As an executive coach, I’ve worked with hundreds of great and not-so-great leaders — and I’ve learned from every one of them. Though they were sometimes disagreeable, politically inept, manipulative, inarticulate, venal, and not able to differentiate shit from Shinola (that’s shoe polish for those of you born in the last fifty years), they had somehow achieved seniority and success.

The interesting thing was how they did it: always — always — they did something important right. The “something” varied from person to person, but it was crucial, and over time, I tried to pay attention to what it was, using the insights from one client to help another.

This blog is an attempt to share some of those lessons with a wider audience. The material won’t be scientific (although lots of good research supports it), but I hope it’ll be helpful all the same — think of it as a sort of friendly, informal digital chat among colleagues over coffee.

Broadly speaking, my target audience is senior officers with enterprise-level responsibility (and those who aspire to this level). This is the group with whom I’ve had the most experience, and thus where I feel I can be most helpful. It’s particularly aimed at the many who’ve never had good management training, or the chance to learn from a great boss or mentor, yet find themselves with significant leadership responsibilities and challenges (whether they’re ready for them or not).

But this blog isn’t just for executives. Over time, I’ve shared much of its content with all kinds of people — from housewives and tradespeople to scientists, artists and attorneys — and it’s helped them as well. In fact, some of my most valuable insights have come from such non-traditional leaders. So, I hope they will also read and contribute.

Which brings me to my greatest wish for this blog: that it will encourage you to share your own lessons with each other. I’d love your comments on practices that’ve strengthened your own leadership, along with what you’ve observed in others. None of us is a perfect manager, but hopefully with a little help from each other, we can all be a bit better.