leadership

Listen in to a far-reaching conversation I recently had with Nancy Badore on the role of women in the workplace. I first met Nancy when she was leading the culture change efforts in Ford's Diversified Products Operations in the early to mid '80s. She went on to also found and lead the company's Executive Development Center that serves the 2,000 highest-ranking Ford executives worldwide.

Today's latest management best sellers list the most important work leaders need to be doing. So did yesterday's. Leaders themselves have the same lists:

Create a compelling vision

Communicate this vision throughout the organization

Engage people in creating their collective future

....the known list goes on....

I work with senior leaders in companies around the world. They lead organizations from very diverse industries. Some work in the private sector, others in the public. I have consulted with brand new CEO’s and those who have been in their position for a decade or more.

They all have four things in common.

1. They are almost always over-scheduled.
   
2. Meetings stack up on top of each other.
   
3. They don’t get home from the office until late in the evening -- that’s if they are even in town.
   
4. Few have time for anything besides golf outside of work -- and even most rounds at the course are dedicated to working on a new deal of some type with their playing partners.

Leadership is an essential element of any successful change effort.

I’ve written elsewhere about the new style of leadership brought by President Barack Obama and how to develop leadership in organizations through coaching.

So that led me to wonder what can we learn from coaching about how to develop better leaders?

I recently read an article on John Wooden in The Los Angeles Times. Within the same few days I saw a video of his leadership philosophy from the TED conference. Then I remembered a book I’d read with my son about the Coach’s implementation of his life lessons called My Personal Best.

• What is the most important change work that needs to be done in this economic downturn?
  
• How can it be done most effectively?
  
• What roles need to be filled by leaders, first line supervisors, communications staffs, and consultants.