John Mattone

Keynote Speaker on Leadership, Talent & Culture: John Mattone

Why Keynote Speakers Remain Relevant in the TED Talk Era

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Public speaking serves many different purposes, and plays a large role in the professional world, even when technology allows the sharing of images, sound, and text to billions of people instantaneously.

Nothing can duplicate the experience of the live keynote speech.

Speaking in public was considered a civic duty of ancient Athenians, and the topics discussed in the public space were big ones like war, politics, and economics. In the modern age, the live public speech maintains status, despite the fact that many – if not most – keynote addresses, political stump speeches, and other types of live speaking are captured on video.

Today, anyone with an internet connection can access a huge range of addresses by people in every industry, and many of these are collected and offered as TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talks. They’re hugely popular because of their convenience and the high quality of many of the talks.

But does the ready availability of a large library of talks on an almost endless range of subjects make keynote speakers obsolete? Absolutely not. If anything, TED Talks highlight the importance of keynote speakers.

Communication Mediums Are Mutually Influential

Think of how entertainment mediums influence each other. Television, movies, books, comics, and live theatre influence each other, but they do not cancel each other out. The same is true of the mediums used in an exchange of public information. While TED Talks may have some influence on how keynote speakers structure some of their material, or which audiovisual elements they choose to include, the reverse is true too: TED Talks wouldn’t exist today if not for outstanding keynote speakers who have known how to engage and affect an audience live and in person.

The Live Event Is Not Duplicated in Video Form

Seeing a video of a live keynote speech is good, but it is really second-best in terms of partaking of the energy in the room and experiencing the words first-hand. The most popular TED Talk ever was given in 2006 by Ken Robinson, and it was about the importance of creativity in public education. It’s been viewed almost 54 million times. While all those video views represent an important “long-tail” continuation of the theme of the original talk, it’s safe to say that viewing the video is not the same experience as having seen the original presentation live.

The value of live streaming and online video is immense, but it is not a substitute for experiencing an event in person.

And with the types of business events that typically include keynote speakers, that “live” element is incredibly important. Kicking off or wrapping up a convention or other major business event with a video is anemic compared to doing so with an actual keynote speaker in the venue, reading the audience and creating a silent, but pervasive feedback loop with them.

Immediacy Is Heightened in a Live Event

So far, it’s not possible to perfectly duplicate the sense of immediacy that comes from watching a keynote speaker live, delivering a presentation in an auditorium full of actual people. Watching it live on video can be riveting, no doubt. Think of the “watercooler talk” at work the day following a major political speech. But even live remote viewing doesn’t capture the sense of immediacy that fills the actual space and time keynote speakers fill with their presentations.

The availability of high-quality public speaking in video form, on demand 24/7 is something to be celebrated. It helps great ideas spread, and sparks inspiration and the importance of that cannot be overestimated. However, nothing will ever replace the effect of outstanding keynote speakers, live and in-person.

The fact that the public address has been going on since ancient times, through the Second Sophistic movement during the Middle Ages, on through the Renaissance, the Industrial Era, and into modern times as an essential form of public discourse indicates that it is timeless and irreplaceable.

Don’t underestimate the value a great keynote speaker can bring to your business event. If you have such an event in your future, I invite you to check my speaking availability. Someone will be in touch right away, so we can discuss your needs.

Fixing Broken Corporate Culture Key to Sustainable Success

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Corporate culture is perhaps the most powerful way businesses can unite their people behind common goals and behaviors. It’s not an exaggeration to say that great culture can be a powerful competitive advantage.

Don’t think great culture is a competitive advantage? Watch what happens to companies where culture isn’t given attention.

While it can be easy to see how a rotting corporate culture can destroy a business, it’s not always as easy to see how a great corporate culture helps with long-term success. But help with success it does!

Building a strong corporate culture is one of the hardest things a CEO will ever do, and yet it’s essential. Culture is related to productivity, change management, handling growth, increasing profits, and hiring and maintaining the best team.

It’s amazing how much emphasis companies place on mapping out business strategies, often while letting the surrounding culture fend for itself. But fixing a broken corporate culture is much more than a cosmetic fix: it can be what saves a business and positions it for long-term success.

