Month: March 2025

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365 Coaching Tips: 70th, 71st and 72nd

March 11th Coaching Tip: Take A Break.

The stock market was chaotic due to a multitude of national and global situations. I was in back to back meetings with leaders who are leading themselves and their teams thru anxious and challenging times. All day, I was working in a beautiful office overlooking the Statue of Liberty to the south and the 9-11 Memorial to the east. As it was approaching 5:45pm, I realized that it was time to grab a cab and go to the hotel. While in the cab, I called a friend who always makes me laugh…hysterically. She and her daughter had just returned from NYC and saw a Broadway show. Quickly I pivoted from work stuff to fun stuff. And by the time the cab dropped me off at the Bryant Park Hotel, it was game on: I’m checked in quickly, put on some comfy clothes and running shoes, and headed to see MJ, The Musical. It was a healthy and superb two decisions: take a break. Call a friend to laugh.

March 12th Coaching Tip: Good Intent.

After coaching all day in back to back meetings, it was time to head to JFK airport. Problem was that it was rush hour, and I was at Rockefeller Plaza in NYC. I packed up my gear, started to head out and catch a cab. But, I decided to ask two colleagues what would they do. With good intentions, they quickly recommended a route with four steps that would allow me more comfort, less cost, and a quicker trip. The problem was the four steps, so I asked one of them to write down those four steps. He gave it to me on a post it note, I slide it in my briefcase and away I went. The four steps: Cab to Penn Station; grab the Long Island Railroad to the Jamaica exit; go up the escalator to the AirTrain and take it to Terminal 5. Perfect instructions that had good intent, saved me money and time.

March 13th Coaching Tip: The Power of 3!

Earlier in the week, I was entrusted to read a Letter of Intent regarding a purchase. It was a thorough and well written, four-page LOI. But after reading it a couple more times, I felt that it might be best to summarize it with three words: scale, grow, win. When I received the LOI later, sure enough, the LOI had been simplified a bit, and the scale, grow, and win was a highlight.

The power of 3 is also a game changer for basketball teams. If a team has some players that can hit the 3, it stretches out the court and makes the defense guard more of the court. This stretching of the court opens up the easier shots closer to the basket. And when 3-point shots are made, it just takes four 3-point shots to get 12 points…while six 2-point shots equate to 12 points. The power of 3 in basketball is game changing. And it’s also powerful when leaders are communicating in business.

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365 Coaching Tips: the 67th, 68th & 69th

March 8th Coaching Tip: Coach Kids.

If you want to improve your leadership skills, coach kids. Yep, I said it, coach kids. If you can get second graders to 1) listen to you, 2) execute what you ask them to do, 3) have fun doing it, 4) win and lose, and 5) develop themselves thru coaching and practice, and as coach, deal with the parents with calm, integrity, and respect, then you can lead adults. You might just find that coaching other parents’ kids is the best way for you to fine tune some skills, and even learn from the kids, too. Today I watched two of my very special friends coach 2nd graders, and they both were so good with them. One of them is now a referee for kids’ games, while the other is now the director of the youth basketball league. Coach, referee, and director roles are great ways to improve your leadership skills. Coach kids.

When I was 24 years old, I coached 6th and 7th grade girls basketball. These gals had little confidence, but the parents really wanted me to coach them. I agreed, and we got to work, had a blast, and won. How did we win? We ran simple plays, played intense defense, and made our layups. To win, we realized that that we had to improve our dribbling and passing the ball better, so that we could hit the layups after creating steals with our defense. The kids had fun winning and developing their skills; the parents enjoyed watching their girls’ confidence skyrocket. Coach kids.

March 9th Coaching Tip: Don’t Delay.

Tax Day (approx. April 15th) comes every year here in the USA, without fail. And as an adult or business, you know it’s coming. This evening, I got one last list of questions from my CPA on remaining items that needed to be provided or questions that needed answered. What a relief, it’s all darn near done, and I’m not rushing to get it submitted.

