By Leslie Pratch To illustrate the power of presence or absence that instrumental coping has on a leader’s functioning and achievement, let us revisit the contrast introduced in Chapter 1 between General Grant and General McClellan as a commanders-in-chief of the Union forces. Grant and McClellan are famous generals. They are merely one of many [...]
By Leslie Pratch The selection of an executive for a difficult task is extremely difficult and has been so for many leaders throughout history. Consider Abraham Lincoln’s frustrating search for a capable army commander during the Civil War. He had the pick of generals with illustrious West Point backgrounds, and even generals who had shown [...]
________________________________________________________________________ Leslie Pratch, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist from Northwestern University Medical School with an M.B.A. in Strategy and Finance and a B.A. in Religion from Williams College. She works with boards of directors and private equity investors to select and develop executives. She can be reached at (312) 464-7919 or email her at leslie@pratchco.com [...]
By Leslie Pratch I first spied Dr. Hilkevitch on corner of 51st and Woodlawn, at the bus stop for the #2, from Kenwood to downtown Chicago. It was 1989, my first year as a graduate student in clinical psychology at Northwestern. Dr. Hilkevitch stood on the West side of the street; most of the others, [...]
By Leslie Pratch On July 6, I read the obituary in the New York Times by Tim Weiner of Robert S. McNamara. Weiner cited the unsigned editorial written that appeared in the New York Times in 1995 in response to McNamara’s tendering his “prime time” explanation/apologia “three decades late” in his book, “In Retrospect.” An [...]