“The Guru of NBA Defense” is how Raptors coach Nick Nurse recently referred to Ron Adams, assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors whose time with the franchise has included 3 NBA championships. Ron has coached not only Steph Curry and Kevin Garnett, but David Robinson, Ray Allen, and James Harden. In this wide-reaching conversation, Ron discusses with Kenning Partner Daryl Ogden how he builds rapport with players, especially superstars.
Conventionally, we think of feedback as something we get from our immediate supervisor. But Kenning Partner Laurie Burkland Waller explains to Mike Merrill how we can use 360° feedback to broaden our perspective and ultimately provide us a competitive advantage.
How is leadership like time travel? Kenning Partner Daryl Ogden explains to Mike Merrill an important tool he employs in his coaching practice: “The Leadership Continuum”. In this framework, Leadership is composed of three elements, all intrinsically associated with a facet of time: Administration, with the past; Management, with the present; and Vision, with the future.
On the eve of her announced retirement from Xbox Game Studios, longtime Microsoft veteran Shannon Loftis met with Kenning Partner Daryl Ogden to discuss her storied career. Shannon talks about the early days of gaming at Microsoft, and what it was like to be a woman in that hard-driving environment. She explains how Microsoft’s culture has changed in the intervening years, and how she has as well. A timely talk by Melinda French Gates provided some rules to live by for Shannon, guidelines she still shares with the women she supports today.
Kenning Associates Partner Jen LaChance says that facilitating a meeting means “creating space for group level sense-making”. With that benchmark in mind, she and fellow Kenning Partner (and facilitation veteran) Thom Shaw discuss some of the best ways to prepare for a meeting, conduct it, and what you should do once it's done.
Kenning Partner Laurie Burkland Waller speaks with Mike Merrill about leadership versatility, a trait she has found to be especially important for collaboration and effectiveness. Leaders with versatility have a kind of multilingual fluency: they are better able to adapt to stakeholders both inside and outside the organization and meet the needs of a particular person in a specific context.
Kenning Associates Partner Mark Ledden has worked with many coaching clients on problematic behaviors. Speaking with Michael Merrill, he focuses specifically on behaviors where you know you have a problem, but cannot seem to fix it. You may even exhibit the “ideal” behavior in other–typically less pressured–situations.
Kenning Associates Partner Daryl Ogden talks with Mike Merrill about the 4 types of new jobs that he commonly encounters in his coaching practice, and how those finding themselves in transitions to these new roles can best navigate the challenges that await them.
Reflecting on 50 years of helping leaders see the blind spots that hold them back Last June, as it became clear that 2020 would be a year like no other, Kenning Partner Mark Ledden started a conversation with his friend and mentor Barry Jentz.
Coaching is an investment, and everyone involved wants to get the most out of it, personally and professionally. Similarly, leadership development workshops require participants to commit time and energy, and the payoff should be commensurate. Interestingly, the secret sauce to making all this happen could be investing in one additional element: “pod” coaching.
