Build A Network Before You Need It

Senior leaders tell me all the time that they have a strong network.Then they start a job search and discover they don’t. What they have is a list of contacts. That’s not the same thing. In 20+ years on the hiring side, here’s the difference I’ve watched play out: A list of contacts is a…

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Executive Coaching

There’s something I tell every executive in their first session with me. Almost word for word. I tell them: I’m not here to make you into someone different. I’m here to help you see yourself more accurately. Because here’s what I’ve learned in 20+ years of doing this work. Most of the executives who come…

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Staying Confident Through Rejection

A client asked me yesterday how he’s supposed to stay confident after the fifth “we went in another direction.” I don’t think he liked my answer. But here’s what I told him.  And I told him. You’re not supposed to. Staying confident through five straight rejections in a senior job search isn’t resilience. That’s denial. What…

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Your Introduction Matters

A senior director called me last month. She’d been looking for six months. 52 applications. 4 interviews. 0 offers. The first thing she said on our call was, “I think I’m just too senior for the market right now.” I hear some version of that sentence almost every week. Here’s what was actually happening: she…

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Momentum doesn’t start until action does

You’re not stuck in your search. You’re busy avoiding it. There’s a version of job search activity that feels productive but creates zero forward movement. I see it constantly — especially in senior leaders who are disciplined, high-achieving people in every other area of their lives. It looks like this: Avoiding in a senior search…

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