President Obama needed a win.  Coming off of one of the worst speeches of his career, the Oval Office “tough guy speech,” his words were ringing hollow with Americans, drawing howls even from supporters.  But the President’s ratings soared when he gave a swift kick in the military britches to General Stanley McChrystal, relieving him of command in Afghanistan after the interview he gave to Rolling Stone. 

McChrystal sealed his own fate when during a 10-day interview with Michael Hastings he and his senior aides poked fun at just about every civilian at the top.  He left Hastings no choice to write, and the reader no room for interpretation, by assailing the President, Vice-President, and National Security Advisor James L. Jones -who they dubbed a “clown.”  

The president’s announcement was applaued by the media like the chorus in a Greek play.  Hallellujah.  Top network anchors and pundits on CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC all used the same phrase: “brilliant move.”  (But they never talk to each other, wink wink.)  I guess it’s just because they stand  shoulder to shoulder on the White House lawn with six inches of room on each side.  Or perhaps it’s just because they’re all drinking from the same political water cooler.  And the water is very blue.

In spite of that, Mr. Obama deserved the praise for his decisiveness.  He showed a side we have been longing to see – Decisive Leader.  It was a bona fide Commander in Chief moment.  And we haven’t seen many (some toughies would say any) of those.  He deserved our genuine praise.  One swift decision is hardly a pattern, but Americans are truly, mady, deeply hoping to see more of THAT president.     

Decisiveness is cool.  Decisiveness is sexy.  And it’s in short supply- not just in politics, in business.   The C -Suite could use more leaders who can say yes to this, no to that.  Personally as the CEO of a small company I would not dare cast the first stone.  Some decisions are hard to make.  You get tied up in knots.  When you can’t make a decision however, you drive yourself and everyone else nuts. 

What people long for are leaders who can make the call and communicate to the troops.  Like every great general, your job is to decide and then get everyone aligned and moving in the same direction.  People who work for you just want to know what the game plan is so they can get on with it.

I certainly have moments of indecisiveness.  But I also have no tolerance for people who can’t get out of their own way.  For example, it drives me loopy sitting in a restaurant when people take 15 minutes to decide on a dinner selection.  They wave off a polite, well-paced, patient waiter four times while debating the merits of salmon encrusted in almond flakes versus steak au poivre.  If you’re my mom you’ve earned the right to take your time.  Otherwise, please, make your choice.  You won’t even remember what you ordered tomorrow morning.  And by the way if you’re eating at McDonalds you can just order the Chicken McNuggets and change up the sauces - they have 8 of them.  And, it’s very scary that I know that.  

You are going to screw up.  But make the call and tell everybody anyway.  99.8 percent of the time it won’t be the end of the world.  And whatever happens people won’t be sitting on their hands waiting to DO SOMETHING.  Make the decision, move on.  Next?  

Why is that important?

Imagine Obama had taken weeks to decide what to do with the general? The media circus that would have surrounded the “decision” would have been a joke.  It’s over and done with and we can go back to wondering why BP is acting like idiots.  Hallelujah.

Baby boomers have trouble with this.  We (and I know not everyone reading this goes into that baby boomer “we” but go with me for a moment) are the generation who were suddenly given more than chocolate, vanilla and that crazy three-flavor ice cream combo our grandparents served (was it strawberry?)  We were given mint chocolate chip, rocky road, and eventually Oreo.  Soon there were 437 flavors.  Today, our kids have even more choices.   

Yet all these choices have not improved our skill at CHOOSING. 

So let this be a lesson to all of us.  Decisive is in.  Go out there today and make a decision - even if you’re not sure.  Pretty soon your staff will be saying things like — “brilliant move.”  And hey, even if they don’t, at least they won’t be confused. 

 http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2010/06/23/media-praise-obamas-brilliant-decision-fire-gen-mcchrystal#ixzz0s91zgomJ

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We have seen many a company withering under the watchful eye of angry consumers and relentless press.  Toyota and BP come to mind, but you can look through the newspaper for the last year and find countless others.  How can you be certain that your company is ready for a crisis and your C-Suite Communication team is up to the task?  And, forget about a crisis.  How can you be sure that the people in charge of your corporate communications are leveraging your brand and your message to position you in a highly competitive marketplace? 

The three biggest mistakes in C Suite Communications are: 

1.  Getting the core message wrong

2.  Failing to spot the landmines

3.  Leaving holes in your execution plan

In other words, C-suite communication is high-stakes communication.

