First deliberate practice of the day – meditation

There’s no doubt most participants in our executive coaching and business coaching programs are feeling incredibly challenged to keep up with all that’s coming at them.  They have hundreds of e-mails each day, new competitive and economic threats, and the ever joyful demands of keeping employees happy, focused and productive!  Welcome to leadership 2011.

One particular client have been working with for the past two years has been slugging it out trying to bring his company back to strong vibrant health.  It hasn’t been easy.

Recently he started showing up with a new sense of calmness and peacefulness.  I figured he broke down and began seeing a psychiatrist and getting antidepressant medication— who would’ve blamed him?

As it turned out he came upon the book Conquest of Mind by Eknath Easwaran and had begun a very serious and dedicated practice of morning meditation.  The differences in him were startling.

Instinctually when there’s so much coming at you it seems like the smart thing to do is to work harder and faster.  That’s not always the right answer.

When I asked the client about his new found calmness he said the morning meditation was really giving him a feeling of “groundedness” and stability as he faced the day’s challenges.

So I went ahead and purchased the book and followed the author’s formula. I found it to be one of the most simple, straightforward resources to either refine your meditation practice or begin your meditation practice.

Remember the old saying –  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

Tomorrow morning instead of diving into your e-mail, why don’t you try taking 15 to 30 minutes of meditation and see if you achieve the same result?  I think you’ll find with a clearer calmer mind you and your team will produce better business results and find a sense of joy in this tumultuous business world.

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Monday, June 20th, 2011
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Mehmet + Instanbul = Amazing!

Executive coaching is about helping business leaders see from a different perspective.  It reminds me a little bit of my tour guide Mehmet last month in Istanbul.

We were walking along the gardens between Topkapi Palacein the Blue Mosque and Mehmet told me to stop and turn around.  We had the most spectacular view of historic Istanbul overlooking the Bosphorus Strait.

It reminded me a little bit of the coaching journey I take with executives and family businessowners.  Like Mehmet I have been on many tours and usually know just the right place to ask people to stop and take a look.  Without him I would’ve walked right by that spot and missed an important vantage point.

I know it’s human nature to think we can figure it out ourselves, and many times we can.  But having Mehmet along made the process go simpler, quicker and more enjoyable.  I could have wandered around and seen many sites, but his expertise made the journey so much more fruitful.

And again like coaching, he turned me back out on my own in the city the second day but because of his guidance and experience, I was able to navigate with more confidence and ease.

I think I’m a tour guide for helping executives and family businesses have a more profitable and enjoyable journey.

 Thanks Mehmet!

Part time job in the family business

Oh what a wonderful tradition!  I worked part-time in the family business as a student and recently employed my kids in my business as students.

I personally found it to be a great way to really “experience” my family’s business values and personality.  It was an experience I can remember as if it were yesterday. 

I hope the experience was similar for my children and I think it was.  They get to see dad in action, how he interacts, works, treats people and carries himself as a professional.  I think getting to interact with your parents in a professional setting really allows for children to get to know their parents from a different perspective and lens.  And I guess the same is true for parent and child. 

Most recently my son graduated from film school and presented an idea on how I could take my traditional business and expand it dramatically through combining traditional training with filmmaking and entertainment and the explosion of video on the web.  What an exciting opportunity to be creative, collaborative and capitalize on the unique opportunity for both of us. 

Like everything, there are pros and cons to this arrangement.  Here are a few:

Pros:

  • more time with your kids and perhaps more importantly in a different setting
  • getting needed work done by cheap (sometimes) lovable labor
  • giving the office staff a chance to get to know your family more
  • creates exposure to family’s profession so that children have more information to choose their own profession 

Cons:

  • getting the office staff to get to know your family more
  • potentially seeing work habits that are not up to the family standard
  • being a potentially difficult position of having to fire your children
  • potentially causing more conflict in already tumultuous teenager/parent relationships

Overall, if both parties want it to work and make a commitment not to let it negatively affect their relationship – give it a try!  It will be a good learning experience for everyone involved!

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Thursday, May 26th, 2011
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Coaching is a universal language

Today I had the unique and enjoyable experience of observing our Turkish coaching students to see how they were progressing during this week’s class. The new part was that they were coaching in their Turkish language. While I don’t speak Turkish, I saw many wonderful things. I saw coaches making connections with their clients through their eyes, their expressions and the client’s own reactions. I saw insights happening with wide open eyes. I saw enthusiasm and passion for helping people move forward with new action and commitments. Best of all I saw a special partnership.

Tomorrow I will ask them to coach in English so I can hear more dimensions of their work. But for today I could see coaching was producing the desired outcomes. Coaching is universal and special.

 

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Thursday, May 12th, 2011
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Just when you thought we were different

Albert Long Hall
South Campus

My visit to Turkey has illuminated many cultural differences for sure. At the same time it has reinforced the notion that we are more similar than we are different. Coaching leaders here sounds the same as coaching executives in the United States. All of us are looking for ways to find more effectiveness, meaning and ultimately personal satisfaction in our lives.

The coaching process gives us a chance to take pause, be reflective and explore the patterns of thinking and acting that hold us back from living our most powerful and rewarding life. Coaching is about being willing to be challenged and stretching ourselves to reach for new heights. When we declare new possibilities with clear intentions it’s amazing how we set ourselves on a new course.

  • Awareness (of where we are), choice (about where we want to go) and trust in ourselves and the process of getting there.

