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 The Honorable Executive. Brad was in hot water. He just wasn't sure how hot.

Frank doesn't forgive easily, he said, referring to his boss, the division president,

and he's really pissed at me.

But I hope everyone appreciates the irony that he's pissed because someone talked behind his back.

Man, he is the king of trash talk.

I had heard that about Frank, a quiet man who spoke without much expression, he was known for

openly making snide remarks about people. For example, he'd ask who was running a certain

project. Upon hearing a name, he'd shoot out a dismissive comment like,

she's a moron, or, well that's a mistake, or I never liked him.

Now Brad had been caught making a snide remark about Frank. It had happened during a one-on-one

meeting with a new direct report of Brad's named Cassandra. She was telling Brad

about problems she was having with a project and the problems all stemmed from a guy named Josh.

Brad assured her Josh always makes problems and they had traded stories about Josh.

When Cassandra asked if it was true that Frank had hand-picked Josh, Brad replied,

Oh yeah, we have Frank to thank for Josh.

What an idiot to hire him.

Later, venting her frustrations about Josh with a colleague,

Cassandra had said,

Brad says Frank was an idiot for hiring him in the first place.

...