San Francisco Bay Area Executive Coaching

I'm currently working on a workshop on innovation.

How to Make Ethical Business Decisions

Ethical Business Decisions

One of my CEO leadership coaching clients knows that for his company’s strategic plan to be sustainable he needs to create a work environment with the highest ethical standards. I am consulting with the CEO to provide ethics education for his senior leadership team.

The CEO knows that for the company to thrive depends on all company leaders to create a work environment where leaders have the highest integrity and employees are fully engaged. He is empowering his senior executive team to create a culture of trust and accountability. Human Resources is partnering with the CEO to create a culture where there is a mindset of questioning unethical behavior.  Our current executive coaching and leadership consulting work is focused on helping leaders at all levels model ethical behavior in making business decisions.

There are a number of ethical dilemmas one may face in the workplace such as sexual harassment, product safety and discrimination. These problems have no clear right or wrong answers. The following twelve questions may help you solve them.

Twelve Questions for Examining the Ethics of a Business Decision

1.  Have you adequately defined the problem?
2.  How would you define the problem if you stood on the other side of the fence?
3.  How did this situation occur in the first place?
4.  To whom and to what do you give your loyalty, as both a person and a member of the corporation?
5.  What does your intuition tell you about making this decision?
6.  How does this intention compare with the probable results?
7.  Whom could your decisions or action injure?
8.  Can you discuss the problem with the affected parties before you make your decisions?
9.  Are you confident that your position will remain valid over the long term?
10.  Could you disclose, without qualms, your decisions or actions to your boss, CEO, board of directors, family and society as a whole?
11.  What is the symbolic potential of your action, if understood? If misunderstood?
12. Under which conditions would you allow exceptions to your stand?

Are you working in a company or law firm where leaders model integrity and high ethical standards? Does your company or law firm provide leadership coaching and leadership development to help leaders earn employees trust? During tough economic times, leaders need to fully engage their people in building a culture of trust and accountability.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I a leader with integrity who inspires people to make ethical business decisions?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching and leadership development for leaders who want to create a work environment where employees are fully engaged and trust that company leaders will make ethical business decisions.

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help you create an organizational culture based on leaders who will do the right thing. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching, career coaching, and leadership consulting clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to [email protected].

How to Make Ethical Business Decisions

Ethical Leadership

One of my CEO leadership coaching clients knows that for his company’s strategic plan to be sustainable he needs to create a work environment with the highest ethical standards. I am consulting with the CEO to provide ethics education for his senior leadership team.

The CEO knows that for the company to thrive depends on all company leaders to create a work environment where leaders have the highest integrity and employees are fully engaged. He is empowering his senior executive team to create a culture of trust and accountability. Human Resources is partnering with the CEO to create a culture where there is a mindset of questioning unethical behavior.  Our current executive coaching and leadership consulting work is focused on helping leaders at all levels model ethical behavior in making business decisions.

There are a number of ethical dilemmas one may face in the workplace such as sexual harassment, product safety and discrimination. These problems have no clear right or wrong answers. The following twelve questions may help you solve them.

Twelve Questions for Examining the Ethics of a Business Decision

1.  Have you adequately defined the problem?
2.  How would you define the problem if you stood on the other side of the fence?
3.  How did this situation occur in the first place?
4.  To whom and to what do you give your loyalty, as both a person and a member of the corporation?
5.  What does your intuition tell you about making this decision?
6.  How does this intention compare with the probable results?
7.  Whom could your decisions or action injure?
8.  Can you discuss the problem with the affected parties before you make your decisions?
9.  Are you confident that your position will remain valid over the long term?
10. Could you disclose, without qualms, your decisions or actions to your boss, CEO, board of directors, family and society as a whole?
11.  What is the symbolic potential of your action, if understood? If misunderstood?
12.  Under which conditions would you allow exceptions to your stand?

Are you working in a company or law firm where leaders model integrity and high ethical standards? Does your company or law firm provide leadership coaching and leadership development to help leaders earn employees trust? During tough economic times, leaders need to fully engage their people in building a culture of trust and accountability.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I a leader with integrity who inspires people to make ethical business decisions?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching and leadership development for leaders who want to create a work environment where employees are fully engaged and trust that company leaders will make ethical business decisions.

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help you create an organizational culture based on leaders who will do the right thing. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching, career coaching, and leadership consulting clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to [email protected]

Leadership Ethical Traps - Root Causes of Ethical Traps

Leadership Ethical Traps

One of my CEO leadership coaching clients knows that for his company to thrive she needs to create a climate of trust wit engaged employees. I am consulting with the CEO to consider firing a company vice president. The vice president has betrayed everyone’s trust by a pattern of lying and deceit.

