Raising Your External Brand (Brand Visibility Series 2/2)

Internal visibility gets you known inside your organization. External visibility shapes how the world beyond it sees you — and increasingly, that distinction determines who gets the most compelling opportunities.

A strong external brand can open doors that performance alone rarely does: speaking opportunities, board roles, partnerships, industry recognition, and career paths you haven't yet imagined. Without it, even the most accomplished leaders can find themselves overlooked — not because they lack the credentials, but because the right people simply don't know they exist. In today's professional landscape, external visibility isn't a nice-to-have. It's part of what it means to lead at a senior level.

As Dorie Clark, author of Reinventing You and The Long Game, argues: building a professional reputation beyond your company creates opportunities that compound over time. The good news? Effective external brand building doesn't require constant posting or aggressive self-promotion. The leaders who do it best approach it with three things: clarity, authenticity, and consistency.

1. Start With Your Intention.  Before you post a single thing, get clear on why.

Before increasing your external visibility, it helps to get clear on your intention. Are you trying to share insights and add value to your field? Build thought leadership that opens doors — speaking engagements, board roles, partnerships? Expand your network beyond your current industry? Or simply stay visible enough that when the right opportunity emerges, you're already in the conversation?

Your intention shapes everything: what you say, where you say it, how often. Once you're clear, choose a cadence that's genuinely sustainable. One thoughtful LinkedIn post per week beats three rushed ones. A well-placed comment on a senior leader's article can spark more meaningful dialogue than a long-form essay. The goal is never volume — it's meaningful, consistent contribution.

Start small. Stay consistent. Let it compound.

2. Share Your Leadership Approach. One powerful way to build credibility is by sharing publicly how you think about leadership, not just what you accomplished.  Examples might include:

One of the most common mistakes I see senior leaders make externally is leading with credentials and accomplishments. That's a résumé, not a reputation.

What builds a compelling external brand is letting people see how you think — especially about leadership, your industry, and the challenges your peers are navigating right now.

Some ways to do this:

• A leadership lesson from a complex or high-stakes initiative

• How your team solved a problem others are still stuck on

• A decision you'd make differently in hindsight — and why

• A pattern you've noticed in your industry that most people aren't talking about yet

Spotlighting your team here is particularly powerful. When you share wins by attributing them to the people around you, you signal two things simultaneously: that you get results, and that you create the conditions for others to thrive. That combination is rare. And it stands out.

3. Share Thought Leadership. Thought leadership doesn't require long articles every week. Some of the most compelling posts are simply a sharp insight, a pattern you've noticed, or a question worth asking.

You might share:

·       Key takeaways from a conference or industry event

·       A book or framework that shifted your leadership thinking

·       How your team applied a new approach - AI, an agile practice, a new framework - to a real challenge

·       An honest reflection on a hard call you had to make

What you're building, over time, is a perspective — a discernible point of view that becomes associated with your name. That perspective is what travels. It's what gets you invited into rooms, onto panels, and into conversations that your résumé alone couldn't unlock

 4. Join the Conversation, Don’t Just Broadcast Into It.  Visibility isn't only about what you post.Here's something most leaders underestimate: visibility isn't only about what you post. It's about how you engage.

LinkedIn's algorithm rewards comments — and thoughtful engagement often generates more meaningful dialogue than a post ever could. Comment on leaders in your field. Add a perspective they haven't considered. Ask a question that moves the conversation forward. When a real exchange develops, a connection request feels natural rather than transactional.

Many of the most valuable professional relationships I've seen executives build began exactly this way — not from a polished post, but from a genuine reply.

The mindset shift: stop thinking of LinkedIn as a publishing platform and start thinking of it as a professional community. Show up the way you would at a conference — curious, generous, adding more than you take.

5. Build Your Network Around Shared Context.  The most durable external networks don't grow from cold outreach. They grow from shared experiences.

After attending a conference, webinar, or panel, follow up with a brief note to someone you connected with. Reference the event, something specific from your exchange, and express genuine interest in staying in touch. Small, timely actions like these build a professional community rooted in something real.

Professional organizations accelerate this significantly. Many of the executives I coach are members of Chief — a global network for senior women leaders — where trust builds quickly because the shared context is already built into the community. Find your version of that: industry associations, alumni networks, peer cohorts, or leadership communities where the conversation is already elevated.

One practical framework that works: after every meaningful external event, identify one person worth staying in touch with. Reach out within 48 hours. Reference something specific. Then follow through.

6. Host Gatherings -Don’t Just Wait To Be Invited. This is the mindset shift that changes everything: instead of waiting to be included in powerful networks, build your own.

Dorie Clark has written about hosting small, intentional dinners where each guest brings someone interesting from outside their immediate circle. Leadership researcher Ruth Gotian does something similar — gathering high achievers from different industries to create cross-pollinating conversations and unexpected collaborations.

These gatherings cultivate what sociologists call "loose ties" — connections outside your immediate network that often become the source of your most unexpected opportunities.

You don't need a large budget or a big platform. You need a genuine desire to bring thoughtful people together and the initiative to extend the invitation. I've seen a VP-level leader build a remarkable professional community through nothing more than a quarterly dinner for eight people.

The most powerful networks often begin with a simple message: "I'm bringing together a few people I respect. Would you join us?"

Visibility Expands Possibility

External visibility, done with intention, is one of the most underutilized leadership assets at the senior level. It's not about being the loudest voice or engineering a brand that feels performative — it's about contributing ideas, building relationships, and adding your perspective to conversations that matter, consistently over time.

Together, your internal and external brands create something greater than either alone: a leadership presence that is known, trusted, and influential — wherever the next opportunity takes you.

Quote of the day.  “Reputation is an outcome. Visibility is a choice.”  — Dorie Clark

 Reflection Question.  What is one small action you could take each week to share your thinking and contribute to conversations within your professional community?  Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you.

 As an executive leadership coach, I work with leaders to increase their effectiveness and raise their visibility. Through coaching, I help executives strengthen their leadership presence, navigate complex organizational dynamics, and position themselves for greater impact. contact me to learn more.

How do you raise your external brand?

From Vice President → C-Level: From Leading the Business to Leading the Future (Next Level Series 5/5)

A newly appointed Chief People Officer once told me, three months into her role: "I kept waiting for someone to tell me what to do. Then I realized — I'm the one who's supposed to know." That moment of reckoning is one almost every C-suite leader faces, usually alone, usually quietly. The title changes. The expectations multiply. But no one hands you a new playbook.

The C-suite demands a different kind of intelligence — part strategist, part storyteller, part system steward. You move from managing performance to managing meaning: helping people see not just what they’re doing, but why it matters. Peter Drucker once said, “The leader’s first task is to define reality; the last is to say thank you.” Everything in between, he noted, is about building trust and clarity so others can deliver at scale.

At this level, your influence extends beyond your direct span of control. The tone you set — in words, actions, and even silence — ripples across thousands of people. You become the cultural barometer of the organization. As Scott Eblin often reminds leaders, “You control the weather.” Your presence either fuels focus and alignment or creates confusion and drift.

The C-level leader’s time horizon also stretches dramatically. You’re thinking not just about this quarter or next year, but about how the organization will thrive five or ten years from now. That means stewarding resources, talent, and reputation in ways that balance performance today with relevance tomorrow. You’re no longer optimizing for speed — you’re optimizing for sustainability.

It also means widening your field of responsibility. Your stakeholders now include customers, investors, partners, communities, and regulators. Leadership becomes as much about diplomacy and credibility as it is about strategy. Every conversation — whether with the board, the media, or your employees — shapes how the world experiences your organization’s integrity.

To thrive at this altitude, focus on amplifying clarity, culture, and capacity:
• Communicate for alignment. Every message should reinforce purpose, priorities, and progress — clarity compounds trust.
• Shape culture through repetition. Define three non-negotiable behaviors and model them relentlessly.
• Build your inner circle. Surround yourself with truth-tellers who challenge your assumptions and surface blind spots early.
• Think in decades, act in quarters. Balance long-term direction with short-term momentum.
• Prepare successors early. Create the conditions for others to lead before they’re ready so they can carry the vision forward when you are gone.

These aren't abstract ideals — they're active choices that show up in your calendar, your conversations, and your culture. If you're ready to move from principle to practice, start here:

How to begin leveling up immediately:
• Redesign your calendar. Audit your past month: how much time builds the future versus maintains the present? Shift the ratio.
• Refine the narrative. Anchor your next board update or company message in three parts: purpose, priorities, proof.
• Pressure-test succession. Ask, “If I stepped away for three months, what would still run smoothly?” Strengthen what wouldn’t.
• Expand your horizon. Build external awareness through quarterly touchpoints with investors, peers, or industry partners.
• Model legacy in action. Identify three visible ways to live the culture you want others to inherit.

The best C-suite leaders balance ambition with humility. They know they can't know everything, so they cultivate curiosity, surround themselves with trusted counsel, and stay grounded in purpose — while giving others the space to grow into theirs. At this level, success isn't about proving yourself. It's about ensuring the organization can keep succeeding without you. That's not a soft idea — it's the hardest, most disciplined work of leadership. Legacy isn't a destination you arrive at. It's a practice you choose every day, in how you show up, what you protect, and what you're willing to let go of.

With this, we close the Next Level Series. From doing the work to enabling others, from leading teams to leading systems, and from driving results to defining direction — every stage of leadership requires a new kind of presence.

Reflection Question: What are you building that will outlast you — and who are you building it with? Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you.

Quote of the Day: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” — Peter Drucker

If you’re navigating your own next level, I’d love to help you design it — with clarity, confidence, and purpose, contact me to explore this topic further.

What legacy are you building>?

From Manager → Director: From Leading a Team to Leading the System (Next Level Series 3/5)

The move from manager to director is one of the most underestimated transitions in leadership. At first glance, it looks like “more of the same”—a bigger team, more teams, a larger budget, higher stakes. But beneath the surface, the real shift is from managing people to managing the system that helps multiple teams perform in harmony.

As a manager, your success was measured by how well your team executed. As a director, your success depends on how well your leaders execute -and how clearly your teams connect to the larger strategy. Ram Charan, coauthor of The Leadership Pipeline, describes this shift as moving from “managing work” to “managing managers.” It sounds subtle, but it requires an entirely different lens.

At this level, your job expands in three directions. First, upward, as you translate enterprise strategy into functional priorities. Second, downward, as you shape leaders who can think, decide, and act independently. And third, sideways, as you align with peers across functions to remove friction and move the organization forward.

The director role is a crucible for systems thinking. You begin to notice that problems rarely live in one department—they live in the gaps between them. The work becomes less about fixing things yourself and more about designing processes, norms, and rhythms that keep teams aligned and accountable. The question isn’t “How do I solve this?” but “How do I design the system so it solves itself next time?”

That requires discipline and trust. You must resist the temptation to dive into every decision or project that crosses your desk. If you’re still personally approving everything, you’re not scaling leadership—you’re stalling it. Directors who thrive create clarity, empower decision-making at the right level, and spend their time removing barriers, not micromanaging outcomes.

