Dear Coach Alan,

My name is Martin, and I am the president of a software company. A year ago, I hired a chief information officer, Bob, who lives about an hour from our home office.  Bob did not want to move, and he convinced me that he would be able to handle the commute to work. He was highly qualified, and I accepted his commitment.

Dear Coach Alan,

 As senior VP of administration, I have been given the responsibility to consolidate the accounting and integrate the IT functions of a recent acquisition.  My staff has been meeting with the accounting and IT staff of the acquired company, but progress has been very slow.  My biggest frustration is that the staffs we are working with …

Dear Coach Alan,

After 30 years, I am feeling a great deal of financial risk and stress in my role as both owner and CEO of my company. Here are a few examples of why. I was named in a lawsuit where my company was not even involved but listed through association.  I have a major customer who is slow in paying invoices. …

Dear Coach Alan,

I have a customer who has asked me to do more work for his company but refuses to pay more for the additional work.  This customer is on a contract for a specific number of hours per week. When I asked for more money for the additional work, he responded …

Dear Coach Alan,

I have an employee who is brilliant at calibrating machines and creating new techniques to improve machine productivity.  He has come up with a way of reducing the cost of wear parts while decreasing the cycle time for finished products.  This is a precision grinding operation…

Dear Coach Alan,

I am the CEO of a growing service company.  My role is to network with potential customers and keep us strategically focused.  A couple of years ago, I reorganized my team and promoted one of my executives to be our COO.  His role is to run the day to day operations…

Dear Coach Alan,

My company is in the middle of a major change in strategy.  We have made a commitment to dramatically improve our product quality so that we can compete in new markets and attract new customers. As a result of this change, last month we had…

Dear Coach Alan,           

I am the CEO of a professional services company with offices in cities in the Northeast and Midwest.  Several years ago, before I became CEO, one of our managers had moved from headquarters to a regional office with the intention of growing that region.  Since then, the corporate strategy has changed…

Dear Coach Alan,

I own and lead a profitable company. I am 55 years old, healthy, and have lots of interests outside my business. I see myself retiring in the next 5 to 7 years. My question is, should I hire my son and develop him to take over my business?

Almost 90 percent of businesses are owned or run by families.  Any small business owner can tell you how difficult it is to operate a business. Adding a family relationship to a business introduces an emotional dimension that complicates matters.  With an unprecedented number of family businesses…

Jim is the general manager of a service company.  This is a small company of 30 employees that had gone through several difficult years of shrinking sales and profits. This year, the company was experiencing growth, and employees were told by the owner that they would be getting a year-end bonus.  Late in the year, due to some year-end expenses and advice…

Welcome back, Coach Alan!  It has been a while since I last blogged about coaching.  I took a summer break to focus on a book I am writing about General Motors (GM).  I am writing this book with a remarkable top GM executive (now retired) who was personally responsible…

I believe one of my assets is to think metaphorically.  As a teacher, I was able to utilize this asset to explain complicated concepts to students.  Sometimes, I used a case or an illustration to amplify a concept. For example, when I was explaining balance theory…

Dear Coach Alan,

I am the president of a manufacturing company. Recently, the CEO, who is the sole owner of the company, and I recommended an organizational change that would integrate a satellite division that supplied the main operation with product…

Dear Coach Alan:

I have an executive, Charlie, who is up for promotion.  While he is talented and productive, he is also polarizing and is perceived by his peers as highly emotional and full of bravado.  He can be irritating and, at times, self-destructive.  This executive has an important role to play…

Dear Coach Alan,

I am the owner of a small but profitable professional services company.  My top performer, Joe, keeps asking me for more money.  Several years ago, I put Joe on a profit-sharing program.  His annual bonus is a percentage…

Dear Coach Alan,

I have an executive whom I would rate as an A player.  He may even be my successor.  His name is Tom. Tom has many assets, but there is one area of leadership that concerns me.  He is so good at reasoning through problems that he seems invulnerable…

Dear Coach Alan,

I am the president of a small manufacturing company. How do I keep my executive team from letting day-to-day firefighting interfere with their strategic goals?  Is my company too lean? Do I need to hire more people? Does my team need more training?…

Dear Coach Alan,

I work in an HR department for a large bank.  I have a master’s degree in communication and am active in local HR organizations. In my work, I have had some experience coaching middle managers. My career goal is to become an executive coach. How do I get started?

Dear Coach Alan,

What wisdom can you share about leading a new geographical satellite operation of an existing, established organization? Is it best to focus on a unified and consistent culture and cross-location collaboration? Or do you recommend the new arm…