The CEO knows that for the company to thrive depends on all company leaders to create a work environment where leaders are respected. She is empowering her senior executive team to create a culture of trust and accountability. Human Resources is partnering with the CEO to repair the trust that was broken. Our current executive coaching and leadership consulting work is focused on helping leaders at all levels create a culture of trust.

Root Causes of Ethical Traps

Obedience to authority is a “primary” trap, which means a strong external stimulus impels us to move in a certain direction, without regard for our ethical principles.

In business, people don’t abandon their ethics simply because they want to maximize profits. Rather, their drive to acquire and improve their status lures them into a social-psychological trap.

This often happens in small steps—yet another trap. If you place a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will jump out quickly. But if you place it in the pot and slowly increase the heat, it will remain there and be cooked.

Small steps and choices create minor ethical transgressions that do little harm, but they set the direction that eventually leads to major, irreversible violations.

Primary Ethical Traps

In The Ethical Executive (Stanford University Press, 2008), Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey describe 45 ethical traps inherent in any organizational environment.

Hoyk and Hersey describe three types of social-psychological traps that occur in the workplace: primary, defensive and personality. They include:
1.    Obedience to authority
2.    Small steps
3.    Indirect responsibility
4.    Faceless victims
5.    Lost in the group
6.    Competition
7.    Self-interest
8.    Tyranny of goals
9.    Money
10.    Conformity
11.    Power
12.    Obligation
13.    Time pressures

When we carefully review and understand these traps, we can prepare for—and avoid—them. Our choices become sound.

Are you working in a company or law firm where leaders model integrity and there is a culture of trust? Does your company or law firm provide leadership coaching and leadership development to help leaders earn employees trust? During tough economic times, leaders need to fully engage their people in building a culture of trust and accountability.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I a leader with integrity who inspires people and builds trust?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching and leadership development for leaders who want to create a work environment where employees are engaged and trust company leaders.

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help you create an organization that trusts leaders will do the right thing. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching, career coaching, and leadership consulting clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to [email protected].

The Neuroscience of Leadership Ethical Traps

Leadership Ethical Traps

One of my CEO leadership coaching clients knows that for his company to thrive she needs to create a climate of trust. I am consulting with members of the company senior leadership team to consider firing a company vice president. The vice president has betrayed everyone’s trust by not being truthful.

The CEO knows that for the company to thrive depends on all company leaders to create a trusting work environment. She is empowering her leadership team to create a culture of trust and accountability. Human Resources is partnering with the CEO in helping the company repair the trust that was broken. Our current executive coaching and leadership consulting work is focused on helping leaders create a culture of trust.

Ethical Roots

Psychology and other social sciences offer a huge body of experimental studies that demonstrate the allure of cheating. In The Ethical Executive (Stanford University Press, 2008), Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey describe 45 ethical traps inherent in any organizational environment.

Many of these traps are psychological in nature, creating “webs of deception” that distort our perception of right and wrong. Such rationalizations lead us to believe our unethical behavior is normal and appropriate, and they have contributed to large-scale corporate disasters like the Enron and WorldCom affairs.

The Brain Science of Traps

Fish are caught in wire cages with funnel-shaped entrances, which are designed to direct the fish to swim inside.

In the same way, individuals and organizations move in a certain direction—one that may trap them if they fail to reverse an ill-fated course.

At any given moment, we have impulses that motivate us to act. They are reactions to internal or external stimuli, which may be powerful enough to trigger automatic behavior. At this point, we may rationally ignore other (and better) options.

Other times, we’re aware of several distinct choices, but the stimulus’ effect overrides these potential actions. We may desire a specific outcome so strongly that it propels us to move in an unsound direction. Anxiety and stress may also compel us to make choices that alleviate our short-term distress, yet lead to irrevocable long-term consequences.

Our ultimate behavior depends on a complex weave of situational factors, history and personality.
Are you working in a company or law firm where leaders model integrity and trust? Does your company or law firm provide leadership coaching and leadership development to help leaders be worthy of employees trust? During tough economic times, leaders need to fully engage their people in building a culture of trust and accountability.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I a leader who is honest and builds trust?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching and leadership development for leaders who want to create an environment where employees are engaged and trust company leaders.

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help you create an organization that trusts leaders will do the right thing. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching, career coaching, and leadership consulting clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to [email protected].

Ethical Slips: The Irresistible Urge to Cheat

One of my CEO leadership coaching clients knows that for his company to thrive she needs to create a climate of trust and credibility. I am consulting with members of the company senior leadership team to consider firing a company vice president.

The vice president has betrayed everyone’s trust by cheating.The CEO knows that thriving in the future depends on all company leaders modeling the qualities of good leadership. She is empowering her leadership team to create a culture of trust and accountability. Human Resources is partnering with the CEO in helping the company repair the trust that was broken. Our current executive coaching and leadership consulting work is focused on helping leaders and all employees model trust and accountability.