This level also introduces a new kind of visibility. You’re now operating in the intersection between strategy and execution—the place where organizational politics and priorities often collide. The best directors bring perspective and composure. They can disagree without drama, advocate without ego, and align without needing the credit.

To lead effectively at this level, think like a system architect and act like a coach of coaches:
• Shift from checking to connecting. Use your one-on-ones with managers to align on decision quality, not task lists.
• Build horizontal strength. Invest as much time aligning with peers across functions as you do with your own teams — alignment is your new advantage.
• Simplify the operating system. Audit recurring meetings, handoffs, and approvals every quarter; eliminate what no longer adds value.
• Use data in dialogue. Use dashboards to spark conversations about trends, risks, and opportunities.
• Grow your bench. Identify two emerging managers and give them visible challenges that stretch judgment and confidence.

Your leverage now lives in clarity, cadence, and capability — not control.

How to begin leveling up immediately:
• Audit your decision altitude. Review where your time goes: how many of your decisions are tactical vs. strategic? Delegate one recurring decision to your managers this month.

• See the system. Map where workflows and jams between teams.  Simplify or remove one recurring friction point (bottleneck or duplication)
• Reframe your 1:1s. Replace task updates with judgment questions: “What trade-offs did you consider?” or “What would you decide if I weren’t here?”
• Practice peer leadership. Schedule one 30-minute conversation on a regular cadence with a peer in another function to align on shared goals or surface blind spots.
• Zoom Out. Step back once a month to identify patterns beneath recurring issues – then act on one insight.  Directors solve patterns, not symptoms.

Stepping into a director role isn’t just a promotion—it’s a professional pivot. You’re moving from driving results to engineering results at scale. That means leading with altitude: seeing across, thinking ahead, and building capacity that outlasts you.

As Marshall Goldsmith reminds us, the higher you rise, the more your challenges become behavioral rather than technical. The hard part isn’t learning new business models — it’s managing habits, emotions, and impact at scale. Leadership effectiveness begins to hinge less on competence and more on consciousness: how aware, intentional, and adaptable you are in every interaction.

Reflection Question: What part of your leadership still depends on your personal involvement—and what would need to change for your system to carry it instead? Comment and share below; We’d love to hear from you!

Quote of the Day: “Leaders at this level must learn to lead through others and across boundaries—or they will end up managing only themselves.” — Ram Charan

The next article in this series (4/5) will focus on the transition from Director to VP

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to get to their next level of leadership, contact me to explore this topic further.

What does it take to be a Director?

From Individual Contributor → Manager: From Doing the Work to Enabling the Work (Next Level Series 2/5)

If the first chapter of your career was about mastering your craft, this next one is about mastering the art of multiplying others. Your success is no longer defined by what you accomplish alone but by what you make possible for your team.

This shift can be exhilarating — and disorienting. Yesterday, you were the go-to expert. Today, you’re leading the people who used to come to you for answers. The instinct is to keep jumping in, solving problems, and showing how it’s done. It feels faster and safer. But as Marshall Goldsmith reminds us, the habits that built your credibility as an individual contributor can quietly limit you as a manager.

Your new job is to create clarity and confidence for others. That means setting direction, defining what success looks like, and building trust strong enough that people bring you problems — not panic. Great managers trade control for curiosity. They ask more, tell less, and coach their team into ownership.

It also means accepting that progress may feel slower at first. Delegation is a long-term investment; it pays dividends when your team can deliver without you hovering. Instead of measuring your worth by the speed of your output, measure it by the growth of your people. When someone you’ve developed nails a presentation or solves a tough issue on their own, that’s your new definition of winning.

The hardest part of this transition is psychological. You’re not just managing others — you’re redefining your professional identity. You move from expert to enabler, from doing the work to shaping the environment where great work happens. As Scott Eblin would say, leadership at this level is about “getting results through others while staying connected to purpose and presence.”

To thrive, build a few steady habits that strengthen your team and mindset:

·       Set a weekly “clarity rhythm. Every Monday, align priorities and ownership with your team; every Friday, debrief on what worked and what didn’t.

·       Coach, don’t correct. When something goes off track, ask: “What’s your thinking here?” before giving advice. It builds capability, not compliance.

·       Run shorter, smarter check-ins. Ten focused minutes on wins, blockers, and next steps is worth more than an hour of updates.

·       Track growth, not just output. Once a month, name one skill each team member is developing — and how you’re supporting it.

·       Protect your own focus. Model healthy boundaries and recovery; people will follow your example faster than your instructions.

How to begin leveling up immediately:
• Audit your time.  Block one hour this week to audit your time. How much is spent in the work vs. on the work?
• Refine Your habits. Identify one habit that’s outlived its usefulness — and one new behavior that aligns with where you’re headed.
• See honest mirrors.  Ask three trusted colleagues what impact they see you having at your best. Use that as your north star for the next chapter.

Stepping into management isn’t about proving yourself all over again. It’s about proving that others can thrive under your leadership. You’ll still get things done — just differently. Instead of being the one in the spotlight, you’re now building the stage, lighting, and sound system so others can perform at their best.

Reflection Question:  What would change if your success this quarter were measured only by your team’s growth? Comment and share below; We’d love to hear from you!

Quote of the Day: “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” — Jack Welch

The article article in this series (3/5) will focus on the transition from Manager to Director.

If you’re stepping into management or supporting new leaders on your team, I’d love to help you navigate this transition with clarity and confidence. Let’s talk about what your next level of effectiveness looks like, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you intentionally move to the next level?

Defining Your Leadership Style: Leading with Clarity and Consistency (Leadership Brand Series 5/6)

When people think of your leadership, what comes to mind? Are you seen as collaborative and empowering? Visionary and bold? Or detail-driven and exacting? One of the most powerful elements of your leadership brand is your style - the way you show up, make decisions, and engage with others every day.

Leadership style is not about adopting the “right” model; it’s about knowing how you naturally lead, communicating that clearly, and flexing to meet the needs of your people and organization. As the Center for Creative Leadership notes, self-awareness around your style is essential - people cannot work effectively with you if they do not know what to expect. And as McKinsey’s research highlights, thriving organizations are led by executives who balance authenticity, adaptability, and empathy.

Why Defining and Sharing Your Style Matters

·       Builds Trust and Predictability. When people know how you operate, they can anticipate your reactions and approach you with confidence. Transparency builds psychological safety.

·       Helps Others Work Better with You. Sharing your style with your manager, peers, and team allows them to collaborate more effectively. It removes guesswork and reduces friction.

·       Aligns Brand and Behavior. When what you say about your style matches how you actually lead, people experience you as authentic. This strengthens your credibility and your brand.

Common Leadership Styles — In Practice

Psychologist Daniel Goleman identified six leadership styles rooted in emotional intelligence. Here are the ones most relevant for today’s leaders, reframed with modern examples:

1. Visionary Leadership (Authoritative).  Big-picture leaders set a compelling direction and inspire people to follow. They do not micromanage — they empower.  Satya Nadella at Microsoft modeled this by shifting the company toward cloud and AI while encouraging innovation across teams. Visionary leadership is especially powerful in times of change, when people need clarity and inspiration.

2. Relational Leadership (Affiliative).  Relational leaders put people first, building trust and creating a sense of belonging. Shantanu Narayen at Adobe emphasized empathy and connection as he guided the company’s transformation to a subscription model.  This style fosters loyalty but must be balanced with accountability to avoid avoiding hard conversations.

3. Collaborative Leadership (Democratic).  Collaborative leaders invite input and value diverse perspectives. Sundar Pichai at Google is known for encouraging open debate and careful listening before aligning the company around key decisions. This style drives innovation but can slow momentum if inclusivity outweighs decisiveness.

4. High-Performance Leadership (Pacesetting). These leaders set ambitious standards and model them daily. Elon Musk, for instance, embodies intensity and relentless drive, expecting teams to keep pace. This approach can yield breakthroughs but risks burnout if not tempered with support.

5. Coaching Leadership.  Coaching leaders focus on developing people for the long term. Mary Barra at GM demonstrates this by encouraging her teams to learn and adapt as the auto industry evolves. Coaching builds loyalty and capability, though it requires patience and commitment.

6. Situational Leadership. Situational leaders flex based on the readiness and skills of their people. A new hire may need structure, while an experienced employee thrives with autonomy.  Jeff Bezos shifted from hands-on in Amazon’s early years to empowering senior leaders as the company scaled.  The strength is adaptability; the risk is inconsistency if expectations are unclear.

7. Servant Leadership. Servant leaders prioritize the growth and well-being of others.  Satya Nadella, again, provides an example: by leading with empathy and humility, he rebuilt Microsoft’s culture while driving high performance. The upside is deep trust and engagement; the watch-out is balancing service with tough decision-making.

The strongest leaders do not stick to one style. They flex. They know when the moment calls for clarity and direction, when it requires empathy and support, and when it demands raising the bar.

Balancing Relationships and Results

A critical dimension of leadership style is balancing relationships with results. Focus only on results, and people may feel you don’t care. Focus only on relationships, and productivity suffers. As Maya Angelou said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Frameworks like The Leadership Circle show this balance clearly: leaders who lean too heavily into “task” can appear controlling, while those who over-index on harmony risk indecision. The most effective leaders flex between the two - driving outcomes while ensuring people feel valued.

From Espoused Style to Practiced Style

It’s not enough to label your style; what matters is how you live it. One executive I coached described her style as authentic, empathic, and collaborative. When a team member needed time off for an injury, she checked in personally, structured the leave, and created a plan to redistribute work — her actions matched her words.

Another client described her style as coaching and servant leadership, flexing between structure and autonomy based on team needs. A third leader defined her style as collaborative and connective, empowering her team to innovate while mentoring them consistently.

The common thread is that leaders didn’t just state their style; they practiced it in everyday behaviors.

How to Define and Share Your Leadership Style

• Reflect on How You Naturally Lead. What energizes you most: vision, relationships, or developing others?

• Ask for Feedback. Invite colleagues to describe how they experience your leadership. Look for patterns.

• Write Your Leadership Style Statement. Capture it in a few words (e.g., “I lead with vision, empathy, and a focus on results”).

• Communicate It. Share your style with your manager, peers, and team so they know what to expect.

• Practice and Flex. Show consistency in living your style, and adapt when the situation demands.

Your leadership style is not a box to fit into but a compass for how you show up.  Defining and sharing it creates clarity, builds trust, and strengthens your leadership brand.  But style isn’t static - it’s about practicing authenticity while flexing to meet the needs of your people and your business. The leaders who thrive today are those who know themselves, communicate openly, and adapt with intention.

Reflection Question.  How would you define your leadership style today, and how well are you living it in practice?  Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

Quote of the Day: “The supreme quality of leadership is integrity.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

The next blog in this series 6/6 will focus on building the brand of an executive leadership team.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to develop their leadership brand. Contact me to explore this topic further.

What’s your leadership style?

Managing Managers: The Leadership Leap Few Talk About (Leadership Series 7/7)

Moving from managing individual contributors to managing managers is one of the steepest transitions in leadership. Suddenly, you’re not only accountable for the work - you’re accountable for the people accountable for the work. It’s leverage at its highest form. And while it can be deeply rewarding, it’s also one of the most misunderstood and mishandled steps in a leader’s career.