The Effect of Leadership Coaching

Leadership coaching at the highest levels of the company hierarchy can have a positive effect on corporate culture, as long as both client and coach identify corporate culture as a strong priority (which they should). Building self-awareness is often a key goal of leadership coaching relationships, and when a leader does this, it’s much harder to avoid seeing culture problems or to write them off as isolated problems.

Any leadership coaching specialist will tell you that leadership means nothing if people don’t respect it. And they simply won’t respect “leadership” from someone who is blind to systemic problems in corporate culture.

Culture from the Top Down and from the Bottom Up

As important as it is for top leaders to commit to strong corporate culture, it’s equally as important for the rank and file workforce to commit to strong corporate culture from their own point of view. But they won’t do this if they believe that leadership doesn’t care about them or value them as essential members of the team propelling the organization to success.

Culture must be addressed from the top, but it can’t be dictated.

It’s also important for top leaders to understand what “culture” means to the administrative assistant, the building manager, the drafter, and even the summer intern. Because what someone at the top thinks of as “good corporate culture” may be completely divorced from what “good corporate culture” means to the people actually operating the company day to day.

Communication, Transparency, and Honesty 

Corporate culture consulting requires a uniquely tailored set of services, but it always depends on an environment of strong communication, transparency of motives, and plain honesty. A company can spend huge sums of money trying to improve corporate culture, but if the top brass doesn’t communicate what that means, and doesn’t listen to the concerns of non-leaders, it won’t work.

Worse still are cases where efforts toward better corporate culture hide fundamental dishonesty on the part of company leadership or fail completely to take into account the needs of the everyday employee. Putting a pool table in the breakroom won’t make much of an impact on a workforce that has repeatedly asked for flexible scheduling to accommodate family obligations. Ultimately, empty gestures end up alienating employees – often really good employees who are worth keeping around.

Any business will tell you that providing outstanding products and services is the key to long-term success. But how many of them forget that there needs to be an environment that is conducive to providing outstanding services to customers? Corporate culture consulting services can work wonders, as can leadership coaching, provided they are undertaken by company leadership that is genuinely committed to making positive changes, and not just slapping a quick paint job over serious structural issues.

My many years of experience as a leadership coach have taught me that great leadership doesn’t happen in a vacuum or in a perfect, predictable world. It depends heavily on the people who are led, and how they view the organization and the pursuit of its goals. Don’t let culture fend for itself, because it won’t work over the long term. If you want to learn in more depth about corporate culture, leadership, and cultural transformation, I encourage you to learn more about my executive coaching programs and check out my books for more insights.

5 Ways Business Speakers Can Shake Your Business Out of Complacency

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Complacency in business is a disease, particularly in our current era of fast-paced innovation.

The power of “how we’ve always done it” is immense, and can almost guarantee complacency.

Complacency is an intrinsic flaw that holds organizations back from pursuing something better, and in many organizations, it is hidden quite well. The tip of the organizational culture iceberg shows a company’s public face: their stated strategy and shared values, their goals, visions, and how they claim to “get things done.”

But underneath the surface, complacency may lurk, and it consists of shared assumptions, norms, unwritten rules, perceptions, and how things actually get done. This is more dangerous than most business executives realize because a business that isn’t dynamic and willing to change in today’s world is a business that will be left behind by the competition. Disruption is inevitable, and complacency can shatter a business when disruption is no longer avoidable.

Shaking your company out of complacency requires a concerted, consistent, long-term effort. Business speakers can be a key part of that effort because the outside viewpoint is a well-established tool for poking at complacency and making people see it and understand it. Here are five ways business speakers can shake your business out of complacency.

1. Through Inspiration

Inspiration from seeing someone overcome seemingly impossible challenges can be hugely effective in shaking individuals out of complacency. And when an auditorium full of people sees a shining example of an inspirational story, they’re likelier to go back to their work with a renewed sense of possibility. That sense of possibility will last and be productive if the business speaker is part of an organizational program to root out complacency and spark innovation.

2. Encouraging Stronger Employee Engagement

The mere fact that a company would bring in business speakers to inject new ways of looking at business issues shows employees that management is concerned about them and wants to help them achieve excellence. The right speaker helps establish and strengthen an organizational climate that encourages positive attitudes and positive business relationships, especially in a business that is open about its desire to improve job satisfaction and retention.

An engaged workforce is a productive, stable workforce.

