Our mission is to optimize organizational performance by maximizing the effectiveness of leaders and leadership teams. Our philosophy is that the long-term profitability and growth of every organization is inextricably linked to the effectiveness of its leaders. Through The Power of Leadership®, leaders create a values-based environment where people perform to their full potential and maximize their contributions to the organization’s mission and vision. In support of that mission and philosophy, each month we publish Breakaway Performance – Ideas that transform the way you work — with tips to help leaders achieve leadership effectiveness. We hope you will enjoy our articles and find them valuable.
Alyssa Freas, Ph.D.
CEO & President
Executive Coaching Network, Inc.
“Keep it simple stupid” (KISS) was apparently coined by the brilliant engineer Kelly Johnson of the famous Lockheed Skunk Works. Johnson knew there was a profound relationship between “needless complexity” and cost, schedule, and technical […]
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The start of a new year is a really great time for you to brush off your old feedback reports from way back when, revisit that old Myers-Briggs assessment, take a look at your old […]
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We think a lot about teams. Traditionally, executive coaching has been considered an activity to help an individual executive develop professionally. There is a lot to be said for that. Individual coaching allows for an […]
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Neither. Many leadership experts have addressed this question: are leaders born or made? Our perspective—based on 20 years of experience coaching senior executives and teams, and from the research we have conducted—is that the best […]
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When a CEO and top executive team want to drive change in their organization, they are well served by starting with their own behaviors. Identifying the behaviors that will support and drive the desired change […]
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Have you ever filled in one of those feedback forms online about a hotel, wireless carrier, or rug cleaner and had the sense that your time and effort in giving feedback has gone into a […]
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When faced with a decision that has no definitive answer, what do leaders do? Sometimes, despite all of our best efforts, we just don’t have a definitive answer. In fact, in most cases, we don’t […]
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In our years of experience shadowing leaders and working with executive teams, we have seen many substandard meetings. The result? Lost opportunity (the executive who did not speak up, leaving her colleagues in the dark […]
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One of the hardest things to do in most organizations is “to speak truth to power.” Warren Bennis and James O’Toole in their excellent article, “What’s Needed Next: A Culture of Candor” (HBR, June 2009), […]
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EXCN has been privileged to work with some exemplary executives over the years and Jacko Maree, recently retired CEO of Standard Bank Group in South Africa, is one of them. High on the list of […]
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