Welcome back to the Look and Sound of Leadership, an ongoing series of executive

coaching tips designed to help you be perceived in the workplace the way you want to be perceived.

I'm Tom Henschel, your executive coach, and today we're talking about choosing stories

over truth.

James's expertise was so unique, so prized, that Larry, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, personally recruited him.

James came on board as a star, but less than two years later

Larry had lost almost all confidence in James. Larry said to me,

every time he talks, he stammers and hems and haws to the point where I'm not sure he knows anything at all anymore.

He's either got to start showing up like the executive we're paying him to be, or get out of the way so someone else can do the job.

At our first coaching session, James admitted that talking with Larry made him so nervous

he became paralyzed and incomprehensible.

He'd felt intimidated by superiors most of his life, he told me, but Larry was really tripping

his circuits.

When I asked why, he said, when I talked to him, he's completely stone stone-faced he looks like he hates me.

Do you think he does hate you? I asked. At first I didn't but now I'm not so sure.

So we analyzed all the data James had about Larry. In short order, we discovered that other

than Larry's stone face, there was nothing to support James's fear.

So I asked James if I could change the subject on him and he said sure.

Knowing he presented at industry events I said,

I'd like you to imagine you're doing one of your presentations at a conference,

big screen behind you, lots of PowerPoint slides, a couple hundred people in the room.

You know this picture, right? He smiled. This was indeed familiar territory to him.

...