3. Offering a New Perspective

It can be all too easy for a workforce to slip into only seeing the business from an insider’s perspective. Business speakers, particularly those with industry knowledge, offer both understanding of what it’s like in the industry and a perspective of someone outside the company. Knowing how things appear from another person’s point of view (for good or bad) can be just the thing to prompt people to broaden their own perspective of what they do, how they do it, and how it affects the world.

4. Breaking Up Monotony

Let’s face it: carving out an hour to see a truly inspired business speaker is a great way to break up the monotony of day-to-day work. And breaking up monotony can help uproot complacency. Companies that invest in speaker series (even if some of those speakers appear only on a video displayed on a big screen in the auditorium) show workers that it’s OK – beneficial, even – to break out of the routine regularly and learn something new.

5. Helping Teams Work Better Together

By emphasizing the importance of aligned, collective goals, as well as the importance of every team member in achieving those goals, business speakers can help prompt teams to try new ways of working together. A great inspirational speech triggers the audience’s emotions and can help them generate a renewed sense of commitment and enthusiasm to achieve team and organizational goals. Some speakers may even tackle “teamwork” as a topic and offer solutions teams hadn’t thought of.

Business speakers and leadership coaching alone aren’t the cure for organizational complacency, but they can be a key element of it. Over time, people blind themselves to the shortcomings of “the way we’ve always done it,” and outstanding business speakers can be great at encouraging people to take off those blinders and overcome organizational complacency person by person.

My decades of experience as an executive, a coach, and a speaker have shown me time and time again the importance of building a strong organizational culture, where complacency can’t gain a foothold and thwart efforts toward continued excellence and innovation. I encourage you to check out my books as well as my speaking and training services to learn more about what it takes to build a strong, positive corporate culture.

Business Coaching for the Sole Proprietor or Very Small Business

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Individualism is a theme that runs strong in many countries, including the United States, and that’s one reason why starting one’s own business is encouraged and pursued by many.

From solo bookkeepers to food truck owners, very small businesses are an important thread woven through the economy.

However, the vast majority of small businesses need some help along the way, in terms of hiring professional services, borrowing capital, or asking for advice. Large enterprises have long understood the value of coaching because they have seen first-hand how coaching can lead to peak performance in top leadership.

Many small businesses, even when run by highly competent people, are nevertheless short on the resources necessary for learning how to manage, market, and grow more effectively. In other words, many solo practitioners and owners of very small businesses are on their own, without a sounding board for ideas or the reality check provided by someone with experience. Small business coaching can help.

From Passion to Measurable Results

It’s no secret that many people start small businesses to pursue a passion, whether for comic books, coffee, law, or small engine repair. But passion and inspiration don’t pay the bills. Because so many small business owners must play multiple roles to make their business operational, they may have trouble finding the right processes, the right people, and the right suppliers to optimize day-to-day operation.

Coaching forces the small business owner to step back and view things from a different perspective, and this can lead to insights that make the practical aspects of running a business clearer and easier to grasp. The small business coach knows their client has passion. Their job is to help the client turn passion into measurable positive results.

What Coaching for the Very Small Business Can Accomplish

Here are some key areas where coaching can help the sole proprietor or small business owner.

  • Self-accountability – which can be aided by a third party (the coach) following up on a regular basis
  • Identification of blind spots – which we all have, however competent we are
  • A voice of reason – helping us see when obstacles are real or imagined
  • Encouragement for networking – something all professionals should do
  • Encouragement to leave the comfort zone – because sometimes setting big goals is more reasonable than we think

Helping Marginal Gains Add Up to Something Significant

Improving marginal gains can make a measurable difference in the health of a small business. 

With the very small business, marginal gains can be disproportionately beneficial. For example, if you’re a sole proprietor, choosing a more cost-effective internet provider rather than sticking with the one you’ve always had can make a difference. Choosing different software or moving certain processes to the cloud can save money. Closely tracking expenses can lead to eye-opening discoveries about inefficiencies that need to be banished.

The right small business coach is aware of how expenses that may not matter to the large enterprise can be significant to the small business and is ready to help you root out inefficiency and maximize marginal gains.

Coaching and Small Businesses Initiated by Necessity

Not everyone starts a small business out of necessity. The explosion in the “gig” economy that began during the last recession had more to do with a major lack of jobs than it did with people pursuing their passion. The good news is that many people who started their own business out of necessity learned how to make it work and have no intention of going back to traditional employment.