Which is why we are going to devote a full hour to this topic in a Teleseminar this Friday, June 25th at 4 pm EDT. 

In this session, Margie Myers, an expert on corporate communication strategies, will discuss why it is harder than ever and more important than ever to get it right.   She’ll discuss how you can make sure your company’s message is heard above today’s noisy, distracted environment in which everything is conveyed in the space of a sound bite.   Even the most experienced communicators will learn from this session how to develop an exciting message that is instantly understood by people who know nothing about your company, your products or your industry.  And since nothing ruins a great communication plan like bad execution, Margie will discuss how to avoid making your CEO really mad, a mistake that can be fatal to your career.    

When Margie joined Bates Communications at the beginning of 2010, we were absolutely thrilled to find a first-rate, seasoned C-Suite expert who could take the communication strategy offering of our company to a whole new level.  Prior to joining Bates, Margie spent 20-years in communications with her career spanning multiple industries and corporate structures, including private and publicly held companies ranging from start-ups to multi-billion dollar global organizations.  She has worked extensively with C-suite and senior-level executives throughout her career, leading communication strategy and implementation for such situations as acquisitions and divestitures, financial reporting, CEO transitions, corporate restructuring/reorganizations and numerous corporate crises/issues. 

Prior to joining Bates Communications in 2010, Margery was the Senior Vice President, Communications for Dunkin’ Brands, the $6.6 billion quick service restaurant franchisor, with more than 13,800 franchised Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins restaurants in 44 countries. She built a comprehensive, cross-functional communication program to align and engage a global audience of franchisees, employees and the media. She directed communications efforts to introduce major company initiatives such as Dunkin’ Donuts’ entry into China and Dunkin’ Brands’ divesture of Togo’s Eateries, manage regulatory threats and position the company and its brands in the press to drive increased customer traffic and franchise sales.

 Prior to joining Dunkin’ Brands, Margery built and led the communications function at Talbots, the women’s specialty retailer.  During her tenure at Talbots, the company grew from $879 million in annual revenues and 395 stores to $2.3 billion in annual revenues and over 1,300 stores. As Vice President of Corporate Communications and PR, Margery guided communication for the acquisition and integration of The J. Jill Group, Inc., the launch of five brand concepts, entry into U.K market and the launch of the company’s e-commerce channel, serving as spokesperson for all business initiatives. She was also executive speechwriter for the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  Her additional responsibilities included fashion publicity, employee communications, community relations and philanthropy.  Margery founded the Talbots Women’s Scholarship Fund for women returning to college later in life.

This is a session you will not want to miss if you want to take your company’s corporate communication to a new level.  Please call Jay Ryan at 781 235-8239 or sign up by clicking here: http://www.bates-communications.com/boot-camps/teleseminars.php 

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Rome wasn’t built in a day, but imagine if those Romans had had the internet.  They would have loved it.  Log into Monster.com and hire the team; order supplies and get overnight delivery from Lowes; Google winning city architectual plans and then go to Amazon to choose business best - sellers on project management.  Way cool.  

Yes, it is incredibly comforting to know that many of our needs can be met in an instant.  I’ve just started to wonder what impact this has on leaders.  If we all are conditioned to expect it now, is that a good thing or a bad thing? 

I’ve never been a patient person so this is my era.  The Easy Button from Staples?  That’s a potent fantasy.  I love Google.  The other day I googled Mika Brzezinski chatting about ”working with the White House on talking points on the Gulf oil spill,” and watched the video clip before my Keurig Single Cup Coffee Maker finished brewing that cup of Chocolate Glazed Donut coffee - which we ordered because it takes too long to brew a whole pot.    

If our parents thought we wanted everything yesterday, they should see us now.  We are truly, madly, deeply in love with instant gratification.  I don’t have to go to the bookstore or even go online and order a hard copy from Amazon.com (and wait 4 days to receive it.)  I can fire up my Kindle, press three buttons, and download any one of 500,000 books in 6 seconds.   

In today’s world, is patience still a virtue as your grandmother said?  I don’t know.  It would be foolish to judge our generation as better or worse.  We are a product of our environment.  However, the question is how to harness the good part of impatience and get things done without driving people crazy.  

You know what you must do.  Set goals.  Assemble the right team.  Get them working together.  Engage them and keep them motivated.  Hold them accountable and measure success.  If you want to do that faster then you must cultivate one additional skill- one that every leader must have.  That is - the ability to communicate what you want in a way that engages and motivates others to do it when it needs to be done.  