For me, getting important projects done a bit early started back in college. By my junior and especially my senior year, I was prioritizing my surge of studying two evenings before exams. For example, if the exam was on a Wednesday, I was doing the bulk of my studying on Sunday and Monday evenings. This allowed me to think thru the materials on Tuesday, and if need be, it allowed me more time to dig in to the areas that I needed to tighten up. Decades later, I do this same tactic when I am asked to speak: I will work a week to two weeks in advance to fine tune the exact timing of the topics, how and when to intertwine the audience, and when to ask my colleagues on stage questions. This prep feels natural, and allows me to be smiling with calm instead of being anxious and underprepared. Don’t delay!

March 10th Coaching Tip: Here for you.

There’s that phrase that many people use when offering help, “I’m here for you.” How do you respond when they do need you? Today, this happened three times in my orbit. One was at work, with a very significant leader and team requesting my input on a Letter of Intent to potentially buy another business. I received it last week, printed it off, read thru it twice, and provided feedback. I was there for them when they needed me. Then my mother was called by her neighbor, and my mom said, “well of course I will take you to get your bloodwork done. I’m here for you.” And the third example was a public figure called me today, wanting to know if I could meet her tonight in Miami. I explained that I’m in New York City, but gave her options on when we could connect. It was apparent she wanted to talk face to face; we will make that happen. As a reminder, when you tell people that you are there for them, then make sure you honor that and be a model of integrity: here for you.

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365 Coaching Tips: 64, 65 & 66

March 5th Coaching Tip: Step Up.

In a couple of my coaching conversations today, the advisors that were leading their teams were frustrated with the lack of consistent high-level execution by their teammates. As I listened to them, it was clear to me that it was time to have the discussion, “step up or step out” with these underperforming teammates. However, as I drove home, it got me thinking, “what has the leader done to help them execute better? how are he/she coaching and developing them? what would the teammate say about the leaders and their instructions to complete tasks?” Both the leader and the teammates need to step up. If after all coaching and developing has been done, then it may be time for the teammate to “step out” and find a better role or fit elsewhere.

March 6th Coaching Tip: Remain Curious.

As we were driving to the airport this evening, we looked out the window to the south and there was something we had never seen before. It looked like a drone with lights was falling and spinning a bit out of control. We just couldn’t figure it out. Once I got to the airport, I started reading online to seeing anyone else noticed it or even recorded it. Sure enough, with a few minutes, figured it out: the SpaceX Starship had a fiery breakup, after departing from TX. This is the second explosion in the last two launches. Thank goodness there were no humans on board. For all of us, remain curious if you see something different or out of the ordinary. This applies to darn near everything in your life…including the engineers at SpaceX. I’m sure they are now very curious about why their efforts failed two times in a row. And it applies to your life, your personal safety, your kids, your home. Remain curious.

March 7th Coaching Tip: Keep it close.

You can’t win everything and always be atop the leaderboard on everything. With life comes losses. With life comes challenges. With life comes new or younger talent. If you can’t win, keep it close. My beloved Indiana University women’s basketball team really gave an outstanding team effort against the team from Univ of Southern California in the second round game of the Big Ten tournament. USC had much more talent than IU, but the IU women never ever gave up, kept up their intensity high until the end, and only lost by five points.

With basketball or business, it’s challenging. Be ready, as someone or some other company or team is always after you/your business. It might be developing a better product, at a lower price. It maybe a new, younger and quicker talent on the court; or more mature players who can execute under pressure. Bottom line, it’s hard to win at everything, all the time. If you do lose, do it with class: learn from it, evaluate your next steps, and keep it close. Always.

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365 Coaching Tips: 61, 62 and 63

March 2nd Coaching Tip: REST.

REST. I learned that acronym from a four-star general who spoke to leaders at Caterpillar over 15 years ago. And here we are 15 years later, and I can easily recall the essence of his message: take time to Read relevant and timely information, ensure you get your Exercise (150 minutes/week), get enough Sleep (7-8 hours), and Take Time To Think.

