After 18 years of leading a company in an industry that went from go-go to no-go, Gary has experienced the entire corporate lifecycle and weathered the constant up-and-down transitions. The insight gained from real-world experience gives him a true understanding of the issues other entrepreneurs are working to resolve. Gary has the skills and the empathy to guide his clients through the pitfalls of entrepreneurial leadership.

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	Moving Your Team From Activities to Actions by Gary Cohen - Apr, 2010 Do you lead your team toward activities or actions? You might think “activities” and “actions” are more-or-less synonyms. When you begin to understand the defining difference, you will never look at the words in the same way again. “Activities” are those everyday behaviors that you d...
	Leadership: In Building Trust, Character Matters by Gary Cohen - Apr, 2010 What if you did something shameful in front of your employees or they found something out about you that you would prefer not to be known? How might your story unfold? You are multifaceted, and there are more dimensions to you than most people know. In fact, there are parts of your char...
	Prepared for Randomness by Gary Cohen - Mar, 2010 You work hard to become knowledgeable yet, admittedly, it is easier for some than for others. Even before you learn to speak a journey has begun. As a youth perhaps you begin to emulate some of your parent's beliefs regarding religion, politics, and culture. As time advances you move on to...
	When is the Right Time to Tell a Secret? (Shhhh don't tell anyone) by Gary Cohen - Feb, 2010 How can you be telling me this now? I was counting on you! If you had only told me this when you first knew! I can't believe you waited this long! It's never fun learning a secret that's been kept from you. It's not fun holding onto a secret either that will leave others (coworkers,...
	Leadership Accountability - Losing Control of Your Staff? by Gary Cohen - Jan, 2010 Reader's Question: I am a sales manager for a business services firm in Minneapolis. I am responsible for all new business revenue for my company and I have 5 sales people that work for me. Of the 5 sales people only one is a star performer. The issue I am having is he breaks all the rules...
	Sometimes A Job Badly Done Is The Job Description's Fault by Gary Cohen - Dec, 2009 Don't blame the poor employee. Usually when employees fail to fulfill the expectations their job descriptions raise, their superiors work with them to improve their performance. If that fails, they are sent packing. Such firings--and all the hurt feelings, wasted time and tried patience...
	Training Leaders to Handle Uncertainty: Moving from Knowing to Not Knowing by Gary Cohen - Oct, 2009 When the Dow Jones industrial average goes from over 14,000 to under 7,000 in roughly a year's time, not much is certain. Will your chief supplier survive the credit crunch? Will customers return to their old spending habits or continue to conserve? Is another industry primed for a crash? ...
	Leadership: How to Ask the Right Questions by Gary Cohen - Oct, 2009 Question-based leadership only works if managers don't provide all the answers. Here's how to focus on being a facilitator, not an oracle. What are the right questions for leaders to ask? Like notorious law school professors who interrogate their students until the "truth" appears, m...
	How Do I Demonstrate I Am Listening? by Gary Cohen - Oct, 2006 I have spoken to many leaders and the consensus is that listening to the answer is more important than asking the perfect question. Listening intently builds trust between you and the speaker. With that in mind, here are some tips to improve your listening: Don’t let your mind wander. Z...
	How Does Your Ego Get In The Way of Leading? by Gary Cohen - Oct, 2006 Why is it important to lead with questions? Why this strategy over others? Organizations are made up of people. Like you, every employee has his/her own goals, aspirations, concerns, experiences, and dreams. And each of us has an ego. The ego allows us to believe that we are capable o...
	Motivate To Action by Gary Cohen - Oct, 2006 How do I generate a sense of urgency? When the Spanish conqueror, Cortez, ordered his crew to fight the Aztecs in Mexico, he met resistance. After all, his crew was grossly outnumbered. What was the incentive? Once they were ashore, Cortez set fire to his own ships. With that act, he ch...
	What Causes People To Shut Down And Disengage From Conversation? by Gary Cohen - Oct, 2006 Due to the power differential between leaders and their team members, leaders must learn not only how to tolerate criticism, but also to restrict their criticism of others. When we are criticized, we feel like our bodies are under attack. This fear or panic causes our prehistoric, reptili...
	What Is My Guiding Question? by Gary Cohen - Oct, 2006 “Ohm........” Meditators use sounds like this one to help them find peace, harmony, and direction. These sounds are repeated over and over again until they become ingrained. In the meditation process, the day’s irritations-sirens, horns, slips, spills, criticisms, etc.-slip away. Guidin...
	What Should I Do If I Am Stumped By A Question? by Gary Cohen - Oct, 2006 “Be helpless, dumbfounded, unable to say yes or no.” This line is from Jalal Al-Din Rumi’s poem, “Zero Circle.” As leaders, we are expected to have the answers. A quick answer, though, is not always the right answer. Give silence and thought to questions. In the process you will open yours...
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