If you want to get more information, better intelligence and clarity, consider allowing silence to play a supporting role in your communication style. It can be used to great effect. I will never forget a coaching conversation early in my career with an executive from a global software company. You would recognize the company name and I mention that, not to toot my own horn, but to give you an idea of what stakes were for me—new coach, high profile client. For a few weeks, she had been describing a co-worker who was systematically and ruthlessly endeavoring to take a [...]

Every year, new books on leadership come out and the business world hungrily buys, reads and digests them. Book summary companies provide compressed descriptions for busy executives, professional service providers and entrepreneurs. It is estimated that between 1986 and 1996, 17,800 management journal articles were written about leadership. In my practice, coaching lawyers and executives, I read many books, articles and blogs. They help me tend and grow my own business and when I find something useful, I share it with clients, sometimes ­forwarding an article or recommending a book during a coaching conversation. Leadership theory has seen innovation stemming [...]

Back in February, I wrote about the importance of personality assessments to make good career decisions. It featured an interview with Dr. Robert Hogan, co-founder of Hogan Assessment Systems and an international authority on personality, leadership and organizational effectiveness. Personality assessments identify blind spots, areas of strength and struggle, and help create a blueprint to better outcomes at work and home. Once you get your assessment results, now what? In my experience, people are often ­initially unhappy with assessment results because they tend to focus on the negative aspects of their personality and ignore the positive aspects and opportunities that [...]