Next Level Blog

SEPTEMBER 25, 2012

I thought about that when I received an email last week from a reader of this blog who was promoted about a year ago to the Senior Executive Service (SES) of the U.S. With my SES friend’s permission (while honoring his request to remain anonymous), I’m sharing seven mistakes he thinks he made in his first year as a senior executive.

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Next Level Blog

APRIL 16, 2024

One of the constants in my more than two decades of executive coaching is the desire and need to build the muscles required to develop and execute competitive and innovative strategies. Listen to podcast interviews with CEOs and other senior executives and thought leaders inside and outside of your industry. What did I miss?

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Long-term Case Study Learning-by-Doing Industry 256

Next Level Blog

APRIL 3, 2014

In a recent conversation with Scott Saslow of the Institute of Executive Development, I got an inside look at some of the common mistakes boards of directors make on executive succession planning. That can happen in lots of situations including conversations around the board of directors table about who the next CEO is going to be.

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Planning Execution Succession CEO 189

Next Level Blog

APRIL 9, 2015

It’s common for leaders who want to make a bigger impact to work on building their executive presence. It’s so common, in fact, that my company offers a seven month group coaching program for high potential leaders slated for executive roles. General Leadership Personal Presence executive presence'

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Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 26, 2010

The Next Level Find out what insiders know about executive success in Scott Eblin’s new and expanded book, The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success.   There are some caveats in answering the question, however.    For starters, it’s not about being indispensable. Click Here.

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Execution Executive Coaching McCarthy Blog 165

Next Level Blog

JANUARY 24, 2013

So, the Super Bowl this year is guaranteed to have a winning coach named Harbaugh when John of the Baltimore Ravens and Jim of the San Francisco 49ers square off against each other. It’s the first time brothers have ever faced each other in the big game. It should be a good one and is bound to be entertaining if. Click headline to continue.

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Execution Emotional Intelligence Leadership 265

Next Level Blog

APRIL 23, 2015

While I guess I’ve thought about the difference between executive and leadership presence over the years (I wrote a book on the latter after all), I have never had the question put to me that directly. General Leadership Leadership Lessons Personal Presence cross-cultural leadership executive presence leadership presence'

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Execution Leadership Books 100

Next Level Blog

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

Lately, it’s felt like “I’ve got a new boss,” season in the coaching conversations I have with executives. First, getting a new boss is anxiety inducing, especially for more senior executives. It’s no wonder that getting a new boss can make senior executives anxious about their future and what they might lose.

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Next Level Blog

JULY 12, 2022

Lately, I’ve been advising a lot of clients on how to frame their communications for C-Suite executives who, because of the nature of their jobs, are bombarded throughout the day with bits and bytes of information, and requests for resources, decisions and approvals. It’s the same with briefing senior executives.

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Next Level Blog

JANUARY 15, 2013

Believe me, I don’t usually take pictures in restrooms but, in a “can’t believe what I’m seeing moment”, I had to snap the shot that accompanies this post. In case it’s not showing up as you’re reading this, it’s a sink faucet with a working video screen affixed to the top.

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Next Level Blog

MARCH 7, 2011

One of the most popular aspects of my company’s group coaching program, Next Level Leadership™ for high potential leaders is the senior executive guest speakers who come in for a lunch time “what. Please click the headline to read the whole story.

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Next Level Blog

MARCH 4, 2011

If you've been around organizations for any length of time, you don't need a research study to tell you that newly hired or promoted executives often struggle in their new roles. You've likely seen. Please click the headline to read the whole story.

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Execution Organization Leadership 182

Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 31, 2023

As an executive coach and advisor to senior executives in a wide range of industries, pattern recognition is vital to my work as well. Effective pattern recognition is a key learning strategy component for any executive leader. Here are five building blocks for winning with pattern recognition.

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Next Level Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2022

It depends on the industry, but in most large organizations, a promotion to vice president is the entry point to the executive ranks. Today, I want to write specifically about how high potential leaders get promoted to vice president or to whatever the entry level executive role is in their company.

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How To Committee Short-term Goal 253

Next Level Blog

MARCH 8, 2022

In the absence of a thoughtful and methodical process for sharing what your team is contributing to achieving results, many senior executives simply have too much on their radar screens to notice and acknowledge the good work that’s being accomplished. sharing important information that senior executives need to know.

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Team How To Pharmaceuticals Execution 212

Next Level Blog

MAY 1, 2012

So, here’s the scenario: You’re the newest member of a leadership or management team. Today is your first regular leadership team meeting. It’s that part of the meeting where you go around the physical or virtual table and everyone reports out for five minutes or so on the latest and greatest things happening in their part of the world.

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Execution Report Team Leadership 205

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

could be the question your senior executive is asking about you. Senior executives are often impatient people. Keep it relevant – No one has time for irrelevant information or topics, especially senior executives. Deliverables mean more to senior executives than do-ables. You’re awesome. That’s never a good thing.

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Next Level Blog

JUNE 29, 2021

Occasionally, I get to work with an executive coaching client who’s exceptional at communicating with their colleagues. When I talk with the client’s colleagues about what makes them exceptional, one of the big differentiators is that the executive shares with them what they need to know before they need to know it.

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Audience Learning-by-Doing Executive Coaching Execution 246

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

In over thirty years of either working for senior executives, being a senior executive, or coaching senior executives, I’ve come to a few conclusions. Back in my own days as an executive, I was hugely influenced by a book called The Discipline of Market Leaders. The book was written a long time ago and things change.