These people can benefit tremendously from small business coaching. Maybe they have spent so many years in survival mode that they have a hard time seeing the bigger picture, and the right coach can help with that. In fact, the right coach can help turn what started out as a “gig” into a fully-fledged, satisfying career as a business owner.

Executive coaching and business coaching isn’t just something that huge enterprises do to ensure top executives perform well. Smaller businesses and even solo practitioners can benefit tremendously from the services of a small business coach. Yes, coaching is an investment, but investing with the right coach has a strong, positive ROI. You can bet that Amazon, Apple, and other giants wouldn’t invest in coaching if it didn’t.

If you’re a sole proprietor or small business owner, I encourage you to check out my books, as well as my speaking and leadership coaching services. Whether or not you pursue coaching, you’re welcome to look through the extensive collection of content on my website and in my books and learn from the experiences of other executives and business owners.

How Leadership Coaching & Leadership Speakers Bolster Company Culture

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It’s easy to talk about company culture, but it’s not easy to define.

Defining “good company culture” isn’t easy, but most people know it when they see it. 

Furthermore, it’s easier to define what makes a bad company culture than what makes a good one. Bad company cultures are often rife with secrets, lack of transparency, and an attitude of every person for themselves. But good company cultures are often good in a variety of ways. A strong culture in a financial law firm will be different from a strong culture in a creative firm because culture depends partly on industry or niche.

Whatever industry a business is in, strong company culture depends on talented and committed leadership, up and down the organizational chart. Not only can leadership coaching improve company culture, so can leadership speakers, by inspiring and helping the overall workforce understand their company’s leadership.

Leadership Coaching and Company Culture

Leadership coaching helps leaders identify goals and map out the objectives that will get them there, and it also instills accountability, ensuring that leaders “walk the talk.” Successful leaders use their behavior as a positive example, and when frontline employees see this regularly, they’re more engaged. After all, if a leader demands that people work overtime to meet a deadline, but then skips out the door at 4 p.m. because they have a tennis game, how likely is it that the employees left behind will give their best efforts?

Leadership coaching provides an objective viewpoint to leaders that they may not have otherwise, helping them see themselves as others see them, and helping them understand how and why they influence actions in the people who report to them.

Leadership Speakers and Company Culture

“Inspiration” may seem like an odd thing for a company to invest in, but in fact, it makes practical sense. Leadership speakers can touch on topics that aren’t usually brought up in day-to-day operations. The combination of industry knowledge plus hard-earned wisdom can be tremendously powerful to a jaded workforce. Tapping into employee inspiration and giving them “permission” to use it is accomplished by carefully selecting the right leadership speakers, creating buzz surrounding the speech, and encouraging attendees to ask questions and put what they learn to use.

Find ways to keep the conversation going after your leadership speaker has left. 

Keeping the “mojo” going after hearing a leadership speaker can be accomplished in many ways, through discussions on the company network, or creation of an electronic idea or suggestion box, followed by a deliberate attempt at keeping the discussion going. Otherwise, you risk employees seeing the leadership speech or speeches as little more than a “feel-good” effort on the part of the company brass.

Leadership Isn’t Reserved Only for Designated Leaders

A combination of leadership coaching for top leaders and leadership speakers for the entire workforce can work together to help create an environment of leadership consciousne12ss. It’s important for employees to see opportunities for informal leadership in their day-to-day tasks and interactions and to feel that it’s OK to take those opportunities. Examples could be someone who takes new hires under their wing to help them find their place or someone who sees where a process could be altered and takes the necessary steps to make that happen.

If nothing else, we all lead ourselves in how we approach each day, and how we hold ourselves accountable. When leadership coaching and leadership speakers inspire even better self-leadership, the difference in company culture can be measurably better.

Decades of experience have taught me the real and measurable value of leadership coaching and leadership speakers. The years have also taught me the overwhelming importance of strong company culture. After all, people don’t usually leave bad jobs, they leave bad managers or bad environments. Companies that invest in their culture can expect to see both immediate and long-term improvements in employee engagement, as well as lower turnover and higher morale. Clearly, leadership coaching and leadership speakers combined as part of an effort to improve company culture pay off.

