Bottom Lining

I am an incredibly impatient person. Maybe I have ADHD — I don’t know. What I do know though is that people who ramble make me fidgety: You lose me when you answer a question with a seemingly endless flow of strung together words and sentences.

Test Your Assumptions

In our mad rush to the finish line (which in reality is usually just the next bend in the road) we often make assumptions which we never test nor validate. We throw out ideas about customer needs or the existence of markets — without ever taking the time to test these assumptions. We rely…

Yes, No Or Counteroffer

One of the most powerful concepts in co-active coaching (the type of executive coaching Jane and I are trained in) is “Yes, No or Counteroffer”: Whenever we make a request of our coachee (i.e. we ask the coachee to do something and will hold her accountable for it) she has the…

Expectations and Trust

There is a sad thing happening in way too many organizations: The leader, when it comes to setting expectations (e.g. when planning for the next performance period), formulates their message in the style of “You need to prove yourself.”

No Fear

The single largest factor which keeps you from doing the things you are destined to do is… fear.

Plain old fear.

It’s crippling. It’s terrifying. It doesn’t let go.

And it’s stupid.

The Owner’s Manual

In my first startup, I was still in college, I made the cardinal mistake of assuming that my team would somehow magically (through osmosis?) understand what I wanted from them, what I was up to, what my mood swings where all about…

No Fate But What We Make

This weekend, in my final coaches training session (aptly called “Synergy”) we had to share our story: How we came to coaching, what happened to us during the coaching program and what change we want to see for ourselves in the future.

There Is No Try

New Year’s Eve Jane and I watched all three episodes of Star Wars in one go (before you ask — I deny the existence of Star Wars I, II and III). It was a blast. In Episode V the following dialog takes place:

Cut The Bullshit

It is remarkable how many people (and managers in particular) seem to be stuck in the paradigm of sugarcoating: Instead of giving people straight, direct and honest feedback they use techniques such as “the sandwich” (deliver some good news at the beginning of the conversation, put the bad news…