Too many leaders assume that managing managers means more power or less hands-on work. In reality, it requires a mindset shift: from controlling outcomes yourself to creating the conditions where managers - and their teams -can thrive.

What Makes Managing Managers Different

When you manage individuals, your focus is clear: coach, guide, and evaluate their performance. When you manage managers, the game changes in three important ways:

1. You lose the illusion of control. You will not know every detail of what’s happening, and you shouldn’t. Your job shifts from direct oversight to trusting processes and relationships.

2. Your leverage multiplies. The ripple effect of your decisions continues to grow. How you guide managers shapes how they, in turn, guide dozens - sometimes hundreds - of others.

3. Relationships matter more than goals. Goals, metrics, and OKRs only work when the manager - employee relationship is strong. As Amy Gallo writes in Harvard Business Review, managers of managers must “pay attention not just to business outcomes, but to the quality of relationships their managers build.” Put simply: weak relationships undermine performance far faster than unclear goals ever will.

The Common Pitfalls 

·       Acting like a “super-manager.” Hovering over your managers and redoing their work.

·       Avoiding the role. Retreating into functional expertise because “managing managers” feels abstract.

·       Ignoring management as a skill. Hiring managers based only on technical success, not on their ability to build trust, hold accountability, and develop people.

·       Letting power concentrate. Allowing one manager to hold sole authority over promotions, hiring, or firing can erode fairness and trust.

What Great Managers of Managers Do:

Managing managers isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about shaping the ecosystem in which managers and teams can thrive. The best leaders consistently do five things:

1. Make Management Part of the Job. Be explicit: building strong relationships, holding one-on-ones, and coaching are not optional. They’re core responsibilities.

2. Set Clear, Transparent Goals. Tools like OKRs are powerful, but only if they’re built with managers, not for them. Research from Stanford professor Nick Bloom shows that goal-setting systems succeed when employees help create them — not when they’re imposed from the top. Co-creating goals builds ownership, alignment, and the commitment needed to deliver on them.

3. Build Systems, Not Bottlenecks. Ensure no manager has unilateral control over hiring, promotions, or pay. Systems should empower fairness and transparency.

4. Coach for Leverage. Help managers not just with their business goals but with their management practices. Ask: How are you building trust? How are you holding people accountable?

5. Model Feedback and Openness. Don’t just solicit feedback privately — show publicly how you respond to criticism. It sets the tone for how managers handle feedback with their teams.

A Mindset Shift for Leaders

Managing managers is less about control and more about influence. Less about doing and more about designing. Less about your personal expertise and more about creating conditions where others can do their best work.

It’s a paradox: you are responsible without always being in control. That can feel uncomfortable - but it’s also where leadership becomes its most powerful.

The quality of a company’s culture often rests on the quality of its middle managers. As a leader of managers, your job is to love them, support them, and set them up to succeed. Because when managers flourish, their teams flourish. And when their teams flourish, the business thrives.

Reflection Question: If you’re managing managers today, where do you spend more time - diving into details or developing the people leading those details? How might a shift in focus change your impact? Comment and share below, we would love to hear from you.

Quote of the Day: “Management is, above all, a practice where art, science, and craft meet.” – Henry Mintzberg

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to sharpen their leadership skills and navigate tricky situations, contact me.

How do you manage managers?

Effective Written Communication: Getting Read, Understood, and Acted On (Executive Comms Series 9/9)

At the executive level, your words compete with hundreds of emails, slack threads, and reports each day. The hard truth is that if your written communication isn’t clear, concise, and purposeful, it won’t be read - let alone acted on.

Strong written communication is not about writing more; it’s about making every word work harder. Leaders who excel at it get their updates noticed, their recommendations considered, and their influence extended well beyond the room.

Principles of Effective Written Communication

1. Lead With the Headline.  Don’t bury the lead. Start with your main point or recommendation, then provide supporting detail. For example:

• Weak: “We’ve been exploring options for several weeks, and after reviewing multiple vendors, considering cost, and weighing implementation…”

• Strong: “We recommend Vendor X for onboarding — it’s fastest to implement, cost-effective, and reduces churn risk. Here’s why.”

Your audience shouldn’t have to dig for your point.

2. Keep It Smart and Brief.  As Jim VandeHei et al explain in their book Smart Brevity, attention is today’s scarcest resource - and clarity wins. Their approach, developed at Axios after years of watching leaders drown in bloated emails and endless decks is built on one principle: say less, but make it matter more. Use bullet points, subheads, and bold labels so people can scan in seconds. Busy executives do not want three pages of context; they want the headline, the “so what,” and the next step — all in under 30 seconds.

3. Provide Structure.  Written updates are easier to follow when information is chunked. Use labels (e.g., Goal, Outcome, Next Steps) so readers know exactly what they’re looking at. A sample structure for an executive update might include:

• Goal

• Outcome

• Resource Needs / Investment Priorities

• Risks & Assumptions

• Decision Points

• Next Steps

When people can map where they are in your message, they can process faster.

4. Balance Data With Story.  Numbers create credibility, but stories make them memorable. Instead of writing: “Engagement increased 12%,” add: “…which means 800 more employees are actively using the new platform every week.”  This makes your data relatable and sticky.

5. Always Clarify the Ask. Every written communication should answer: What do you need from me? A decision? Endorsement? Awareness only? Close with a clear ask to avoid ambiguity.

Example: Before and After

Before (messy):  “So, we’ve been kicking around some thoughts on the new product launch. A few teams weighed in, and overall the pilot seemed fine, though there were some hiccups we’re still sorting out. The big question is whether we should scale, but of course, there are concerns around budget and bandwidth, so we’re still figuring out the best path.”

After (clear): The pilot launch delivered strong results — 92% customer satisfaction and a 15% increase in upsell. My recommendation is to proceed with scaling the launch. To do so, we’d need an additional $1.2M in resources. I’d welcome your perspective on this approach and look forward to discussing it at the board meeting.

Written communication at the executive level is a leadership tool. When you lead with the headline, write with brevity, provide structure, blend data with story, and clarify the ask, you make it easy for others to engage with your message. In a world where attention is scarce, clarity is influence.

Reflection Question: How often do your emails and written updates get acted on the first time — and what would change if they were clearer and more concise?  Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

Quote of the Day: “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” – Thomas Jefferson

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to sharpen their executive communication skills. Contact me to explore this topic further.

How good is your written comms.?

Disagreeing Effectively with Execs: Influence Without Alienation (Executive Comms Series 8/9)

Few moments test an executive’s communication skills more than disagreeing with the CEO or board. The stakes are high: get it right, and you build credibility as a trusted thought partner; get it wrong, and you risk being dismissed — or worse, seen as insubordinate.

The good news: disagreement doesn’t have to mean conflict. In fact, the best boards and CEOs value leaders who challenge constructively, broaden perspectives, and surface blind spots. The key is not whether you disagree, but how you do it.

Principles for Disagreeing Upward

1. Lead with Respect.  Frame your disagreement as an additive contribution, not an attack. Try: “I’d like to share another perspective that may help us make the best decision.” Respect opens the door; defensiveness slams it shut.

2. Ask Clarifying Questions.  Instead of declaring “That won’t work,” ask: “What assumptions are driving this approach?”  Questions uncover the reasoning behind decisions — and create space for alternative ideas without immediate confrontation.

3. Anchor in Shared Goals.  Tie your disagreement back to enterprise priorities. Example: “I hear the emphasis on speed. My concern is quality — because if we miss customer expectations, we risk long-term trust. How do we balance both?”  Anchoring in shared goals reframes the conversation from me vs. you to us vs. the problem.

4. Use Evidence, Not Only Emotion.  Passion is good, and with data, you can better persuade.  Bring facts, examples, or lessons from other companies. The board and CEO may not agree with your conclusion, but they’ll respect the rigor.

5. Know When to Let Go.  Sometimes, you’ve made your case, backed it with solid reasoning, and the decision still moves in another direction. That’s part of operating at the executive level. At that point, your job is to align and execute. Raising the same objection repeatedly after consensus has been reached erodes credibility.

Amazon’s “disagree and commit” principle is a powerful guide here. The idea: debate openly, decide collectively, and then execute wholeheartedly — even when the final call isn’t the one you championed. This is not compliance; it’s leadership maturity. Boards and CEOs don’t need universal agreement, but they do need unified execution. Your credibility grows when you can challenge constructively and commit fully once the path is chosen.

Example in Action

One senior leader I coached disagreed with her CEO on pursuing a rapid expansion strategy. Instead of saying “This is too risky,” she framed it differently:

• She acknowledged the CEO’s focus on growth.

• She asked clarifying questions about how risks were being modeled.

• She shared data from a similar company that stumbled during fast expansion.

• She then recommended an alternative path: phased expansion with milestone reviews.

Her respectful, evidence-based approach did not stop the expansion, but it did shift the board to adopt stronger guardrails. Her credibility increased — not because she won, but because she spoke with both courage and care.

Disagreeing with the CEO or board is not about “winning the argument.” It’s about shaping the conversation, surfacing risks, and influencing decisions while preserving trust. The leaders who master this skill are seen not as contrarians, but as essential partners in decision-making.

Reflection Question: The next time you disagree upward, how will you frame your point to add value rather than create friction? Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

Quote of the Day: “Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.” – Jim Rohn

The next blog in this series 9/9 will focus on effective written comms.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to sharpen their executive communication skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you disagree diplomatically?

Impromptu Readiness: Speaking with Confidence on the Spot (Executive Comms Series 7/9)

Even the best-prepared executives get put on the spot: a board member asks for your perspective, the CEO calls on you mid-meeting, or a peer wants your quick take in the hallway. In these moments, you don’t have slides, notes, or time to rehearse. What you do have is your presence — and a few simple frameworks that help you think and speak clearly in real time.

Strong leaders know impromptu communication is not about perfection. It’s about composure, clarity, and confidence under pressure.

Frameworks for Impromptu Speaking

1. PREP (Point, Reason, Example, Point)

• Point: State your headline clearly.

• Reason: Explain why it matters.

• Example: Share a short story or data point.

• Point: Restate your headline.

Example: “Retention is our biggest risk right now. That matters because customer churn drives revenue loss. For instance, our Q2 churn rose by 4%. That’s why we need to double down on customer success.”

2. Pros → Cons → Recommendation. Great for answering tough questions on decisions. Lay out both sides, then share your judgment.

Example: “The upside of Option A is speed; the downside is higher cost. The upside of Option B is savings; the downside is slower execution. Given our growth priorities, I recommend Option A.”

3. Past → Present → Future. Ideal when asked about progress, strategy, or timing.

Example: “In the past quarter, we stabilized operations. Right now, we’re focusing on scaling efficiency. Going forward, our priority is automating to reduce costs.”

4. What → So What → Now What. Perfect for moments when you're asked to make sense of data, a situation, or a recent development — and need to move quickly from observation to insight to action.

• What: State the facts or situation plainly.

• So What: Explain the significance — why it matters to this audience.

• Now What: Offer a clear recommendation or next step.