Ethical Slips and the Irresistible Urge to Cheat

Even with a solid foundation of good moral values, no one is immune to making unethical choices.

Ethical slips and traps are rampant, from telling white lies that protect a friend, to ignoring a gut feeling and following orders when we know better.

Not a month goes by without some highly publicized ethical scandal. Be it tax evasion, executive pay excesses, sexual dalliances and outright fraud, many individuals are simply unable to resist temptation. 

Does this make the perpetrators corrupt sociopaths?

Sometimes, but usually not. They’re often leaders and pillars of the community, and their actions leave us shaking our heads and wondering what were they thinking.

The sad truth? No one is immune. Cheating isn’t limited to those in positions of power. While power is certainly fraught with opportunities and temptations, each of us faces daily choices that involve doing the right—or wrong—thing. Only when a CEO, politician, celebrity or sports legend gets caught does the problem rise to front-page news. Just ask Tiger Woods.

But the same ethical traps lie in your path. Even the little guys transgress. Often, people feel an urge to cheat—a strange pull to try to get away with something. Sometimes it’s small; other times it’s scandalous. Sometimes it matters; other times it goes unnoticed.

What exactly happens inside our heads when we choose to violate our ethical standards? Do we lose sight of what’s right? Do we take the easy way out? Are we driven to win at any price? Are we attracted to our “dark side?"

Are you working in a company or law firm where leaders demonstrate honesty and integrity when things get tough? Does your company or law firm provide leadership coaching and leadership development to help leaders be trustworthy? During tough economic times, leaders need to fully engage their people in building a culture of trust and accountability.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I a leader who is honest and models integrity?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching and leadership development for leaders who want to create an environment where employees trust company leaders.

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help you create an organization that trust it’s leaders will do the right thing. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching, career coaching, and leadership consulting clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to [email protected]

Six Essential Leadership Traits for Hard Times

One of my CEO leadership coaching clients knows that for his company to thrive she needs to create a climate of trust and possibility. I am consulting with the company senior leadership team to develop a new direction for the business. They are currently evaluating a new business strategy.

The CEO knows that thriving in the future depends on all company leaders modeling the qualities of good leadership. He is empowering her leadership team to create a more empowered company culture. Human Resources is partnering with the CEO in helping the company create a more sustainable future. Our current executive coaching and leadership consulting work is focused on helping leaders and all employees become more change resilient.

Six Essential Leadership Traits for Hard Times

The following behaviors characterize a good leader in a downturn:
1.  Honesty and credibility. This can prove difficult. Nobody can be certain about the business environment and its direction. How can you tell people what you believe when you lack full confidence? The only viable options are intellectual honesty and humility. Your authority depends on your ability to facilitate understanding and solutions — not from omniscience.

2.  Ability to inspire. Many people are extremely anxious. The recession descended as suddenly as a tsunami, destroying hard-earned savings and putting jobs at risk. People don’t trust what they hear, see or read. You and your team must inspire employees by working with them to toughen their resolve. Help them develop one or two realistically optimistic pictures of what can lie ahead. People need a vision that sparks the creativity required to develop new ideas and solutions.

3.  Real-time connection to reality. Reality is a moving target. You have to keep updating your picture of it, continuously monitoring change with ground-level intelligence. The same applies to your team, whose members must put all concrete information on the table, however bad it may be. Gather info from unconventional sources, and don’t get locked into one view. Allow the picture to change as you gather new intelligence.

4.  Realism tempered with optimism. Unadulterated pessimism is no more realistic than unbridled optimism. The first order of realism is to understand and accept a problem’s magnitude. Then, focus your people on a vision of what’s possible. Energize them to search for actions that will help them realize their visions.

This kind of leadership becomes a performing art. When you introduce the right touch of optimism, your people will tap into their psychological reserves to deal with bad news and transform fear into action.

5.  Managing with intensity. Dig into the right details more frequently than before. Hands-on participation is essential. Only through personal involvement can you acquire the ground-level intelligence needed to act with the required speed.

6.  Boldness in building for the future. The need to conserve cash and survive may pressure you to shortchange the future. You must resist. It takes imagination and guts to place strategic bets with no guaranteed payoffs when there’s little money and great uncertainly; however, it’s critical to aim for long-term payoffs.

Are you working in a company or law firm where leaders demonstrate honesty and integrity when things get tough? Does your company or law firm provide leadership coaching and leadership development to help leaders temper realism with optimism? During tough economic times, leaders need to fully engage their people in building for the future.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I a leader who inspires people to develop new ideas and solutions?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching and leadership development for leaders who want to become more inspiring so that their people and organization will thrive.

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help you create an organization that will co-create and execute a sustainable business strategy. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

I am currently accepting new executive coaching, career coaching, and leadership consulting clients. I work with both individuals and organizations. Call 415-546-1252 or send an inquiry e-mail to [email protected].