How CEOs can navigate the evolution of their career

Good CEOs aren't born; they go through a distinct journey in the job from aligning with their board's values, to facing the "buzzsaw" of challenging events, driving growth and avoiding complacency that can set in later in their tenure, write executive coaches Claudius Hildebrand and Robert Stark. "Even the most successful CEOs go through periods of doubt and failure and the feeling of being overwhelmed by the internal and external demands they face," they write.

Put it into practice: The best CEOs don't allow their job to become their identity, which makes it easier for them to hand the reins over to a successor, Hildebrand and Stark write. "This requires a mindset of focused concern around ensuring a smooth transition that maximizes the odds of ongoing success while recognizing the temptation to stay too long."

When executive coach LaRae Quy was an FBI agent, she perfected several methods that increased cooperation from others, such as sharing personal stories and mirroring positivity. "While the chances of crossing paths with a foreign spy are minimal, you will encounter bosses, clients and family members from whom you will need to elicit cooperation if you want to move forward in business and life," Quy writes.

Put it into practice: Encouraging people to cooperate might not be the stuff of "Mission: Impossible" movies, but cooperation can be boosted by making sure you're seen as a friend instead of a foe. "Bottom line: the sooner we speak of a shared interest that benefits all parties, the better our chances of success," Quy writes.

If you have a coworker who dominates the conversation, you can follow Joseph Grenny's example of a time when he politely warned a talkative friend that he had limited time for the discussion and walked away when that time had passed, even as the friend was still talking. Grenny says the tactic worked, noting: "In the future, he never expressed offense when I set and enforced my boundaries with him."

Put it into practice: Talkative co-workers can be exhausting because you have to act like you are interested and have patience for their non-stop dialogue, which is why boundaries are so important, Grenny writes. "The solution isn't to get better at demanding others to take responsibility for your needs; it's remembering that your needs were always your responsibility."

Building a leadership pipeline requires empowering team members through ownership and decision-making, writes Shawn Cole, the president and co-founder of Cowen Partners Executive Search. Leaders can model a growth mindset by embracing challenges, setting stretch goals and supporting external learning, Cole writes, noting that this approach fosters a culture of continuous development and prepares team members for leadership roles.

Leaders can pattern their lives after that of Benjamin Franklin, whose insatiable curiosity led him to chase whirlwinds and conduct experiments that often resulted in surprising discoveries, as well as keeping an open mind and a sense of humor, writes Richard Munson, the former senior director of the Environmental Defense Fund. "His writings of experiments and observations share more than just academic knowledge but also wisdom for all who seek to discover," Munson writes.

Researchers have discovered that Eurasian reed warblers navigate using only the Earth's magnetic inclination and declination, challenging the previous belief that total magnetic intensity is essential for bird migration. The study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences suggests that this method offers evolutionary benefits by providing a constant navigation system unaffected by weather, which could inspire advancements in navigation technology.

I attended a community meeting last night where they broke us up into groups to discuss some topics. As we explored the first question: "What brought you here tonight?" one gentleman began to answer, and he went on and on and on ...

What he talked about wasn't even germane to the question. One woman in the group tried to rein him in, saying things like, "That's interesting! Let's hear from the others about this question." But he kept talking.

It reminded me of Joseph Grenny's article today on how to deal with a talkative friend or co-worker. I liked Grenny's tactic of setting a time limit and then walking away when that time is up. Grenny reasons that the speaker is being impolite by monopolizing the conversation, so you need to set a boundary for your mental health.

The man finally seemed to get the message last night and was more succinct when answering the other questions we discussed, but he still veered wildly off-topic when he did speak. The woman to my right was working feverishly to keep him on the topic by asking him to get to his main point and acknowledging his enthusiasm for the subject. She was employing all of the best tactics to bring him back to the topic but to no avail.

This is why Grenny's advice may be the best. Set a hard boundary and keep it. Walk away if you must because, as Grenny notes, your needs are your responsibility.

Needless to say, everyone at the table was relieved when the moderators called on breakout sessions. But it was an excellent lesson for me on how to handle talkative people and why we must be the ones to take care of ourselves in these situations.

How do you handle talkative friends and co-workers? Let me know!

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