Singh is the tendency of many of today’s leadership development programs to focus on things like planning and decision-making. Of course, these “nuts and bolts” aspects of leadership are important, and executive coaches work on them with clients all the time.

But what’s missing is attention to each person’s innermost core character, which is as unique as their DNA. The executive coach who takes the time to help clients look within, identify their core strengths and values and learn how to use them to lead helps unleash leadership that is both effective and sustainable long term. One book that does an outstanding job of exploring this phenomenon is Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and if you haven’t read it, you should.

Ultimately, Executive Coaches Make Themselves Unnecessary, by Design

If you have ever seen a pair of killdeer plover raising their hatchlings, you may have noticed how closely they hover around their young when they make their first trips out of the nest. The parent birds will go so far as to fake injury to lure potential predators away from their chicks. But as the chicks grow, they gradually pull back, giving them greater range, until the day they realize their offspring are prepared to be independent.

Similarly, the executive coach works very closely with their clients at first, offering helpful tools and helping them look within to discover their strengths and learn how to put them to use. I’ve noticed that around the third or fourth month of a nine-month executive coaching engagement, something changes. It’s not exactly an “Aha!” moment, but a general sense that the client has tapped into their core strengths and is ready to start using them in leadership.

As executive coaching clients make progress, the coach is able to step back, offering guidance as needed, but ultimately helping their client discover they can “fly” on their own. In other words, the executive coach makes him- or herself unnecessary, and that’s by design.

I also hope you’ll check out my books, especially Intelligent Leadership: What You Need to Know to Unlock Your Full Potential, which gives you the tools you need to explore your own inner core character and understand how it can help you lead with maximum effectiveness.

How to Lead Well When Personal Stress Is an Issue

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Leadership requires a level head, strategic thinking, and commitment, even when you don’t feel like it.

Nobody can be 100% on-point all the time.

Sometimes stress can be significant enough to affect a person’s ability to lead. Trying to power through stressful times as a leader might work some of the time, but other times it can lead to lapses in judgment or other problems.

Leaders at the top levels of organizations are human just like everyone else. Everyone suffers the “slings and arrows outrageous fortune” whether they’re the Prince of Denmark, the mail carrier, or the vice president for marketing. Positions of leadership are often accompanied by heightened visibility, however, and that visibility can magnify stress.

Examples of Major Stressors That Can Affect Leadership

Most of us are well-practiced in dealing with everyday stressors like spilled coffee or horrible traffic. But sometimes leaders must cope with bigger events, and they are expected to do so with dignity and grace. For example, the death of someone in the organization takes not only an emotional toll but a practical one too. Who will be able to fill those shoes, particularly if the person was well-loved?

When a leader faces a serious illness, either personally, or within the family, the tidal wave of emotion is accompanied by the stress of deciding how much to share with colleagues and how to fulfill work duties. On the flip side, when a leader welcomes a new baby into their family, the sometimes-overwhelming personal changes happen alongside practical planning for getting work accomplished.

Leaders cannot demand perfection from themselves, and they must understand that their honesty and transparency are appreciated by team members. In most cases, people understand, want to help, and don’t expect perfection during times of major life events.

Know and Practice Standard Stress Reduction Techniques

Taking a walk to clear your head really can help.

There will be days as a leader when you’re getting through it minute by minute. It’s at those times when you need to call upon practical stress reduction techniques to keep you on track. Here are a few that are widely used:

  • Mindfulness – paying attention to the present moment with openness and acceptance. During times of stress, we tend to replay the past or worry about the future, and mindfulness brings us back to the here and now.
  • Reframing – which helps you achieve three important goals of describing your situation accurately and without cognitive distortions, illuminating your ability to cope with the situation, and seeking a “redemptive” narrative where tough times ultimately bring about something good.
  • Temporarily disconnecting – by stepping away from the desk, avoiding social media, and just spending a few minutes in a different headspace. Take a walk, play a game, watch a silly video, or just sit and breathe consciously for a few minutes.
  • Avoiding multitasking – because it’s usually not as effective as tackling one thing at a time. And under stress, you’re far likelier to make mistakes when you try to multitask, which means you’ll have to fix those mistakes later.

