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 self-deception. The phrase, this isn't rocket science, isn't something you can say around Yolanda.

The holder of two master's degrees and a PhD, she is a rocket scientist.

Her upbringing in Puerto Rico was, she says, old-fashioned. She learned to respect her

elders and to be humble about her accomplishments. Those values were great preparation for

her years in the Air Force. The hierarchy and structure

were a comfortable fit for her. In the private sector, she didn't feel nearly as

well matched. When she saw people develop friendly relationships with

senior leaders, she labeled it inappropriate fraternizing. When people who

didn't deliver the best results received promotions, she labeled them ass kissers.

To avoid that label herself, she put her nose to the grindstone, cranked out tons of top-notch

work, and remained distant from the executive offices. One day, waiting at a gate at the

airport, she saw the executive vice president in charge of the division she had joined just

a month earlier. She'd met him once right after she came on board.

Standing there in the airport, it never crossed her mind that she could approach him and say

hello. Rather, she kept her eye on him, and when they made eye

she nodded respectfully to him.

He nodded back.

I asked why she hadn't approached him.

She said she was sure he was tired of people. I asked why she hadn't approached him.

...