If it’s all in your head - you’re just wishing you could push that Easy Button  –then good luck to you.  If nobody knows what you want, then how can you expect quick results?  

Think about it like Google.  Capture it in a key phrase. Articulate a clear, succinct powerful idea.   It’s harder than you think.  Recently, while working with a group of leaders I challenged them to use our “Big Idea” process to clarify what must be done and why.  The trick is they have to do this in 25 words or less.  They worked for 2 hours and were still debating it.  Like I said, it isn’t easy.  As Mark Twain once famously said, I would have written a shorter letter if I’d had more time.  

So the Easy Button is just a chotchke, but you can get faster better results when you get specific and clear in your communication.  Get it right and watch those results populate like Google filling your search page.  Good stuff in, good stuff out, at the speed your business needs to move right now.

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Carl-Henric Svanberg, Chairman, British Petroleum

There are easy targets and then there are easy targets.  I almost hesitate to write about Carl-Henric Svanberg, Tony Hayward and the bunch, because the entire media world has already aimed, fired and riddled the bulleseye with bullets.  What else can be said about this hapless gang? 

On the other hand, since my thing is communication and leadership, I do want to comment because there are lessons here.  Aside from how stupid can you be.   

The Chairman of BP has been nowhere to be found for the first 60 or so days of the oil spill.  when he got a call summoning him to the White House to pony up with billions for the restitution fund, he came out of his cave and spoke just like a cave man.  I am referring of course to his reference to the victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as “the small people.”

It took only minutes for the thing to go viral which meant of course they had to issue the ever-popular press release apology.  Svanberg apologized for having spoken “clumsily” to reporters.    

”What I was trying to say - that BP understands how deeply this affects the lives of people who live along the Gulf and depend on it for their livelihood - will best be conveyed not by any words but by the work we do to put things right for the families and businesses who’ve been hurt.”  Nice try, but no amount of wordsmith-ing is going to make up for a blunder the size of the Gulf.    

If it had just been this one gaffe then people might attribute it to the language barrier (Svanberg is Swedish), or a stressful slip of the tongue.  However, it was only the latest of several BP executive “gaffes” during the eight-week controversy.

Tony Hayward, BP CEO

Just when it seemed Gulf residents couldn’t get any more outraged about the massive oil spill fouling their coastline, word came Saturday that BP’s CEO was taking time off to attend a glitzy yacht race in England.  The social media networks lit up as Gulf Coast residents remarked they’d like a day off from the onslaught of oil on their coasts.  What could the BP spokesman say?  It was the first “day off” Hayward had had since the April 20th oil rig disaster and he has a keen interest in this annual race.  And, this came after a misstep not long ago when he told reporters that he just wanted his life back.  He was forced to apologize.   

So how did it happen?  Of course these guys have never lived under the withering scrutiny of worldwide press and the democracy of the 24-7 blogosphere.  They’re used to coming and going pretty much as they please and saying what they think.

At the same time they seem to be utterly unaware of the impact their words and actions have on others.  As with every corporate crisis, it’s usually not the mistake that kills you  (although this one is bad).  You become Public Enemy Number One because you don’t appear to have any sympathy - strike that - any awarness whatsoever of the plight of others.  

As we speak, some adjunct professor is drafting a case study for Harvard Business School and it’s the easiest thing he or she has ever written.  Only this one won’t be that brilliant Tylenol case that everyone has studied for twenty some years.  This will be a case study in how everything can go wrong some of the time. 

It would be easy to conclude that these guys don’t just have tin ears.  They seem to have forgotten where they came from.  I have no idea whether they grew up with privilege, but they weren’t always kings of their world.  At some point along the way when people uttered the word “CEO” or “Chairman” to them you have to believe they thought, wow, wouldn’t that be great someday?  To have the opportunity to lead a company?  What an awesome responsibility.  What a privilege.

As the author of two books with CEO in the title (Speak Like a CEO, and Motivate Like a CEO) I’m often asked to “defend” those titles.  “How many CEOs really communicate well?” People will ask.  Or, “How many CEOs do you know who really motivate other people?” 

I’ve never spoken publicly about this, but my editors at McGraw Hill were also doubters - more than a little concerned about the choice of title for book #1.  “CEOs don’t have a very good reputation,” one remarked when we were debating what to call it.  I assured them that most of my clients were very interested in getting to the C suite or were already there.  That turned out to be true, as it became a business best seller. 