The Importance of Boundaries

The ability to set boundaries between your work life and your home life is essential. There will be times when work life may spill over into personal life, and vice versa, but for the most part, you should have clear boundaries between the two. By separating the two, you position yourself to give each the attention they deserve. How you mark those boundaries is up to you. Some people have a playlist to listen to on the way home, or a particular coffee shop they stop at on the way to the office. There are countless ways to mentally mark the transitions between the personal and the professional.

Leadership coaching is not a substitute for therapy or for the types of professional help people need when they deal with major life crises. But leadership coaching can help people identify ways they inadvertently self-sabotage and limit their potential. The skills that leadership coaches work on with their clients, such as effective communication, delegation, conflict resolution, and time management, are ones that leaders call on in good times and in difficult times.

Nobody expects perfection 100% of the time, even from the most exalted leaders. Leading during times of personal stress is leadership on “hard mode,” but the skills you learn from leadership development programs, from personal experience, and from leadership coaching, stand you in good stead as you face those headwinds and move toward calmer waters.

Strong Leadership Can Make or Break Change Management

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Change management is all of the practices involved in preparing for, equipping our teams for, and supporting people during times of major changes.

Implementing major changes without a change management plan is asking for trouble.

Some examples of changes that benefit from change management include mergers and acquisitions, management structure changes, technology changes, and practical changes, such as moving to a new location.

Implementation of these changes may seem straightforward and have defined steps associated with it, but the fact is, change is hard. People may complain about the slow software they currently use, but changing to a new, better system still presents challenges.

Common hurdles organizations encounter during times of change include stretched resources, competing priorities, climbing of learning curves, and simple fatigue. That’s why so many organizations create change management teams. And senior leadership can have a major impact on the effectiveness of change management.

The Importance of Executive Buy-In During Times of Change

Ideally, everyone in the organization should be enthusiastic about change, but that’s not always the case. Senior leadership can offer reassurance about the necessity of change and show team members that everyone is in it together. Leadership that retreats behind closed doors during times of change doesn’t inspire confidence and can increase frustration when people experience legitimate problems that often come up during major changes.

Even in organizations with carefully designed change management teams, the buy-in of executives is critical. When the change management team believes that senior leadership doesn’t really care, they’re not likely to give their best efforts or go the extra mile to ensure change goes smoothly.

What People Want from Leadership During Change

People need a clear vision of what the post-change organization will be if they’re going to undergo the upheaval of change with enthusiasm. They don’t just need to know that the new software suite will be “better,” but they need to know specifics: “This should cut down on the time needed to process payroll by 40%,” or “The new office building will put Engineering and Design on the same floor, so they can communicate more easily.”

People affected by change don’t just need to know the future will be “better,” they need to know precisely how it will be better.

People also want accountability during change. If leaders say they’ll be provided with high-quality training on the new system, they have to deliver. People also want their leaders to be accessible. Sometimes unforeseen problems emerge, and leadership must step up, understand the problem, and take action.

Finally, people want alignment during times of change. They want to know that everyone is pulling in the same direction and pursuing the same goals. Sure, some people will be more change-resistant than others, but on the whole, the entire organization should be headed in the same direction.

Ensuring Change Accomplishes What It Should

Ensuring that change does get the results expected of it requires that executives and other top leaders demonstrate the qualities they should always demonstrate, such as honesty, trustworthiness, transparency, and good communication. But they must do so with an eye on the change process and how it is progressing.

While people closer to the action should be checking off the myriad tasks required during a major change, senior leadership must also pay attention to what is happening and offer assistance where appropriate. Leadership must also solicit, listen to, and act upon feedback. If there are real problems, leaders must not ignore them or assume they’ll somehow solve themselves. Even if problems do resolve themselves, leadership that has “checked out” of the change management process will only build resentment.

Strong leadership is never more necessary than during times of major change within an organization. Even if the leader’s role is less hands-on, their vision, energy, and tracking of change resonate throughout the organization.

