Good Advice

Via NYT, The CEO of Thanksgiving Dinner - Kim Severson, 11/26/2008

Quoting Stuart Friedman, author of “Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life,” a little conflict resolution that a good Thanksgiving C.E.O. might want to pass on to the guests:

"First, there should be no gloating over elections won or lost, and no discussion of personal income or investment loss. Give people around you a chance to shine by asking them questions that allow them to express their accomplishments. But don’t ask questions you don’t know the answer to, such as why isn’t Sanjay going to college or what happened to that nice girl your son brought home last year.

Always arrive with three topics to talk about beside the business at hand. If you are faced with someone you don’t want to talk to, try, for at least 10 minutes, to treat that person like your boss. That means you at least have to pretend you are interested in what they are saying.

Just like at work, don’t take somebody else’s behavior personally or be overly sensitive, especially if people have been drinking.

With all these tools in place, a good Thanksgiving C.E.O. should be able to sit back and enjoy a terrific day.

Just keep in mind what all successful executives know: Thank people publicly and often, and never, ever point a finger.

A good leader shares all the credit and takes all the blame.”