Archive for May, 2010

Me First!

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Too many peo­ple believe they would have a bet­ter rela­tion­ship or a bet­ter work­place if only they had bet­ter spouses, kids, friends, and team­mates. If only other peo­ple were more thought­ful or lis­tened more or per­formed better!

Sure, there may be room for improve­ment in those around us. There may even be oppor­tu­ni­ties to help oth­ers grow. But first, we must take respon­si­bil­ity for how WE are think­ing and behav­ing, instead of lament­ing over the actions of others.

If I want a bet­ter mar­riage, I have to be a bet­ter hus­band first. If I want my rela­tion­ship with my kids to get bet­ter, I have to be a bet­ter father first. If I want a bet­ter team or a bet­ter com­pany, I have to be a bet­ter leader first.

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How a Big Company Can Feel Small

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

For years, I had the priv­i­lege of coach­ing the CEO of a national mort­gage com­pany with 6000 employ­ees. He then went on to serve as the CEO of the national bank that owned that mort­gage com­pany, where he was respon­si­ble for lead­ing and serv­ing the 13,000 team mem­bers. And for the last year and a half, I’ve had the plea­sure of work­ing side by side with this past client, as he is now a CEO Men­tor and Exec­u­tive Coach here at Build­ing Champions.

His name is Jerry Baker.

Over the past 10 years or so, we have enjoyed coach­ing hun­dreds of those who served under Jerry’s lead­er­ship. These clients have ranged in roles from exec­u­tives to mid level man­agers, as well as many of the company’s sales force. What we have seen and heard is that almost every­one in this com­pany really knew and cared for Jerry. And most of them felt that Jerry knew and cared for them.

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