Wednesday, October 22, 2014

My stroke of insight (by Jill Bolte)

In this TED presentation, brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor tells her experience in 1996 of having a stroke in her left hemisphere, and how that gave her insight into brain functioning, particularly as it relates to the different functions of the two brain hemispheres.
 
The irony of a narrative of a neurologic disease being recounted by a neuroscientist adds a special flavor to the story, and Taylor's description of the onset and progression of the stroke while she was alone in her apartment shoking and moving at the same time.
 
A lot of food for thought. Amazing sharing with lessons of bravery and resilience.
 
https://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight/transcript?language=en
 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

What CEO's Really Want from Coaching?

Two-thirds of CEOs don’t receive any outside advice on their leadership skills, and yet almost all would be receptive to suggestions from a coach.

These statistics are from a Stanford University/The Miles Group survey released on 2013 that asked 200 CEO’ss, board directors, and other senior executives questions about how they receive and view leadership advice.

Any experienced professional knows that when things go well, blind spots are less obvious and becomes very easy for executives to become almost strictly inward looking feeded by the successful events around. None the less, those blind spots can sometimes become devastating when performance moves in the other direction.

External coaching provides a good, neutral third party assessment for a reality check for executives, in a safe environment not influenced by personal agendas allowing time to think through various topics against the framework each individual as the coach is only concerned with that person success.

Image below shows the top areas were CEO's use coaching to improve. Sharing leadership and delegation, conflict management, team building, and mentoring are the primary ones.



The full document available at 
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/2013-executive-coaching-survey