DISC & BEHAVIOR · 6 min read

I have handed out many DISC reports to many leaders. And I can tell you exactly what happens about 80% of the time.

They read the first two pages. They nod. They say something like “yeah, that sounds like me.” They put it i…

DISC & BEHAVIOR · 5 min read

Put a Dominant style and a Cautious style in a meeting about a decision that needs to be made, and you have the behavioral equivalent of an immovable object and an unstoppable force. Neither is wrong. Both are completely con…

COACHING & DEVELOPMENT · 4 min read

I have conducted many first coaching sessions. Enough to know that the questions you ask in the first hour set the entire tone for what follows. And that most of the questions coaches are trained to ask in intake sess…

I/O PSYCHOLOGY · 7 min read

When I tell people I have a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, I get one of three reactions. The first is a polite nod followed by a subject change. The second is a confused look and 'So, like... factories?' The thi…

TEAM DYNAMICS · 5 min read

When leaders come to me with a team friction problem, there is usually an implicit goal underneath the stated one. The stated goal is: 'We want to improve communication and reduce conflict.' The implicit goal is: 'We want ever…

DISC & BEHAVIOR · 8 min read

Here is a scenario I hear from managers constantly: they have a team member who is clearly one of the sharpest people in the room. Their written work is meticulous. Their analysis is usually right. But in meetings, they say …

DISC & BEHAVIOR · 5 min read

Feedback delivery is one of those leadership skills where most training gets the content right and the delivery completely wrong.

The content advice (be specific, make it behavioral, connect it to outcomes, be timely) is s…

LEADERSHIP · 6 min read

I tell every leader I work with the same thing early on: do not evaluate your team's behavioral tendencies based on how they operate on a normal Tuesday. Evaluate them based on how they operate at the end of a brutal quarter, whe…

LEADERSHIP · 6 min read

There is a painful irony at the center of most leadership development challenges. The behaviors that make someone successful as an individual contributor (the behaviors that get them noticed, promoted, and regarded as high-potent…