If company culture and leadership culture interest you, I invite you to check out my books, which cover these and other relevant topics in greater depth.

Business Coaching Techniques Anyone Can Use on the Job

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Business coaching is an investment that most businesses reserve for senior leadership. It’s too bad that not everyone can work with a business coach, but there are countless workarounds that allow anyone in any position to make use of the principles of business and leadership coaching. intel

Everyone has the opportunity for leadership, including self-leadership. 

And it doesn’t matter if a person isn’t a designated leader or even a de facto leader of a group. If nothing else, we are all in charge of how we approach our responsibilities, and business coaching principles can be applied to how we lead ourselves. Here are several key business coaching techniques anyone can use, whatever their position.

Learning to Build Trust Through Accountability

Trust is essential for success in business and in life, and it should be omnidirectional. Not only should a person strive to build trust with those higher up, but also with colleagues, new people, people in entry-level positions, and those in positions with little to no bearing on how we carry out our own responsibilities. Self-accountability is the key to building trust, and it requires consistently practicing the skill of keeping our word and ensuring our words are honest.

Developing Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to “read” a situation, control our emotions, and respond appropriately. One of the most important ways to build emotional intelligence is to get into the habit of pausing before speaking, taking a brief moment to assess the situation as best we can. This can prevent outbursts, “tone-deaf” comments, or misreading situations and causing confusion. There are many online resources anyone can use to build emotional intelligence skills.

Learning to Strengthen Networks

Networking isn’t something you do once for all time. It’s an ongoing exercise in interacting with others, including, but not limited to, people who are of obvious professional benefit. Building a strong professional (or personal) network requires putting yourself “out there” to some extent: participating in professional organizations, volunteering, writing articles for trade journals, speaking to groups, or even asking questions when attending professional presentations.

Improving Time Management

Improving time management skills helps with both professional and personal life. The skills are simple in concept, but require consistent practice to master. Techniques that are beneficial to practice and hone include:

  • Making a schedule and following it
  • Prioritizing tasks to the best of your ability
  • Setting boundaries to minimize interruption of important tasks
  • Learning to use various apps and other technologies for time management
  • Overcoming temptations to procrastinate and multitask

These are some of the skills top leaders often work on in their business coaching relationships.

Time management is a skill that benefits everyone.

Learning How to Listen and Ask Good Questions

Learning how to listen well is a prerequisite to learning how to ask good questions. Listening is an important skill, and everyone knows that. But how many people think of themselves as good listeners, and how many of them actually are good listeners? It’s not as easy as many people think! Some steps to becoming a good listener include:

  • Facing the person speaking and maintaining appropriate levels of eye contact
  • Being attentive, without being overbearing
  • Being open-minded and waiting until the speaker finishes before formulating a response or question
  • Avoiding the temptation to interrupt
  • Avoiding the temptation to impose a “solution”

Good listening may feel inefficient in an era of multitasking and business transacted at the speed of light, yet it is one of the most important skills addressed in business coaching. It is a skill that will never become unnecessary.

Business coaching is partly designed to address skills gaps like the ones listed above. Leaders are not immune to having poor listening time management skills, and when those skills are not up to scratch, the consequences can ripple throughout a company division or even an entire organization.

But you don’t have to be a leader to benefit from the skills and techniques that business coaches use with their business coaching clients. Building skills in accountability, emotional intelligence, networking, time management, and listening are beneficial for anyone, in any personal or professional capacity. Fortunately, there are many resources available to all that can help those who seek to improve their professional effectiveness.

I encourage you to check out my books, including Intelligent Leadership: What You Need to Know to Unlock Your Full Potential. You owe it to yourself to maximize your potential and optimize your performance, whatever your profession and position.

What to Do if Your Keynote Speaker Cancels at the Last Minute

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Any number of corporate events may involve a keynote speaker, to set the tone for the event, wrap it up on a high note, or generally drum up interest due to their reputation as a speaker.

keynote speaking

Few instruments are as intimidating as this one when there’s an empty hour to be filled. 

But if you’re in charge of booking a keynote speaker, however reliable their reputation says they are, you’re wise to have a backup plan ready. Keynote speakers are human, and they’re subject to illnesses, injuries, family emergencies, and airport issues just like everyone else. Here’s what to do if your keynote speaker cancels at the last minute.

