Taming the Alpha Exec

Fast Company, May, 2006 by Andrew Park

His name is George. He's a vice president at Cleveland's Eaton Corp. And he's a recovering alpha exec. It took him three years at Eaton to admit that he had a problem. It took another year for him to commit to doing something about it.

Months of professional probing and coaching later, George T. Nguyen is learning how big a jerk he has been--autocratically dispensing orders through his administrative assistant, for example--and how little loyalty he has inspired. That psychic hurdle cleared, he's starting down the path to becoming a guy you'd actually want to hang out with--and a more effective executive. Says Nguyen now: "I have to work at this every day, every week, every month, because it's not a natural tendency for me. I'm 45 years old. If I don't make the change now,...

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