George B. Bradt - Influence and Impact

Randall P White, Ph.D., Head of Leadership, eMBA, HEC, Paris and Founding Partner Executive Development Group LLC

BILL BERMAN

GEORGE BRADT

Copyright © 2021 by Bill Berman and George B. Bradt. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 978-1-119-78613-9 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-119-78614-6 (ePDF)

ISBN 978-1-119-78615-3 (ePub)

Cover design: Paul McCarthy

We both owe a debt of gratitude to our colleagues of all types—coaches, human resources leaders, talent leaders, and business leaders. Each one has informed and improved our work. Naming them all would take a new book, but if you read this and think, "Do they mean me?" then the answer is "Yes!" You all have helped us learn and grow every time we worked together.

The hundreds of clients we have had over the past 15 years have taught us so much about human nature, and ourselves. You have given us the trust and respect to let us help you be who you are capable of being.

Our guest contributors have been phenomenal colleagues and allies. Each took time out of very busy lives to stop, read parts of the manuscript, and write their own thoughts to make the book stronger.

We owe endless thanks to our people at John Wiley and Sons. Our publisher, Richard Narramore, his associate, Victoria Anllo, and our editor, Deborah Schindlar, have consistently shown the trust and respect for us that is essential to writing partnerships. You made us much more intelligent and articulate than we really are. If you were make-up artists, we'd probably look like Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

I have had a number of mentors throughout my career who have supported, helped, advised, cajoled, and cheered me on as I have gone down this long and winding road called a career. Brendan Maher, Sidney Blatt, and Dennis Turk got me into psychology and into the real world. Jeremy Kisch taught me some useful lessons, and John Clarkin and Marv Reznikoff supported and fertilized my intellectual pursuits. Steve Hurt was the best back-office partner that a front-office entrepreneur could have. Joe Braga and John Raden also taught me a lot about being a leader of an organization. John Scott, Kathleen Lundquist, and the team at APTMetrics had the faith and trust in me to start me on my consulting psychology path. My colleagues and friends at PrimeGenesis helped me to understand the complexity of large public companies, and saw the benefit of having both business and psychological perspectives in our work together. My friends at the Society for Consulting Psychology, especially the board members and my study group partners, have taught me what it really means to have an impact on a larger organization. And, for the past 15 years, my co-author, colleague, and friend George has been a never-ending source of encouragement, challenge, and inspiration. I would not be at this point without all of your influences.

To the coaches who work with me at various clients, you have been wonderful partners and colleagues, and allowed me the room to write this book. Kristina Lalas, Lucienne Lunn, and Taylere Markewich have been my recent associates at Berman Leadership, and have made sure that everything I do is on time and of the highest quality, while keeping me focused on what is most important. I also want to express my appreciation to the psychotherapy patients I had the honor to work with before becoming a coach. You taught me about honesty, empathy, insight, forgiveness, and the value of self-awareness.

My wife, Ellen, has been a rock of consistency for me and for the family, providing love and caring, endlessly tolerant of my long work hours and my never-ending stream of projects. My children have been great in spite of what they call my slight case of ADHD: Daniel, Mandy, Jon, and Shane have supported and encouraged me, from reading drafts, to critiquing, to helping me keep my sense of humor and humility. My family of origin has had influence and impact for many decades—Jill, Richard, Kate, Brad and Ruth, and my late father Bill and mother Jean, who passed too soon. And of course, “The New Year's Eve Gang”—I would not be here without you.

To Meg, who seems to greet every one of my new initiatives—from businesses to books to musical plays and everything in between—with a bemused look of “ Oh no. Not again, ” and ends up supporting everything I do in a way to which no one else on the planet could begin to come close, and has turned my focus from what I can do myself to how I can influence and impact others—abounding gratitude.

Over the past 30 years, we have seen hundreds of people in our roles as coaches, consultants, line managers, entrepreneurs, and psychologists (Bill) and marketers (George). Many of these competent, capable leaders and professionals do most of their work very well, but still feel they are struggling to get the rewards, recognition, and growth that they are expecting.