“Why?” is Among a Leader’s Most Important Questions
Why it is fundamental to ask “WHY?” Asking “Why?” is a doorway to opening a whole new range of possibilities in your mind and the minds...
Stephen J. Friedman, President
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Sep 12
- 4 min
Transitions, Obvious and Hidden
Recently, I was having lunch with an old friend who was contemplating retirement and the next stage of his very impressive career. Our...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- May 9
- 4 min
Pitfalls for Trustees of Nonprofits: "Where was the Board?"
Whenever a large nonprofit gets into financial or other trouble, regulators and the public ask “where was the board?” Why did not the...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Mar 28
- 5 min
Executive Presence
I particularly like working with successful executives who are facing new challenges, radical complexity, and uncertainty because of a...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Feb 18
- 6 min
Some of the CEO’s Hardest Decisions
Every CEO knows the importance of communicating as clearly as possible the kind of issues that should be brought to him or her for...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Jan 6
- 5 min
Retirement & Career Change– Transitions for the Next Stage
One way to think about much of what I do as an executive coach is to support people as they navigate what I will call “classic...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Nov 21, 2021
- 6 min
The Tension Between Team Building and Culture Change
A CEO’s job is immensely complex and multicentric. It sometimes requires pursuing two or more courses that require a leader to act in...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Oct 26, 2021
- 6 min
Tenure and Periodic Peer Review
After a long time in the weeds, higher education has become a major public issue for a host of reasons: cost, politicization of faculty...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Dec 3, 2020
- 6 min
Higher Education in Post-Covid America*
The widespread arrival of effective Covid-19 vaccines means, although it is obviously not certain, that colleges and universities must...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Dec 6, 2019
- 5 min
A Culture of Excellence
Ask the head of any major personal service firm – law, consulting, accounting, health care, investment management, etc. – about their...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Nov 15, 2019
- 4 min
The Lonely CEO
We constantly hear that it is lonely at the top in both a corporation and a nonprofit organization. (I have used the word “company” here...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Oct 10, 2019
- 1 min
A Primer on Nonprofit Board Governance – 20 Questions
Nonprofit boards are unique in the American organizational landscape. Although the organizations they oversee are formed as corporations,...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Jun 28, 2019
- 4 min
Hiring and Firing New Leaders and Managers
Most CEOs and senior executives agree that one of their most challenging tasks is choosing the right people to take on leadership...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Jan 24, 2019
- 4 min
Should a nonprofit be run like a business?
Many leaders and participants in the nonprofit world believe that the introduction of businesslike practices have no place in an...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Nov 15, 2018
- 1 min
On Leadership: from the Harvard Business Review
Here's a very good short piece from HBR on the six timeless fundamentals of leadership: https://hbr.org/2018/11/the-fundamentals-of-leade...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Sep 6, 2018
- 5 min
Leadership, Ethics, Rules and Culture
Whenever a major organizational scandal breaks - widespread fraud in a company or terrible behavior in a university, a prestigious...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Jul 27, 2018
- 4 min
Strategic Thinking
Ask almost any CEO in America to list their three biggest challenges, and the likelihood is high that near the top will be “devoting...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Jun 14, 2018
- 4 min
What We Do Not Notice and the Value of 360’s
Every leader has been advised to focus on how he or she “shows up,” usually accompanied by injunctions to be authentic, open, supportive...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- May 10, 2018
- 5 min
"I'm all boxed in! All the drivers of my business are beyond my control!”
Years ago, I had a client who was CEO of a company whose main product was a high-tech plastic that held the guidance systems in the nose...
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Stephen J. Friedman
- Mar 29, 2018
- 4 min
A leap into the unknown in late career
One day about 14 years ago, I was having lunch with a friend who asked me what I was thinking of doing next. At the time, I was a content...
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