Insights from a year of coaching CEOs
by Pratap Nambiar
As 2015 comes to an end, I did some reflection based on all the CEOs I coached this year.
What was obvious was that there was a common thread running through all those interactions. In almost every single case, there was an acknowledgement that the external environment was getting way too complex to manage and that, to a large extent, their own inability to perform to their fullest potential was a consequence of the uncertainty, the enhanced competition, the extreme volatilities, and, of course, the increased complexity of doing business.
The locus of control from which they were operating was largely external. The external environment was controlling them. They were subject to all the external challenges that interfered and managed to derail all their best efforts at achieving their business performance goals. The tendency was always to look outside, to see how things happened to them in ways that were unexpected and unplanned.