[Life Back West] January 2011 – “Most Likely to Succeed?”

David Brailer does not have  a background that causes you automatically to pick him as most likely to succeed.

And that’s why his success story is interesting for me as an executive coach, and why it holds at least two insights helpful for you.

Brailer grew up in the coal mining town of Kingwood, West Virginia; his father was a coal miner and later a maintenance supervisor, and his mother a surgical nurse.… Read the rest

[Coaching Tips] The Secret to Your Success

While the exact formula for what makes someone successful in work over a period of time is still cloudy, the outlines through research are taking shape. Those outlines can begin to inform who you hire, who you work with, and – if you’re prone to introspection – what your own personal profile looks like.

These trends and factors didn’t just pop-up today: in some cases, as in the importance of emotional intelligence, they’ve been building for decades as the old control and command models of management gave way to greater teamwork and collaboration norms.Read the rest