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.

………………….

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

“Fear, like joy or curiosity, is contagious among beasts and birds, as it is among men . . . . Animals are afraid on general principles.  Anything new and strange excites their suspicions.  In a herd of animals, cattle or horses, fear quickly becomes a panic and rages like a conflagration.  Cattle men in the [...]

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.