I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all the CEOs I interact with in my speaking, coaching and mentoring roles.  Most of them are awesome.  In fact, all of them are awesome at times, but like me, they miss on occasion too and have areas to improve on.  There are a few areas I’d like each of them to work on during 2012.

However, instead of worrying about where I’d like them to improve, I thought I’d focus on my areas to work on instead.

Here are the TOP 5 areas I’ll work on in 2012:

1) I will not get as defensive when I hear things about me or my business.

2) I will focus more intently during my coaching and mentoring calls.

3) I will take better notes during coaching calls, so I can follow up tighter and hold the CEOs more accountable to do what they said they’d do.

4) I’m going to tell my coaching clients exactly what I think they should do.  And I’m going to keep pushing them to make the hard decisions they need to make.

5) I’m going to laugh more and have more fun.  And I’m going to take more time off too.

Hope about you ?  Where are you going to improve business wise during 2012 ?

Why would you try being an entrepreneur or CEO of a growing company without having a coach to help you navigate.

Every top athlete on the planet has one.  Their coaches pushes them to higher and higher heights.

All the top CEOs work with a coach.  Their coaches help them see what’s really happening.  They help drive them, they help guide them to work on the highest impact areas and not keep getting distracted by the busyness of the day-to-day.

Having a coach guide you with a couple of calls or meetings every month can easily be one of the highest impact things you can do to grow your business this year.

Getting an outside perspective from a coach, will allow you to learn from their expertise and experiences as you discuss the key areas you are working on each week.

Some weeks you may learn nothing new.  And on other calls, one single insight can save or make you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Often your coach will be someone you could never afford to have working for you day-to-day, but their coaching programs can be very affordable.  A friend of mine said “”If the Coach can’t add value beyond the fee, then you’ve got the wrong Coach. If the Coach delivers, it’s better than free! Easy call here.”

Why not try one for 6-12 months.  Why not invest in growing yourself & your business instead of trying to figure it out all by yourself.

This is an open invitation to “Crazy-Busy” CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners who know they could be working less and making more if only they had the right guidance from someone who’s already been there and done it!

Ya, I coach entrepreneurs & CEOs, and if you’re reading this, perhaps you’d like me as your coach this year too.  If you have the right stuff – I’d love to help you make your dreams happen too.  Drop me a note.

Coaching and developing people is core to any leader’s role, and it requires communication.

Not sure where I heard this, but the phrase; “the ability to get people promoted is the best sign of a great leader” couldn’t be more accurate.  I know I heard it back in the 1980′s during my College Pro Painters days when we spent a lot of time coaching & mentoring franchisees.

Coaching done well is an art, and it helps build communication skills. You take in the information from a coach and turn it into real-world action. By developing the ability to take in that kind of information and turn it into results is a precious skill, and one that should be developed in each of your employees.

The best athletes in the world have coaches and still learn from them. Employees in a growing organization need the same skill development. Learning how to adapt our coaching styles to different situations and give constructive guidance and feedback are important every day because it helps us process information and that turn that into action.

We spend time coaching someone in a business setting because we need the learner to increase their results so we can hit our goals. At the end of the day, coaching will assist us in hitting the results leaders are supposed to hit, too, because we’re communicating our vision for our organization.

There is no question that preparation is one of the most important areas of coaching. If not done properly, the coach is merely flying by the seat of their pants and the learner knows this. This is what I do as I myself, coach and mentor CEO’s in running their businesses.

For information on this topic, check out: Leadership at 100MPH.