Steve Gavatorta: What motivates you?

Meryl Moritz: A puzzle. A challenge. A chance to contribute. The notion that some issue doesn't have a viable solution -- can one be found? The phone calls from a client organization when I'm asked, "We need to do this. Accomplish this, but... Can you help?"

Steve Gavatorta: How do you motivate your clients?

Meryl Moritz: I'm sure I am NOT the one doing the motivating. The great clients (and they all have their greatness, believe me!) motivate themselves. My job is to help them clarify their own thinking, enlarge their perspective, identify actions they want to do to take their thinking "public." I'm the only one who is motivated by my thinking: others are motivated by theirs. So, "motivating" others is really stimulating the hell out of their thinking so they want to jump into action.

Steve Gavatorta: Describe your leadership style?

Meryl Moritz: I recently commissioned a 360 degree survey of my clients, associates, peers, and former employers to get their views of my leadership, so I'm answering from that vantage point. I'm 2 parts visionary (strategic, big picture) to 1 part traditional-results oriented leader, or so say the poll results. In the past year alone, I've made a conscious decision to veer away from consensus building and collaborative leadership to even more on the visionary/delegative front. That translates into "Say what you see as successful functioning and then have the right people take the message forward in the right way or challenge it and improve upon it."

Steve Gavatorta: Who do you consider a good leader/role model & why?

Meryl Moritz: There are two kinds of leaders that come to mind -- thought leaders who inspire us to change our attitudes and action leaders -- whether on the sporting fields or in organizations, who set a direction and woo us to follow. The thought leaders whose ideas I want to follow are people like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the discipline of psychology who studies peak experience and flow and gives a clear message of what is possible; Twyla Tharp in the world of dance who says that creativity can be cultivated and sustained by anyone, Julio Olalla in the world of executive coaching because he brings heart and head to the treatment of suffering that occurs inside corporations. There are relatively few so-called action leaders I will stand up for on the frozen Siberian tundra. Marshall Rosenberg, expert in nonviolent communication is one. A heady mixture of great humility, powerful vision, direct communications, humor, faith in people, passionate about his subject (communication) whose example has made me change the way I speak, coach and consult. My graduate school advisor whose direct communication, belief in and requests of me stretched me to my intellectual limit and beyond, showing me my own metal.

Steve Gavatorta: How do you continue to lead through times of adversity?

Meryl Moritz: A previous guest featured in this newsletter said "This is my favorite time to lead. " I concur. Since what we do in leadership coaching is facilitate positive change, helping the leader to model the way, we're always about change. Of course, most folks react to change as if it is synonymous with adversity. I like to see change as a creative process, when one way or state is ending and everyone is in a neutral zone waiting for the new beginning. Just when you are about fed up with the fog, it lifts and you see possibilities. My personal leadership mission is to work with my own and my clients' emotional intelligence quotient to help them withstand change without shutting down, backing down or blowing up. We succeed when the leader manages to stay the course in times of ambiguity and even bleakness.

Steve Gavatorta: During these fast paced times, how do you lead during change and ambiguity?

Meryl Moritz: Gotta find time to get centered. If I'm running on fumes, I'm not at my best and I'm impatient with -- or worse -- judgmental of ambiguity. Twice a week yoga, non negotiable even in the toughest times. Healthy food, lots of sleep, self-care. When I'm in that kind of fitness, nothing fazes me. I approach the worst challenges with equanimity.

Steve Gavatorta: Do you have any suggested reading on Management, Motivation and/or Leadership?

Meryl Moritz: My most fervent desire is that we executives, consultants, coaches, and industrial psychologists will create a revolution by asking everyone we work with to commit to raising their own emotional intelligence quotient, EQ. To that end, I recommend Daniel Goleman's "Working with Emotional Intelligence." Because our rat race has caused many of our organizations to be unhealthy, unsafe environments, I recommend Dennis and Michelle Reina's "Trust and Betrayal in the Workplace." And because it's always a good idea to refresh one's learning, I recommend Michael Ciampa and Dan Watkins' "Right from the Start" , which prescribes a learning and acculturation regimen for a leader's first ninety days in a new organization or new leadership role.

Steve Gavatorta: Thanks for your time, Meryl.

To learn more about Meryl Moritz Resources, just click on the link below.

http;//www.merylmoritzresources.com