Archive for July, 2016
Extraordinary CEOs Who Wear the Demystifier-in-Chief Hat
This article was originally published at www.extraordinaryceo.com.
Little did I realize what I was getting into when I was offered my first managerial job after three years in the Peace Corps and graduate school – chief operating officer of a large but quite troubled local nonprofit providing a wide range of educational and job training services. Talk about a challenging situation, especially for a guy not yet 30 years old! This relatively new nonprofit was on the verge of closing down because of a threatened removal of Federal funding due to a history of mismanagement. My COO position had been … Read the rest
Boosting Your Board’s Self-Esteem
Hundreds of interviews with transportation board members over the years have taught me a valuable lesson. Board members who take pride in their boards – and in their governing work – make more reliable partners for the CEO – the kind who’ll back you up when the you-know-what hits the proverbial fan, as it always eventually does. And I’ve also learned that getting board members formally involved in managing their own governing performance is a sure-fire way to boost their self-esteem.
The December 2, 2015 post at this blog, “Strengthening Your Board’s Performance Management Is a Wise Investment,” tells how … Read the rest
Not Much Glamour – But This Apparent Sow’s Ear Is Really a Silk Purse
“That doesn’t really sound very CEO-like” That was the initial reaction of a transit GM in our coaching session a couple of years ago when I suggested that he put on what I called the “Chief Governing Process Designer Hat.” We were discussing an issue he’d identified in our session a couple of weeks earlier that he’d described as “terribly worrisome.” In a nutshell, although his relationship with the 11-member board seemed generally OK as far as he could tell – with no severe tension points or other obvious problems – he had a gut feel that most if not … Read the rest
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