Executive management coach & best-selling author Marshall Goldsmith
Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority helping successful leaders achieve positive, measurable changes in their behavior: for themselves and their teams. He is named one of the top 50 leaders influencing the field of management over the last century, one of the five most respected executive coaches by Forbes and among the top ten executive educators by the Wall Street Journal, Goldsmith was installed as a Fellow in the National Academy of Human Resources—the highest honor for an HR professional in the U.S. and recognized by Business Week as one of 50 great leaders and one of two educators to receive the Institute of Manage- ment Studies Lifetime Achievement Award. Goldsmith founded the Alliance for Strategic Leadership and Marshall Goldsmith Library where more than 300 of his articles, interviews, columns and videos are available for viewing and sharing online at no charge.
STRESS & PRODUCTIVITY
ST: Business people are out of their minds and Running scared…
MG: I gauge effective leaders by the people around them. More than ever business owners have to keep in touch with their team. When under pressure the need to win and be right is a real challenge for successful and smart people. They tend to over react and engage in irrational behavior to win. #1: Calm down before sending emails or confronting people. The worst is to regret the day after what you did the day before in a rage. Our natural tendenancy when stressed is to engage in inappropriate emotional responses. But the more difficult a situation becomes, the more important it becomes. The fact that we may have an excuse to act in an irrational way makes it even more important not to do it. Goldsmith has been named one of the 15 most influential business thinkers in the world in a study by The London Times and Forbes; and also honored as one of 50 great thinkers and leaders who have influenced the field of management in the past 80 years.
STEPS FOR CHANGE
ST: There are many steps for change and success; name a one or two.
MG: One of the most important is follow-up. I did a research study on leadership development with 86,000 participants from major companies around the world. It showed that leaders who get feedback are better off than those who don’t get it, or don’t want it. But this requires a great deal of daily disicpline. An example: I have a peer coach and each day we talk and he asks me 17 questions; the same 17 questions every single day. Each question has to be answered with a YES, NO or a NUMBER on a 1-10 happiness scale. This keeps my life in focus. My questions are not what other people may have, but some I’m asked daily are:
1. How happy was I yesterday?
2. How meaningful was my life yesterday?
3. How many times yesterday did I try to prove I was right and it wasn’t worth it?
4. How many angry or destructive comments did I make about other people yesterday?
5. How many sit-ups and push-ups did I do yesterday?
6. How many minutes did I write for my coaching classes yesterday; and is everything updated?
These are questions about my life. Why do I have to do this when this is my job… and I wrote the theory? Because things are as difficult for me as anyone. One question I asked my peer coach every day was: Are you updated on your medical exam? Exactly 90 days in a row he had to answer NO until he said…this is ridiculous! I’m going to get an exam and finally did it. The doctor found cancer. Had he waited another few months he may not have made it. He’s the CEO of a $3 billion company. He knew he should have a medical check-up, but didn’t do it. But when someone holds a mirror up to us every day and makes us accountable it’s hard to run from reality.
With a Ph.D. from UCLA, Goldmsith teaches executive education at the Dartmouth’s Tuck School and other leading business schools around the country. As a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources (America’s top HR honor) his work is recognized by almost every professional organization in his field. The Alliant International University honored Goldsmith by naming their schools of business and organizational studiest the Marshall Goldsmith School of Management.
ST: What if we don’t have a peer coach, then what can we do?
MG: This is a daily homework assignment for yourself. Make a list of questions about your life that need a YES, NO or a number (happiess scale 1-10) Put it on an Excel spreadsheet and the scores are calculated at the end of each week. Then rate yourself. Of course, a life coach is better. But that person has to have your best interests at heart and want to participate as well. It’s about two people helping each other with no hidden agenda. If each day the answer is the same; for instance: Was I happy yesterday? If each day your answer is NO then you have to ask myself why. his isn’t about focusing on anyone but yourself. And besides no one can make you happy but yourself.
Marshall Goldsmith’s new book MOJO is about the moment we feel we’re ’on a roll’, firing on all cylinders and everyone around senses it. When we’re moving forward, making progress, clearing hurdles, achieving goals, and passing the competition. Sports players say it’s being in-the-zone, others say it’s a flow. Goldsmith says Mojo is “a positive spirit toward what we are doing that starts from the inside and radiates to the outside.” Mojo is vital in our pursuit of happiness and purpose and is about achieving two simple goals: loving what we do and showing it. It’s a moment when there is no gap between the positive way we perceive ourselves— what we are doing—andhow we are perceived by others.
