Kevin was recently interviewed by Jeff Brown with the Read to Lead Podcast about the updated 3rd edition of Leadership from the Inside Out.
December 20, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Read to Lead Podcast #194: Leadership from the Inside Out with Kevin Cashman
December 12, 2017 By Leave a Comment
The Reading Lists with Kevin Cashman
By Phil Treagus, originally posted on TheReadingLists.com on October 30, 2017.
How do you describe your occupation?
As the Global Leader of CEO and Executive Development at Korn Ferry (with 130+ offices and consultants around the world), we foster the accelerated growth of CEOs and CEO Successors to ensure sustainable, purpose-driven enterprise growth. Also, I authored Leadership from the Inside Out and The Pause Principle: Step Back to Lead Forward; am a worldwide keynote speaker, and write a leadership column for Forbes.com.
Talk us through a typical day for you…
How about an ideal ‘typical’ day? A day that balances pause, purpose and connection is ideal. On these days, I feel rested when I awaken, take Leo, our Golden Retriever on a walk through the woods along the lake, hopefully gathering inspiration and creative clarity. My best writing often emerges on these walks! I enjoy some time to exercise a bit more, then some writing, maybe a new Forbes article, a keynote or book project. Shifting focus, I work with CEO and CHRO clients, co-creating meaningful breakthroughs. I engage with my team and consultants in the office. At home, in our meditation studio, enjoy dinner and conversation with my family, then maybe a movie or a good book in front of the fire, while Leo jumps in our bed and snuggles-up to sleep.
December 12, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Finding the Keys to the Corner Office
By James Lewis, Senior Director, Research, Korn Ferry Institute. Originally published February 13, 2017 on Korn Ferry Institute.
It matters in wars, in most sports and, to some extent, in games of chance. But does it really take courage to get into the upper echelons of a company?
Slowly but surely, science is finding ways to measure the traits and skills that tend to succeed in corporate hallways, and it’s getting more exact by the day. In fact, based on executive responses from Korn Ferry’s Four Dimensions of Leadership Assessment (KF4D) tests, it’s possible to rank the skills in two ways: those more common among C-suite types than midlevel managers, and those in more successful or engaged top executives. In other words, a guide to getting into the corner office—and staying there.
Looking at these traits by industry, it turns out fortune does indeed favor the bold, with courage the top trait in the financial services sector, and the second highest in professional business services. It’s also in the top five of at least three other major fields. But a bit of advice for C-suite executives: tuck that brashness away once you’ve made it to the top. Managing ambiguity, instilling trust, planning, persuading—these are the top traits for highly engaged versus low-engaged C-suite types.
Of course, no guide is perfect, and few people can pull off a personality makeover. The takeaway: Try. “It’s not easy for someone who doesn’t innately possess specific competencies to start exhibiting them,” says Stu Crandell, senior vice president, Korn Ferry Institute. “But proper development and practice can help.”
December 11, 2017 By Leave a Comment
New Podcast with Talent10x: Why Leadership is More Important Than Ever
By Frank Kalman; originally posted on Talent Economy on December 6, 2017.
Managing Editor of Frank Kalman interviews Kevin Cashman, senior client partner at executive recruiting firm Korn Ferry and author of the book “Leadership from the Inside Out.” The two talk about how leadership has evolved in recent years as well as why the skill has become more important in business than ever before.
December 1, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Sponsors Play Key Role in Advancing Women to CEO Level
By Kathy Gurchiek, originally posted on SHRM.org (Society for Human Resource Management) on November 29, 2017.
Women who are chief executive officers typically did not see themselves in that role until a supervisor, mentor or sponsor urged them to seek the position.
That is among the key findings of Women CEOs Speak, a new report from the Korn Ferry Institute based on extensive interviews with 57 current and former female chief executives in the U.S. and psychometric assessments with two-thirds of the study participants.
Korn Ferry conducted the study to learn what qualities drive the women who make up 6.4 percent of U.S. CEOs. It conducted its research from February to July 2017 with 38 current and 19 former CEOs. Among participants, 23 are or were at Fortune 500 companies, 18 are or were at Fortune 1000 companies, and 16 are or were at privately held companies.
The findings point to the importance of sponsors and mentors in preparing women for leadership positions.
November 29, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Coaching Mastery: The Art and Practice of Developing Others
Guest Post by Kevin Cashman, originally posted on JulieWinkleGiulioni.com on November 29, 2017.
