Tiger Woods’ “appearance” this past Friday offers some real lessons that high-performance Leaders should not miss.

To me, Tiger’s most telling statement was this one:

“My failures have made me look at myself in a way I never wanted to before.”

And this is where Tiger’s dilemma provides a learning opportunity for Leaders.

In my last post, I wrote that One of a CEO’s primary roles is handling difficult people. This is because . . .

The CEO is the Chief Talent Officer of the company.

Yesterday, a CEO I work with shared how he has been managing talent at his company. He had two stories.

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Leaders are accountable for the caliber of people working under them.

One of a CEO’s primary roles is handling difficult people.

I’ve heard several stories recently of CEOs dealing with one of their senior leaders whose behavior is detrimental to the organization.

At the least, senior leaders like these two are “prickly” – everybody moves gingerly around them, trying to avoid getting stung. At worst, they are “radioactive,” melting down everyone and everything they come in contact with.

Okay Leadership students. Take out your pen and paper and answer this question for today’s pop quiz:

What is your vision for how you will change or grow as a Leader between now and December 31st?

Pause to think about your answer before reading further . . . .

Labor Day is upon us. A change of seasons. With it, daily indications that the worst of the economy’s downturn is behind us. Some leaders have been stuck in neutral with their companies — trying every trick in the book but unable to grow sales. Others have continued to (painfully) cut employees and close stores — trying to stay afloat and ahead of the lenders. And some have been weathering things well, but have shifted themselves into neutral for summertime.

Well, it’s time to get to work — opportunity awaits! What is your vision for where you want to be 120 days from now?

What are your plans for the new year? How will you be as intentional as possible in defining this year, as opposed to passively letting the year define you?

Here are a few thoughts for you if you’re feeling the nudge to put some stakes in the ground.

A new leadership tool is at hand this week. It’s summertime.

Despite the demands of this challenging economy, things are just different. There’s less traffic on the road in the mornings. Less people in the office because of vacations. Everyone knows you have to get major deals closed by mid-July because key decision-makers will be hard to assemble until after Labor Day. Inevitably there’s more recreation and leisure in your schedule.

All this presents Leaders with opportunities to “shift with the season” — to experiment, create, learn, reboot. And when Labor Day gets here (80 days and counting), you can decide to stop or continue. Will you take advantage of it?

Tuesday morning’s Wall Street Journal (May 27) contained something you don’t see every day.

Front page of Section A: Anheuser CEO Fights for His Legacy . . . Busch Heir Still Seeks Father’s Approval

Here are some interesting comments August Busch IV was quoted making about his father, August Busch III, who he succeeded as Anheuser’s CEO –

* “I never, ever had a father-son relationship . . . . it’s purely business.”
* “His love and respect will be when I’m ultimately successful.”
* “I honestly do believe if I failed in my professional life, it would be much harder to ever gain his respect.”

“Change before you have to.” — Jack Welch

How are you focused on changing and growing as a Leader over the next six months?

Top Five reasons to NOT be a Learning Leader in the coming months (pick yours):

__ “I have no time to focus on this.”

__ “Nothing comes to mind that I really need to learn.”

__ “I want to grow, but I don’t like to read business books and don’t know of any other resources.”

__ “This is great to think about the first week in January, but the demands of my job will overwhelm me by next week.”

__ “I don’t really need to learn anything new; instead, I need to be teaching my direct reports how to improve as leaders.”

I’m always interested to see a list of “top leadership traits.” When I was still running a company, I would scan it and see how I measured up. Perhaps you do this.

On November 19th, the Wall Street Journal had this article:

“Tough CEOs Often Most Successful, a Study Finds.”

A week later, also in the WSJ, this title:

“Are You CEO Material? Find Out With This Test.”

Both articles referred to the same recent University of Chicago business school study. From the study, “here are five CEO traits that correlate most closely with business success . . . :” (Check yourself)

I’m learning that Leaders have weaknesses with their strengths.

Specifically, I’ve recently observed that . . .

1. Leaders have difficulty naming their unique strengths. Leaders tend to be good at a lot of things. But in talks with Leaders I work with, they are often fuzzy on the one-of-a-kind abilities they bring to their companies . . . the abilities they have that no one else does. Without clarity on these strengths, a Leader can miss opportunities for their most powerful contributions.