New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s leadership is being challenged.  With multiple investigations underway on him and key advisors, the leadership traits that have served him well as the state’s CEO are front and center for our scrutiny.  In times of uncertainty and challenge, a leader’s true personality emerges.  Since executive coaching includes understanding personality, it made me wonder what Christie might be doing differently if he had a CEO coach.

I’d argue Christie is showing signs that his personality characteristics are derailing him.  If Christie had a coach, they would explore what is now getting in the way that once contributed to his success and what to do differently going forward.

Psychologists Robert and Joyce Hogan developed the taxonomy of personality-based derailers (www.howdoyouderail.com) the dark side of strengths that are deeply ingrained behaviors that surface under pressure.  We all have them.  Christie’s personality is a huge part of what got him to where he is today, both positively and negatively.   For CEOs in particular, there can be a fine line between knowing when the strength or the dark side is being used because so many borderline behaviors are touted as being strong business leader characteristics.

Business attracts and rewards big personalities…until it gets in the way.  Christie doesn’t idly sit by.  He is a risk taker and has earned a reputation as a bully.  If Christie had a coach, he’d have a different set of objective eyes to see what he might be blind to, why he’s perceived as a bully by others, then could determine how to approach problems and behaviors in a different way, thus providing the opportunity for a different outcome.

Christie said I/me/myself 114 times in his press conference on Bridgegate If Christie had a coach, he would receive unbiased feedback on his communication style.  He would learn how to engage his executive leadership team so they were operating as a collective “we”.

Christie decisively fired his deputy chief of staff, yet there are other aids involved in the investigations.  Part of the “we” also means having the right team in place.

If Christie had a coach, they would work on establishing a set of values required for the senior leadership.  And since he now has a couple of key leadership roles to fill, a coach would work with Christie on more clearly identifying what he needs from his leadership team so he gets the right team in place.

When leaders are faced with uncertainty and conflict, it often causes them to reexamine how they’ve been leading.  The self-aware ones look for where and how they can lead differently to get better results.  They often seek outside counsel for unbiased feedback.  They often have a coach.  If Christie had a coach, he might have a better shot at becoming America’s next CEO.