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Company Customer Intimacy Schein Long-term 246

Next Level Blog

AUGUST 2, 2023

As an executive leadership coach, I often see the same dynamic playing out with my clients. There is simply too much to do and too many things to fix in large organizations for senior executives to provide all the answers. It’s about asking the kinds of questions that help leaders come up with their own answers and insights.

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Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

In a phone conversation with a senior executive last week, he greeted me by exclaiming, “Happy January 39 th !” And for the meetings you must attend but that could be more efficient, apply this advice on how to get out of the executive meeting spin cycle. That’s a surefire way to end up in chronic fight or flight.

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Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 5, 2021

The sense of overwork and overwhelm that comes with poor work-life balance makes the three most important factors harder to deliver for managers and executives and harder to feel for the employees they’re charged with leading. The exhaustion and burnout have an impact on everyone – executives, managers and team members alike.

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Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 11, 2022

It’s interesting to me how trends come in waves when I coach executives. The question has come from members of senior leadership teams, individual senior executives, and mid-level leaders. Lately, the trend has been leaders asking, “How do I get my team to think like me?”

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Team How To Trends Definition 309

Next Level Blog

NOVEMBER 29, 2022

One of my favorite things I do as an executive coach is sharing with my clients the progress they’ve made as demonstrated in the closing colleague feedback I solicit for them at the end of the coaching engagement. Like a lot of leaders who make the shift from authority to influence driven outcomes, Joe struggled with that change at first.

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Power Influence Executive Coaching Report 167

Next Level Blog

MARCH 2, 2021

Before you know it, everyone is talking about what “they” need to do to make things better and by “they” the group usually means the more senior executives in the organization. Speak Up – You’re likely closer to the ground than the most senior executives in your organization. Your manager or executive likely isn’t any different.

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How To Execution Analysis Definition 246

Next Level Blog

JUNE 28, 2022

Between the leaders I’ve worked with in our Next Level Leadership® group coaching program and the individual executives I’ve coached over the last 20 plus years, I’ve delivered around 2,000 colleague feedback reports. And there’s one thing I’ve seen again and again in so many of those feedback conversations. Don’t get me wrong.

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360-Degree Feedback Tactics Open-book Report 303

Next Level Blog

OCTOBER 18, 2022

I’ve had some amazing big picture leaders and influencers as executive coaching clients over the years and was talking with one of them last week. As part of a larger conversation, I asked him to share his top three rules for influencing colleagues and shaping the bigger agenda.

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Influence Executive Coaching Definition Learning-by-Doing 339

Next Level Blog

JANUARY 23, 2024

While the process varies and is customized for each executive, there are some core questions that I almost always pose. Over the years, they’ve proven to be useful in helping leaders align their time and attention against the outcomes that matter most.

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Next Level Blog

APRIL 20, 2021

In my role as an executive coach, I’m used to being the one who asks the questions. The normal roles were reversed a couple of weeks ago, though, when a senior executive client asked me the thought-provoking question, “How do you combine patience and urgency?”. And, of course, this executive is not alone in his thought process.

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Scenario Planning Learning-by-Doing Executive Coaching Follow-up 246

Next Level Blog

APRIL 4, 2023

When the senior executives act like ambassadors they also act as role models for everyone else in the company. Since that experience, I’ve tuned into how the need for an ambassadorial approach to leadership extends to a range of executive roles. In the rare cases where you see that, it’s a triumph of a highly aligned corporate culture.

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Next Level Blog

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

Like a lot of my executive coaching clients, I believe that you can’t manage what you don’t measure. Or it might be some of the others that my executive coaching clients regularly take on for their development like delegating more often and more effectively, coaching by asking great questions, or creating space to think strategically.

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Delegation How To Leadership Executive Coaching 130

Next Level Blog

JUNE 14, 2023

It’s commonly used in sentences like, “We need to escalate this issue to the executive team.” Here are five buzzwords that I’d like to nominate for banishment in favor of plain English alternatives. Escalate – This one is a huge trigger for fear and loathing. A good plain English alternative would simply be “asking for help.”

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Next Level Blog

MAY 23, 2023

Here are six ways that I’ve seen some of the best executive leaders I work with do both: Share your evidence-based point of view : Having the confidence to express a clear point of view is a huge value-add in problem-solving and decision-making conversations. Make it clear what you’re going to do differently going forward and then do it.

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How To Learning-by-Doing Newsletter Objective 200

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Over the course of this year, I’m going to develop the agendas and facilitate around a dozen strategic offsites for C-Suite executives and their senior leadership teams. They’re a big investment of time and effort and, when well executed – before, during, and after – are totally worth it. Email me or leave a comment on LinkedIn.

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Development How To Leadership Participative 177

Next Level Blog

JULY 11, 2018

This post is adapted from the forthcoming third edition of my book, The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success. Research shows that moving to the executive level is among the toughest transitions of any career. Have 40 percent of all new executives simply risen to their level of incompetence? That seems unlikely.

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Leadership Execution Operations Learning-by-Doing 181

Next Level Blog

MARCH 22, 2023

For a number of my executive coaching clients, it’s the time of year when they’re wrapping up annual performance review conversations. As is usually the case, some of those are easy and fun, and others are hard and stress-inducing.

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Management How To Performance Review Stress 294

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 15, 2022

I got started in this work because in my own career as a corporate executive I regularly found myself in high stakes situations where I really had no clue what to do or how to be. Doing that work led, in 2006, to my book, The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success.

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