Have Your Backup Plan in Place Well Beforehand

Prepare a backup plan as soon as you book your speaker. Discuss this plan with the event organizers, and perhaps with the “backstage” people like those taking care of the lighting and sound systems. It isn’t terribly satisfying to make a plan for something that probably won’t happen, but your backup plan is like a home fire extinguisher: it’s better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it. Flesh out your backup plan so that it fills your keynote speaker’s allotted time, including any time you reserved for questions and answers.

Book a Substitute when You Book Your Main Speaker

For many planners, simply booking a backup speaker is the most prudent thing to do. This will probably be a local luminary or business leader so that you don’t end up blowing your event budget, but you do need to compensate your backup speaker in some way. Invite them to attend the event, of course, and offer compensation if they do have to provide the keynote speech, as well as some form of compensation if they don’t. For example, if your backup speaker attends the event and doesn’t end up speaking, invite them to the celebratory lunch or dinner, your treat.

If You’re the MC, Make Sure You Have Extra Material Prepared

An MC with plenty of material is one who can handle a delayed speaker. 

If you are the master of ceremonies, your time on the stage will be brief – unless your keynote speaker has to cancel or is delayed. Have extra material planned in the event that your speaker’s plane is late landing, so your audience won’t be left hanging if they have to wait. Perhaps you could play one of the speaker’s videos to fill the time. Or you could have a trivia contest, complete with modest prizes (like t-shirts, mugs, or copies of the speaker’s books).  Have several short activities planned so you can get right to the speaker as soon as they arrive.

If All Else Fails, Create an Impromptu Round-Table Discussion or Networking Event

Most events with keynote speakers will have an audience that contains at least a few experts on relevant subjects. With a group of chairs on the stage, a microphone that can be handed around, and a decent moderator, you can do an impromptu “expert panel” Q and A session on a topic relevant to your audience. Barring that, you could turn the house lights up and turn the event into a networking opportunity. If you can have a few people handing around water bottles and cans of cold soft drinks, you can help people relax and talk amongst themselves, trading stories and business cards.

Keynote speakers don’t get to where they are by not showing up or being late. When you book a keynote speaker, for the most part, you can be assured that they will show up on time and deliver a keynote speech that will be well worth the audience’s time and attention. However, you’re always wise to have a backup plan in place for the unexpected. Even if you never have to use your backup plan, you’ll be glad you have one!

If you have an event coming up, I invite you to check my speaking availability. I have spoken to some of the world’s most prestigious gatherings, and I also have a YouTube channel you can check out to learn more about my speaking style. Whether you book me or not, I wish you nothing but the best with your upcoming keynote event!

Don’t Confuse Leaders with Heroes

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It can be easy to lump heroes and leaders together into one catchall category, but in fact, they’re different.

Leaders may do heroic things, and heroes may lead others, but leaders and heroes are different in many key ways.

Similarities between the two exist, of course, in that both leaders and heroes produce positive outcomes. But how they produce those outcomes is different. The fact is, in a world that is fast-paced and often chaotic, we need both heroes and leaders. We need leaders at all times, and heroes in exceptional circumstances. It’s important for professionals to understand the difference between leaders and heroes.

Heroes Operate “In the Arena,” Often Cross Lines

Heroes often “cross lines,” sometimes literally. In 1918, as a newly-promoted corporal, Alvin York was assigned to cross German lines in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and take out a machine gun position. After German small arms fire killed six American soldiers, York took charge, having his men guard a group of enemy soldiers while he took out several German soldiers with his rifle, and then several more with his pistol. Ultimately, York and his men marched more than 130 German prisoners to his command post. Later, after his wartime heroics, York went back to farming in America and worked with charitable foundations for rural children. Few could deny that York was a true war hero.

Leaders Inspire, See the Entire System

But wartime isn’t only about heroics, as George C. Marshall knew when he promoted Dwight Eisenhower to command U.S. forces in Europe in 1943. Eisenhower’s knowledge of military strategy and his gift for organization made him ideal for the leadership task. The Allies needed leaders who could see the entire system, and Eisenhower had demonstrated his ability to do precisely that when he had previously headed Operation Torch in North Africa, commanding a mixed force of nationalities, services, and equipment. As Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force during Operation Overlord, Eisenhower provided leadership that ultimately resulted in Germany’s surrender in 1945.

