Psychology
Why other people’s emotions might not be about you — and your emotions might not be about them
‘That’s irrational.’
‘That’s stupid.’
‘They’re making things difficult for the sake of it.’
When we encounter emotions and behaviours that don’t make sense to us, it’s often because we don’t have all the information. And in the absence of information, we tend to assume the worst.
‘Emotional generosity’ is the…
Fundraising
Operational tactics that fuel repeatable sales processes have many applications for founders.
Selling the dream is a key part of a founder’s job — whether that means convincing investors to invest, prospects to buy, or candidates to join the company. Of course, existing relationships can be a big asset. …
Leadership
If you’re trying to do too much, here’s a simple solution.
What makes leadership team meetings trickier than they should be?
That’s a question I’ve been asking a lot of CEOs, both on my podcast and my coaching programs. Frequent answers include:
- A lack of alignment over the objective of the meeting
- A lack of clarity over people’s roles
- A lack…
Leadership
Successful strategy sessions tend to follow a common arc.
Most leadership teams come together for at least a few days each year to meet up as a team, align on the business strategy, and collaborate on the company’s biggest challenges. …
Management
If you struggle with holding people to account, try this.
Being held to account for our decisions, actions, and results can drive high performance. It helps clarifies our commitments, increases our diligence, and improves our self-awareness.
Most of us report to someone. For CEOs, it’s a board of directors. For others, it’s their manager or their coach. …
Leadership
It’s easier than you might think
One of the hardest parts of the journey from founder to CEO is to let go of the details. It’s as painful as slowly pulling hot wax off their legs (or so I assume — I haven’t waxed my legs recently).
However, there is a simple way for CEOs to…
Management
Committing to an action isn’t enough
Here’s the scenario. You’re coaching a colleague in a one-on-one meeting and they commit to an action you both agree needs to happen. Although this is the last step in the ‘GROW’ model of coaching, you have a niggling feeling that they’re not going to follow through.
What can you do to increase the chances they follow through?
Leadership
A consult-first approach to empowered decision-making.
There are basically four ways to take a decision:
- By command — a decision is made by an individual without consultation
- By consultation — a decision is made by an individual after consulting other group members
- By consensus — a group decision is made once everyone agrees
- By counting votes…
Communication
Save messaging for what it’s good at.
Lockdown has taught me many things, but there’s one lesson that can’t be overstated. Don’t give nuanced feedback via Slack. Or via SMS. Or WhatsApp.
Messaging is awesome for lots of things, but nuanced feedback isn’t one of them. The problem is you have absolutely no idea what’s happening on…
Management
Which you use depends on your use-case.
OKRs (objectives and key results) have become so popular that they’re quickly becoming interchangeable with their sister acronym, KPIs (key performance indicators).
I know you aren’t confusing these terms, but just in case you have a colleague who is, here’s a useful distinction.
1) OKRs are for new initiatives
When you’re building something new, you want…
Dave Bailey
CEO coach to Series A+ founders, 3X venture-backed founder, angel investor, author of The Founder Coach -> https://Dave-Bailey.com/go
