Marshall Goldsmith Library
Marshall Goldsmith on Facebook Marshall Goldsmith on iTunes Marshall Goldsmith on LinkedIn Marshall Goldsmith on Twitter Marshall Goldsmith on YouTube 
Contact Marshall Goldsmith About Marshall Goldsmith Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50 Award Marshall Goldsmith's Books Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching Free Resources Library Resources in Languages Other Than English Marshall Goldsmith Affiliations
Marshall Goldsmith

Contact Marshall Goldsmith

Marshall Goldsmith Library navigation
About Marshall
About Marshall Goldsmith
Contact Marshall Contact Marshall Goldsmith
Free Resources
Free Resources at Marshall Goldsmith Library
Marshall's Books
Marshall Goldsmith Books
Monthly Features
Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching SCC
Coach Training
Monthly Features at Marshall Goldsmith Library
Upcoming Schedule
Marshall Goldsmith Upcoming Schedule
What's New
Whats New at Marshall Goldsmith Library
Newsletter
Marshall Goldsmith Newsletter
Blog:
 INC.com
 Personal Blog
Marshall Goldsmith Blog
Media Info
Marshall Goldsmith Media
MOJO News
Marshall Goldsmith Media


Leadership Is a Contact Sport Series

#8 Leadership Is a Contact Sport

Leadership Is a Contact Sport Series, Marshall Goldsmith print print version

Dear Followers: I'm excited that my new book Triggers is finally published! Order it now at Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com! Life Is Good. -- Marshall
Continual contact with colleagues is so effective in helping leaders develop that they can succeed even without a large, formal program.

by Marshall Goldsmith

My career as an executive coach began many years ago with a phone call from the CEO of a Fortune 100 company. I had just given a leadership clinic to the CEO’s human resources department. This is what I was doing in the late 1980s – advising HR departments about identifying future leaders in their companies and creating programs to form them into better leaders. The CEO had attended the session and from what I’d said he thought I might be able to help him with a VP who, though smart, dedicated, motivated, hard-working, and creative, was also a stubborn, opinionated, know-it-all. I was intrigued by this challenge.

I had coached many groups of mid-level managers who were on the verge of success, but never an individual who was already very successful and needed to make a change to be blasted into the stratosphere. I took the job – and I took it on a pay for results basis. If the VP improved, I’d get paid and if not I told the CEO it was free.

That was a couple of decades ago, and I did get paid. Since then I’ve worked with more than 150 CEOs and their management teams. My job isn’t to make anyone smarter or richer. It’s to help people identify a personal habit that’s annoying their coworkers and to help them eliminate it so that they retain their value to the organization. And, to help them develop their people as well, because you see, without their colleagues, their people and teams, these leaders, as successful as they might be, would have no one to lead.

Developing as a leader is a difficult endeavor. (If you’re reading this article you can probably relate.) Demands on leaders are increasing, meaning there is less time for focusing on change. And, the catch is that as more is expected of you as a leader, the less time you have for development, and yet improving your leadership skills is more important than ever. It’s a tricky situation. With limited time, you have to learn on the job. You have to make the most of your surroundings and ask those around you for help. You have to enlist their support as you do your best to develop yourself, your people, and your teams – even them!

It’s not easy, but I’ve developed a leadership development model that has now proven to work with thousands and thousands of people. This model is just eight steps: Ask, Listen, Think, Thank, Respond, Involve, Change, Follow Up. Following is a very short description of each step. I’ll go into more depth in subsequent blogs.

1. Ask: Ask people “How can I be a better _________ (manager, partner, team member, etc.)?

2. Listen: Listen to their answers.

3. Think: Think about their input. What does it mean?

4. Thank: Thank people for sharing this valuable feedback with you.

5. Respond: Respond positively when receiving input.

6. Involve: Involve the people around you to support your change efforts.

7. Change: Change isn’t an academic exercise. Act on what you learn.

8. Follow-up: Follow up regularly and stakeholders will notice the positive actions you’re taking based their input.

This simple model for leadership development works! If you want to get better, at work or at home, try it for yourself and see. And, if I can help you consider the possibility that despite all of your success to date you might have some things that you can change to be “even better”, then I will have done my job.

In November 2015 Dr. Marshall Goldsmith was recognized as the #1 Leadership Thinker in the World and the top 5 Management Thinker at the Thinkers50 Award Ceremony in London. He was also selected as the #1 Executive Coach in the World by GlobalGurus.org, and one of the 10 Most Influential Management Thinkers in the World by Thinkers50 in both 2011 and 2013. In 2011 he was chosen as the World's Most Influential Leadership Thinker. Marshall was the highest rated executive coach on the Thinkers50 List in both 2011 and 2013. What Got You Here Won't Get You There was listed as a top ten business bestseller for 2013 by INC Magazine / 800 CEO Read (for the seventh consecutive year). Marshall's exciting new research on engagement is published in his newest book Triggers (Crown, 2015).

Please order Triggers at Amazon or Barnes & Noble!

 

Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith

 

 

 


What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith


What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

CLICK TO ORDER

Amazon
BN.com

 

Soundview Executive Summaries

Soundview Executive Book Summaries' subscribers select What Got You Here Won't Get You There as the Harold Longman Award best business book of the year for 2007.

 

 

   

 

Marshall Goldsmith Library website created and managed by
Marilyn McLeod of Coach Marilyn.com.

www.Coach Marilyn at CoachMarilyn.com