Leadership Inspires Heroism, and That’s a Good Thing

The hero steps in when exceptional circumstances dictate, and the outstanding leader isn’t threatened by this. 

Outstanding leadership often inspires heroic acts, and the best leaders see that as a positive thing. Leaders strategize, plan, and execute, but systems have a way of breaking down or colliding with the unexpected. It is often in those cases that the heroes emerge. They may not singlehandedly capture dozens of POWs, but when they bring in and personally operate old equipment to generate paychecks due to the current system breaking down, they perform a heroic act – one that leadership probably didn’t expect. It is only the bad leaders who are threatened when someone in the ranks rises to an unexpectedly challenging situation and turns it around.

Leaders are specifically tasked with influencing people, and with many of them, it takes solid leadership training to learn how to earn respect and wield influence effectively. Lasting leadership requires trust and personal relationships, and there are times when leadership demands that a leader step back for a moment and let someone else deal with a situation. It doesn’t diminish their leadership but actually enhances it.

Sometimes leaders do heroic things, and sometimes heroes go on to become great leaders. But leaders and heroes are not the same. By understanding the real nature of leadership, with the help of leadership training and leadership coaching, true leaders do what they can to prevent the unexpected and the disastrous, but they are as appreciative as anyone else when heroics are called for and delivered.

Leadership training is about helping leaders “see the system” so they can plan their actions accordingly, for the success of the overall organization. Leadership coaching is the key ingredient in successful leadership because it not only provides opportunities and encouragement to practice proven leadership habits, it helps leaders identify their own shortcomings and develop plans to overcome them. If you are in a position of leadership or are tasked with developing your organization’s leadership team, I invite you to learn more about my leadership coaching and executing coaching services

How to Make a Business Case for Executive Coaching in Your Company

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A trained and engaged executive team offers both tangible and intangible benefits.

Well trained leaders tend to lead happier, more productive teams.

As one example, a study by Performance Sales Executive Council found that executive coaching of key sales reps resulted in an 8% increase in performance. For another, a study in the Manchester Review, covering executives from Fortune 1000 companies found that executive coaching resulted in better customer service, cost reduction, and higher profitability.

But what about the intangible benefits of executive coaching? Surveys have found that trained and engaged leaders produce better working relationships within a team, better employee ability to see things from other perspectives, and an overall improved work atmosphere. One study reported that executive coaching cuts executive stress levels, and what’s more, the results of effective coaching can spread throughout the organization.

Executive coaching is an investment, however, and organizations expect a strong business case for that investment. Here’s how to make the business case for executive coaching in your company.

Identify What Your Coaching Culture Looks Like

When making the business case for executive coaching, it’s important to be able to articulate what you want the culture to look like afterward. For example, you may conclude that working with an executive coach would result in stronger decision-making, fewer mistakes, and higher team satisfaction levels.

Coaching helps the leadership team identify and address performance gaps, and if you know what some of those performance gaps are, you can use that to define what your organization’s post-coaching culture will be like. For example, poor communication and lack of transparency may be problems, and coaching can help leaders to solve them. As a result, the post-coaching culture will be more connected and engaged, and less likely to cultivate idle rumors in ways that can damage the company.

Costs, Outcomes, and Benefits

The costs of executive coaching will, of course, depend on which coach you work with, as well as the number of executives who will participate in coaching.

Spelling out costs and benefits – both tangible and intangible – is key to your business case.

Fortunately, executive coaching has enough of a proven track record that the business case for it can confidently predict outcomes with specific monetary values attached, such as:

  • Better employee retention, with associated lower turnover costs
  • A more positive work environment that facilitates strategic account development and higher sales volumes
  • Greater customer satisfaction
  • Increased bottom-line revenues

Calling out these financially-driven outcomes is important, but it’s also important to call out non-financial outcomes. If morale has taken a dip, for example, then it’s reasonable to expect that coaching will lead to the identification of the causes of that problem as well as specific steps to be taken to solve it. The business case for executive coaching should emphasize the numbers, but it shouldn’t neglect the outcomes that are less readily quantifiable.

Who Are Your Early Adopters and Champions?

