The Basics and Benefits of Mentoring

by John Keyser Mentoring is a genuine commitment to helping the career development of a less experienced, less knowledgeable colleague. At its best, mentoring is a collaboration that is truly shared. Done well by both the mentor and mentee, the relationship may have an important impact and result in significantly enhancing the mentee’s contributions to the company. There is no one set approach to mentoring. It can be an informal arrangement, though it works best when mentors feel a strong sense of responsibility and have an attitude of truly wanting to help further a colleague’s career. It is really an intentional, developmental... Continue reading this post

Good Advice for Women in Business from Women in Business

by John Keyser I am deeply interested in helping companies establish winning organizational cultures, and believe that if leadership were shared proportionally between women and men, companies would have superior results on a sustainable basis, and organizational cultures would be more aligned to company goals and more loyal to senior management. I recently asked Leslie Tyburski to please take just a few minutes to tell me what advice she would offer women in business. Let me tell you a bit about Leslie. I was originally introduced to her by Peter Hill, the CEO of Billy Casper Golf, a very successful manager of... Continue reading this post

We vs. They

by John Keyser A “we vs. they” dynamic exists in most companies. It’s the field vs. home office, middle management vs. senior management, and non-partners vs. partners. It’s natural and difficult to avoid. And even though it’s natural, it is not helpful. It is negative energy and does not serve a useful purpose. What are the impressions that lead to this attitude? Some that I’ve heard in my work with clients and through 360 assessments are: Home office does not listen to us They do not seem to appreciative what we do They take us for granted Top management is clueless as to what we must... Continue reading this post

Women Gaining the Success They Have Earned

by John Keyser I just came from a fascinating event, the Ace USA’s women’s forum. Ace Group is a global leader for insurance and reinsurance, certainly one of the best. Ace sponsored this event during the annual Risk and Insurance Management Conference, which was in Philadelphia this year. The guests included approximately 65 of Ace’s female risk management clients from around the country. I was privileged to be asked by the organizer, Sue Mahanor, Senior Vice President of Risk Management Underwriting, to be the speaker. Sue knows of my leadership consulting and coaching, as well as my interest in helping women advance in... Continue reading this post

What My Clients and Other Readers Appreciate and Value from Their Bosses

by John Keyser A month ago, I asked my clients, as well as other readers of my weekly posts about leadership, career advancement, and other topics intended to be of value, to please spend a few minutes participating in a survey.  My initial request was for people let me know which three pieces of advice they would like to offer their bosses.  I emphasized that responses were anonymous, they went to Survey Monkey, and when I went to that site to view the responses, their names, email addresses, and companies would all be anonymous. Two weeks later, after studying the responses, I was... Continue reading this post