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Archives for April 2018

The Best CEO’s

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I was recently in Washington DC to be certified for the Hogan Assessment tools. Many of our customers use Hogan Assessment for hiring and leadership development. This was the first time that Carol Keers and I were in DC for the cherry blossom experience. It was beautiful. We also took an opportunity to see a moonlight tour of the monuments. It was good reminder of the strength of the USA.

A related Harvard Business Review article caught my attention. Hogan Assessments and Russell Reynolds did a study of 700 Chief Executive Officers (CEO’s). They wanted to identify the assessment characteristics that appear to result in the highest performing CEOs. The key strengths they found were:

  1. Drive and resilience
  2. Original thinking
  3. Ability to visualize the future
  4. Team building
  5. Being an active communicator
  6. The ability to catalyze others to action

The study found that the best–in–class CEO’s have a sense of purpose, are thoughtfully decisive, and action oriented. They are able to see the core issues among the many noisy signals. They are relatively humble and open to others while being able to act boldly when necessary.

That description aligns with what we have experienced with our clientele. Many of our clients use Hogan Assessments and share those results with us when we provide coaching. In addition, after coaching a few thousand individual clients, we have seen a number of the same patterns of characteristics that are reflected in the Hogan profiles.

What to Do About It

We are developing multiple case studies that provide successful coaching approaches for a variety of profiles. We will be addressing the question of “What do I do about it?” that arises after developing new awareness. The case studies will be based on our trove of coaching experiences.

When you have a new awareness of the perception others have of you, you can make better choices. The new series will be called Perception Choices™ Process. We have done a similar process in the past. Our goal is to have a more cost effective solution in the future. I will let you know when we get closer to releasing the product.

We know the best CEO’s are very aware of how they are perceived, and are choiceful in how they communicate.

 

No Cash

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Carol and I were walking through Central Park in New York City.  There are a number of horse-drawn carriages lined up on the south side of the park. The sign on the back seat of one of the carriages (below) caught Carol’s eye.

 

Execution Trifecta – Leader, Manager and Coach

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As a young teenager, I had the privilege of playing golf on one of the finest courses in Minneapolis because, as a golf caddie, I was able to golf on Mondays (which was caddie day and the day they watered and cut the grass). It was challenging to play around the sprinklers and mowers. However, the biggest challenge was combining my golf skills of the drive, approach, and putting needed to achieve a desirable score.

Of those three parts of my game, I typically played well in at least one and usually two parts of the game. However, one of those three parts of the game always seemed to fall short. My overall golf score fell short, too.

I knew enough about how the game should be played. However, knowing is not doing. I was limited by the fact that I only practiced once per week. It was not enough to make the execution of each part of the game second nature.

I know there are many good golfers, professional and otherwise, who perfect their game day-in and day-out. They routinely achieve scores that are out of reach for me.

The Next Book

Carol Keers and I, along with Tom Debrowski, former Executive Vice President of Supply Chain for Mattel, are working on our next book in the “Seeing Yourself as Others Do™ series called “The Execution Trifecta“. We are combining Debrowski’s award-winning knowledge of global supply chain operations at Mattel with the leadership development we provided to his team (which helped them achieve their amazing results).

What is the Trifecta?

Most of the golfers I know are closer to my dilemma of never being able to play all three parts of the game consistently, hole after hole, game after game. The golf trifecta is being good at:

1) The drive from the tee to land in the fairway (or green).
2) Taking just the right approach shot to fly over the sand and water hazards to arrive close to the pin on the green.
3) Finally, to sink the putt in the hole with one or two strokes.

There are a few golfers who perform all three of the trifecta very well, consistently, and at the same time. They win the game. They have mastered the golf trifecta. The majority of active golfers are like me;  good at one or two skills on any given day, and play an average game most of the time.

Execution Trifecta™

The Execution Trifecta is like the golf trifecta. The trifecta requires three skills to be used consistently and effectively every day … as a leader, manager, and coach. Each skill needs to be done well, consistently, and in alignment:

  1. Leadership direction communicated with clearly articulated strategy.
  2. Managerial tactics need to be communicated and measured.
  3. The coaching role ensures the team has the right people with needed skills and motivation.

Just as most golfers do not master the golf trifecta, most executives do not master the Execution Trifecta consistently. Only the very best play the execution game well in all three areas. Success is simple – not easy. It is also attainable.

Debrowski attributes the coaching that Change Masters provided to his team as one of the keys to his team’s outstanding success; which resulted in being rated the top supply chain organization in the world by an international organization of supply chain executives. The Mattel team demonstrated the execution trifecta.

While we progress on the new book, I will share some of the key Execution Trifecta tools in future blogs.