  Example: "Our NPS dropped 12 points this quarter (What). That signals customers are experiencing friction in onboarding, which puts renewal rates at risk (So What). I'd recommend we convene a cross-functional sprint to identify the top three friction points before Q4 (Now What)."

Techniques to Show Composure

• Pause Before Responding. Silence feels long to you, but it signals confidence to others.

• Keep It Short. Two minutes is usually enough; avoid rambling or drifting to other topics.

• Signal Structure Out Loud. Phrases like “There are two options” or “Let me share three quick points” help the audience track with you.

• End with a Clear Takeaway. Don’t trail off — close with your key message.

Example in Action

In a recent executive offsite, a leader I worked with was unexpectedly asked for her perspective on a new product rollout. She paused, smiled, and said, “I’ll share this in three parts — past, present, and future.” In under two minutes, she outlined what the team had learned from past launches, where they stood today, and what she saw as the next priority. The room leaned in — not because her points were revolutionary, but because her delivery was crisp, confident, and structured.

Impromptu readiness is not about having all the answers — it’s about having enough structure to deliver clarity under pressure. With frameworks like PREP, Pros–Cons–Recommendation, and Past–Present–Future, what, so-what, now-what, you can turn surprise questions into opportunities to show composure, credibility, and executive presence.

Reflection Question: When you’re put on the spot, do you default to rambling - or can you rely on a structure that helps you shine?  Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

Quote of the Day: "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." — Albert Einstein

The next blog in this series 8/9 will focus on effective disagreements at the exec. level.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to sharpen their executive communication skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you think on your feet?

Proactive Communication: Building Trust Across Stakeholders (Executive Comms Series 6/9)

At the executive level, communication isn’t just about what you say in a meeting — it’s about how you keep people informed, aligned, and confident in your leadership between meetings. Too often, executives assume others know what’s happening, only to discover peers feel left in the dark, teams are misaligned, or stakeholders are blindsided.

Proactive communication changes that. By intentionally sharing updates, progress, and decisions before people have to ask, you build trust, reduce friction, and create a reputation as a leader who keeps everyone aligned.

Why Proactive Communication Matters:

• Prevents surprises. No one likes to hear about a decision at the last minute — especially a peer whose work is affected.

• Builds credibility. Regular updates show you’re organized, transparent, and dependable.

• Strengthens relationships. Communication is the currency of trust; sharing openly keeps peers and stakeholders on your side.

How to Communicate Proactively:

1. Share Regular Updates. Be a “super-communicator.” Send a short weekly or biweekly note highlighting:

• What’s been completed

• What’s in progress

• What’s coming next and when

• What roadblocks exist, and how you’re addressing them

Even a few bullet points help stakeholders see progress and priorities.

2. Ask Stakeholders What They Need. Don’t guess about the right level of detail — ask: “What’s the most useful way for me to keep you updated? High-level bullet points? Deeper dives on certain metrics?” People rarely complain about too much clarity.

3. Tailor to Your Audience. 

• Peers: Share how your work impacts theirs and invite them to collaborate.

• Teams: Give context so they see how their work ladders up.

• Executives: Keep it strategic — bottom-line impact, risks, and asks.

4. Model Transparency in Ambiguity.  Even when the path forward isn’t clear, share what you know and what’s still uncertain. For example: “Here’s where we are today, here’s what could change, and here’s how we’re preparing for both scenarios.”  Ambiguity handled openly still builds trust.

5. Use Multiple Channels.  Leverage different formats: a short Slack note, a stakeholder newsletter, or a quick sync call. Communication isn’t one-size-fits-all — consistency across channels makes your leadership visible and credible.

Proactive Communication in Action

One VP I coached began sending a weekly one-pager to her peers and senior leaders: three wins, three priorities, and one ask. It took her 15 minutes to draft — and immediately changed how others perceived her. Instead of chasing her for updates, peers thanked her for clarity. Instead of being reactive, she was shaping the narrative of her team’s work. Another executive I coached heard from the board that they wanted more external engagement. In response, he added an “In the Field” section to his monthly update, spotlighting key conversations with partners, clients, and community leaders — reinforcing his role as a connector and ambassador for the organization.

Proactive communication is one of the simplest ways to strengthen executive presence and build trust across the system. When you share updates before people ask, tailor to different audiences, and communicate transparently even in ambiguity, you shift from being seen as “busy in your silo” to being recognized as a leader who drives alignment and confidence across the enterprise.

Reflection Question:  How proactive are you in keeping peers, stakeholders, and teams updated — and where could more transparency make the biggest impact?  Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you.

Quote of the Day: “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” – Peter Drucker

The next blog in this series 7/9 will focus on impromptu readiness.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to sharpen their executive communication skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you proactively communicate?

Prep Work: The Hidden Advantage in Executive Communication (Executive Comms Series 5/9)

Strong executive communication looks effortless. But the secret behind every confident boardroom presentation or crisp CEO update isn’t natural talent — it’s preparation. The leaders who appear most fluent and persuasive are the ones who did the hard work beforehand: sharpening their thinking, anticipating questions, and aligning with their audience.

Preparation is not about over-rehearsing. It’s about creating clarity for yourself so you can deliver clarity for others.

Step 1: Clarify Your Core Message.  Before building slides or speaking points, ask: What is the one message I want them to walk away with?  From there, identify three main points that support your message. (Think of them as folders — labels first, details later.) Ask yourself:

• What data, stories, or examples illustrate each point?

• How do these points connect to the bigger business priorities?

• What’s my “ask” at the end?

When you know your main message and supporting points, your communication gains structure and impact.

Step 2: Know Your Audience.  Not all executives want the same level of detail. A great communicator flexes to match the audience’s style and priorities. For example,

• Commanding leaders appreciate directness and speed.

• Logical leaders want data and reasoning.

• Inspirational leaders look for vision and possibilities.

• Supportive leaders value collaboration and buy-in.

Preparation means anticipating what matters to your audience: What are their goals? What concerns might they raise? How will this impact their function or the company as a whole? When you connect your message to their priorities, you earn attention and credibility.

Step 3: Anticipate Questions.  Executives will test your ideas with questions. Anticipate them. Write out the hardest questions you think they’ll ask — then draft crisp, confident answers.

Ask yourself:

• What risks will they want to understand?

• What trade-offs will they probe?

• What assumptions might they challenge?

Having thought through answers in advance allows you to respond with composure and authority rather than scrambling on the spot.

Step 4: Draft, Outline, Then Bullet

Think of prep as writing in layers:

1. Draft it all out to clarify your thinking.

2. Outline to organize structure.

3. Reduce to bullets so you can speak conversationally.

This layered prep helps you be clear without sounding scripted.

Step 5: Rehearse With Others.  Don’t just practice alone. Run your presentation by a trusted peer or team member. Ask them: What’s clear? What’s confusing? What questions did you have? Their feedback will reveal blind spots and sharpen your delivery.

Preparation is the hidden advantage in executive communication. It transforms nervousness into confidence, messy updates into clear stories, and scattered details into sharp takeaways. The best leaders don’t wing it — they prepare deeply, then deliver simply.

Reflection Question: Where would a little more prep elevate your next executive communication the most? Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you.

Quote of the Day: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

The next blog in this series 6/9 is on proactive communication with stakeholders.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to sharpen their executive communication skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you prep for exec. comms.?

Presentation Formats That Strengthen Executive Communication (Executive Comms Series 4/9)

When presenting to senior leaders, how you structure your message is just as important as the content itself. A well-framed presentation helps your audience track, engage, and retain what you are saying. A poorly structured one leaves people lost, distracted, or asking, “What was the point of that?”

You do not need dozens of frameworks. A few simple ones, mastered and flexed for different situations, will elevate your executive presence and ensure your message sticks.

Framework #1: The STAR Model (Situation, Task, Action, Result).  The STAR model—sometimes extended as STAR(C) with a final Connection - was popularized in behavioral interviewing, most notably by Amazon, to ensure candidates shared clear, structured, and results-driven stories. Its power translates directly to executive communication, especially when sharing progress, lessons learned, or case studies, because it keeps updates concise, logical, and focused on impact.

• Situation: What was happening?

• Task: What needed to be done?

• Action: What did you (or your team) do?

• Result: What changed as a result?

·       (Connection): How does this tie back to the bigger picture or future priorities?

For example: “Outages were averaging 10 hours a month (Situation). We needed to improve reliability (Task). We upgraded the infrastructure (Action). Outages dropped to one hour a month (Result). This improvement positions us to scale customer demand confidently (Connection).”

STAR works because it’s outcome-oriented and easy to follow. By structuring updates this way, you not only share what happened but also reinforce why it matters to the business.

Framework #2: What–Why–How.  This is one of the most powerful frameworks for persuading executives to take action.  Communication Expert Nancy Duarte often stresses that leaders lose their audience when they skip the “why.”  This framework ensures you hit all three essentials.

·       What: Lead with the headline — the decision, recommendation, or key point.

·       Why: Explain why it matters and what’s at stake — the impact on strategy, results, or risk.

·       How: How you’ll execute or what support you need.  Outline the plan or next steps, keeping it concise and high-level.

Example: “We need to invest in new onboarding software (what). This will reduce employee ramp-up time by 25% and cut attrition in year one (why). The implementation requires a six-month rollout and $300K budget (how).”

The brilliance of this model is its clarity. By starting with the “what,” you respect the executive audience’s time. The “why” builds buy-in, and the “how” reassures them there’s a credible path forward.

Framework #3: Goals → Results → Insights → Next Steps (GRIN). Think of this as the executive retrospective plus roadmap. It’s especially powerful in quarterly business reviews or board updates, because it shows discipline in tracking outcomes while keeping a forward tilt.

How it works:

• Goals: What we set out to achieve (anchor to original commitments).

• Results: What happened — successes, misses, and the data behind them.

• Insights: What we learned — trends, risks, or shifts in the environment.

• Next Steps: Where we go from here — decisions, priorities, and asks.

For example: “Our goal was to expand market share in two regions (Goals). We achieved 8% growth in one, but fell short in the second due to delayed partnerships (Results). We learned that local distribution agreements are a bottleneck (Insights). Next quarter, we’ll fast-track partner onboarding and reallocate resources to accelerate regional momentum (Next Steps).”

This framework resonates in executive settings because it’s concise, repeatable, and momentum-building. You don’t just report results — you connect them to insights and actions that move the business forward.

Framework #4: Three-Point Takeaway.  Sometimes the simplest structure is the most powerful. The Three-Point Takeaway helps you cut through complexity and leave your audience with a message they’ll actually remember. Cognitive science reveals that our brains process and recall information most effectively in groups of three — it feels complete without being overwhelming.

How it works:

·       Main Message: The one thing you want them to remember.

·       Three Points: Three labeled pillars that support your message.

·       Examples: Data, stories, or anecdotes that make each point tangible.

For example:

“To make this launch successful (main message), we must nail three things: speed, quality, and customer experience (three points). Here’s one example of how we’re addressing each…”

This format is effective for board updates, strategy rollouts, or crisis communication. It gives your message structure, memorability, and impact. If your audience can repeat back two of your three points, you’ve succeeded.