Many of the qualities I work on with my executive coaching clients, such as transparency, accessibility, and excellent communication are the exact qualities that are needed for successful change management. And when senior leadership genuinely buys into major changes and participates, those further down the hierarchy are likelier to do their part in change management with commitment.

I encourage leaders at all levels to check out my books . Those facing organizational changes may particularly benefit from reading Cultural Transformations: Lessons of Leadership and Corporate Reinvention.

Empowering Leaders Help Businesses Reap Benefits of ‘Job Crafting’

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Job crafting is reimagining one’s job to find a greater purpose. It typically involves stretching the boundaries of the job description to fit what a person finds meaningful.

People who define their roles to encompass their values find more job satisfaction and deliver better results at work.

An example of job crafting would be the hospital cleaning staff member who, when asked about their work, describes their work as including more than what’s strictly spelled out in the job description. They may, for example, make it a point to interact with patients or visitors every day.

One job crafter interviewed during Yale professor Amy Wrzesniewski’s research into social value at work described changing pictures on patient room walls even though patients were unconscious or comatose, in the belief that changing the atmosphere could indirectly benefit those patients. Whether it works or doesn’t work, the sentiment matters, does it not?

Job crafting can take place in any role, any industry, and any profession, and it benefits not only the individual but also the organization in which they work.

Job Crafting and Employee Engagement Closely Linked

As you may expect, job crafting behavior is closely linked to employee engagement. Research recently published in the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology shows that this is indeed the case. Employees who were encouraged in their job crafting efforts showed higher levels of employee engagement. They were likelier to seek challenges and seek resources, performing their tasks better and enjoying greater career satisfaction. Furthermore, the researchers found that the resource-seeking behavior of job crafters actually created a more motivating work environment.

Empowering Leaders Increase Employee Engagement

Of course, job crafting depends on a person feeling empowered to do more than what is strictly described in their job description. Empowering leaders are those who do more than delegate tasks. They empower their team members to tackle their work in the ways that their expertise and experience lead them.

Leaders who empower team members to use their skills and talents to accomplish tasks in the way they believe is best improve employee engagement.

Empowering leaders have high levels of mutual trust between themselves and those they lead. They avoid micromanaging yet set clear expectations and provide team members with the resources they need. They both give constructive feedback and listen to employee ideas for doing things differently. And they recognize team members for their excellence.

Job Crafting Employees Deliver Organizational Benefits

Job crafting employees led by empowering leaders are not the only beneficiaries of their job crafting behavior. The organization benefits too. When leaders ensure their team members have sufficient autonomy, resources, and encouragement to engage in job crafting behavior, they strengthen employee engagement. And strong employee engagement leads to benefits like:

  • Higher productivity – which shows up in employees going the proverbial extra mile, and having lower absenteeism
  • Stronger job retention – which can save companies the significant costs associated with hiring and training new people
  • More innovative thinking – because of a strong sense of ownership of their work
  • Better customer service – because they’re typically happy at work, positive and proactive, and customers seeking service pick up on those attitudes
  • Higher profits – 26% higher revenue per employee, according to a Wyatt Watson study!

Leadership coaching can help clients become empowering leaders by working on leadership skills like communication, delegation, and empowerment of team members. With the help of a leadership coach, leaders can learn how to encourage job crafting behavior and why it doesn’t lead to chaos, but actually boosts productivity.

And leadership coaching can help leaders do their own job crafting – reimagining their own roles to fit with their values and stretch the boundaries of their work. If you’re interested in learning more about empowering leadership, I encourage you to check out my books as well as my leadership speaking and training services.

Authentic Leaders Drive Creativity and Innovation: Here’s How

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Creativity and innovation are necessary for long-term business success. We live in an era when disruption may be just around the corner at any time, and there’s less reason than ever to insist upon the status quo when it comes to products, processes, and business models.

Artificial intelligence and robots can do many things, but creativity is still the product of the human spirit.

Artificial intelligence and robots may be taking over more aspects of business operations, but they cannot replace creativity. Yet there are leadership styles that can effectively stifle creativity, or that do little to promote creativity. Authentic leadership, however, has been found to promote creativity and innovation in the workplace. Here’s what some recent studies have to say about authentic leadership, creativity, and innovation.

