Publications & Articles
Dr. Katrina Burrus’ publications and articles on leadership development, women and cultural issues. Please click on the button below to read the publications.
PUBLICATIONS
Coaching Managers in Multinational Companies
MYTHS AND REALITIES OF THE ITINERANT EXECUTIVE. Executive nomads have unique personal characteristics with professional implications that benefit multinational organizations. These unique characteristics, developed to adapt and thrive while moving to different countries, are the same attributes that prove beneficial to high potentials in multinationals; a high potential being, among other things, a strong performer in changing environments.
Coaching Women Managers in Multinational Companies
WOMEN IN MULTINATIONALS: MISUNDERSTOOD AND UNDERUTILIZED. The way to the top in multinationals is clearly built abroad; overseas assignments provide rich learning and a definitive proving ground in both operational and intercultural experience (Bennis 1989; Caligiuri and DiSanto 2001; Schein 2003; Weber 1996). Yet, women comprise only 14 per cent of the expatriate population (Koretz 1999). Why?
When ‘Home’ Is the World
EXTENDING YOUR BUSINESS INTERNATIONALLY BY COACHING GLOBAL NOMADIC LEADERS. Recently, numerous coaching schools have begun sprouting up and a plethora of coaches are pouring into the market. At present there is no official competency assessment required of coaches before they take on their first clients. This often leaves corporate clients at a loss about how to select experienced and competent coaches. While the art of Socratic questioning can be learned in coaching schools, using questions that are most pertinent for moving clients forward comes only with experience and practice.
Leadership, Global Management, and Future Challenges
AN INTERVIEW WITH PETER BRABECK-LETMATHE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF NESTLE SA. Nestle is the world’s largest food company, with a unique global presence and a workforce totaling approximately 230,000 in 520 factories worldwide. Sales revenues reached SFRs 71.747 billion (US$ 51,991b), with net profits of SFRs 4.291 billion in 1998. Sales revenues totaled SFRs 35.277 billion from January to June 1999, with net profits of SFRs 2.079 billion over the same period. Nestle’s product groups range from beverages to milk products, prepared dishes to cooking aids, and confectionery products to pharmaceuticals.
Interview: Pierre-Yves Firmenich, CEO of Firmenich
Firmenich is a Swiss, family-owned company, founded in Geneva in 1895. The company is one of the top five leaders of the world’s fragrance & flavor industry, which represents a global potential of around US$11 billion. As a private company, Firmenich does not publish its annual report. The turnover of the group reaches close to 1.7 billions Swiss Francs in 2000.
Culture and Cultural Intelligence
What is culture exactly? A few definitions: “Culture is the way in which a group of people solves problems and reconciles dilemmas… A problem that is regularly solved disappears from consciousness and becomes a basic assumption, an underlying premise” (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998, pp. 3, 7). Culture consists of shared mental programs that condition individuals’ responses to their environment”.
ARTICLES
Stop Toxic Leadership from Spreading a Virus in Your Company
(Peoria Magazine October 2020 Issue)
Toxic workplaces often start at the top. Difficult, abrasive leaders may produce results, but their actions also lead to dysfunction and employee turnover. Organizations often overlook abrasive behavior or see it as a necessary means to an end, which sends employees the message that such behavior is acceptable and to be imitated. Then it’s like a virus that continues to spread.
5 Steep Costs that Companies Pay Because of a Toxic Boss
(ValveWalk October 2020 Issue)
Working for a difficult or temperamental boss is common in the U.S. One survey showed roughly half of the employees quit their job due to what they termed a toxic boss. But high turnover isn’t the only downside such bosses cause. Abrasive or toxic leadership creates many other costs for organizations and employees as well, from personal health to the company’s financial health, says Dr. Katrina Burrus, author of Managing Brilliant Jerks: How Organizations and Coaches Can Transform Difficult Leaders into Powerful Visionaries.
How to Prevent Toxic Leadership from Creating a Toxic Workplace
(AZ Big Media September 2020 Issue)
A toxic workplace sometimes starts at the top. Difficult, abrasive leaders can create a culture of tension, fear, and abusive behavior at every organizational level. Those types of leaders may produce results, but their actions also lead to dysfunction, a toxic workplace and employee turnover.
How to Stop Toxic Leadership from Spreading a Virus in Your Company
(The Good Men Project September 2020 Issue)
Toxic workplaces sometimes start at the top. Difficult, abrasive leaders can create a culture of tension, fear, and abusive behavior at every organizational level. Those types of leaders may produce results, but their actions also lead to dysfunction and employee turnover.
Does the Drama and Tension Never Stop? 5 Signs You Work For a Brilliant Jerk
(Tech Funnel August 2020 Issue)
Some business leaders who are bright and hard-working also can be extremely demanding and difficult to work for. Such that a leader’s behavior and its negative impact on others may reach the point where the business becomes dysfunctional.
Are You Working for a “Brilliant Jerk”?
(The Street August 2020 Issue)
Yes, the Kitchen Table Economist is a personal finance channel – no doubt
about it. That said, who you work for, and how it impacts your career path and household income matters in the household finance realm. That’s why I find this data set from Dr. Katrina Burrus, a workplace expert, so fascinating.
Managing a Brilliant Jerk
(TLNT August 2020 Issue)
Can difficult leaders change, or will they remain their ornery, over-the-top, demanding selves for the rest of their lives — and thereby continue to make everyone’s life miserable? There’s good news. Brilliant jerks can change … but not alone. First, it’s important to know what characteristics define a difficult or abrasive leader, whom I prefer to call a brilliant jerk. They have a bevy of behaviors that are quite unappealing.
5 Signs That You Work for a Brilliant Jerk
(AZ Big Media July 2020 Issue)
Some business leaders who are bright and hard-working also can be extremely demanding and difficult to work for. Such that a leader’s behavior and its negative impact on others may reach the point where the business becomes dysfunctional.
Profile of Success with Dr. Katrina Burrus
(Money for Lunch 2020 Issue)
Why did you become an entrepreneur, speaker, author, etc in the first place? I worked in large corporations. I learned a lot but did not enjoy the politics that increased as you moved up the corporate ladder. On a psychological level, I probably dislike authority and am lucky that I am a self-started and work hard without having anyone telling me to do so.
Why the New Normal Office Culture Can’t Have the Same Old Abrasive Boss
(The Good Men Project June 2020 Issue)
The coronavirus pandemic has changed many workplaces temporarily and others permanently. Working remotely is more common, and for those returning to a physical office, the seating arrangements, meeting protocols, and other dynamics of the pre-pandemic work environment will be different.