I hear the foremost occupants of the c-suite open the kimono to their thoughts for hours every day--enough to cherry-pick the essential qualities that mark the true greats in leadership.

Whether leading others or leading your own life it seems to me there are two primary paths you can take. You either spend most of your time reacting to circumstances, acting mostly out of habit and at the effect of what others want of you (the drift) OR you are conscious and purposeful in designing how you spend your time, and with whom, as a reflection of what matters most to you.

By Marshall Goldsmith Continual contact with colleagues is so effective in helping leaders develop that they can succeed even without a large, formal program. Leadership is a relationship not between the coach and the “coachee,” but between the leader and his or her colleagues. Learn the eight steps to effective leadership development in this issue of the Marshall Goldsmith On …

If you want to change, you must follow-up! Learn why this step is so important and how to do it, right. Leadership Is A Contact Sport step 7 of 8:  Change! By Marshall Goldsmith Change is simple, but it’s not easy. It’s hard. You have to do it. You have to put in the time and effort that it takes …

Involve & Change: Improving your odds for change Leadership Is A Contact Sport step 6 of 8:  Involve! By Marshall Goldsmith If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it fall, did it make a sound? This is the general conundrum behind why it is critical that you take the next two steps of the Leadership Is …

Learn how to respond to feedback and why the keys are to be positive, simple, focused, and fast! Leadership Is A Contact Sport step 5 of 8:  Respond! By Marshall Goldsmith If there is one thing I know, it’s how to respond to feedback. A pioneer in the use of customized, 360 degree feedback (confidential feedback from direct reports, peers …

Thanking works because it expresses one of our most basic emotions: gratitude. Leadership Is A Contact Sport step 4 of 8:  Thank! By Marshall Goldsmith Two magic words — Thank you! Thanking works because it expresses one of our most basic emotions: gratitude. Not an abstraction, gratitude is a genuine emotion. It cannot be exacted or forced. You either feel …

Reversing the order of speaking then thinking to thinking then speaking will do wonders for your relationships both professional and personal! Leadership Is A Contact Sport step 3 of 8:  Think! By Marshall Goldsmith Thinking before speaking is a challenge for a lot of people. It might even be hard for you, especially if you are trying to prove to …

Did you know that 80 percent of our success in learning from other people is based on how well we listen? Listen to Their Answers Leadership Is A Contact Sport Step 2 of 8: Listen! by Marshall Goldsmith In her book My Life in Leadership, Frances Hesselbein, former CEO of the Girl Scouts, CEO of The Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute, …

Being genuinely empathetic to the issues the team is grappling with and providing direct yet respectful feedback is as useful with a group as it is in our individual coaching work.