What a Study from the Indian Institute of Technology Reveals

A study published earlier in 2019 in the International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management found that among 300 employees in the heavy engineering and automotive industry in India, authentic leadership promoted creativity. The study concluded that organizations can enjoy the benefits of a creative and engaged workforce by selecting and developing authentic leaders.

Researchers concluded that authentic leadership promotes psychological meaningfulness in work and enhances worker engagement and creativity. Authentic leadership additionally was found to have an indirect impact on creativity through an atmosphere of psychological safety.

Portuguese Researchers Reach a Similar Conclusion

Another 2019 study published in the Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies observed 177 leader-follower dyads covering 26 private, small and medium-sized companies in Portugal. Followers reported their affective commitment level while leaders assessed follower creativity.

Results showed that an authentic leadership style had a positive effect on both employee affective commitment and creativity. The study concluded that organizations can boost employee creativity by encouraging their leaders to adopt a more authentic leadership style. Authentic leaders are characterized by attributes like:

  • Self-awareness
  • Genuineness
  • Focus on long-term results
  • Leading with both heart and mind

Shandong University Study on Inclusive Leadership and Innovation

Finally, a 2019 study by researchers at Shandong University in China published on PLOS ONE studied the relationship between employee creativity and inclusive leadership, which shares characteristics with authentic leadership. Specifically, “inclusive leadership” as defined by the researchers is a leadership style where the leader’s words and deeds demonstrate an invitation and appreciation for others’ contributions.

Authenticity and inclusivity naturally go together. Both qualities in leaders encourage creative thinking.

Data were collected among supervisors and employees in 15 service-based organizations (such as banking, law, and retail businesses) in six cities in China. The study concluded that inclusive leadership had significantly positive effects on perceived organizational support and on employee innovative behavior.

Authenticity in leadership clearly has positive effects. These studies demonstrate that authentic leadership is associated with higher levels of creativity, engagement, and innovation among front-line employees. Leadership coaching programs that help leaders understand the importance of inclusivity and authenticity may be worth consideration for businesses that want their leaders to have the right leadership skill set to unleash creativity and innovation in the workplace.

Likewise, leadership coaching can address client concerns with understanding, developing, and demonstrating authenticity. With the help of a leadership coach, leaders can gain a better understanding of how they’re perceived by team members and can practice behaviors that demonstrate greater authenticity and inclusivity. These behaviors, in turn, offer an environment that is more conducive to employee creativity and innovation.

Many aspects of business operation must be done “by the book,” and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, innovation and creativity can’t be forced. They can be encouraged and supported by strong corporate culture and authenticity in leadership, and it would be hard to overstate the importance of this encouragement and support. Creativity can be a strong business asset and competitive differentiator, and it’s something that robots and artificial intelligence can’t duplicate.

If you’re interested in learning more about leadership and its effects on culture, I encourage you to check out my books. Leadership isn’t only about making sure KPIs are fulfilled. It can also have tremendous influence over how creative and innovative teams are, and creativity and innovation are assets that no business in today’s world can do without.

Am I Ready for Leadership Coaching? Here’s How to Tell.

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In 2017, American individuals and companies spent $1 billion on coaching, and growth in the coaching industry indicates that more people understand what coaching is for and what it can accomplish.

Together, the right coach with the right client can make enormous strides in leadership performance.

Leadership coaches can facilitate improved performance and help new leaders deliver results sooner. But if someone simply isn’t ready to be coached, significant money and time can be wasted.

Sometimes not being ready for coaching simply means not being ready for coaching because of something outside the client’s control, such as a major project that doesn’t allow time for commitment to coaching. Other times, however, lack of readiness has more to do with a client’s inner qualities.

Lack of Readiness for Leadership Coaching Leads to Lack of Results

If you engage a leadership coach without fundamental readiness for coaching, you won’t get the kind of results you would if you maximized your readiness first. Leadership coaches can facilitate amazing results, but those results require substantial commitment on the part of both themselves and their client.

