CEOs Are Great, Top CEOs Are Greater

People in leading positions are often in a dilemma: on one hand they are supposed to give great performances, make the right decisions and so forth; on the other hand, they have to fill the role of a very confident and self-assured manager. This may be considered a dilemma because CEOs are expected to be almost supernatural, and asking for assistance in what is supposed to be their core competence (leadership!) simply does not fit the picture, no matter how necessary it may be.

It is interesting to draw a parallel to sports. I don't know of any world-class athletes who do not have coaches or trainers to assist them in the development of their core competency (e.g., golf, tennis, etc.). It seems that in the area of sports, it is generally accepted that top performers need top assistance, i.e., coaches. Also, nobody in sports seems to feel the necessity to hide that they employ a coach. Meanwhile, many of the top CEOs (at least in the US) have coaches, but very few want to admit or even talk about it.

CEOs are usually in a situation with a unique handicap: being on top of an organization, they must demonstrate powerful and wise leadership but may not be able to share their doubts with others in the organization, as this would not fit the expected image.

A trusted and competent executive coach can take over this necessary function of a sparring partner. The coach can mirror the existing options and reveal blind spots, share his experiences, and challenge limiting beliefs of CEOs. Additionally, a trusted coach can help CEOs in dealing with ethical and personal issues that may influence performance. All in all, the coach can be the competent and equal (!) partner, which many CEOs need in their unique and exposed position.

It seems there is still a long way to go before CEOs will be able to speak about their coaches as lightly and as naturally as top athletes do. A great first step is to recognize the benefits a coach provides to a CEO in his professional and personal life. Top CEOs know this already and benefit from coaching through better performance, a greater feeling of security and a more stable work-life balance. Again: top performers need top assistance, and professional coaches can be a crucial element of a strong support system.

About Charlie Lang

Charlie works with senior executives who are already successful and want to stay at the leading edge. They are often challenged by issues like: - How to improve staff retention, especially how to keep top performers
- How to achieve a corporate success culture that guarantees longterm success
- How to create new levels of excellence through high employee engagement
- How to transform the business results through a different approach towards sales

Charlie, an executive coach & trainer who is known for his innovative approaches towards leadership, change processes and sales, assists his clients in mastering these challenges. They achieve outstanding results through Charlie's unique application of latest findings in research combined with his own experience in international management and leadership.

Charlie is the author of numerous articles and of the book The Groupness Factor. He delivers speeches and keynotes on sales, leadership and coaching.

More resources:

RELATED ARTICLES

Christmas and Business Gifts for Your Clients and Employees!
Tis' the season for business and corporate gift-giving! If you believe in the law of reciprocity, and if your business is the least bit successful you must; you know that giving back is not only the right thing to do, but it's very smart business as well. Let's look at some of the benefits and mechanics of Christmas and holiday gift-giving.

The Boss Didn't Understand Why His Staff Wasn't Reading His Mind
Many people believe that everyone sees the world exactly the same way as they do. This is never true and was the source of much turmoil in Dr.

Create Your Methodology Based on a Standard Framework - Part One
OK. So you have decided that your organization has to improve the way in which it works.

Why I always Keep my Promises
Integrity is very important to me, and I try hard to 'do unto others as I would wish them do unto me'. It hasn't always worked that way for me though.

Across The Interview Table!
Job interviews are easier for the interviewer or the interviewee if you plan and prepare and use proper interviewing techniques. On this page are job interview questions and purpose of each interview question, because there is a purpose behind each and everything that we do and similarly there should be a purpose behind each and every question that we ask in interview.

ISO 9001 What Records Does My Business Need To Keep?
Which documents must I keep for ISO 9001?In addition to the legislative requirement for your business to keep certain records ISO 9001 2000 requires your business to retain other records to demonstrate compliance with its various clauses.From an ISO 9001 2000 viewpoint records are documents generated whilst operating your Quality Management System.

Top 10 Things Every Business Should Provide for Every Worker - Including the Boss!
Doing business and meeting the needs of workers is increasingly complex. Employees and managers often prefer a cafeteria-list of fringe benefits (a "flexible spending account") so they can choose increased health care, child care or more time off as their individual preferences dictate.

Dont Let Your Measurements Mislead You
Don't Let Your Measurements Mislead You There aren't too many words that can strike as much fear and loathing into the hearts of your internal customers, and sometimes your own employees as the words "Operational Measurements". Operational Measurements often get a bad rap because of their misuse by well intended, but misinformed management.

Reflections in the Glass Ceiling
The recent news about one of America's most powerful woman ceo's being removed from office has raised the discussion about gender bias, again. It disappoints me that in 2005, I still hear women clients talking about "the old boys' network".

Knowledge Management: More Than Just Know-how!
People sometimes interchange the terms "know-how" and "knowledge", but there's a world of difference! Systems vendors are falling over themselves to sell you so-called "integrated knowledge management solutions", but these are rarely more than glorified information management systems with go-faster stripes.If we fail to understand knowledge in all its facets, then there is a danger that in doing so we miss out on the most valuable aspects of knowledge management and end up delivering a system-driven solution, rather than a cultural shift towards sharing and learning from experience.

Leadership Skill: How to Handle Difficult Conversations
A good leader has the ability to empower others. It is important that a leader develop people who want to share and help in carrying out the goals of the organization.

The Dog That Didnt Bark
A few weeks ago, after consultations with others in an association I represent, I made a partnership pitch to another organization with similar interests. If the idea comes to fruition, it will radically change our organization.

When Being A Facilitator DOESNT Help
I talked with a group of internal consultants last week - they felt they had to wear too many hats in their work. They had to be consultants, facilitators, coaches and trainers - sometimes in the same one-hour session.

Invoice Factoring for Goverment Vendors
Assignment of Claims Act of 1986"..

Making Your Workers Your Partners
There is an inherent conflict between owners and managers of companies. The former want, for instance, to minimize costs - the latter to draw huge salaries as long as they are in power (who knows what will transpire tomorrow).

Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Employee Ideas Achieve Work Life Balance
This article relates to the Work/Life Balance competency, which investigates how your staff feels with regard to the balance between work and personal life. It explores issues such as priority of family and hours on the job, also covered in this competency.

Take Control of Your Paper in 3 Easy Steps
Do you have piles of paper on your desk. Many do and don't know how to deal with them.

Are You Using the Right Form of Energy?
As we near the end of summer, here is a question I have for you, "Are you using the right form of energy to grow your business?" Are you having trouble growing your small business as fast as you want? Are you making all the right moves and still the business just inches forward? Read this article and see if you are using the right form of energy to grow your small business?Head EnergyMy consulting experiences have taught me there are two types of business energy. I call the first type "head energy".

Taking Care of Middle Manager Bounce Off
How many times have the management consultants been 'in' and after leaving, have left little or no trace of their passing?Despite massive investment there is no discernable performance improvement, the retention figures still look as if we are running a call centre and our safety record is second to everyone.Why is it that what seemed a logical and progressive implementation model failed to have any lasting impact on our business?Could it have anything to do with 'Middle Manager Bounce Off'?'Middle Manager Bounce Off' is a little understood phenomenon that appears most frequently in the wake of a management initiative or a consultant driven implementation.

Creativity and Innovation Management - Money Doesnt Do It
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.