Executive coach and author Marshall Goldsmith gave SCTE Cable-Tec Expo attendees some valuable lessons on becoming a better leader and a better person during the conference’s annual awards luncheon on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
He urged people to ask questions; listen to the answers; think about what they’ve heard; don’t shoot the messenger; respond positively; involve people in the process of improvement; and follow-up after improvements are implemented.
Goldsmith suggested attendees focus on one thing to improve on at a time. Leaders should not promise to do everything everyone tells them to do. “But you can listen to everything everyone tells you and involve them in the process to make changes,” Goldsmith said.
Follow-up is essential for success and improvement regardless the challenge, he said. “Engineers score best at this,” Goldsmith said. “If you go through the process of following up, you’ll get better. It’s really just base project management.”
Goldsmith’s professional advice for attendees: Life is short; have fun. Help people. Don’t let the fear of risk or failure stop you from doing what you want to do.