How much good would LeBron James’ coach do for you if you never practice basketball, don’t really understand the game, and aren’t even sure you’ll be interested in six months’ time? It’s easy to see how big a waste of resources it would be. Similarly, if you’re not developed as a professional, even the best leadership coach can’t do much to make up for it.

Signs that Someone Is Not Ready for Leadership Coaching

People who lack readiness for leadership coaching (or any other kind of coaching, for that matter), are ones who display these behaviors:

  • They always have an excuse and blame external factors for problems. Coaching requires extensive introspection and accepting responsibility, and if you can’t do that, coaching won’t work.
  • They can’t manage their calendar well enough to work coaching sessions into their schedule. When something is important enough, you make time for it.
  • They only care about performance tips and other “tactical” solutions to strategic problems. Leadership coaching goes right to the heart of performance and strategy. It is a marathon, not a sprint.
  • They can never find a coach who they believe is right for them. As important as it is to have strong rapport with a coach, if you wait for the “perfect” coach, you’ll be waiting forever.

If your first response to a problem is to find someone to blame, you’re not ready to be coached.

Characteristics of Someone Who Is Ready for Coaching

By contrast, someone who is ready for coaching is self-aware without being self-absorbed. They are not afraid to look within and identify their strengths and weaknesses, so they can magnify the former and address the latter. People who are ready for coaching are responsible and accountable. They’re trustworthy, and if they give you their word on something, you can count on them.

Coachable people are curious. They have no illusion that there’s nothing left to learn now that they’ve reached the top. They know that change is all around, and they know there is always more to learn. Coachable people are also resilient. They know how to listen to feedback, accept their own shortcomings, and do the work to address them. They’re neither thin-skinned nor arrogant.

Ask yourself these questions and answer them honestly to learn if you’re ready for coaching:

  • Am I willing to make the time commitment that leadership coaching requires?
  • Is my supervisor supportive of my being coached?
  • Am I disciplined enough to do the work involved in coaching?
  • Am I ready to ask for and accept feedback, and then to act upon it?
  • Do I have the determination to consistently practice new behaviors to bring about long-term change?

Leadership coaching can facilitate significant, measurable performance gains, but the success of coaching depends heavily on the readiness and willingness of the person being coached. If you’re honest with yourself and realize you’re not ready for coaching, it’s time to identify the reasons why and work on them. Just as the concept of “mise en place” is fundamental for the master chef’s readiness to create something wonderful in the kitchen, readiness for coaching is equally as necessary for an effective coaching engagement.

If you want to know more about leadership speaking, coaching, and readiness for coaching, I encourage you to check out my books , particularly Intelligent Leadership: What You Need to Know to Unlock Your Full Potential, which goes into depth on the subject of developing strong leadership skills.

What Can an Executive Coach Help With? These 4 Things.

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Companies and individuals invest in executive coaching because they want results, and executive coaching has a track record of delivering them.

Excellence in leadership leads to excellence in business results.

Tangible benefits of executive coaching include better performance, cost reduction, and higher profitability. Intangible benefits of executive coaching include better working relationships between leaders and their team members, better work distribution, and overall better corporate culture.

What types of things to executive coaches work on with their clients? Of course, it’s different with every client, but there are some executive skills that coaches find they are frequently requested to help with. Here are four skills that executive coaches and their clients regularly work on together.

1. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence embodies the skills required for people to be attuned to their own and others’ emotions, to understand situations accurately, and to generally be able to tailor actions to the situation to get the best possible results. Leaders lacking in emotional intelligence simply don’t get the results that leaders with strong emotional intelligence do.

Executive coaches frequently work with clients on developing key emotional intelligence skills like:

  • Self-assessment
  • Self-regulation
  • Empathy and compassion
  • Relationship management

2. Delegation and Empowerment Skills

The ability to delegate effectively is valuable in getting great results with maximum efficiency. But delegation involves much more than just work distribution. Delegation must also be an element in empowerment of team members so that everyone knows they have the agency to solve problems and not just carry out a list of tasks.

