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 leadership and listening.

Donald had the CEO courting him for almost a year before he came on board as head of global operations.

Fourteen months later, most of his initiatives had stalled, and the executive team that had expected so much from him

had mostly turned against him.

One comment from a group leader in Hong Kong epitomized Donald's feedback.

When Donald was here on his worldwide listening tour, we were the only ones doing any

listening. As with many executives, Donald's brain was a fast-firing dynamic supercomputer linked to an almost

compulsive desire to earn his salary through hard work. There was no question that he was

smart and dedicated, but he was alienating the very people he

needed because of his inability to quiet himself and receive others ideas.

Not surprisingly, his inability to receive came into the room during our coaching.

Once he asked me a question.

I began my response by saying I had two thoughts about the topic.

As I began explaining my first thought, I could see his own thoughts flashing across his face.

I was barely halfway through my first idea when he made a comment and then he commented

on his comment and he was off and running.

Several minutes later after we'd explored his thinking about my idea, I stopped and I asked him if he remembered

that I had said there were two thoughts about his original question.

...