The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 33 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Goldsmith: Client improvement negatively correlates with time spent receiving coaching
“There was a clear negative correlation between spending time with me and getting better.”
Goldsmith: An executive coach's success depends almost entirely on client selection
“Your biggest challenge as a coach is one thing, customer selection. You pick the right customer, your coaching process always works. You pick the wrong customer, your coaching process will never work.”
Goldsmith: Conditioning self-worth on achievement is a fool's game
“Never make your value as a human being conditioned on the results of what you're trying to achieve. Never do that. It's a fool's game. It is a fool's game for two reasons. One, you don't control the outcomes. There are a million variables impacting anything we…”
Goldsmith: Decisions are made by whoever has power, not whoever is rational
“Every decision in life is made by the person who has the power to make the decision. Make peace with that. Not the smartest person, the best person, a fair person, a logical person, a wonderful person, a rational person, or even a sane person. Every decision i…”
Goldsmith: Conditioning self-worth on achievement results is a fool's game
“Never make your value as a human being conditioned on the results of what you're trying to achieve. Never do that. It's a fool's game. It is a fool's game for two reasons. One, you don't control the outcomes. There are a million variables impacting anything we…”
Goldsmith: Tweaking a subordinate's idea slightly ruins their commitment to execute
“Rather than just saying great idea, our tendency is to say, well, that's a nice idea. Why don't you add this to it? Well, the quality of the idea may go up five percent. My commitment to execute this idea just went down 50%. It's no longer my idea, boss. Now i…”
Goldsmith: Dwelling on past accomplishments is another form of vicarious living
“When you live in the past, you're living someone else's life too. The guy sitting at the bar talking about Superbowl three, He wasn't in Super Bowl III. The kid was in Super Bowl III. A young version of him, 50 years ago, was in Super Bowl III. Not him. Well, …”
Goldsmith: CEOs who out-know their functional leads have a hiring problem
“If I'm, if I got a CEO who knows more about marketing than the marketing person and more about finance than a finance person, more about HR and the HR person, they do not have a leadership problem. They have a selection problem. They had the wrong staff.”
Goldsmith: Modern leaders are more effective than ever despite worse feedback
“Feedback on leaders is worse and worse and worse than it's ever been. Behavior of leaders is better and better and better than it's ever been. Leaders today are more effective than any time in history.”
Goldsmith: Having too much empathy can be a disaster for leaders
“I started studying empathy. I realized it's sometimes good, but too much empathy can be a disaster.”
Goldsmith: Treat decision-makers as customers who do not have to buy
“If I need to influence you, and you have the power to make the decision, and I need to influence you to make a positive difference, there is one word to describe you. That word is called customer. There's one word to describe me. That word is called salesperso…”
Goldsmith: KKR once paid approximately $150,000 for a two-hour CEO coaching session
“By the way, I don't know exactly, but I got paid approximately 150,000 dollars for that two hour conversation.”
Goldsmith: 'The Secret' is ridiculous and relies entirely on survivorship bias
“Now there's a ridiculous book called The Secret. Did you ever read that book, The Secret? No. It's a ridiculous book. It sold seven million copies or more. And the essence of the book is, the secret is, if I envision it will happen. See, that's it. That's the …”
Goldsmith: Willpower is grossly overrated and everyone needs help
“Willpower. Grossly overrated. Yeah. Willpower. Good luck on that one. We all need help.”
Goldsmith: Active questions prevent blaming the environment for failure
“Every question starts with, did I do my best to? There's a reason for that. It doesn't even say you succeeded. It just said, did you even try? You see, if I said, did you do? And your answer is no, you blame the environment. It's their fault. Well, when I said…”
Goldsmith: Fixed identity beliefs inhibit improvement and cause impostor feelings
“As long as we tell ourselves that's the way I am, two things happen, both bad. One, we inhibit the odds on ever getting better. Two, even if we do change our behavior, we don't seem authentic to ourselves. We feel like a phony because if the real me can't list…”
Goldsmith: Leaders receiving feedback must listen and thank without critiquing
“Whatever the person says, sit there, shut up, listen, take notes, say thank you, don't judge, and don't critique.”