Executive communication isn’t about dazzling with complexity — it’s about structuring your message so it lands with clarity, credibility, and impact. Whether you use STAR to share progress, What–Why–How to persuade, GRIN to review and reset direction, or the Three-Point Takeaway to drive memorability, these frameworks keep your audience focused on what matters most. Master a few, flex them as needed, and you’ll elevate not just your presentations, but your overall executive presence . The best communicators know the framework is not the point; it’s the bridge that makes your point land.

Reflection Question: Which of these frameworks would make your next presentation sharper and more memorable?  Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

Quote of the Day: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci

The next blog in this series 5/9 will focus on communication the hidden advantage of prep work.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to sharpen their executive communication skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

Which frameworks do you use?

Executive Communication Mistakes to Avoid: How Leaders Lose Their Audience (Executive Comms Series 3/9)

Strong communication builds trust, credibility, and alignment. Poor communication does the opposite - it confuses, frustrates, and erodes confidence in a leader. Many executives underestimate how small speech habits, unclear framing, or over-talking can quietly undermine their presence.

Here are the most common pitfalls to avoid in executive communication - and what to do instead.

1. Vague or Unclear Communication.  Senior leaders don’t have time to guess what you mean. Passive statements like “We might need to adjust some processes” leave others wondering: which processes, how much, and by when? 

Instead: Be specific. “We need to update the vendor onboarding process to cut approval time from three weeks to one.” Precision creates confidence.

2. Over-Talking and Losing the Point.  Long-winded updates bury the lead and lose your audience. The more detail you share, the harder it is for others to discern what matters. 

Instead: Use the bottom-line-first approach. Start with the headline, then explain if needed. Think: Answer → Context → Detail.  Example: Instead of saying, “We’ve been exploring different vendors for the past six weeks, meeting with four different firms, evaluating costs and implementation timelines…” say, “We recommend Vendor A — it’s the fastest to implement and most cost-effective. Here’s why.”

3. Dodging the Question.  One of the fastest ways to erode credibility is to talk around a question without answering it. Executives notice when you dance instead of deliver.

Instead: Acknowledge the question and respond directly. If you do not know, say so — and commit to following up. Confidence comes from honesty, not from having every answer.

4. Making Things More Complex Than They Are.  Complexity does not make you sound smarter; it makes you harder to follow. Leaders who restart from the beginning or pile on explanations risk confusing everyone.

Instead: Simplify. Structure your response in chunks (e.g., “There are two risks and one opportunity”). Guide people step by step, rather than swirling them in detail.

5. Interrupting or Talking Over Others. Cutting people off signals impatience and undermines trust. Even if unintentional, it conveys that you value your voice more than theirs.

Instead: Pause, listen, and build. A powerful phrase is: “I’d like to build on what Sarah just said…” It shows respect while reinforcing your point.

6. Weakening Your Words.  Seemingly small words and habits can undercut your authority. Common culprits include:

·      “Just” – Makes your point feel small or tentative (“I’m just checking in”). → Say: “I’m checking in.”

·       “Actually” – Implies surprise that you have something worth saying (“I actually have a question”). → Say: “I have a question.”

·      “Kind of / A little bit” – Softens your conviction (“I kind of think…”). → Say: “I think…”

·      “I’m sorry” (as filler) – Over-apologizing diminishes authority (“Sorry to bother you”). → Say: “I’d like to discuss…”

·      “Am I making sense?” – Signals self-doubt. → Say: “How does that land with you?”

·      Uptalk – Ending statements like questions makes you sound uncertain. → Use a steady tone.

Instead: Drop qualifiers and speak directly. Leaders who use clear, confident phrasing project authority and make it easier for others to follow their lead.

Communication mistakes do not just distract — they diminish executive presence. Vague language, rambling, dodging, or weak phrasing can cause others to lose confidence in your message. The best leaders avoid these traps by being clear, concise, and confident — and by creating space for others to contribute.

Reflection Question: Which of these habits do you most need to unlearn, and what will you practice instead to strengthen your communication?  Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

Quote of the Day: “Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.” – Plato

The next blog in this series 4/9 will focus on presentation formats to enhance your communication

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to sharpen their executive communication skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

Which mistakes do you see often?

Building Trust and Credibility in Your First 90 Days (New Executive Series 4/4)

Trust and credibility are the cornerstones of effective leadership, and as a new executive, your first 90 days are critical for building both. Success isn’t achieved through grand gestures but through consistent actions demonstrating your competence, authenticity, and alignment with the organization’s goals. We’ll uncover why trust and credibility matter, how to establish them quickly, and the key steps to lay a strong foundation for lasting impact.

 Why Trust and Credibility Matter

1. Trust Unlocks Collaboration. Teams are more willing to share ideas, take risks, and work collaboratively when they trust their leader. According to Stephen M.R. Covey in The Speed of Trust, trust is a performance multiplier that accelerates results.

2. Credibility Drives Influence.  Without credibility, it’s difficult to lead effectively. When others see you as knowledgeable, reliable, and aligned with organizational values, your ability to influence decisions and drive change increases significantly.

3. First Impressions Last.  Research shows that people form lasting impressions quickly. The actions you take (or fail to take) in your early days will shape how others perceive you as a leader.

How to Build Trust and Credibility Quickly

1. Show Competence Through Results.  Early wins are essential for demonstrating your capability. Focus on high-impact areas where you can quickly make a positive difference. For example:

o   Identify a pressing issue and create a clear plan to address it.

o   Deliver on small, visible commitments to show you follow through.

2. Listen More Than You Speak.  Listening signals respect and helps you understand the organizational landscape. Ask thoughtful questions to learn about your team’s challenges, priorities, and aspirations. Key Questions to Ask:

o   “What’s working well that we should build on?”

o   “What challenges are holding the team back?”

o   “How can I best support you in your role?”

3. Be Transparent and Authentic.  Authenticity builds trust. Be honest about what you know, what you don’t, and your intentions. If you need more time to make a decision, say so.

4. Align Your Actions With Company Values. Understand the organization’s mission, vision, and values—and model them in your behavior. For instance:

o   If the company values collaboration, actively seek input from others.

o   If innovation is a priority, champion new ideas and celebrate creative thinking.

5. Communicate Consistently and Clearly.  Credibility grows when you communicate effectively. Share updates regularly, set clear expectations, and keep stakeholders informed. For example:

o   Provide a 30-60-90-day plan to outline your focus areas.

o   Hold regular check-ins with your team and key stakeholders.

6. Acknowledge Mistakes and Learn From Them.  No leader is perfect, and mistakes are inevitable. Own up to them quickly, take responsibility, and outline what you’ll do differently moving forward. This humility demonstrates integrity and fosters trust.

Behaviors That Undermine Trust and Credibility

1. Overpromising and Underdelivering.  Don’t commit to more than you can deliver, especially in your first 90 days. Unrealistic promises can erode trust quickly.

2. Acting Without Understanding. Jumping to conclusions or making changes without context can alienate your team. Take the time to listen and learn before acting.

3. Avoiding Difficult Conversations.  Trust requires honesty, even when it’s uncomfortable. Avoiding tough conversations signals a lack of accountability and weakens your credibility.

The Long-Term Benefits of Trust and Credibility

1. Stronger Team Dynamics.  A foundation of trust encourages open communication, collaboration, and mutual respect.

2. Enhanced Influence.  Credible leaders are more likely to gain buy-in from stakeholders, enabling them to drive meaningful change.

3. Sustainable Success.  Building trust early creates a culture of support and alignment that sustains long-term results.

In your first 90 days as a new executive, trust and credibility aren’t optional—they’re essential. By listening, delivering results, and modeling authenticity, you’ll build a foundation that enables you to lead with confidence and impact.

Quote of the Day: "Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships." – Stephen R. Covey

Question of the Day: What’s one action you can take this week to strengthen trust with your team or stakeholders? Share your thoughts in the comments—we’d love to hear from you!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with new executives to sharpen their leadership skills contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you build and keep trust?

Leading Former Peers: Navigating Shifts in Dynamics (Leadership Challenges Series 3/7)

One of the trickiest situations for any new leader is managing former peers. The shift from being “one of the team” to the person responsible for overseeing and guiding that team can create an awkward dynamic if not handled thoughtfully. Your former peers may struggle with the adjustment, uncertain about how your new role will impact their relationship with you. They might question whether you’ll be fair, whether you’ll change, or whether past camaraderie will cloud your judgment.

Let’s look at some Strategies for Leading Former Peers:

1. Acknowledge the Shift.  Don’t ignore the elephant in the room—acknowledge the change in your role directly and transparently. Let them know that you’re aware this transition could feel unusual and that you’re committed to being fair, supportive, and open. Have one-on-one conversations where you address any concerns, inviting them to share their thoughts. This shows maturity and empathy, helping to ease any discomfort.

2. Establish Boundaries Without Sacrificing Connection.  One of the biggest adjustments will involve setting appropriate boundaries while maintaining the connection you’ve built with them. It’s natural to want to keep a friendly rapport, but it’s important to establish professional boundaries, especially regarding work decisions. You’re in a new position of authority, and clarity around roles will prevent misunderstandings. Emphasize that your primary goal is the team’s success and that your decisions will be made with everyone’s best interest in mind.

3. Be Transparent and Fair.  Former peers might worry that favoritism will come into play, especially if your relationships have previously been closer with some team members than others. To counteract this, be as transparent as possible about your decisions and the criteria you’re using. Ensure your approach to work distribution, evaluations, and feedback is clear and fair. Addressing these aspects early on and being consistent will reinforce your credibility as an impartial and effective leader.

4. Maintain Professionalism in All Interactions.  In your new role, professionalism takes on heightened importance. Small comments or gestures that may have been acceptable when you were peers might now be perceived differently. Approach each interaction with respect, clarity, and a bit of formality where needed. This does not mean losing your personality—it means being mindful of the subtle power dynamics and ensuring everyone feels respected and valued.

5. Be Humble and Inclusive.  Lead with humility by acknowledging that you may not have all the answers. Your former peers likely have valuable insights and inviting them to share them demonstrates respect for their experience. Show them that you see this as a collaborative relationship. Phrases like, “I’d love to hear your thoughts on this,” or “What would you suggest based on your experience” can encourage open communication and reinforce their trust in your leadership.

6. Celebrate the Team’s Wins, Not Just Your Own.  As you step into this leadership role, focus on celebrating team achievements rather than emphasizing your success. By spotlighting the team’s efforts, you’ll reinforce that you are in this role to support and uplift them rather than assert authority. Former peers will appreciate your focus on their success and your commitment to shared goals.

Leading former peers can be challenging, but it also offers a unique opportunity to demonstrate your leadership skills in a way that builds trust and fosters a collaborative environment.  By acknowledging the shift, setting clear boundaries, and focusing on transparency, you can create a seamless transition. Your goal is to guide the team forward while honoring the relationships and experiences you shared previously. When handled with care, managing former peers can result in stronger, more resilient bonds that benefit the team. 

