By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
Today’s rant has been building inside me for a while now. The text that follows is not going to sit well with a number of those in my profession, but hey, that’s never stopped me before. During a recent interview I was asked how I felt about the coaching profession - I jokingly referred to myself as a coaching heretic, and went on to say that I really don’t like the word “coach” as a descriptor for what I do. The truth is that while I absolutely love what I do for a living, I’m not overly enamored with the industry norms and status quo. With that said, I decided to devote today’s post to providing a bit of context to the soundbites noted above. In the text that follows I’m going to share my perspective on why I believe the we need to rethink the definition of coaching…
Does culture trump strategy? I think not, and I’ll explain why. Even though I have seen this phrase quoted by some very bright people whom I respect, it just doesn’t resonate with me. I thought perhaps I was misunderstanding what was being said, so I decided to Google the phrase “Culture Trumps Strategy” and found that Stanford offered an Entrepreneurship Lecture by this title, I found several CEOs using the phrase in speeches, press releases, etc., I even found a few 
An army of one isn’t really much of an army is it? And I can assure you that any CEO who views him/herself as an army of one will fail. Whether you like it or not, your success as a CEO will be largely tied to your team building ability. Not only do great CEOs understand how to recruit a top executive team, but they also understand how to build cohesion among team members through collaboration while addressing specific situational and contextual needs. Great CEOs realize the importance of being consistently, purposefully and intensely engaged with their CXOs. They understand how to effectively deploy these highly productive and valuable team members to create tremendous leverage and velocity across the enterprise. In today’s post I’ll share the questions that great CEOs use to align the interests and focus the efforts of their executive team…
News Flash – the phrase ”humble leadership” is not an oxymoron. While many people immediately conjure-up an image of the ever so confident, bombastic extrovert without an ounce of humility as the picture of what constitutes a real leader, nothing could be further from the truth. As my wife has always said, “Those who talk the most usually have the least to say.” While feigned humility is the height of insincerity, authentic humility is the most sincere form of confidence and strength. Leaders need to understand that being authentically humble humanizes them, allows them to build stronger trust bonds, and engenders confidence & loyalty from peers and subordinates alike. In today’ post I’ll share my thoughts on the value of learning to become a humble leader…
All great leaders have one thing in common: They read voraciously. Did you know that the average American only reads one book a year? Worse than this is the fact that 60% of average Americans only get through the first chapter. Contrast this with the fact that CEOs of Fortune 500 companies read an average of four to five books a month. Even more impressive is that some of the most successful leaders throughout history were known to read one book every single day. Bottom line…If you’re a leader and not an avid reader, you’re wrong. In today’s post I’ll share my thoughts on the value of reading…
I had a few conversations this week that caused me to realize that as much as social media has evolved, there still remains mass amounts of confusion around the topic of social media. Given the prolific amounts of misinformation in circulation, I thought it worthwhile to repost this piece. If you find all the noise around social media to be confusing, rest assured that you’re not alone. If you’re among the group of active users who no longer find it confusing, but still haven’t hit your stride, you’re also in good company. Blogging since 2002, being actively involved in digital marketing since the early 90′s, and being online since the days of the ARPANET I have a bit of history with most things digital. What’s interesting to me is that with every major advancement in the web comes a mixed bag of apathy, over exuberance, confusion, chicanery and even outright skulduggery that makes life much more complicated than it needs to be. In today’s post I’ll bust a few myths, reveal an evil secret or two, and share with you what you need to know in order to be successful with social media…
This is another one of those, “I wonder how many subscribers and followers I’ll lose when they read this?” kind of post…Okay, I know business is far less formal today than in times past. I understand that many are more tolerant of colorful language than they used to be. In fact, some even encourage the use of profanity as being true to ones authentic self. Call me old school if you will, but I don’t buy any of the aforementioned arguments as legitimate in supporting the use of indiscreet, inappropriate, and unprofessional language. I submit that it is high time that we refuse to tolerate the use of profanity in forums where as leaders we have a say. In the text that follows I’ll attempt to make a compelling case for your consideration.
On the ninth anniversary of the horrific tragedy that occurred on September 11th, 2001 I believe it should be incumbent upon us all to take pause and remember what happened on 9/11, to mourn those who were lost that day, and to reflect upon how the events of that day have forever changed our world. So rather than share my usual content, I want to encourage you to offer condolences to families of all those who lost their lives on 9/11, to our fallen heroes who have lost their lives since that day, and/or to send well wishes to our veterans or active duty service members. I would ask that you leave your comments below and to promote this post so that our heroes and their families will know how much we love and support them. Thanks in advance for your participation.
