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 Henshel, your executive coach, and today we're talking about the Conflict Resolution

Wheel.

Syed and I hadn't spoken in years.

I had coached him when he was a young rising star at a Silicon Valley tech giant.

I had enjoyed my time with Syed.

I found him to be an interesting thinker.

He had no modesty about what he didn't know.

In those days, he was hungry to learn about leading teams and how to manage up.

Our conversations were fast paced and engaging.

That was 15 years ago.

Now he reached out to me with a thoughtful email.

He brought me up to speed about his life.

His two boys who had been very young when he and I had worked together were on the brink

of adulthood.

His wife had risen to be a leader in her hospital system, and he brought me up to speed about

his work.

Syed had stayed at the tech giant, ultimately rising to senior vice president.

He expressed gratitude for those years.

He left because he had a dream about creating a startup.

...