This general reinforced that the easy decisions are already made at an individual level or a lower level. The decisions that get to you as a high level leader or business owner are more difficult, and it’s imperative that you have time to think clearly about important decisions and all the potential and unintended consequences. REST, because it matters to your results, personally and professionally.

March 3rd Coaching Tip: Draft.

Today was my third coaching conversation with a future leader, and he has big plans for the current team, the current leader’s succession plan, and the growth that makes him giddy with excitement. He had been talking alot about it, quickly, and excitedly, but he wasn’t clearly articulating it. In our 2nd conversation, his homework was to draft/sketch what was in his head and put it on “paper”.

I was so proud of him today; prior to our meeting time, he emailed me his draft plan, and it was simple with just 4 pages. He had already used it the draft with the local management team, he has talked to his current leader, and now ready to share the draft with him/current leader. As we both spent 70 minutes really digging in to it today, we further improved it, added a few more details. He also agreed to keep it as an updated version with a date, so that he can keep track of the progress, plans, and be able to share the history with anyone who may join the team. Draft it up, it will help bring clarity to you … and others.

March 4th Coaching Tip: Time is Money.

Got up early today, drove to Coral Gables, FL to meet a colleague so that we could coach a number of leaders and advisors. We were there, on time, and ready to roll. The support women had sent out the emails and reminders, and ordered a lovely lunch. However, the office manager/leaders had NOT done the appropriate prep, didn’t have enough appointments set up for us, thus, it was an average day of efficiency. Actually, it was below average. For an upcoming two-day trip to New York City with this same group, you bet that I will be ensuring the schedule BEFORE we leave, so that others understand how valuable my time is. My schedule should be filled with high priority clients who want coaching and improvement.

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365 Coaching Tips: Here’s 58, 59 and 60

February 27th Coaching Tip: Do Due Diligence.

Met a leader today who has the opportunity to buy a business. As I asked him questions, he indicated that it’s a smaller business, about 1.5 hours away, the one employee isn’t very happy and feels overworked, the current owner is ready to check out, etc. Then we pivoted to the true details: what is he buying? what is in the business? what can he eliminate with minimum effort? how old are the assets and clients? how much potential is in the current business? what can he grow quickly to produce a higher gross margin? does he have other team members that can take care of this small business, so that the leader can be free to deal with bigger clients and deals? By the end of the conversation, he had a gameplan to drive to visit this small business owner in 3 days and start digging into what he is buying. When you’re buying a business, many larger companies take at least 100 days to complete the due diligence, and that’s after signing an LOI (letter of intent). Make sure that you do your due diligence.

February 28th Coaching Tip: Need Ya!

Coached a leader today with a highly talented team of 20 people. This leader had alot going on, alot! For example, his wife was on the west coast with her mom because of her mother’s transition to hospice. The leader was now taking care of three kids, and he needed to travel to Florida. Then, his middle child was admitted in to the ER, so he had to ask his 14 year old son to take care of their youngest child over night and also get them both to school on a Friday. I was proud of him, as we figured out a way to get him more help over the next three weeks. He called his mother, and said, “Mom, I need ya!” He then made a plan to talk to key members of his team and his executive assistant to also tell them, “I need ya.” It will be 2-3 weeks of asking others to help, and they will step up. Don’t be afraid to say Need Ya when you truly have alot going on and need help.

March 1st Coaching Tip: Help Out!

Just the opposite of the post above (Need Ya) is the offer to quickly help out. By asking some simple questions or reading an invite/email/text, you can really figure out how to help out quickly. Today we are having a block party, and my neighbors are helping arrange it. While on my walk today, they asked me if we are going; I said yes. Then I came back to our house, re-read the block party invite, and noticed that they were requesting neighbors to bring paper plates, napkins, and silverware an hour early. This made it simple for me: open up the cabinets, see what I have that is still packaged up, and I will now bring napkins, paper plates and some plasticware. A popular quote is, “look for the helpers, look who is helping.” Don’t overcomplicate things; ask a question or read something real quick, and you can figure out how to Help Out.