Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Clearly we are seeing a deepening of the economic downturn, as most stocks have hit or are near their lowest share prices in the last 52-week cycle. Most financial services and banking sector companies have lost more than 50% of their market capitalization, and more write-offs and layoffs are forecast in the third quarter. With the housing sector still slumping and energy prices rising out of control, this economic downturn is now forecast to continue into the early part of 2009. There are signs of fear showing up, including a couple of "runs" on small banks this month, as consumers feared losing their money.

Matt Lauer had Tony Robbins on the "Today Show" recently, talking about how our generation is not as emotionally tough as earlier generations who were born during the Depression or World War II. Robbins spoke from a coach's perspective on learning to control your emotions (including fear) during times of economic downturn and use them in a positive way to find opportunities to innovate or create something new during rough periods. Be creative, innovative and, most of all, inspirational.

We can relate to this shift in mindset. In 2002, during the last economic downturn, we gave up an office in NYC and took the company "virtual" (significantly reducing overhead). We also added executive coaching as a new service line and integrated it with our executive search consulting services. This innovation and creativity during a period of adversity positioned us to grow when the economy rebounded. While the climate was a bit tumultuous, we hunkered down, trusted, kept our eye on the bigger picture, created a strong plan and then implemented the plan, which continues to position our firm strongly during these current tough economic times.

Trust in better times ahead. Trust in your ability to lead in tough times. Trust in your plan, in your abilities to find and create innovative strategies for the future. Trust in your resourcefulness. And trust in your leaders. These are critical elements to focus on in today's challenging global economy.

Our topic for this month's feature article is The Trusted Leader, which is needed now and always will be. Never has trust been more important in our leaders than now. As a country, we are facing a leadership crisis of trust, among other things. Too many CEOs and presidents are losing the trust of their boards, shareholders, customers and other members of the executive leadership team.

What kind of leader are you and what is your leadership based upon? How recently have you taken stock of how you are perceived both internally and externally? How effectively have you developed and delivered your "leadership point of view" to the key stakeholders you serve?

We believe that challenging times provide opportunities for great leaders to be born and to rise up and lead the rest of us confidently into a new and improved future. We hope this month's article will inspire you to continue to be, or to become, one of the great leaders we very much need right now.

As always, we value your input and commentary. Please write us to let us know your thoughts and experiences around leadership and trust.

All the best,

Jeff Gundersen, CEO jgundersen@executiveconnects.com
Executive Connections, LLC 941-323-8300 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              941-323-8300      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Executive Search, Coaching & Consulting
http://www.executiveconnects.com

The Trusted Leader

"We can build our leadership upon fear, obligation or trust. However, only a foundation of trust results in the collaboration and goodwill necessary to achieve our peak performance."

These words, from organizational design expert Roger Allen, could hardly be more succinct in expressing the central role that trust plays in building and leading high-performance organizations.

With the integrity of our business leaders under such a microscope these days, it's valuable to take a moment for a refresher on trust in leadership. For integrity, though critical to trust, isn't the only element of a trust-based management style. According to Seattle-based management expert Stephen Robbins, trust is based on four other distinct elements in your relationship with the people you lead... Read full article.

The EC Talent Alert! service offers our select executive coaching clients in career transition the vast resources of the Executive Connections team to explore a range of new opportunities.

Talent Alert Client Update
We are pleased to announce that Deborah Wall has accepted the position of VP, Marketing, Customer Segmentation and Experience Leader with GE Capital Solutions. We believe that Ms. Wall's skill sets as a senior leader in database/marketing analytics makes her one of the key drivers in the new marketing universe, in which marketing efficiency and relevance of consumer and B2B offers are critical success factors. We are confident Deborah will excel in her new role.

Testimonial re: Talent Alert!
"Glad to hear about Deborah. Even more, this type of notification is very professional and just kinda cool." ~Dave Wurfel, SVP Advertising, Capital One

Please contact Jeff Gundersen at 941-323-8300 to learn more about how EC can support you in building and promoting your personal brand!

As part of our commitment to provide assistance and support to executives wanting to further their professional and personal brand, we have created the ASK OUR COACH email service where you can get confidential answers to your career questions. What's on your mind? Don't hesitate to ASK OUR COACH. Below is our answer to a question we received last month.

How Fast to Move in a New Position

I am about to begin a new regional CMO position and I am not sure how hard to push (changes) at the beginning. My boss says come in, take a couple of months to get to know how things are done, acclimate to the culture and then put your strategy together. While I want to respect his ideas and thoughts, I'm not sure if this is the best approach. What's your advice for the best way for me to start this new position?

One thing we know for every C-level role is that the clock is ticking from the day you accept the position, even before your official start date. As the new CMO, you need to begin immediately gaining input and insight about the company's competitive position in the marketplace, customer acquisition/retention trends, branding, integrated marketing strengths and weaknesses, and other key aspects of the marketing mix. In other words, start doing your homework now, so that you are over-prepared.

With CMO tenure averaging 22 months, waiting any length of time to put together your agenda sounds like a death warrant. As soon as your name is announced (as the new CMO), everyone will be listening and watching what you say and do. If what they hear is silence, this will be the kiss of death, as they will not know that you are "following directions" from your boss. You were hired because of key attributes that enabled you to achieve specific measurable results in prior assignments. Apply these attributes and prepare a presentation before you start that clearly communicates your vision, values and metrics for approaching the CMO role. Also lay out a clear timeline with key milestones so that everyone knows up front when to expect certain key changes to be decided and announced.

Create a written transition plan including an assessment of each of the positions and incumbents in the organization you are inheriting. Plan the work, then work the plan. By the 90-120 day mark, you need to have achieved several "early wins" so the organization can begin to see and feel the momentum you are building.

Bottom line: Creating specific measurable results early on builds trust!

Good luck in this new position!

October 11, 2008
DMA08 Conference & Exhibition
DMA08 is the six-day multi-channel marketing event of the year!

October 19, 2008
6th Annual Financial Services Marketing Symposium
Set yourself APART from the competition!