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 many parts of you.

Ian rose through the ranks of a rough and tumble international petroleum sales organization,

now wearing a shirt and tie, he's ensconced in an office on the executive floor of the global headquarters.

His boss, one away from the CEO, repeatedly tells he in, he needs to rein in his volatile style,

stop his sailor's mouth, and generally get buttoned up.

Over and over, Ian's boss tells him, you're an executive now, act like one.

But that's how I am, he embarked at me.

It's how I got here, for Christ's sake.

I don't want to put a damn muzzle on myself every time I get off the elevator.

Corin's story is quite different. A gifted artist in a consumer products group, Corin

constantly feels like an outsider. They are all left brainers, she says disdainfully about her coworkers.

They love details I couldn't care less about.

It's like we're from different planets.

At an earlier time, Corinne thought she'd work at the company until retirement.

Now she can't imagine lasting even another year unless a drastic change occurs.

She knows the only change she can really affect us her own, but she

can't imagine changing her overwhelming sense of alienation.

These two accomplished professionals were both suffering in their own ways, but to me they shared two commonalities.

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