One reason I love working with leaders is because the vast majority of them love their companies and understand pretty clearly what an impact their words and actions have on others. They are keenly aware that they have a responsibility to those who work for them, live in their communities, and buy their products.  Unfortunately they aren’t the ones who make headlines. 

If you are lucky enough to get to sit in the proverbial corner office, fly on the corporate jet, and play golf at the nicest country clubs,  I think it’s worth cultivating an attitude of gratitude.  If you haven’t done that lately, and you know whether you have, then pour a little humility into that cup of coffee along with the milk and Splenda.  A sense of entitlement is the underlying attitude that leads to shooting yourself in the foot.  One mistake is a gaffe.  A bunch of them that occur because you are acting like the emporer who has no clothes is foolhardy.  

Don’t get me wrong, I think if you are smart and work hard you should get what you “deserve.” The good life is a good thing.  But when you run a company, every day you must to get up and thank those hard-working lucky stars of yours and be thankful for the people who make it possible.  Cultivating that attitude will prevent you from developing the mindset that gets you into trouble when your company is in peril.

I hope – really I do – that eventually things turn around for BP because of the good people who work there and the thousands who invest in BP stock in their retirement portfolios.  Nobody is rooting for BP to fail.  We need oil, we need profitable companies to create jobs and make our economy run like the wind.  I just hope as BP is writing out the check they’re remembering that in the grand scheme of the big wide universe, we’re all pretty darned small.    

 

 Svenberg's comment on "small people" : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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I really don’t want to write this article.  You know, the one on the use of Blackberries in meetings.  Shellie, our business manager, is making me do it. 

I don’t want to write this because I don’t have all the answers.  But Shellie is right.  If the business world doesn’t get a handle on this insidious, pervasive, focus-sucking problem; we’re all going to go just a tiny bit crazy.  

So…here goes.

If your company, your group or your boss HAS RULES on the use of Blackberries in meetings, I’m willing to bet one thing - there are always people who violate the rules, and most of them get away with it most of the time.  If you DON’T HAVE RULES it’s a sure bet that your meetings are taking twice as long - and you’re getting half as much done.  

There are multitudes of reasons (excuses) why people flaunt any rules the organization tries to set forth. 

• They’re overwhelmed with work. 
• Meetings are too long. 
• Meetings are poorly run.
• They don’t know how to delegate.
• They have extremely short attention spans.
• The meetings aren’t relevant to them.
• They are addicted to the darned thing. 
• They are poor time managers.
• The organization is E-mail happy.
• Things that should be happening by phone are happening in Cyberspace.

Are you at a loss as how to tame the Blackberry beast?  Join the club. Even in our office, when it has been clearly stated at the beginning of the meeting that people should turn off their Blackberries and put them away, I see them “sneaking out.”  (Emergency with the kids, expecting an important email from a client, etc).  So, there they sit, on the side of the conference table, or worse, in laps, where they are hardly concealed and just as distracting.  

The problem is- it is hard to argue with the reasons.  Like I said.  I don’t have all the answers.

The other day I gave a four-hour workshop on Communicating Like a Leader to a leadership team offsite meeting.  I must say, I was pretty impressed with this group - only about 10% had Blackberries out on the table.  But still, I find when even a few are using them, others are sitting there thinking - “Maybe I should be monitoring my E-mail, too.  Perhaps I’m not as on-top-of-it as this guy.”  Or, “if she has it out, why shouldn’t I? I guess the boss really doesn’t care.” 

If the BOSS has the Blackberry on vibrate on the table - going off every 18 seconds - all bets are off.  It is over.  That IS the standard.  A few weeks ago a Fortune 500 company paid our firm tens of thousands of dollars to deliver several days of training.  Most of the participants had their Blackberries out on the desks the entire time.  So, what should be done?  Is this a good use of their precious time and money? Should I care?    

This morning I went searching for some “new rules” on Blackberries and found a lot of the same old stuff.  Oh, there were some nuggets - but I’m telling you that I don’t think anybody has this thing figured out.  This isn’t like getting people to comply with seat belt laws.  When people don’t buckle up - there’s a consequence - they die.  When people don’t put the Blackberries in the “holster” it’s only a meeting that is dead on arrival.

So having said all that - let me offer up 10 “new rules” on Blackberry etiquette and good meeting practice, and you tell me what you think.

