Author Archives: Larry Janis

Treat Promises to Yourself as Seriously as Promises to Others

by Michael E. Kibler

Successful leaders keep their promises. They take their responsibilities to others seriously, and, when necessary, they put aside their own needs for the good of the organization. As Simon Sinek put it in his bestselling book, Leaders Eat Last: “Leaders are the ones willing to give up something of their own for us—their time, their energy, their money, maybe even the food off their plate…Unless someone is willing to make personal sacrifices for the good of others to earn their place in the hierarchy, they aren’t really ‘alpha material.’”

In my firm’s work with and analysis of more than 1,000 senior executives around the world, we’ve found that this description is only half right. Of course leaders sacrifice aspects of their personal lives at times; that’s the price of admission in today’s competitive work environment. But those who subjugate their own personal needs for healthful diet and exercise, sleep and recreation, personal connections, professional development, cultural enrichment, and community engagement over five, ten or 20 years eventually succumb to a phenomenon we refer to as brownout—the graduated loss of energy, focus, and passion, which ultimately diminishes their success. (more…)

Applications Outsourcing Sales

Sales Capture Lead-Applications Services

Location: West Coast – San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle

Work with companies in the consumer goods, retail, pharmaceutical, transportation, industrial, hospitality, and life sciences industries, industries creating shareholder value by proactively identifying and helping to drive market-making strategies and outsourcing arrangements. (more…)

Why Leadership Development Programs Fail: Revolutionizing On-The-Job

By David Carder

In response to an argument McKinsey made for why leadership development programs fail, we made two cases for how they succeed: when they set and communicate realistic expectations, and when they are built on solid, empirical research foundations Going beyond the debate on why programs succeed or fail, I’d like to share some bold ways to implement effective leadership development programs.
We have worked with and observed organizations that are creating real, far-reaching changes in how leadership development participants apply what they have learned on the job. They are fundamentally reshaping the environment in which their learners work and, therefore, redefining the 70 in the 70:20:10 model . (more…)

Application Outsourcing Sales

We have been engaged to find sales talent for our client. Here is an overview of the roles:

The Sales Capture Lead Retail manages the opportunity sales pursuit and close opportunities using deep sales process and offering expertise. Develop and direct the sales efforts for new client target acquisition and/or direct the efforts to ensure execution of sales strategies geared toward protecting and growing business with existing clients. (more…)

Humble Narcissists Make Great Leaders

by Quy Huy

Narcissism gives executives the self-confidence to aim high, but greatness requires more humble behavior.

In today’s business environment of racing competition and the increasing complexities of management, leaders are frequently finding themselves having to do seemingly opposite things at once. ‘Paradoxical management’ often relates to how leaders act – their ability, for example, to focus on short-term and long term goals, or cost-cutting and investment in innovation. But it can also refer to their psychological behavior.

Recent research examined leaders who were narcissistic yet humble (two seemingly oxymoronic traits) and found that not only could the two apparently contradictory personal attributes exist simultaneously in the same leader, but narcissistic executives who were able to temper, or counter-balance, their self-centered egocentricity with humility often proved to be superior leaders. (more…)