Entries by Brian Ahearn, CMCT®

Wins and Losses

The rest of the week flew by and before Pat knew it, it was Friday afternoon again. As she was getting ready to meet Coach Smith at the coffee shop she reflected on the week. She felt good about having caught her mistake during the team meeting and then pivoting to talk to each person […]

Less Directive

Over the weekend Pat thought a lot about the conversation with Coach Smith. As she reflected on his advice and her leadership style, she realized she’d been very directive in her approach with her team. Although Coach Smith pointed out how he asked questions during practice, it wasn’t something Pat noticed about his approach with […]

Ask, Don’t Tell if You Want Commitment

The following week Pat was thrilled to receive her Certified Learning Consultant designation in the mail. She took a selfie with it and sent it to Bill so he could give the okay for the communications department to send out the company wide announcement. It went out Thursday afternoon and almost immediately Pat received dozens […]

Becoming a Respected Leader

Pat enjoyed the weekend with her out of town guests then took Sunday evening to reflect on what Coach Smith had shared with her regarding the principle of authority and the importance of being viewed as a trusted expert. She knew this would not be an overnight endeavor for two reasons. First, gaining trust takes […]

A Trusted Expert

Despite her excitement to meet with Coach, Pat was ten minutes late getting to the coffee shop. “Coach Smith, I’m so sorry for being late,” she began. “A meeting with my boss ran long.” Coach replied, “It’s okay Pat, some things can’t be helped. One thing you have more of when  you retire is time. […]

Putting Peer Pressure to Work at Work

This is the 7th installment on our influence through a story series. See the end of the post for links to the prior installments. —————- When Pat woke up Saturday morning she realized she caught some kind of bug and was under the weather. She didn’t start feeling normal until Sunday evening. As a consequence, […]

Quarterly Newsletter

One Quarter Down, Three to Go! I hope your 2022 is off to an even better start than you expected. I had the opportunity to get back on the road and it’s been wonderful to meet people, shake hands, share meals, and everything else that goes along with conferences. I think people are hungry for that […]

A Lesson on Peer Pressure

Despite her enthusiasm, Pat was a little late getting to the coffee shop on Friday. It had been a good week, but a very busy one for her and her team. She saw Coach Smith sitting at a table reading as she approached the counter to get her drink. As she made her way over […]

Tis Better to Give

This is the fifth installment of the story about Pat and her learning journey around influence from Coach Smith.   Pat was just as fired up to put her second team building lesson into practice as she was with the first one Coach had shared with her. Once again, she made sure to get into […]

Coach’s Lesson on Reciprocity

Pat was so excited to share with Coach Smith how her week had gone that she arrived at the coffee shop 15 minutes early. When he walked in she waved excitedly. He smiled and nodded as he waited in line for his drink. As he made his way to the table he could see that […]