I’ve been a fan of Kevin Cashman since first reading The Pause Principle nearly five years ago and have followed his work since. Kevin is a leadership luminary and Korn Ferry’s Global Leader of CEO & Executive Development. His most recent effort Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for Life, Third Edition, is an exploration of eight powerful ‘mastery areas’ that will support leaders at all levels of the organization. I’m delighted host this guest post from Kevin!
Leadership is more than a job. It is a sacred calling with sacred responsibility. That calling is best honored when a leader sets the highest example of personal and professional behavior and then enlists others to take this challenging path as well. To accomplish both these tasks nothing is more vital than coaching. Effective coaching to bring out the strengths and talents of all the people in the group or organization, serves a dual role. It is a generous contribution to each individual’s growth and fulfillment. At the same time, it is one of the most practical strategies for maximizing the effectiveness and success of the group. The more capable and fully developed each individual in your group, the stronger the group.
November 27, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Resilience is a Dynamic Process
By Kevin Cashman; originally posted on Thrive Global on November 27, 2017.
Developing resilience is not a static, rigid process; it is a type of centered fluidity that lets us go in any direction with ease and agility. Being resilient means we can recover our balance even in the midst of action. Separating our career, personal, family, emotional, and spiritual lives into distinct pieces and then trying to balance the parts on a scale is impossible. Managing the entire dynamic is the key. We need to identify the dynamics that run through all the pieces and then influence our resilience at that level.
Mastery of Resilience is about practicing inner and outer behaviors that keep us grounded and centered so we can deal with all the dynamics outside. As we build more resilience, we can do more with ease. Actually, when we are resilient, we can shoulder more weight with less effort, because we are strong at our very core. We have a strong foundation to handle unforeseen crises, instead of the anxiety and constant fear that one more unexpected problem will take us down. Finding ways to build that resilient foundation from the inside out is the key to Resilience Mastery.
November 27, 2017 By Leave a Comment
3 Simple Questions to Help You Stand in Your Own Power
By Christina DesMarais; originally posted on Inc.com on November 25, 2017.
Stress is a subjective thing. If two people are stressed the same way, one may collapse and the other may thrive on the challenge. So, if you want to be someone who’s strong and resilient, you need to be intentional with your thoughts and how you process what’s happening. That’s according to Kevin Cashman, author of Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for Life. Here are his words on three simple questions to help you handle stress with dignity.
1. What can I control in this situation?
When managing stress, control is best applied in our self-management versus trying to manage others. This involves deeper awareness of our responses to stress, especially to any reactive behaviors that don’t improve the situation (or that actually make things worse). You can’t control circumstances, but you can control how you respond to them. Taking charge of our well-being practices–fitness, self-care, sleep, diet, and meditation practices to build resilience is an important aspect of maintaining self-management during stress. When it comes to stress, it is best to control oneself to influence others.
2. What can I do to influence this situation?
There is a difference between control and influence. You can’t control the circumstances or people surrounding a stressful situation, but you can influence them. Influence is the language of emotional intelligence. It converts stressful, potentially volatile situations into opportunities for growth and collective aspiration. However, to be effective and not controlling, your influence must be both authentic and highly relevant and important to others. Take Jim, a crusty “old-school” executive, who was extremely bright and, for the most part, got exceptional results. But when stress was high and he was responsible for navigating the team through the chaos, he “bored holes” right through people. During coaching we discovered that he didn’t mean to have such a negative impact on people. He just didn’t know any other way. He was reacting as a string of role models around him had. It turns out that, despite his behavior, he was a thoughtful, caring, and character-driven person. He just needed to find congruence between who he was on the inside with the results-oriented, intelligent leader he was on the outside. Once he started living the authentic change, he and his team were more effective.
3. What do I have to accept here?
If control and influence are not generating the impact we hoped for, then we have to step back to discern and accept something that may be within or outside of ourselves. For most professionals this is the most challenging stress reliever because it goes counter to our ambitious action-orientation. When we sometimes admit that investing additional energy, time and other resources will not create an acceptable return, it frees us up to use all those resources to create new value-creating visions.
Distress is usually the by-product of wasting energy by trying to control things we can only influence or accept, or accepting things we could influence or control. Take action on what you can control or influence, and more clearly face what you have to accept.