Quote of the Day: “Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It's about impact, influence, and inspiration.” – Robin Sharma

Question: What’s your approach to leading former peers?  What’s the hardest part for you?  Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to sharpen their leadership skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

The next blog in this series 4/7 will focus on managing employees nearing retirement.

How do you lead former peers?

Being the Only Woman in the Room: Navigating Leadership as a Female Executive Among Male Colleagues (Leadership Challenges Series 2/7)

For many female executives, one of the most challenging aspects of leadership is being the only woman in a room full of men. The dynamics in these situations can sometimes feel like you’re navigating invisible boundaries, where your ideas may be questioned, your authority might be subtly undermined, or your perspective could be overlooked. However, these challenges also present an opportunity to bring a fresh viewpoint, reshape cultural norms, and pave the way for future leaders.

Here are some strategies to help you navigate and thrive as a female leader among male colleagues.

1. Stand Firm in Your Expertise and Accomplishments.  As the only woman, you might feel pressure to “prove” yourself repeatedly, even after demonstrating your proficiencies. Instead, stand firm in your achievements. Resist the urge to minimize your contributions or downplay your success. Speak with confidence and conviction, letting your abilities speak for themselves. When you project self-assurance, others are more likely to respond with respect.

2. Leverage Your Unique Perspective.  Being the only woman allows you to bring a valuable, distinct perspective that might otherwise be missing in decision-making. Use this to your advantage. Your experiences, insights, and ideas are assets that can enhance the team’s strategy and broaden its viewpoints. Whether it’s about understanding diverse customers, advocating for inclusive policies, or simply offering a different take, your voice brings value that enriches the entire team. 

3. Create Alliances and Seek Allies.  Building alliances can be especially helpful in an environment where you’re the minority. Identify colleagues who respect and support your ideas, and look for opportunities to collaborate with them. These allies can help amplify your voice, advocate for your ideas, and offer support in meetings. Finding a mentor within the organization or in your industry can also be invaluable in navigating the nuances of being the only female executive. 

4. Communicate Clearly and Directly.  When leading in a male-dominated environment, clarity and assertiveness are key. Communicate your ideas directly, using concise language to convey your points. Practice speaking confidently and avoid qualifying language that might diminish your authority, such as “I just think…” or “Maybe…” Maintaining clear communication reinforces your credibility and makes your voice heard.

5. Navigate Interruptions and Assert Your Presence. Research has shown that women are often interrupted more than men in professional settings. If this happens, it’s crucial to maintain your presence. Politely but firmly reclaim the floor by saying, “If I can finish this last point and then I’d love to hear your idea” or if they have already interrupted, you can retake the stage by saying “If I can circle back to my point before shifting gears….” Establishing a strong presence ensures that your contributions are not overlooked and bolsters the importance of your input.

6. Use Emotional Intelligence to Build Connections.  Emotional intelligence is a key strength that can help you navigate complex team dynamics. Listening actively, empathizing with colleagues, and reading the room can enhance your ability to build strong connections. Leveraging your emotional intelligence allows you to gain allies, bridge communication gaps, and cultivate a collaborative environment that values diverse perspectives.

7. Lead by Example and Advocate for Inclusion.  As a trailblazer, you have the unique opportunity to set a positive example for future female leaders and to champion inclusion. By endorsing policies that support diversity, equity, and inclusion, you create a workplace culture where everyone feels valued. Being open about your experiences as the only woman in the room can foster dialogue and inspire change within the organization. 

Being the only woman in the room may present obstacles, but it also gives you a platform to lead with authenticity and influence change.  By asserting your expertise, building alliances, and communicating confidently, you can command respect and make a lasting impact. This journey requires resilience, self-assurance, and a dedication to lifting others as you rise.  Remember, you’re not only paving the way for your success but for the many female leaders who will follow in your footsteps. 

Question: Have you ever been the only in a room?  If so, how have you handled it? Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you! 

Quote of the day: "Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence." – Sheryl Sandberg

The next blog in this series 3/7 will focus on another leadership challenge of leading former peers. 

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to sharpen their leadership skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

How Do You Lead as the Only in the Room?

From Insight To Action: Effective Method To Develop Self-Awareness (Self-Awareness Series 3/3)

In the first article in this series, we explored the concept of self-awareness and the gap between how self-aware we believe we are and how aware we actually are. In the second article, we examined the biases and barriers that make it difficult to develop self-awareness. The natural question that follows is: How do we actually build self-awareness?

Insight alone is not enough. Self-awareness develops through reflection, feedback, and intentional experimentation.

Let’s explore practical strategies to translate insight into growth and unlock your full potential.

1. Reflect on Yourself. Self-awareness begins with intentional reflection. Leaders who develop strong self-awareness regularly examine their motivations, behaviors, and performance.

1A. Inventory of strengths, non-strengths, values, and opportunities.  Identify both strengths and limitations. We sometimes do this work when preparing for an interview and find that it is helpful to get super clear, so making the space to answer these questions is important. You can take many assessments such as Myers-Briggs, The Big Five, or CliftonStrengths, to gain deeper insights on personality, behavior, and natural talents.

1B. Create reflection time.  Many leaders say they are too busy to reflect. Responding to emails and solving immediate problems often feels more productive.  Yet reflection is one of the practices that separates good leaders from great ones.  Setting aside time to reflect helps leaders examine questions such as: What is going well and why? What could be going better?  How did I respond to recent challenges or setbacks? What lessons can I extract from those experiences?  Reflection helps convert experience into learning. 

1C. Ask better questions.   Self-awareness grows when we challenge our own assumptions.  Questions such as these can expand perspective: What if I am wrong?  What might I be missing?  What are other viewpoints I should consider?  Team coaching expert David Clutterbuck suggests asking questions that increase awareness of our thinking and emotions:  How do I feel about the way that I think?  How do I feel about the way that I feel?  How do I think about the way that I feel?  How do I think about the way that I think? Questions like these encourage deeper reflection.

1D. Test Your Assumptions.  A useful question for building self-awareness is: How do you know if something is true? For example, a leader might wonder, " How do I know I am approachable?  Start by identifying behaviors that support the claim. I leave my office door open for others to enter when they need something; I ask if they have any questions during a meeting; I prompt them to respond to my email with any follow-ups; I participate in activities with my team, such as attending their meetings and connection gatherings.

Next, seek others' perspectives on your approach and how you can improve. E.g., “I am working on being an approachable leader, how approachable do you think I am, what do I do now that supports my approachability, and what can I do to be even more approachable?” Comparing your intentions with others’ experiences often reveals valuable insight.

You can also measure progress over time. If you are working on a skill such as listening, define what success looks like and identify a few indicators. After several months, evaluate your progress using both your own reflection and feedback from others. Self-awareness improves when we move beyond assumptions and begin testing our beliefs against reality.

1E. Compare yourself to your future self.  Write a letter to yourself outlining what you want to improve.  Open it in a few months to compare your progress. Marshall Goldsmith suggests thinking about what gifts your current self has given to your future self.  

1F. Learn from Others. Whatever skill you are trying to improve, read about it, and observe others who excel. Identify effective behaviors and compare them to your own. Learn from those you admire and avoid the mistakes of those you don't.

2. Work with a coach.  Many leaders accelerate their self-awareness by working with a coach. Coaches help clients see beyond assumptions and narratives to understand their present reality more clearly and shape their future more effectively. They often use questions, reflection, metaphors, stories, and synthesis to help clients see patterns they may not notice themselves.  They also ask questions, such as " Why do you do what you do? Why do they believe what you believe, and how is it serving you now? 

2A. Perception management.  Coaches help clients think about their current and ideal perceptions, and their impact. They assist in building their brand to manage these perceptions effectively.

2B. Use of self-reflection assessments.   Coaches provide frameworks and assessments for clients to evaluate their skills. For example, using key leadership traits from "The Leadership Challenge" to understand their strengths and areas for improvement.

2C. Use of Coaching Tools. 

·      Johari Window - A psychological tool created in 1955 by Joseph Harrington to help people improve self-awareness and understand relationship dynamics through 4 quadrants: open area, blind area, hidden area, and unknown area.

·      Gaps Grid.  Developed by David Peterson, Former Head of Executive Coaching at Google, it’s a 2x2 matrix that enhances insight and motivation by mapping goals and values, success factors, abilities, and perceptions. 

3. Seek Perspective From Others. Self-awareness is difficult to develop alone. Others often see patterns we cannot see ourselves. Leaders can gather perspectives in several ways.

3A. Collect Informal data by asking for specific feedback.  Start by asking for input from trusted individuals in your professional circle—your manager, peers, mentors, or team members.  The key is to ask specific questions.  For example:  Instead of asking “Do you have any feedback for me?”  Try asking:  "What is one thing I could do to improve my listening in meetings?"  Specific questions produce more useful answers.

3B. Anchor your feedback.   Guide observers by informing them about the skills you are working on and asking for feedback on your progress. This helps them provide more focused and relevant feedback.  Examples include - “I started working on a new set of skills that I want you to watch for or A month ago, I was working on listening skills, what has been improved?” It is helpful for you to guide the observation because they are still in the throes of what they are doing, and they might not be seeing the wins.  It’s kind of like when relatives you see once a year as a kid will point out how much you have grown and how different you are, and you don’t see it at all because day-to-day, not much is different.

4. Use Formal Feedback. More structured approaches can provide deeper insights.

4A. Run an automated 360.  Collect feedback from the people you work closely with at all levels, directs, peers, managers, customers, partners, and other stakeholders.  You get to do a self-assessment based on leadership competencies and then they also get to weigh in, and you can evaluate the anonymous data and look for patterns.  When I do this with clients, they are always surprised, either by how many great comments they have received, how others have overrated themselves in some areas, and how they did not realize they were falling short of the mark.  It is an eye-opening experience.

4B. Stakeholder interviews.  Similar to a 360, but instead of being automated, a coach will run the process.  They will conduct interviews with the stakeholders, ask questions, and then compile a report. 

4C. Create brief surveys.  Liz Wiseman recommends asking about some accidental diminishing behaviors, which means that despite your best intentions, you may be having an adverse impact on others.

·      What am I inadvertently doing that might be having a diminishing impact on others?

·      How might my intentions be interpreted differently by others? 

·      What messages might my actions actually be conveying?

·      What can I do differently?

Developing self-awareness is a continuous journey that significantly enhances personal and professional growth. By engaging in self-assessment, seeking feedback, and working with a coach, you can gain deeper insights into your strengths and areas for improvement. Over time, these practices help leaders make better decisions, build stronger relationships, and lead with greater impact.

Quotes of the day: "We learn who we are in practice, not in theory." - Herminia Ibarra

Quote of the day:  As you start to walk out of the way, the way appears – Rumi

Reflection Question: What practice do you engage in to raise your awareness?  Comment and share your experiences below; we’d love to hear.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to raise their awareness to increase their performance, contact me to explore this topic further.

What practices raise your awareness?

The Journey Within: Overcoming Challenges and Enhancing Self-Awareness for Better Outcomes (Self-Awareness Series 2/3)

In the previous article, we explored the concept of self-awareness and its core dimensions. But understanding the idea of self-awareness and actually developing it are very different things.