Delegating to team members who have psychological “ownership” of their roles not only gets work done efficiently, it improves the quality of the work. Team members who feel entrusted by their leaders to make crucial decisions related to their roles are far more productive than those who consider themselves as terminal worker-ants who are only expected to cross tasks off a list.

3. Conflict Resolution Skills

Nobody likes dealing with workplace conflict, but strong leaders know when and how to step in and help the parties resolve issues and move forward.

Conflict in business is inevitable, and leaders who turn a blind eye, or who only intervene in the most severe conflicts do their companies and their teams a disservice. Nobody likes wading into a conflict and trying to sort it out, but effective leaders know when they need to, and they know how to do it effectively.

Conflict resolution skills are closely intertwined with other leadership skills, like empathy, perspective, problem-solving, and communication. Few people are natural experts at conflict resolution, and many executive coaches work with their clients on developing this remarkably valuable leadership skill.

4. Communication Skills

Communication skills prevent or short-circuit misunderstandings, and they motivate people to excellence. How might the course of the American Civil War have been different had Abraham Lincoln not delivered the Gettysburg Address in the middle of the darkest chapter in American history? And it wasn’t even the primary speech given on that occasion!

Good communication is clear and honest, and it involves listening as well as talking. Each leader must understand their own communication style, which methods they use best, and how they can improve. Bad communication wastes time, leads to conflict, and ultimately causes morale to suffer, and that’s why so many executive coaches work with clients to develop better communication skills.

Executive coaches develop a plan of action with every client, and those plans of action frequently involve the development of the skills listed here. Coaching isn’t magic, and it doesn’t happen without hard work and commitment on the part of both coach and client. Skills like emotional intelligence, delegation, conflict resolution, and communication are essential leadership skills, and anyone with determination can improve them, whether or not they are leaders. If you’re interested in learning more, I invite you to explore my CEO coaching and leadership coaching services.

Intelligent Leadership: Why It Makes Sense in Any Industry

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“Breakthrough” business results are expected from today’s business leaders, yet the economic realities of globalization make it increasingly harder for businesses to fulfill shareholder value expectations.

Being a leader will always require hard work. Understanding your own values and competencies creates a strong foundation for leadership.

Intelligent Leadership, the concept at the heart of my book Intelligent Leadership: What You Need to Know to Unlock Your Full Potential, is designed precisely for leaders who must go beyond their self-imposed thoughts and habits that limit their potential. Major leadership opportunities abound, which means that today’s most successful and effective leaders must be prepared to seize them.

Based on empirical research, Intelligent Leadership helps leaders – or anyone else, for that matter – understand their inner-core strengths, their outer-core competencies, and how they relate to each other and to their best leadership performance. The benefits of Intelligent Leadership transcend industry and apply to anyone who wants to improve their leadership performance.

Inner-Core Strengths Benefit Any Profession

Learning to create successes and building a positive, self-affirming value system with a strong inner core are closely related processes. But everyone’s value system is unique. When you know your value system, you know your character. You can visualize your values as the part of an iceberg that shows above the water’s surface. The huge volume of ice underneath the water’s surface is analogous to your character.

Character is made up of six key elements: courage, loyalty, diligence, modesty, honesty, and gratitude. Developing inner-core strengths to improve your leadership capacity in your chosen profession requires taking these critical steps:

  1. Knowing the difference between your immediate (short term) and ultimate (long term) values
  2. Understanding your personal hierarchy of values
  3. Understanding how your hierarchy of values deviates from or aligns with the deeper elements of your character
  4. Setting goals for sustaining strengths while addressing development needs that are aligned with your ultimate values

Whether your profession is banking, auto parts, hair styling, teaching or package delivery, your ability to lead starts with positive character development.

Outer-Core Competencies Are Valuable Across Industries

Critical and strategic thinking, problem-solving, and communicating are competencies in demand in every profession.

