Businesses and entrepreneurs spend increasing amounts of time, money, and effort to raise the levels of their productivity. Those that are smart and strategic also invest in the same way to enhance their leadership capability. That’s how you make yourself more sustainably competitive and profitable,...
A significant part of my work lately is to illuminate the corners of businesses both large and small, to assess their DNA. Where are the areas of untapped strength, and what are the camouflaged vulnerabilities? There is a common human element supporting or undermining every...
Whether we want to admit it or not, company culture does matter. It seeps into the hearts and minds of everyone on your team, to become an essential component of your organizational DNA. I learned about company culture, and its unwritten rules, while still in...
For years, I served as a senior executive with Federated Department Stores (now Macy’s), which was a Fortune 100 company at the time. Throughout my tenure I had to negotiate high-stakes deals, related to my career progress. As a leader you have to continually build...
Leading a team through a company merger or acquisition is like being the ship captain when a hurricane hits on the open seas. But you better get prepared. Almost all the large companies where I work as a consultant and executive coach either experienced those...
A few weeks ago Hollywood was rocked by revelations of Harvey Weinstein’s serial sexual misconduct…including alleged rape. The powerful Weinstein Group saw its brand value and legendary reputation plummet overnight. Now the list of people accused across multiple industries is growing day by day. The...
Employee engagement has weakened dramatically, and a Gallup survey found that two-thirds of the workforce is inadequately engaged. That startling lack of engagement costs businesses in the U.S. between five and six billion dollars a year in lost productivity. So what’s the solution? The word...
Listen to the podcast [audio mp3="https://illustraconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/PODCAST_05282015_C_Level_Leadership.mp3"][/audio] I am asked by some of the largest corporate organizations to help their executives speak more effectively and influentially to the C-Suite. What’s the most common problem area I encounter? Most leaders who speak don’t adhere to the most important technique,...
If you are like most ambitious executives, then you have probably pictured yourself in the C-suite since early in your career. The problem I observe with many leaders who are in a similar position, though, is that they have become too accustomed to seeing that...
Research published in the Harvard Business Review confirms what many leading people of color already knew. They are, unfortunately, at a disadvantage within the Caucasian-dominated workplace. A Double Standard? A majority of minority professionals, for example, feel that they are held to a stricter standard than their Caucasian...