Goldsmith: Following up with colleagues determines whether leaders actually improve
“Leaders that don't follow up and don't talk to people, guess what? Don't get better. Improvement looks like random chance. Leaders that do talk to people and follow up to the degree they make it a systematic process, huge improvement.”
Goldsmith: In leadership, only what people hear matters, not what is said
“In leadership, it doesn't matter what we say. It only matters what they hear. If they don't hear it doesn't matter if we said it or not.”
Goldsmith: The number one flaw in high achievers is compulsively winning
“What's the number one problem of all the successful people you've coached over the years? My answer, winning too much. What does that mean? If it's important, we want to win. If it's meaningful, we want to win. If it's critical, we want to win. If it's trivial…”
Goldsmith: Casual suggestions from senior leaders are always treated as orders
“What's the first thing I teach the new admirals? You get that star? Your suggestions become orders. Admirals don't make suggestions. Admiral makes a suggestion. What's the response? Aye, aye. That suggestion is in order.”
Goldsmith: Leaders should evaluate comments by whether they increase commitment
“By the way, if you have to ask at work, I'll give you a technique. Breathe. Breathe. Is my comment going to improve this other person's commitment? If the answer is yes, fine. If the answer is no, breathe again. Is it worth saying? Sometimes it is. Sometimes i…”
Goldsmith: Happiness and achievement are independent variables
“And he said, I finally realized happiness and achievement are independent variables.
You can achieve a lot and be happy.
You can achieve a lot and be miserable.
You can achieve nothing and be happy.
You can achieve nothing and be miserable through independent …”
Goldsmith: Being at the top is lonelier today due to social media
“It used to be lonely at the top. Today it is lonelier at the top. People are lonely out there. People are lonely. And just having a group of people to talk to where nobody's going to put you on social media, make a fool of you, where you can just be a human.”
Goldsmith: Cognitive empathy can easily be used to manipulate people
“The first type of empathy is called the empathy of understanding. Now, empathy simply means putting yourself in the other person's frame of mind and understanding the world from their perspective. Well, or feeling the world the way they feel it or all that. Th…”
Goldsmith: Starting sentences with 'no' or 'but' erases what others said
“Just never start a sentence with three words, no, but, or however. If you talk to me and I say no, First word, no. Shut, you're wrong. But what does but mean? Disregard everything you said. Just erases whatever you said. A terrible habit.”
Goldsmith: Leaders should defer to subordinates when decision options are close
“If it's close, my advice is probably do it your way. You're more committed. You believe in what you're doing and fine.”
Goldsmith: Proving you are right when overruling subordinates is a waste
“As opposed to, let me point out why I'm right and you're wrong, which is a complete waste of time.”
Goldsmith: Retired CEOs never cite wealth as their proudest achievement
“Interview any CEO who has retired. I've interviewed very many and ask him a question. Please tell me, what are you proud of? None ever told me how big their office was, how much money they made. All they ever talked about is the people they helped.”
Goldsmith only collected coaching fees if clients showed verified improvement
“In my coaching for years, I didn't get paid if my clients didn't get better. Better is not judged by me or them, it's judged by everyone around them.”
Goldsmith: Under Mulally, Ford stock rose 1,837% with 97% employee approval
“Alan went on to be the CO Ford. The stock went from one dollar and one cent to 18 dollars and 40 cents. 1837% appreciation in stock value. He also had a 97% approval rating from every employee in a union company.”
Goldsmith: Leaders must pause and reset before every virtual meeting
“And what you need to do as a leader is you need to stop and breathe before every different interaction. Breathe. Stop. If you don't, they all start to blur together. You need to breathe. You need to where am I? What's important now? Who's here?”