The competencies you need as an effective leader relates to your capability (skills that can be developed), commitment (the passion that drives you) and your connectedness (between your values and your actions). Specific competencies you must possess as a leader include:

  • Critical thinking
  • Decision-making
  • Strategic thinking
  • Emotional leadership
  • Communication
  • Talent leadership
  • Team leadership
  • Change leadership
  • Drive for results

How effectively you cultivate these key competencies depends largely upon your unique character and value makeup. The stronger your inner-core, the better you can execute the behaviors associated with your outer-core competencies. As with inner-core strengths, good outer-core competencies are crucial to leadership regardless of industry or profession.

Benefits of Intelligent Leadership Are Industry-Independent

Solving the problems of the modern world require the service of strong leaders in all industries. Maybe you’re not figuring out how to cure cancer or broker peace, but make no mistake: leadership in your profession and industry is absolutely necessary to a functional world that creates new solutions. Every industry requires leaders to continually update their skills while tending to their core values. Intelligent Leadership addresses the timeless character traits and competencies that have powered strong leadership and will continue to power strong leadership in an increasingly complex world.

How can you go about developing your leadership capacity? An increasing number of top leaders invest in leadership coaching, which is about identifying strengths and weaknesses, developing a plan to address weaknesses while shoring up strengths, and deliberately working on the habits and practices that result in more effective leadership. But even if your company doesn’t invest in executive coaching, you have the power to take charge and work on those competencies yourself, to the benefit of you personally, as well as your organization.

If you’re interested in learning more about leadership, I encourage you to check out my books, particularly Intelligent Leadership: What You Need to Know to Unlock Your Full Potential. Being a leader is a lifelong pursuit, and one that benefits the leader, those who follow, and ultimately the world itself.

Charisma: Is It a Necessary Leadership Attribute?

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Sociologist Max Weber popularized the concept of the charismatic leader early in the twentieth century, but in the century or so since Weber’s death, “charisma” has evolved as a concept.

Like leadership, the exercise of charisma is a “community” process. 

Today, the term is applied to everyone from pop stars to football heroes to reality television stars, and it has moved closer to the concept of “celebrity” in recent years. Yet most of us know people in our ordinary, non-celebrity lives who project something more than everyone else, and who we might describe as charismatic.

Charisma in its modern sense is often situational, and indeed, even Weber argued that the charismatic leader often emerges during times of crisis. But crises pass, business goes on, teams change, and yet the need for strong leadership remains the same. Is charisma the key to strong leadership, or is it something else?

Charisma and the Sense of Community

Think about it: coalescing around someone with charisma imparts a sense of community, of belonging. And psychologists say that a sense of belonging is a basic human need just like food and shelter. Charisma in the sense of “star power” or being somehow set apart (in a positive way) from ordinary people can certainly kickstart a sense of community, as has been seen in religious movements throughout recorded history.

But charisma isn’t mandatory for building community: Honesty, communication, commitment, and hard work are. Certainly, a charismatic person can use their captivating qualities to lead, but they can also use charm for nefarious purposes.

Charisma without Character Is Ultimately Hollow

Ultimately, it is character rather than charisma that is a necessary leadership attribute. Interestingly, though the words “character” and “charisma” share the same first four letters, they come from different roots. Character traces its roots back to the Greek kharaktēr, meaning what is imprinted on the soul. Charisma goes back to the Greek kharisma which refers to a divine favor or gift. In other words, character is who we are at the very core, while charisma is something extra.

Character without charisma can move mountains. Charisma without character may give the impression of greatness, but it cannot stand the test of time.

Leadership, unlike charisma, doesn’t require a bright spotlight to work.

People Can Detect Empty Charisma

We live in an age of connectedness, communication, and sharing, and the person who possesses charisma without possessing a strong character has a harder time getting away with it. Maybe people are more cynical about charisma today, or maybe people are less afraid of calling out hollow charisma, but trying to lead based on charisma that isn’t backed up by something lasting and genuine is ultimately futile.

There’s nothing wrong with having charisma, and indeed it can help jumpstart a sense of community and mission. But authenticity and humility simply have to be present for leadership to work. Both leadership development programs and leadership coaching frequently focus on skills like communication and emotional intelligence so that the leader’s authenticity comes through in their leadership. If these people happen to have charisma that’s fine, but it isn’t the charisma that does the leading: it’s a strong character.

