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.

What kind of company do you keep as a Leader?

Attempting to be consistent with the suggestion in my last post — Leaders vs. Summer — I challenged myself to read Cicero’s “On a Life Well Spent” over the course of the summer. Trust me, other than the Bible, I’m not given to reading 2,000 year-old texts regularly.

This morning, I came across this ending to a chapter in which Cicero describes Quintus Maximus, a friend and Leader he greatly admired:

“. . . when he was taken from us, I should never find another Man to improve by.”

Who’s in your life, walking alongside you as a Leader, who, when they are gone, will be a great loss?

The best Leaders I know don’t lead in isolation. They surround themselves with a few good friends. Friends who inspire them to be better, genuinely care for them, and with whom they can be vulnerable.

Interestingly, I think this can be particularly difficult for men. Women more naturally cultivate supportive friendships.

So, what does this look like? In my life, I have my wife and about a half dozen men who’s counsel I seek regularly. Here’s how I would describe them.

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.”

A CEO frustrated with his board.
A Board frustrated with its CEO.
A Partner frustrated with his partner.
A Partner frustrated with HIS partner.
A CEO frustrated with her COO.
A COO frustrated with his CEO.
Boy, I run across these scenarios too often. I use the word “frustrated” because it represents the middle ground between “I want to have [...]

I’ve met with the executive teams of two CEOs in the past two weeks – CEOs being intentional about enhancing their teams’ effectiveness. Excellent teams don’t form by chance.

It may be time to evaluate your leadership team. Challenging times call for a gut-check on who’s in the foxhole with us. What grade would you give your team?

If you give them an “A” or better – what would you identify as the #1 ingredient? Conversely, if it’s “C” or lower, what would be the #1 cause? How many of us are tolerating ‘average?’

Uncertain times?

Let’s see . . a stock market that no one can forecast . . . a presidential race completely up for grabs . . . and a 31 year-old trader who just cost his company $7.2 billion.

What a great time for Leaders to step up.

I read a great story last week about one Leader whose company is thriving amidst a crisis that has tanked most of the rest of his industry.

“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 learning that effective leaders cultivate simplicity.
Simplicity begets . . . Clarity begets . . . Focus begets . . . ACTION!
When I first begin working with Leaders, here’s a sampling of questions we discuss:

How clear are you on what your organization most needs from you as Leader today?
How succinctly could your direct reports [...]

This past Spring I noticed a rash of reports (in less than one week!) about current and future leaders of all ages caught lying.

* April 27th ”The Dean of Admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was forced to resign after the school confirmed . . . that she had lied about graduating from college herself.” Marilee Jones is 55. (The Wall Street Journal)

* May 2nd Fifteen freshmen Air Force Academy cadets were expelled in a cheating scandal. The cadets “either confessed or were found guilty by an honor board of sharing answers to a test . . . .” (Louisville Courier-Journal) Assume their average age was 19.

* May 2nd (This right below the Academy cheating article . . . .) Duke University is threatening to expel or suspend 24 of 34 graduate students caught in “the largest cheating scandal ever in its Fuqua School of Business . . . . Similar answers to a take-home test led to an investigation of the final exam and other assignments . . . . The average age of students in the first-year class is 29.” (Louisville Courier-Journal)

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.