1. Make a rule - Blackberries off during the meeting.
2. Allow exceptions and get agreement (real emergencies, crisis in the office, and define that)
3. Tell people they must leave the meeting not just to talk, but to type, so they don’t distract others.
4. Devices must be on vibrate, and never on the table.
5. Promise and hold firm on predictable breaks.  At least one in a two hour meeting. 
6. Use timed agendas and send them in advance, so people know when they can slip out.
7. If you’re the meeting leader - follow the rules- you cannot be the exception.
8. Get group agreement on the new norms, so that you aren’t the only one “calling people out” 
9. Make your meetings shorter and have fewer meetings.
10. Tell folks when meeting with clients/prospects/influencers, there are no exceptions.  No Blackberries.  At all.  Not in the lap, not on the table, not anywhere. 

Okay, the electronic mailbag is open for your comments.  Let me know what you think.  Maybe collectively we can come up with even better answers. 

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“Practice does not make perfect.  Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

- Vince Lombardi

 Ray Allen, Celtics

If you haven’t been following the Lakers/Celtics in the 2010 NBA finals (one of THE great sports rivalries of all time) you are definitely missing something.  You sure as heck don’t need to be a basketball fan to grasp this epic story - two titan teams- whose history dates back to the 60’s.  There is simply no matchup in sports better than the Celtics and the Lakers.    

Celtics fans believe (rightly) that as the relatively “new” leader of the team Rajon Rondo goes, so goes the game - and that’s true.  He’s incredible.  However - Ray Allen - the veteran shooter - has been a deciding factor in the Celtics wins (and losses) so far.  In game 2, Allen broke the record for the most 3-pointers in an NBA final game - and the Celtics won.  On the road.  It was incredible.

Why is this important to you as a leader or a professional who has to hit the “court” every day?  As we all know, performance is about perfect practice.  Your “game” will be judged by how well you communicate your big ideas and inspire people to achieve results.  What makes you great is what makes a player like Ray Allen great.  And it isn’t”God given talent.” 

Ray Allen’s remarkable career is a testament to his utter dedication to routine practice.  He can ALWAYS be found on the court before EVERY game, often alone, taking shots.  This dedication, which some might describe as “every day is Ground Hog Day in the NBA” has built his stellar career and positioned him as future Hall of Fame legend.  

Becoming a great “shooter” isn’t about getting it right once in awhile, when it “counts.”  You have to hit the court consistently.  Allen has it all committed to memory (both the mental kind and the muscle kind) and he works it before every single game.   I strongly recommend taking a couple of minutes to watch the You Tube video below - and listen to what he says as he shows you his routine.  It isn’t just about basketball, that’s for sure.

By the way I never apologize for sports analogies.  If there are people- male or female - who don’t get it, then so be it.  The parallels between sports and business are so right on.  Listen to truly great athletes talk about how they do it - and one thing you learn is there’s no such thing as natural talent.  

Ray Allen was a gym rat all through high school and college.  Even when he was 8, he had to make 8 lefty layups and 5 righty layups before he would leave the court.  So his practice habits were etched in stone early in life. 

At the same time, you can’t be discouraged if you didn’t start speaking well early in your career.  The legendary Michael Jordan’s work ethic is proof that you can catch up.   Coach Phil Jackson, commenting once on his former star player said, “The weakest part of Michael’s game on the offensive end was his shooting and so he obviously mastered something everyone said he couldn’t do…and he did it by shooting and shooting and shooting and shooting consistently.  This guy said - what are my weaknesses - and how do I make them my strengths - and he did it.” 

Every time you get up to speak people are sizing you up as a leader.  Every game counts. That’s why you can never take the practice time for granted.  This week, one of our clients called his coach after a major presentation to say it was just “okay.”  He’d had a “good game” a couple of months before - knocking a presentation out of the park - and then he decided he didn’t have time to prepare and rehearse the next one with the coach - and no surprise - the presentation just didn’t fly.   What Ray Allen knows (and he is admittedly almost OCD about it) is what all of us must learn - if you don’t get out there and practice, you aren’t going to have a good game.  

 

 Ray Allen on how to become a shooter: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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A wonderful friend of mine, Dr. Marcia Reynolds, has just published her new book,Wander Woman: How High-Achieving Women Find Contentment and Direction

As far as I can tell, this is the first personal development book to focus on the needs and desires of high-achieving women.  There are many books that are designed for all women, or to “fix” women in business, but Marcia understands that high powered women do not need assertiveness skills, do not want to focus on their fears and will probably not balance their lives. They need a book that will address their specific challenges.

