Mainline Executive Coaching ACT

To be great requires an impeccable work ethic, and doing the necessary work is inescapable.  Though each of us has our own journey, the known formula for success seems universal – work hard, stay committed, perfect your craft, sharpen the saw, and take advantage of opportunities. Yet, there is an even more common mantra that sets a solid line of differentiation between two types of people - work smarter, not harder.

Rich a...

Hang around in a leadership position long enough and you will find out that leadership is not for wimps. That is putting it mildly. Leadership is not about the perks, title, paycheck, or whatever the assumption is. It takes a tremendous amount of perseverance and determination in order to succeed in leadership. 

In this episode of Mainline Executive Coaching ACT, we talk about five important qualities that a resolute leade...

In coaching, as in medicine, prescription before diagnosis is malpractice. 

Why is this statement so true? The answer is simple - before you are set on a path to develop your personal leadership abilities, it is critical to know which path you must start on. Simply stating that you need communication skills, or need to become a better critical thinker is not coaching.  It is as we said, malpractice. The same would apply if...

The Threes Stooges are arguably the most popular and influential comedy institution in Hollywood history.

Michael Jordan is arguably the best Basketball Player that has ever played the game.

Wyatt Earp was not the fastest gunslinger that ever lived, but he was arguably one of the best under pressure.

So what do the Three Stooges, Michael Jordan, and Wyatt Earp all have to do with leadership?

Joi...

Globally, Baby Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, are retiring at a rate of 10,000 a day. Millennials already hold the majority of management positions, and their number rises with each passing year. 

So what does this mean for the future of leadership? How will millennial leadership styles differ from those of previous generations? What type of legacy will they leave for the next generation of leaders?

Ri...

Christie McMullen is the CEO of AIM and author of Learning Can Stick: A Guide to Make Every Interaction Safe, Logical, Fun, and Memorable. In the last 24 years, she has trained thousands of people and built an efficient structure for interacting in the workspace.  Her mission is to make work fun! Christie does that by analyzing the psychological safety of a company and creating solutions to improve team interactions. Her latest boo...

Following up on a previous podcast, we are continuing to talk about toxic bosses. This time we are talking about the Gameplayers.  We have all dealt with these folks, the drama kings and drama queens who love to play games with the people they work with. These people behave badly and stir things up just for the psychodrama, or to hide their insecurities and shortcomings. It gives them an over-inflated sense of having influence. It ...

Fear is a psychological barrier for many business leaders which can prevent them from taking the risks they need to be successful. For many people and organizations, when they step outside of their comfort zone they can become overcome by fear and anxiety. They become crippled and don't know where to turn. But if looked at in a different light, fear means that you're growing and challenging yourself beyond your comfort zo...

We all know these folks, the self-centered, self-absorbed types. The ones that draw you in with their charisma but can't finish the race due to lack of character. These types of folks in business tend to have poor listening skills, hesitate to delegate because they feel they are better than their team is, and make decisions based on what is in it for them versus how will this impact the organization.

 Good leaders bec...

 We tend to assume that leadership takes place under stable circumstances.  In fact, many of our theories of leadership conceptualize leadership under “normal” and stable conditions. However, there is likely no situation where leadership is more important than during a time of crisis.  Crises present ambiguous and changing stimuli that require normative power, collaboration, and asking the right questions to help organizations come...

Imagine opening up your email and there is a notice from your HR department that it is time for another round of 360-degree feedback, or that they are sending out another cultural assessment survey. Why is it that this single email can create so much anxiety in the organization? Why do 360-degree appraisals, and cultural assessments work well in some cases, and in others fail miserably? It is because more often than not, these tool...

We have discussed this topic on previous podcasts, and it is one that we continue to be concerned about. Not only are we concerned, but several of the HR professionals we speak with have expressed some frustration over the fact that the training and development budgets are being cut. It is surprising to me that when there are tough times in organizations, one of the first items that are cut are the training dollars for the organiza...

Integrity in leadership means having strong moral principles, outstanding character, standing by your words, and doing the right thing. It's a highly valued trait since most employees look to their leader for cues on how to act. A leader that demonstrates the company values in their actions helps set expectations for acceptable behavior.
Integrity is the foundation of trust and respect. When leaders demonstrate integrity i...

Meta-competence is the overarching ability under which competence shelters. It embraces the higher-order abilities which have to do with learning, adapting, anticipating, and creating. Therefore, versatility and timing are not just nice to have skills as a leader, but imperative skills in today's VUCA world. A global survey completed with over 24,000 leaders shows that only 9% are equipped with the versatility and timing skill...

Jean F. Durham enlisted into the United States Marine Corps in October 1999. She graduated from MCRD Parris Island, SC in January of 2000 and was assigned as an Aviation Operations Specialist. After a very illustrious career spanning 20 years, that includes the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (x3), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Good Conduct Medal (x3),  Captain Durham retired f...

Simply put, high leadership turnover in organizations does not foster long-term relationships or cultural success. Not just among the leadership team, but throughout the organization. The churn in leadership positions, especially at the senior level, will not develop the types of collaborative relationships that support the organization's vision, mission, and purpose. Retaining executives and managers with organizational cultu...

It is proven that an organization does in fact achieve success or failure through its people. This is especially true if the right leadership is not in place or constantly turning over. With the leadership team constantly in flux, no organization can possibly function at a level that will drive success. This type of turnover is usually a sign of larger organizational issues that, if ignored, can directly impact every level of the o...

We have all heard the term, Planned Obsolescence. Planned obsolescence describes the practice of designing products to break quickly or become obsolete in the short to mid-term. But how does this apply to leadership? How often have you started a new position, or know of others who did, and were very excited to start proving themselves in the new role? However, within a relatively short period of time were completely exhausted, cyni...

A 2023 Gallup/ Workhuman survey shows that globally, only 1 in 4 employees stated that they had received any praise for doing a good job at work. That is only 25% of the workforce. Today's employees feel more disengaged from their work than in the past decade. Amid the turmoil of recent years and the fact that business is changing and uncertainty is everywhere, workers simply want to feel like they're valued and that they...