How Coaches Motivate CEOs to Take Charge of Their Leadership Role

Sep 20, 2019, 11:00 AM

This is a good one! Today we welcome Karen Walker to discuss how CEOs should view organization growth. Karen is an executive coach and consultant who advises CEOs and senior leaders on how to grow and thrive. She is the author of No Dumbing Down: A Guide for CEOs on Organization Growth, and has influenced and grown multiple businesses beyond the 6-figure mark. This is not an episode you want to miss.

First, we discuss Karen’s start in engineering and tech. She was one of very few women in both spaces and she thrived in the environment. After helping Compaq grow from a few employees to over 100,000 employees, she realized that being a part of a high-performing team and meeting and exceeding goals was one of her major drivers. She has taken that drive and applied it to coaching CEOs and business leaders in how to duplicate her efforts at Compaq.

Karen shares amazing insights into what it means to be successful, why you should think bigger about your business, and how CEOs and leaders should look at the success of their business. She is a paragon in the business coaching space, and the advice and information she provides is priceless. Check out nodumbingdown.com for Karen’s book and let us know if you have any questions.

Show Notes:

  • [01:07] Women Worldwide is turning 5! Thank you to all of our listeners!
  • [02:02] There’s still time to register for the Turn Up the Volume Workshop!
  • [02:55] Our topic for today: the CEO and growth for the organization.
  • [03:15] Welcome Karen Walker here to discuss how CEOs affect their organizations.
  • [05:19] Karen shares how she transitioned into coaching from the engineering and tech space.
  • [09:07] What was it like to be a woman in tech during her Compaq days? 
  • [10:58] Any common challenges in her women’s groups? 
  • [12:03] Karen shares the biggest takeaways she wants leaders to glean from her book.
  • [14:59] Do most senior leaders look externally for indications of success? 
  • [17:13] The skills needed to be amazing individual contributors are not the same as those needed to be an amazing team member or leader.
  • [18:13] What is Mayple and why do you need it? 
  • [19:39] Karen shares what her interview questions would be for a marketing department interviewee.
  • [21:26] How can CEO’s be more accountable and do they get in their own way of showing accountability?
  • [24:15] Resist falling back into old habits when trying to pivot in a different direction in business.
  • [24:56] Is there any way to help leaders stop the “blame game” feeling in meetings?
  • [27:08] Does Karen face stress and challenges in her role today? 
  • [29:02[ Growth is never in a straight line.
  • [30:42] Karen shares her parting advice to the listeners.
  • [33:32] Connect with Karen.

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