article thumbnail

Great Leaders Embrace Office Politics

Harvard Business Review

And over the last few years, building my executive coaching practice and teaching MBAs, I have been shocked by the lack of evidence backing up most career and leadership advice and the ease with which many coaches simply stick to unproven “feel good” aphorisms.

article thumbnail

A Consultant’s Guide to Firing a Client

Harvard Business Review

But if you want to dramatically enhance your productivity, it pays to zero in on the biggest source of stress and wasted time: problematic clients. Some entrepreneurs and executives fight to hold onto business at all costs, recognizing that it’s easier to retain a customer than to win a new one.