Based on the research for Dr. Reynold’s doctorial dissertation, Wander Woman speaks directly to strong, smart women between the ages of 30 and 55 who are constantly searching for “something more.” She defines the societal factors that led to the drive and restlessness these women experience. In their constant search for the next great thing, they lose a sense of who they are and what their purpose is beyond their accomplishments and praise. This book provides practical exercises, powerful questions and case studies to help the women channel their restless energy into a more focused, fulfilling path.

If you purchase the book on June 15^th, email the receipt to Marcia@WanderWomanBook.com. In return, you will receive a workbook to use with the book and Dr. Reynolds will donate 50% of all proceeds to the Phoenix Crisis Nursery, a caring place for young children whose parents are in crisis. If the book hits the New York Times Bestseller list, she will donate 100% of the proceeds.

You can find out more about the book and the launch at www.WanderWomanBook.com. Please join Marcia and me in getting the word out. We are on a mission to help high-achieving women free themselves from the “burden of greatness” and define success on their own terms.

Check it out.

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“To err is human, to forgive divine.”

             - An Essay in Criticism, by Alexander Pope, English Poet, (1688-1744)

You have to feel for Ann Curry. The Today show anchor figuratively tripped and fell during her commencement speech at Wheaton College in Norton, MA.  Oh, she was still on her feet, but the pain must have felt as searing as a bloody knee when Curry was made aware that the famous Wheaton alumni she named in her speech received their diplomas from Wheaton College– in Illinois.  

Ouch.

Why do I hurt when I write that?  You know, how when you see someone get hurt and you feel this pain in your bones?  Why do we feel such empathy?  I think it’s because it’s the kind of mistake any of us could have made.  

Which is precisely why I am compelled to ask you– who’s got YOUR back?  

(With apologies to Keith Ferrazzi, who wrote a book by the same name) this is a central question for anyone who has ever walked onto a stage.  Who is helping you? Who is making sure that the research, revisions and edits are right?  Who is there to catch you before you fall?  Anybody?  And if you have one or two people helping you, are they people you can trust to get it right?  And do they have back-up?    

I have no idea whether Curry, who seems like a nice person, wrote the speech herself.  She told Jimmy Fallon later that her poor Googling skills were the culprit.

When I was a television news anchor (Boston, Philadelphia, Tampa-St. Petersburg) there was no Google yet, and we also never anyone to help with that sort of thing.  People think I rode to work in a limo, had a makeup person and three assistants, when in reality I was scraping the snow off my own car at 3 a.m. to get to work on time.  TV people are often really out there on their own.   

You would hope that when you reach the network that you have some help, but again, she was taking the fall.  Still, whether she penned it herself or someone hand her the script, the screw up is to go in without back-up.  Somebody besides you or the writer or person preparing your slides needs to look it over.  And, that person needs back-up.  In this case, this was easily preventable if the writer had run it by someone at the college.  Obviously they didn’t require that, but had she had them watching her back, she would never have walked on stage with that script.  It was utterly preventable.

The question isn’t forgiveness or even to make a mistake – it’s just to surround yourself with people who take the risk out of these situations.  In coaching our clients, we always work with them to develop a circle or team of people to help.  You’d be shocked at how many senior leaders have no one to help with communications, or have someone very, very junior, or someone who has no time because they are supporting 147 other executives.  Once the coach is no longer in your life you need a plan.  You need more than one person who has your back.  

“I am mortified by my mistake,” Curry wrote in an apology letter, “and can only hope the purity of my motive, to find a way to connect with the graduates and encourage them to a life of service, will allow you to forgive me.”

For the record, Curry’s list included the Reverend Billy Graham, horror director Wes Craven and former speaker Dennis Hastert.  Wheaton College in Massachusetts was all girls until the 1980s; its famous grads include Lesley Stahl, Oscar-nominated actress Catherine Keener and former New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman.

By the way, I do commend Ann Curry for a nicely written apology letter – here’s how it ends:

“… I want you to know that my brief visit left me deeply impressed with the quality of Wheaton.  It was evident in the confidence of your graduates as they collected their diplomas, that they have been exceedingly well nurtured.  And even with my blunder, the students were also gracious enough to react with a standing ovation.   Now THAT is good manners.”

 

 Ann Curry on Jimmy Fallon: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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