By Carl Robinson, Ph.D., copyright 2005 For many executives, the view from the top isn’t quite what they expected. So begins the article by Sheree Curry in the most recent issue of Executive Travel magazine, an American Express publication. I was interviewed at length for this article and she did such a good job that Read More >
Past Executive Briefings
How to Become a Level 5 Leader – Part 1
by Carl Robinson, Ph.D., copyright 2004 Jim Collins discovered when analyzing the research for his book “Good to Great,” that the leaders who ran the “great” companies during the transition from good-to-great were all “Level 5” leaders. For those of you not familiar with “Good to Great,” the qualifying criteria was that a company had Read More >
How to Become a Level 5 Leader – Part 2
Last month I wrote that Jim Collins found in his research for his book “Good to Great” that all the great companies had Level 5 leaders at the helm during the transition from good to great. These leaders “embodied a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will.” This month, I’ll outline five preliminary steps Read More >
Lessons Learned in the Trenches – Part 1
By Carl Robinson, Ph.D., copyright 2003 When you ask executives what keeps them up at night, most will say – the people issues – employees and customers. This month’s executive briefing will cover some important lessons in the “people” arena that I’ve learned in just two weeks of opening a new coffee house in the Read More >
Tips For Prospering in a Flat World
by Carl Robinson, Ph.D., copyright 2005 I’ve been reading, “The World is Flat,” by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times and have some thoughts about what it takes to prosper, not just survive, in a flat world. Friedman’s main points were that in a world of globalization and the internet, there is nowhere to Read More >
Take a Free Leadership Assessment
A recent executive briefing I wrote titled, “Six Traits of Effective Leadership,” elicited many responses. One response predominated and that went something like this, “Well Carl, those are great traits to aspire to and it’s easy to say, ‘Sure…that’s me.’ However, if I don’t want to fool myself is there a quick and dirty way Read More >
Managing Virtual Teams
By Carl Robinson, Ph.D., copyright 2006 A colleague of mine from Australia, Geoff Taylor, recently wrote a great piece on managing virtual teams. I’ve included most of it below because I think it dovetails nicely with my recent briefing, “Prospering in a Flat World.” My additional comments are at the end. Geoff Taylor: In these Read More >
What You Can’t Learn at Harvard About Leadership
Carl Robinson, Ph.D., copyright 2006 At the urging of many of my clients, I recently wrote and published a booklet titled, “What You Can’t Learn About Leadership At Harvard: 100+ tips learned in the trenches.” This booklet came about because my clients kept saying, “Carl, you should write that suggestion/tip down.” A couple of them Read More >
Two Myths About Executive Coaching
Carl Robinson, Ph.D., copyright 2006 Executive coaching has become “the” leadership development method for some very good reasons (see excerpt of article from Fortune magazine on the ROI of executive coaching on my “Results” web page). However, there are two myths about coaching that I believe need to be dispelled. Myth #1: If you fix Read More >
Handing Over The Reins – The Founder-Board Dilemma: Why It’s So Hard And What To Do About It
By Carl Robinson, Ph.D., copyright 2007 For this month’s briefing I’m providing you with the article I wrote that was just published in the 2007 Q1 issue of American Venture Magazine. _______ EVERYBODY KNOWS that it is inevitable for almost all founders to pass on the management of their company to a later-stage professional manager. Read More >