Executive Coaching Company Breakdown: How to Get the Most Out of Coaching for Strategic Change
Executives are the best business leaders in the world. They are subject matter experts in their field, the brightest minds, and equipped with the immense technical skills and experience to be at the helm of the world's most powerful and disruptive companies. The truth is that even these world-class leaders have room to grow and can find ways to identify their weaknesses, optimize their…
Executive Hiring For a P.E. Portfolio Company – Tangential Opportunity
Part Four –Tangential Opportunity; a Balancing Act in P.E. Hiring In the previous three parts of this series, we realized the challenging factors around searching for and placing an ideal candidate to lead a private equity portfolio company. This series's final part will balance needs with compromises, float tangential opportunities to expand horizons, and extricate from myopia on that elusive…
Two Executive Personality Traits To Focus On As An Effective Leader
"Self Awareness" Does Your Potential Executive Hire Have It? Each year I debrief leadership assessment results with hundreds of C-Suite candidates as an Executive Coach & Consultant at N2Growth. Assessments are an excellent tool for understanding a candidate's self-awareness regarding their personality traits and help identify how one is "naturally inclined" to act, based on five inherent…
How Startups Can Revamp Their Executive Leadership Talent for Growth
Organizations, particularly startups, require changes in executive leadership talent in the business lifecycle to capitalize on growth potential. Sometimes CEOs are late to make the necessary executive team changes, which comes at a cost. Today, I’d like to share some examples and critical considerations for companies that fit in this category. NerdWallet is an example of when the rapidly growing…
Tech-Savvy Youth and the Future of C-Suite Leadership
Did you know that American youth spend an average of six hours or more a day on screens? As a result of increased social media use and continuous screen time, young adults have become more reliant on the internet for information, learning, working, communication, and entertainment. Today I will share my thoughts on our youth and their relationship with technology and its potential impact on the…
Transition Coaching After Executive Search Placement Increases Success in India
Executive coaching was nearly unheard of in India 15 or so years ago. Today is much different. Now there are thousands of certified executive coaches and multiple ICF chapters engaged in helping executives and their organizations succeed. Indian companies are engaging this skilled cadre of coaches to help nurture and develop leaders ripe for transitioning to senior roles, they are improving…
Doing Well By Doing Good With Darrin Williams, CEO Southern Bancorp
Darrin Williams, CEO of Southern Bancorp, may have been a little surprised when a world-class business school professor came knocking at his door. He wasn’t used to that kind of attention deep in the heart of Arkansas. Yet, he could no longer fly under the radar. Professor Rebecca Henderson, an esteemed professor of management at Harvard Business School and a world-leading expert in reimagining…
What Will Female C-Suite Leadership Look Like Post COVID?
The composition of C-suite leadership across the spectrum is notably different than it used to be ten or so years ago. Recent stats from Deloitte show that females in the C-suite now account for 28% of the overall composition, a marked uptick from 18.6% a decade ago. But as the world emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, it has become clear that the pandemic's economic and social tolls have…
When a CFO’s “Head In The Cloud” Is a Good Thing
Having a CFO with a "head in the cloud" might be a good thing if we're talking about cloud computing, cognitive technologies, and AI that has significantly influenced this role. The evolutionary path of the Chief Financial Officer continues with assuming the driving seat in companies' digital transformation. Still, although they've come a long way, these professionals face a relatively steep road…
Stan Van Gundy: The Soft Stuff Is the Hard Stuff—Especially When Leading in the NBA
At the age of 19, Zion Williamson was drafted number one by the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2019 NBA Draft. Many experts immediately compared the young star to LeBron James, who had already cemented his place in history on the Mount Rushmore of basketball, alongside Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. Those are some big shoes to fill. Pelican team owners likely realized they needed a new coach to…
Improving Leadership Bench Strength
In our meetings with CEOs and HR directors, it is evident there is a growing concern within organizations needing to strengthen current leaders and support the bench of the future ones. After reading Gartner's report on How to Build Leadership Bench Strength, these are my conclusions: HR already invests 23% of its Training and Development budget in Leadership and 27% on the high potential…
Can Lawyers Lead?
Recently I taught a brand new class on leadership at the Yale Law School. Despite popular misconceptions, young lawyers are hungry to become more self-aware and to sharpen their leadership competencies. One of the best leaders I’ve met is a lawyer named Wim Dejonghe. In this interview, you’ll hear his advice to aspiring lawyers who wish to become better leaders. You should take his advice…
Are Doctors Great Leaders? Well, some of them…
Apparently, Zocdoc is doing something right. Their early investors are a ‘Who’s Who’ list of innovators and billionaires, including Marc Benioff, Founder’s Fund, Khosla Ventures, Bezos Expeditions, and Goldman Sachs. Zocdoc is an innovative medical care startup that solves a nasty problem we all face—scheduling an appointment with a new doctor. Their mission is to make patients’ lives easier by…
Feedback Is a Funny Thing with Gerard Coops Ph.D.
On a recent visit to our N2Growth EMEAA headquarters in Rotterdam, Netherlands, I visited with my new friend Gerard Coops, Managing Director of HuReMa Consulting, to discuss his views on leadership as it relates to giving feedback and providing coaching. Interview Summary JH: Leaders providing proper feedback to their team members has been a topic of conversation for endless amounts of time. Why…
Failing Forward: Brad Smith, Board Chair of Intuit Shares His Perspective
Let's face it; we all fail from time to time. But how come some people seem to "fail forward" even when times are tough? Brad D. Smith has a unique perspective. During one of the most turbulent times in Silicon Valley history, Brad D. Smith was the steady-handed, innovative, and always resilient President and CEO of Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU). During his decade long tenure, the stock price…
Here’s How Luka Doncic Won Over Mark Cuban
Why does Mark Cuban love Luka Doncic? The easy answer is that Luka is a bonafide star for the Dallas Mavericks. Luka is only 21 years old and already an All-Star He’s a permanent fixture on ESPN’s Top-10 list Maverick's season ticket demand has gone through the roof The economic value of the Dallas Mavericks continues to skyrocket since acquiring Luka But what really resonates with Mark…