The reality is that self-awareness is difficult to cultivate. Psychological biases, social dynamics, and our own defenses often prevent us from seeing ourselves clearly.

In this article, we’ll explore some of the biggest challenges that make self-awareness difficult—and why developing it is still one of the most valuable investments a leader can make.

Challenges of Self-Awareness

1. Ignorance and discomfort.  Plato’s Allegory of the Cave illustrates how difficult self-awareness can be: ignorance limits awareness, while knowledge liberates. In the allegory, prisoners are chained inside a cave where they see only shadows projected on a wall. Because that is all they have ever seen, they assume the shadows represent reality. When one prisoner is freed and sees the outside world, the experience is overwhelming. Gradually, he realizes the shadows were merely reflections of a deeper reality. But when he returns to share this insight with the other prisoners, he is met with disbelief and hostility. This story captures an important truth about self-awareness: seeing ourselves more clearly can be uncomfortable. Sometimes, the most difficult part of self-awareness is confronting truths about ourselves we would rather not see. It’s why, for many, ignorance feels easier than awareness.

2. Our Backgrounds Shape Our Perspective.  Our experiences shape how we interpret the world.  Generational differences, upbringing, economic circumstances, education, culture, and career experiences all influence how we think about risk, opportunity, and success.  For example, someone who grew up in poverty may think very differently about risk and stability than someone who grew up with financial security.  President John F. Kennedy once acknowledged that he could never fully understand the impact of the Great Depression because he grew up wealthy.  Each of us experiences only a small slice of the world, and that slice shapes our assumptions.  Self-awareness requires recognizing that our perspective, while valid, is also limited.

3. Dunning-Kruger Effect.  This cognitive bias is one of the most well-known barriers to self-awareness.  Psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger discovered that people with lower ability in a domain often overestimate their competence. Because they lack expertise, they also cannot accurately evaluate their own performance.  For example, someone new to software may believe they have mastered it after a brief introduction—while more experienced users recognize how much deeper the skill actually goes.  The overestimation can lead to mistakes and oversights.  As people gain expertise, their confidence often becomes more calibrated and realistic. 

4. Ego.  An inaccurate self-view can hinder leadership growth. For instance, a leader I was working with had a Direct Report submit a self-assessment on his performance review, and wrote “n/a” for what to improve.  When pressed, my client suggested to the Direct the topic of delegation to achieve results through others, rather than doing it all himself.  The Direct dismissed the feedback because he is so talented at getting his work done.  His progress is hampered because he cannot scale by doing all the work himself; he has to get results through his team.  To increase his awareness, the leader then provided a competency framework and clear expectations to get to the next level and help align his self-perception with reality.

5. Defensiveness.  When receiving feedback, we might disagree, believing we’re better than assessed.  For example, someone might think they’re a great listener despite feedback suggesting otherwise. In this case, asking for specific data points and providing evidence from peers, directs, and other stakeholders through anonymous 360 feedback is helpful. Seeing the negative impact can motivate change.  Another form of defensiveness is dismissal.  Some might say, "This is just how I am," or "I've been successful with these behaviors so far, why change?" Marshall Goldsmith says, "What got you here won’t get you there," highlighting that success often comes despite derailing tendencies, not because of them. Past successes do not guarantee future effectiveness.

6.  Lack of feedback.  Many people lack self-awareness because they seldom receive feedback, especially negative.  People avoid giving bad news or lack the skills to deliver it constructively.  This issue is more pronounced for senior leaders, who receive less accurate self-assessments as they climb higher, mainly due to a shortage of honest feedback and being limited to what they might be able to share with others.  One study showed a leader frequently interrupting others was unaware of it, illustrating the loneliness at the top, where they are often surrounded by yes-people.

Benefits of Self-Awareness 

Despite these challenges, developing self-awareness provides powerful advantages.

1. Reduces Stress & Regulates Emotions.  Self-awareness helps us understand and manage our emotional responses. Research in cognitive psychology shows that when individuals reflect on their values and interpret stress as a challenge rather than a threat, they experience lower stress levels and greater resilience. Reflecting on our core values, goals, and principles helps us regulate stress and respond more deliberately. By recognizing our emotional triggers, we can choose thoughtful responses rather than reacting impulsively.

2. Greater performance and Focus.  Research suggests that high performers tend to be more self-aware.  Visionary leaders know what they want to achieve and how their actions affect others.  Self-awareness allows us to focus on the right opportunities and keep emotions from holding us back.

3. Stronger leadership.  Tasha Eurich’s book "Insight" found that internal self-awareness is critical for successful leaders.  They know their strengths, weaknesses, needs, goals, and how they come across.  This is in contrast to clueless leaders who tend to be ineffective.  Great leaders continuously ask questions to diagnose their needs and goals and wonder what blind spots they may have.  Maslow said, “What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.”

4. Enhances Authenticity.  Nancy McKinstry, CEO of Wolters Kluwer said, “You can’t be authentic if you are not self-aware.  How can you be transparent and open, talk about your goals, or share how you influence change without self-awareness?”  It enables transparency, openness, and the ability to influence change. 

5. Increases humility.   Self-aware individuals know what they are good at and what they are not.  Even confident individuals can acknowledge their ignorance in certain areas, fostering curiosity and humility.  Steve Jobs, for example, was aware of his limitations and welcomed disagreements.   He held strong convictions but was willing to change his mind when presented with better information.   Ed Catmull shared a story about Jobs, who wanted Apple to make the iPad before the iPhone.  However, his team convinced him otherwise, and he agreed.  He insisted that Apple provide the app despite his team’s disagreement.   When the iPhone launched, Jobs quickly realized his team was right and changed his mind, demonstrating his ability to adapt and embrace humility.   

Developing self-awareness is crucial for overcoming personal and professional challenges. It allows us to break free from ignorance, understand our unique backgrounds, manage cognitive biases, and receive constructive feedback. By fostering self-awareness, we can reduce stress, improve performance, enhance leadership, and cultivate authenticity and humility.  Embrace these practices to unlock your full potential and achieve greater success

Quote of the day: “If we think of this existence of the individual as a larger or smaller room, it appears evident that most people learn to know only a corner of their room, a place by the window, a strip of floor on which they walk up and down.”  – Rainer Maria Rilke

Question: What do you see as the biggest challenges of self-awareness?  When is ignorance bliss, or is it not?  Comment and share your experiences below; we’d love to hear.

The next blog in this series 3/3 will focus on ways to develop your self-awareness.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to raise their awareness to increase their performance, contact me to explore this topic further

What benefits have you experienced?

Embracing the Power of ‘I Don’t Know’ in Leadership (leadership vulnerability 1/5)

Why do we find it challenging to utter the phrase, ‘I don't know?’ In leadership roles, there's often a pressure to have all the answers, as if uncertainty is a sign of weakness.  However, hiding our lack of knowledge can lead to hastily provided, potentially inaccurate responses.  Let's explore the challenges and concerns of admitting ignorance and the remarkable benefits of embracing this vulnerability.

Challenges and Concerns with Using the Phase.

1. Overcoming the Fear of Incompetence.  Admitting not knowing can make us feel vulnerable, especially when we think we should have the answers.  Some of us carry childhood experiences of being shamed for not knowing; a fellow classmate or teacher who made an example of us, so we may have a reluctance to appear unprepared or inexperienced.

2. Dealing with Vulnerability.  It's uncomfortable to operate from ignorance, as we often prefer to showcase our strengths.  Acknowledging gaps in our knowledge can sting our pride and challenge our sense of competence. 

Despite these genuine concerns, the upsides of saying "I don't know" far outweigh the downsides.  Let’s explore the benefits of embracing uncertainty:

1. Casts a Perception of Being Genuine and Trustworthy.  Admitting uncertainty comes across as sincere.  Conversely, pretending to know when we do not erode trust.  Some people speak so much and show an abundance of confidence, but that should not be confused with competence.  The babble hypothesis proposes that people who talk more in groups, no matter what they say, are more likely to be considered leaders by group members.  So extroverted people will talk more and consequently be considered leaders, but it is only a matter of time before people are on to their empty assurances.  To gain respect, it is better to show yourself as a straight shooter and not someone who makes things up along the way.

2. Increases Credibility and Relationships.  People tend to trust individuals who are honest about their limitations.  Saying ‘I don't know’ can strengthen trust with colleagues, clients, and superiors.  When you pretend, you can harm relationships.  Wharton Professor and Author Adam Grant tells a story of when he was in his mid-20s and was asked to teach a class on motivation to about 50 Air Force Generals. At the end of the first session, he got harsh feedback.  One person said, “There was more knowledge in the audience than on the podium.”  Another added, “I got nothing from this session, but I trust the instructor got useful insights.”  Grant was devastated and wanted to quit but already committed to a second session with another group a week later.  He asked around to find out the one thing he could change in the next session, and they all said how he introduced himself.   Instead of pretending he knew everything in a room full of experts, he showed himself as somebody trying to establish his credentials.  So, when he introduced himself, he opened with, “I know what you are thinking: what can I learn from this professor who is 12 years old.”   After a long silence, somebody broke the ice and said, “You got to be at least 13.”  The room laughed and created a much better beginning, which led to higher ratings the second time.  It is because it is better to admit what he did not know than to claim he knows a lot of stuff or provide speculative information because that would damage his credibility. 

3. Empowers Others.  By recognizing boundaries, we invite others to step up and contribute their expertise.  It encourages others to think critically and share their knowledge, which leads to more robust discussions and better decision-making.  Also, when we feel like we do not need to have all the answers and our team is taking on more of the work, we can be freed to focus on unblocking and engaging in more strategic work that only we can do, and that pushes the organization forward.  Alan Mullaly, CEO of Ford Motor Company and Former President of Boeing, said that the job of a leader is not to come in with all the answers.  It is to find the people in the organization who have the answers and make a path clearer so they can excel.

4. Cultivates Teamwork.  Acknowledging we lack answers creates an environment where colleagues feel comfortable doing the same.  This open environment invites various people to share and be free with their disclosures, even if they are unorthodox or outlandish, which usually leads to the most creative and innovative ideas.  A culture of teamwork is created, where individuals support each other and collectively seek solutions, ultimately enhancing organizational effectiveness. 

5. Avoids Giving Wrong Information.  Offering inaccurate information can lead to misunderstandings, miscommunications, and costly mistakes.  Saying ‘I don't know’ prevents the spread of incorrect information.  Most people are not expecting immediate answers, so we can take that pressure off ourselves and trade fast answers with sound decision-making and more accurate ones, which will build credibility.

6. Alleviates Stress. Pretending to know something when we do not can lead to unnecessary stress. We can worry ourselves with these questions: Are they going to ask a follow-up question? Are they going to offer contradictory information? When am I going to get exposed, and what will be the consequences? Admitting uncertainty relieves this pressure, allowing us to focus on finding accurate solutions rather than maintaining a facade. 

7. Fosters Learning and Humility.  Admitting your limitations can be a catalyst for personal and professional growth.  It creates opportunities to seek answers, learn from others, and improve your skills and knowledge.  The truth is, no matter how knowledgeable we are, the business world is too complex and nuanced to know it all.   Acknowledging your lack of knowledge reflects humility and garners respect from colleagues and superiors who appreciate your openness to new information.  We show others that we are building more of a culture of knowledge seekers than a know-it-all culture.