Thank you to the Turkish participants for allowing me to be on the journey with them.

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
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Going Uptown

Today I ventured out for the 25 minute walk to the funicular. The funicular is basically like a light rail pulled by a cable. The funicular took me up the hill to Taksim Square and the Istiklal Avenue shopping district. Its like two worlds combined. Small shopkeepers alongside the biggest names in retail. The long wide street is closed to traffic except a vintage cable car that transports shoppers.  At every corner there is a little side street with other shops and cafes.

See full size image

I was tempted for some familiarity when I saw the Starbucks, but I don’t even frequent it much at home, why start now. Like shopping anywhere, I lost interest pretty quickly and made my way back toward my hotel. I hit a sidewalk cafe for a sandwich and coke and called it an afternoon. It always amazes me how I walk miles in distant places, yet rarely do it at home. I need to get more pedestrian back home. I promise I will walk to work at least once before the hot weather is upon us.

Off to the university tomorrow to begin teaching the coaching class. Really looking forward to connecting with the Turkish leaders. Connecting with leaders from another culture is going to be an enriching experience. I’ll keep you posted.

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
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Observations from Istanbul

The first thing you can’t help but notice is the sheer number of people in this ancient city. Fourteen to seventeen million depend on who you ask.  Istanbul has seen a lot over the course of its history and is still strong, vibrant and proud. The city is amazingly clean, modern and well maintained for its age.

It’s a marvel to see how efficiently the public transportation system moves everyone around between light rail, train and big and little buses. When you take one look at the car traffic you’ll readily jump on a light rail.  In my 45 minute cab ride from the airport (20 miles) we were moving quickly about 5 minutes and creeping along for the rest of the time. My cabby made every effort to switch routes, squeeze in where he shouldn’t and give a few drivers a piece of his mind, but in the end it was annoyingly slow for both of us.

 See full size imageThe highlight of the first day was a trip to the spice market, one of the oldest continuously run markets in the world. As a lifelong entrepreneur is was entertaining to see the free market system in full swing. Merchants  giving their   lively spiel to each prospective customer, haggling for the best deal and seemingly enjoy the whole experience all the while. It might have been 300 years ago for that matter, raw goods displayed on crates, a scale for weighing and an almost overwhelming amount of foot traffic and enthusiasm. Spices, cheese, herbs, even chickens, and of course the market staple – leeches. I can’t remember when I’ve seen a better bargain on a good old leech.

In the end I was struck by the simplicity, warmth and good spirit if it all. The Turkish people seem very comfortable in who they are and enjoy the traditions of their great city. They welcomed me with a warm smile, a huge selection of bargains and good deal on a rack of spices. Tomorrow I’m off to the more upscale district by Taksim Square.

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
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Make sure to take charge of your team!

The number one thing is to show genuine concern and appreciation for the people doing the hard work.  Great leaders forge strong connections through both words and actions.  They walk the talk.  When you have loyal and dedicated followers they will scale mountains for you.

 Unfortunately too many leaders are either too task oriented or too relationship oriented.  The most successful leaders I see have found a beautiful balance between those orientations.

 Secondly make clear connections between personal vision and company vision.  Make sure the people can see their own personal gain for all of their hard work.  Great companies have simple and clearly articulated compensation systems.  When the rewards and consequences are clearly outlined hard-working, smart people take care of their own accountability for results.

 Lastly, learn how to have some fun.  Some of the most hard-working, productive and successful teams I work with also know how to have fun and not take any of it too seriously.  Mood has a huge impact on productivity and focus.  Great leaders have an artful way of creating environments that have intensity with lightheartedness and humanity. 

 As we all know, is a highly competitive world out there.  It is going to take hard work, dedication and focus to succeed financially.  But that doesn’t have to mean at the cost of human spirit.  We aren’t going to go back to the days of factory work/sweatshops.  Successful companies of the future are creating highly productive, hard-working, yet intrinsically rewarded workers.  It can be done I see it happening.

Family Business Stories – Inc. Magazine

So many interesting family business stories!  I had the pleasure of sharing mine in Inc. Magazine: 

http://tinyurl.com/5ssuc6f

Reviewing the game film real-life lessons from the leadership “field”

While coaching an executive in Wisconsin I interviewed his boss to get his feedback as part of the executive coaching process.  In the conversation, the boss tells me a pretty significant piece of feedback about  a behavioral tendency that’s negatively impacting the executive’s performance.

I asked (call me old-fashioned),” have you given him that feedback?”

The boss responds, “I guess not directly.  More in an OBLIQUE way.”

I ask (stealth coaching), “have you considered giving them that feedback not in an oblique way?”

The boss said, “yeah I guess I should do that.”

Here’s the real question.  Why do we have such a hard time saying things straight to people?  Why do we make it so much more difficult than it has to be?  Why can’t leaders simply give performance feedback in a way that is productive and healthy?

Stop giving people oblique feedback and start giving them direct feedback!

In my book “Coach to Win the Leadership Game” I outline why coaching is such a great leadership style that actually sets leaders up beautifully to give straight feedback to their team members.

When you have a coaching culture, people expect straight feedback so that they can improve their business results.

My friend says that most leaders aren’t great at giving feedback in a way that can be used to improve performance.  I was almost shocked to hear this senior executive of a highly successful company openly saying that he was giving oblique feedback.

 Stop it.

  • Posted by Coach Pete
  • Thursday, January 20th, 2011
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