As an executive coach and team effectiveness specialist, I have the privilege of interacting regularly with business owners and senior executive to discuss alignment and productivity issue (two sides of the same coin) in the “here and now,” and to uncover growth opportunities and potential inflection points further into the future. Pattern recognition plays an…
Story #1 I once facilitated a planning retreat for a 17-person leadership team of a local technology company… In preparing some of the content, we decided to review the “2022 Milestones.” The CEO was going to prepare the slide and send it to me before the retreat. I received it one-day prior, and it contained…
The less energy you spend trying to figure out what the leader is thinking, or interpreting what’s being said, or not being said; the less you’re preoccupied with whether they trusts you… the more you can focus of producing results. Case in point… The Philadelphia Phillies, despite one of the most high-powered lineups in the…
By: Robert Hackman Covid-19 has become the primary preoccupation of our minds and hearts (in addition to Racial Injustice). Everything in our life and business is “contaminated” by the threats posed by the virus. Many of us would rather not have to focus on its implications on health, family, relationships, work, businesses, communities, and society.…
We don’t often talk about the consequences of working remotely from the perspective of the remote employee… but we should. Working remotely is a growing trend that’s not likely to reverse itself anytime soon, and it’s worth preparing yourself and your team for one potential unintended consequence. Our need to belong to a group, or…
What happens when managers and leaders look more closely and apply other “right-brained” competencies to drive growth and lead change?  Using the Barnes Collection as a backdrop to see management and leadership in a new and memorable way, the Barnes Foundation has launched the Research, Education, Adaptation, and Development (READ) Praxis. This new professional development…
A new executive team, flush with investor capital, pulls together a group of highly skilled experts to build out a plan and operational strategy for a new digital healthcare platform. Each member of the nine-person leadership team was brought in for their specialized skills and experience – some from the startup world, others from established…
In a February 1995 article, Steve Jobs answered an interview question about the value of well-designed products by saying, “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a…
From Artist to Executive Coach Ten reasons an arts education makes good business sense As an executive coach with a degree in fine art, I’m often asked “How did you go from artist to executive coach”? It’s a fair question. To clarify, in between I did spend a huge chunk of my career running a…
What’s at stake when YOUR team under performs? A team whose job it is to execute the heart transplant of a beloved public figure probably has more at stake than a team charged with assembling boxes at the local Krispy Kreme. That said, every team who is relied upon to collectively execute on their…