The Leadership Skills That Matter Most

People in positions of leadership can (and should) develop their “people skills” through training and practice, just like other skills. Leadership is in many ways about developing a community of talent, ability, and commitment and leaders must have the skills necessary to cultivate community – skills like excellent communication and emotional intelligence. Any natural charismatic tendencies will naturally be enhanced by such training and practice as well.

Leadership development programs and leadership coaching must focus on what gets results long term. Charisma may or may not be lasting, but character and leadership skills certainly are. Charisma may be a nice leadership attribute, and it can be beneficial in some situations. But leaders are wise to focus their efforts on developing the leadership attributes that have always and will always matter if they want to be as effective as possible.

If you’re interested in learning more about leadership, I invite you to check out my books as well as my speaking and executive coaching services.

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring an Executive Coach

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Executive coaching is now considered a mainstream development tool for leaders across industries.

As more leaders learn about the results that executive coaching delivers, the process is becoming mainstream.

But, just as when you are building a house, not just any tool will do the job you need it to do. Hiring an executive coach without performing due diligence can lead to wasted time or unintentional effects, so it’s important to take time and choose an executive coach with care.

Here are five mistakes that can completely derail the coach-client relationship. Being aware of them can help you plan and choose to the best of your ability, so that you get the most from the experience.

1. Hiring a Coach Who’s Not Sufficiently Experienced in Business

Someone can be an excellent coach (a life coach or fitness coach, for example), yet not be well-versed in how business works. Coaches must understand the realities of professional boundaries, ethics, and the general actualities of what it means to be a leader in business. Executive coaching isn’t a “feel-good” exercise, or a confidence-boosting one, though you may very well feel good about the process and come away with greater confidence. Ultimately executive coaching is about helping you develop your potential as a leader in business, and a coach without business experience can’t facilitate that.

2. Insisting on a Coach Who Specializes in Your Industry

While you do want an executive coach with business experience, it doesn’t necessarily have to be within your industry. While there are executive coaches who specialize in the healthcare industry, the chemical industry, and others, your coach’s purpose is to help you develop leadership competencies, not industry-specific strategy development. And also bear in mind that having a perspective from outside your industry can be helpful in breaking out of “the way we’ve always done it,” and in learning how to truly innovate as a leader.

3. Discounting the Importance of Coach-Client Rapport

Chemistry is essential between coach and client. It’s indefinable and hard to pin down but expecting great results from a coach with a great track record won’t come to much if the two of you do not have rapport. The only way to determine whether you and your prospective coach have genuine rapport and chemistry is by talking to them. In person is best, but a video conference or even a phone call will work. Much of your work with an executive coach will take place remotely: through phone calls, video conferences, and emails, so you’re wise to determine your rapport level via technology as well.

You can’t force rapport, and without it, the coaching process falls short.

4. Not Reading and Understanding the Confidentiality Agreement

Good executive coaching depends on trust. Ask any prospective coaches up front how confidentiality is handled. This may be more complex than you envision, particularly if the coach is hired by your company and will involve other stakeholders like your superiors, peers, and direct reports in their evaluation process.

Also, ask how your prospective coach handles client confidentiality after the coaching contract ends. What is the procedure for using you as a reference for their future coaching engagements? Will they want to use your case as part of their marketing, and if so, how will they gain the proper permissions from you?

5. Insufficient Attention to Measuring Outcomes

Management consultant and educator Peter Drucker is credited with the business axiom, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” There are exceptions, and qualitative feedback has significant value, but for the most part, your coaching investment should include measurements of baselines, milestones, and outcomes.

Effective coaches understand that you are investing in results, and they know how to take baseline measurements, create goals, and regularly measure progress toward them. Measuring progress ensures you stay on track to reach the goals you and your coach define.

Assuming that you have the time to commit to coaching, a supportive supervisor, and the willingness to accept feedback and practice behaviors to make lasting changes, choosing the right executive coach is the key to getting the best results. If you are interested in learning more about the coaching process, I encourage you to check out my leadership coaching page.

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