Trying to make the business case for executive coaching as a single individual is more challenging than making that case as a group. Knowing that there is already buy-in for executive coaching will help make the case. Therefore, it’s wise to float the idea with multiple leaders, making the case to them and ultimately presenting the business case to decision-makers as a unified group.

Identifying early champions of executive coaching will also result in more enthusiasm when the plan is approved. If the decision-maker were to impose executive coaching on the leadership team out of the blue, people are more likely to question that decision. But when the case is made by the people who will actually participate, you can expect greater enthusiasm once the coaching process starts.

There is a strong business case to be made for hiring an executive coach. Multiple studies have shown that it produces both tangible and intangible benefits. But it may take more than quoting a few studies to make a strong case and make executive coaching happen. By identifying what a positive post-coaching culture will look like, spelling out the expected qualitative and quantitative outcomes, plus gaining buy-in from the participants, you can make the best possible case for investing in executive coaching. If you’re interested in learning more about coaching, corporate culture, and corporate transformation, I invite you to check out my books, which explore all these topics in detail.

Why Leadership Training Could Save Companies Billions of Dollars

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We like to think that successful businesses are led by highly competent people with strong leadership skills who really care about their teams and the future of their organization. But reality doesn’t always back this up.

Frontline employees need and deserve competent, well-trained leaders.

One recent study found that nearly two-thirds of employees said they would rather have a new boss than a pay raise! And it isn’t what bosses do that’s the problem in most cases, it’s what they don’t do. Too many leaders fail to inspire, think mediocrity is acceptable, lack vision, don’t collaborate, and don’t practice what they preach.

How do employees react to bad leaders? According to the study referenced above, they take their time accomplishing tasks, hide things from their bosses, put in the minimum required to get the job done, take sick leave when not actually sick, and take longer work breaks. In other words, they don’t feel valued, so they don’t see why they should have to give their best. Bottom line: poor leadership is costly.

By contrast, however, strong leadership has the potential to save companies millions, if not billions of dollars. A 2016 Gallup poll estimated that lack of leadership in US corporations costs up to $550 billion per year. Leadership training programs have the potential to save the corporate world significant sums of money. Here’s how.

Lower Turnover

Employees have access to more information about their employers than ever before in history. Websites like Glassdoor allow employees to share their honest opinions about their employers (and their leadership), and today’s employees and job seekers are far less likely to just shrug off signs of poor leadership.

Employee turnover is expensive due to the direct costs of exiting employees added to the additional costs required to hire and train replacements. And the number-one reason why people quit their jobs, according to a Gallup poll, is that they believe they have a bad supervisor. In other words, people leave bosses, not jobs. Leadership training programs are one key to developing the supervisors, managers, and team leaders that employees don’t want to leave.

People are likelier to leave bad leaders than to leave bad jobs. 

Fewer Missteps

A poorly-trained group of leaders, when faced with a major challenge, can resemble a 21st-century version of the Keystone cops: incompetent, uncoordinated, and baffled. Only it isn’t funny when it concerns a business that represents people’s livelihood. Leadership training programs not only help individuals develop their own leadership skills, but they also help leaders align their objectives and coordinate their actions accordingly. As a result, there is far less trial and error, and fewer missteps that require backtracking and doing things over. It’s clear how an aligned, well-trained leadership crew will incur fewer unnecessary corporate costs than an untrained, ill-informed leadership team would.

A Better Promotion Process

One of the best side effects of an outstanding leadership training program for top organizational leaders is the emphasis on the long term. The best leaders not only want their tenure in leadership to go well, they also want the leaders who come after them to succeed as well. Leadership training helps organizations learn to recognize emerging leaders and help them develop their skills. As a result, there are fewer top leaders who arrive at their positions because it is “their turn,” and more top leaders who are there because of their competence, and who have had the time and training to become leaders and hit the ground running once they are promoted.

A well-trained, well-managed workforce is essential to business success. But so is a well-trained, well-managed leadership team. Accomplishments and experience are important factors in choosing leaders, but simply putting someone in a leadership position in no way guarantees that they will lead effectively.

Leadership training programs are how the truly outstanding organizations succeed compared with their counterparts. Because without excellence in leadership, there’s little use in expecting excellence from the rank and file employees. If you’re interested in leadership culture, I encourage you to check out my books, which go into detail on the crucial topics of leadership coaching and corporate culture, as well as the importance of solid leadership training and coaching.

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