While admitting ‘I don't know’ may initially feel uncomfortable, it offers numerous benefits for effective leadership and organizational success.  By embracing vulnerability and prioritizing honesty, leaders can foster trust, collaboration, and innovation within their teams.

Quote of the day: “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.” ―Socrates

Question:  Tell us about a time when you shared how you didn’t know something; how did it impact the situation?  Comment and share below; we’d love to hear from you!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to strengthen their communication, contact me to explore this topic further.

The following blog in this series 2/5 will focus on practical strategies for sharing when you don’t know.

How do you say, ‘I don’t know?’

The Future of Work is Hybrid ( Remote Series 11/11)

While some companies have opted for a full remote experience, others are still figuring it out and thinking through a hybrid setup.  Since covid has blown up the traditional work model, it has allowed companies to think about a more improved format that will allow people to rearrange their lives and work preferences for greater fulfillment and productivity. 

One complexity that companies are dealing with is how much time people should be in the office.  In a linked interview, David Rock from the NeuroLeadership Institute mentioned how split worker preferences are:

·      1/3 of people love to be in the office because they are most productive and happier and do not have distractions or a lack of structure, which they can experience at home.  It is also energizing for extroverts to be around people who get their energy from all the interactions. 

·      1/3 of people prefer to be at home, especially caretakers, who tend to be mostly women, and some racial groups who talked about experiencing greater comfort working from home. They can organize their schedule that supports their parental and lifestyle preferences.  It is also less depleting for introverts who can get quickly drained by being around people constantly.

·      1/3 of people are happy to mix it up, go into the office part of the time to be around people and collaborate, and stay home part of the time for deep work and more flexibility.

Executives are also split on this topic, which some believe is more emotionally charged than layoffs.  Tim Cook of Apple, Elon Musk of Tesla, Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan, Reed Hastings of Netflix, and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs are just some Fortune 500 CEOs who have loudly demanded their employees return to the worksite.  They view physical attendance as paramount, especially given their real estate investment.  Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, David Ek of Spotify, Parag Agrawal of Twitter, Jack Dorsey of Square, and Mark Benioff of Salesforce have endorsed more of a work-from-anywhere policy.  And some trust their teams to make the best decisions.  Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy told employees, “instead of specifying that people work a baseline of three days a week in the office, we're going to leave this decision up to individual teams."  Sundar Pichai of Google said, "I think people and teams are going to figure this out.”  They take more of a local approach empowering teams to do what makes the most sense for accomplishing business objectives and satisfying individual preferences.

The Future Of Work Is A Hybrid Setup

A  McKinsey article highlight’s that many organizations will be seeking to combine the benefits of remote and onsite working, but many currently lack a strategy for the future of work.  The key is figuring out the right model that will work for your culture, having a definite strategy and not trying to be all things to everyone.  When you define your culture, and tell others who you are and what it means to work here, people can make informed decisions that best suit their needs.

Companies are in this rare moment to reimagine how work can be done better.  Before determining your hybrid strategy, here are some points you may want to consider:

1. Define the kind of company and culture you want to have.  People are still thinking about the right way to do hybrid and there is no one correct answer as it depends on the needs of the people and the company.  How is your organization being regenerative, where it invests in its people so that every year, they get even better, rather than exploitative, where they try to extract as much as they can from people as they drive toward profits.

2. Set your goals linked to the business outcomes and then give flexibility.  Once you know the company’s purpose and business outcomes, you can be flexible in achieving those ends.  Rather than return to the old ways of doing things or bad habits that were not working, it is a real opportunity to explore what will be best for your team and company in this current period.  Granting employees the flexibility they yearn, will allow the company to benefit from higher productivity, engagement, and loyalty.  People benefit because they can organize their life according to what is important to them.  At GitLab, they optimize for results rather than activities or the number of hours worked

3. Survey your people and co-create.  What do your employees want?  How are you using their voices to restructure the workday and week?  How much flexibility do they have in deciding how they work, when, where, and who they work with?  Where do their preferences and interests come into play?  You can give an anonymous survey to truly understand their predilections, and then you can use that data to balance it with the organization’s needs.  How can they be set up for success, do their job well, and simultaneously make sure the business is serving the stakeholders and customers?  Once you know this, you can collectively create the best policy for the work and your people.  This decision should not be made by one person or just the executive team in an office, and then it gets imposed onto others, there has to be an account for the diverse perspectives and a collaboration to determine the best course of action.  You can run an innovation tournament and crowd-source the best ideas.  They can submit various models to meet the conditions of promoting worker benefits, attracting top talent, and meeting the needs of the business and its many stakeholders.

4. View the office as a tool to advance teamwork.  This will help you be more intentional about your in-person time.  One of the keys to making this a success is to think about batching or arranging time together to maximize the team’s advantage in the office as face-to-face coordination helps. 

In an interview with Adam Grant, CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella said, “stop thinking about remote work like a switch but instead a dial to turn up or down on synchronous and asynchronous work depending on the type of team you have and the kinds of projects you are doing.  If your project is more like a relay race, you need more time together like an assembly line with multiple people are involved or a media shop where one draft needs to be handled by many people…a writer, editor, and designer.  The person passing the baton needs to be in sync with the person receiving it.   When excellence depends on repeatedly passing the ball, you want to spend several days in the week together and coordinate your time.”

5. Designate Anchor & Deep Work Days.  Some companies choose 2 or 3 days a week for anchor days.  If you are going to the office, it is nice to spend time on intense collaboration and innovation.  When people know they are coming in for ideation or creative work or working on a specific task or problem together where they are whiteboarding and solutioning, it can deepen cohesion and engender great feelings as people can feel good creating and connecting. It is also a buzzing energy to align around a goal.   They can be used for important internal meetings, 2–3-year strategy planning work, or with key customers to give them facetime to build more trust rapidly.  Finally, an opportunity to have lunch, connect, and foster great culture and build community.  If an entire team has few dependencies, they can even decide to meet at WeWorks on the same day to work in community.  When people are co-located, there is magic and spontaneity in the informal interactions where people of different expertise and experience exchange ideas for great creativity.  Those casual collisions drive learning and innovation and can brighten people’s days and make them feel more connected.

The key is to devise a plan that will work for most.  If you allow everybody to pick individually and are on different schedules from their immediate and cross-functional teams, you miss the benefits of hybrid.  It is not as productive to come into the office and do things they can easily do from home such as staring at a screen all day when they would have been more productive at home.  The people who have a 2-hour commute and are forced to come in to do independent work that they could have done better at home will become resultful.   

Another format I’ve seen is when managers set a number such as 30% of your time per month in the office, or designate certain weeks out of the month, such as the 1st and 3rd.   Or, some managers select a day for drop-in office hours or the HR Team encourages all employees to do their onboarding in the office for the first two weeks.   You can use the rhythm that works for you, but the idea is to have some frequency with each other.  It is also essential to make the experience compelling, so people want to come in, for example, if leadership makes themselves more accessible, that could incentivize people to come in.

5. Designate quiet time.  For the non-anchor days, you can select part of the time for deep work and reflection.  In these interruption-free zones where there are no meetings, you have protected time to put your head down and complete your analytical and critical work, so you are not working after hours.  It is also an intentional space to step back from the screen and do more creative and focused work.  Research suggests that limiting meetings to the afternoons can give people time to get stuff done in the morning, progress on their tasks, and be more likely to focus on the afternoon meetings because they’re not multitasking.

Make asynchronous communication hours clear.  When people are working remotely, what are the general times they should be logged on, this will allow them to arrange their time freely to best serve them, and have better work-life harmony.  The asynchronous times would be the meeting free times.   At Warner Media, they have No Meetings Friday, you can communicate via slack, but no calendar invites will come through that day.   Being clear about the different kinds of time helps people avoid the triple peak where they are active in the morning, during the day, and in the evening, which will lead to burnout.  There should not be the expectation of being accessible on weekends and late nights.  And if you are the type who likes to work on nights and send emails, be clear that you do not expect a response.  If you are a senior leader and send many messages before the weekend, it’s a good way to destroy somebody’s off time.  You can establish the norm or expectation that you do not need a response in your email signature by writing something like this: I value working flexibly. I’m sending this message at a time that best suits me, but I don’t expect that you will read, respond to, or act on it outside of your regular working hours.”

6. Declare time off.  Having synchronized holidays is a nice feeling because people will not be returning to a pile of work when nobody else is working.  Having that time off for rejuvenation is so vital to the health of the employees.  At Salesforce, they have wellness days, time for you to journal and sense make, do yoga, meditate, or do other things, which provides another opportunity for replenishment.

7. Be intentional about your off-site, whether quarterly, biyearly, or yearly.  Whatever format you choose, it is nice to have off-sites, getting away from the office with a focus on bonding, relationship-building, connecting, and doing great, focused work that will advance the business and ensure alignment.

8. Give people a choice and define flexibility.  Flexibility is the number one request that employees make, but it’s too narrowly focused on remote and hybrid work.  It’s not enough to discuss where we should work, we need a broader conversation about what flexibility means.   Some would say it is the freedom to choose their place of work, their purpose, the people they work with, and their priorities.  This helps contribute to a regenerative organization because people are motivated by many different things, and if some want to spend time with their family, they should be able to.

·      Place– Outside the 2-3 anchor days where people have to be in the office to achieve objectives better, you can offer options for people to decide if they want to work from home or go to the office.  People with young kids or with long commutes may choose the former, while those who prefer to have a space outside their home for work or get to flex their extroverted nature might choose the latter.

·      People – Wherever possible, it is helpful for people to choose the team they want to be on and the people they get to collaborate with to do their best work because it is in service of the business.

·      Purpose & Priorities – Where possible, it is helpful for people to have autonomy in their work - freedom to explore new ideas and work on projects they want to work on.  Allow them to take healthy risks as long as the company is not jeopardized.  When the business is at risk, they should reach out to make a collective decision and not make that alone.

Undergirding the freedom option, that flexibility is not blindly granted but earned.  If you present as a reliable and credible coworker, a good communicator, and meet all their deadlines and outcomes, of course, you should have these privileges.  But if it is apparent that work is slipping through the cracks and there is a negative strain on the team because critical projects cannot move forward, then the freedom option needs to be considered because it is freedom in service of hitting outcomes and personal and team happiness, but not at the expense of objectives.

However you decide to build your hybrid culture, you can always run an experiment and try something for a quarter or two to gather data, work out the kinks, include your people’s voices, and see what works best and what adjustments need to be made. These complex problems cannot be solved by anyone but must include a team working together.

Quote of the day: “We like to give people the freedom to work where they want, safe in the knowledge that they have the drive and expertise to perform excellently, whether they are at their desk or in their kitchen.  Yours truly has never worked out of an office, and never will.” — Richard Branson

Q:  What is your strategy for hybrid work? Comment and share below; we would love to hear from you!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to create enjoyable remote work experiences for themselves and their teams, contact me to explore this topic further.

What’s your hybrid strategy?