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Stephen J. Friedman, President
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“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
Nov 4, 20223 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Sep 12, 20224 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
May 9, 20224 min read
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Executive Presence
I particularly like working with successful executives who are facing new challenges, radical complexity, and uncertainty because of a...

Stephen J. Friedman
Mar 28, 20225 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Feb 18, 20226 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Jan 6, 20225 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Nov 21, 20216 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Oct 26, 20216 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Dec 3, 20206 min read
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A Culture of Excellence
Ask the head of any major personal service firm – law, consulting, accounting, health care, investment management, etc. – about their...

Stephen J. Friedman
Dec 6, 20195 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Nov 15, 20194 min read
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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,...

Stephen J. Friedman
Oct 10, 20191 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Jun 28, 20194 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Jan 24, 20194 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Nov 15, 20181 min read
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Leadership, Ethics, Rules and Culture
Whenever a major organizational scandal breaks - widespread fraud in a company or terrible behavior in a university, a prestigious...

Stephen J. Friedman
Sep 6, 20185 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Jul 27, 20184 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Jun 14, 20184 min read
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"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...

Stephen J. Friedman
May 10, 20185 min read
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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...

Stephen J. Friedman
Mar 29, 20184 min read
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