The Goldsmith cure

Money Magazine's Eric Schurenberg sat down with executive coach Marshall Goldsmith to find out how jerky execs can mend their ways.

Say good-bye to Dr. No
Goldsmith has written or helped write 22 books on coaching and leadership.
Say good-bye to Dr. No
Marshall Goldsmith: I love the stubborn, opinionated people of the world, and if we're stubborn and opinionated, a bad habit we have is beginning sentences with "No," "But" or "However."

The first word out of your mouth is "No," you're wrong. "But" or "However" means disregard everything that came before this word.

One of my client's problems was he was stubborn. I'm reviewing his feedback report. He says, "But Marshall..."

I said, "That's free. If I ever talk to you again, you start a sentence with `"No," "But" or "However," I'm going to fine you $20.

He said, "But Marshall..." 20. "No..." 40. "No, no, no..." 60, 80, 100.

It's $420 in an hour and a half. At the end of an hour and a half, you know what he said? "Thank you."
Last updated January 24 2008: 1:37 PM ET
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.