This is the time of the year when organizations and news media love to declare the year’s best of this, the top ten of that, the trends of this, and the most of that.  Americans love lists, tips, tallies and ratings.  Below is Your Executive Life’s review of readers’ favorite posts and this blogger’s own favorites.

Your Executive Life’s Most Read Posts

The top five posts for 2011 were in descending order:

1. NON-DISPARAGEMENT PROVISION IN SEPARATION/SEVERANCE AGREEMENT
2. HOW EXECUTIVES CAN MAKE THE MOST OF THEIR SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION
3. WAIVERS AND RELEASES IN SEPARATION/SEVERANCE AGREEMENTS
4. THE SILENT EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT PROVISION: THE IMPLIED COVENANT OF GOOD FAITH AND FAIR DEALING
5. EXECUTIVE LESSONS FROM MY AUTO REPAIR LADY: TRUST

From the readers’ voting with the number of their clicks, it is clear that readers hungered for good, hard information on the legalities of employment contract and severance provisions as well as financial advice on how to manage the fruits of their labor.  They also liked the less technical, heartwarming business lessons from the post about my auto repair lady.   A writer always struggles with providing valuable information and insights and at the same time trying to make his writing interesting, and, he hopes, at   least a little entertaining.  I aim to keep mixing up my posts to keep the blog fresh and engaging.  I seek to keep the writing comfortable, but not predictable.

This Blogger’s Recommendations

My Five Favorite Your Executive Life’s Posts were:

1. EXECUTIVE LESSONS FROM MY AUTO REPAIR LADY: TRUST
2. EXECUTIVE LESSONS FROM MY DRY CLEANING LADY
3. HOW EXECUTIVES CAN MAKE THE MOST OF THEIR SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION
4. EXECUTIVE WEALTH STRATEGIES: FINCH INTERVIEWS NORTHERN TRUST’S JASON GARCIA
5. DO YOU LOOK LIKE AN EXECUTIVE STAR?

“Executive Lessons From My Auto Repair Lady” is one of my favorite and overlaps with one of the readers’ favorite.  It tells the story of the evolution of a business relationship and reveals the essence of any strong organization, community and society, i.e. trust.  Although this value unfolds in the context of the market place, it really underpins the stability and growth of communities and nations.

“Executive Lessons From My Dry Cleaning Lady” is a topical close cousin to  “Executive Lessons From My Auto Repair Lady: Trust,”  and it speaks to a good attitude and extra effort that all executives and leaders should exhibit in their behaviors and make manifest in their organizations.  “How Executives Can  Make the Most of Their Share-Based Compensation” and “Executive Wealth Strategies: Finch Interviews Northern Trust’s Jason Garcia” both provide substantive take-aways  on protecting and maximizing executive’s hard earned wealth from two different companies that I respect.  “How Executives Can Make the Most of Their Share-Based Compensation” also overlaps with the readers’ most popular posts.   “Do You Look Like an Executive Star?” was one of my first posts and a fun fluff piece to write reminding ourselves about the importance of appearances no matter how superficial and unfair.

Social Media

The topic I most wrote about was social media, especially the use of LinkedIn.  This was in response to the many questions and conversations I had with folks who were either unsure about its utility or wanted to expand its utility for themselves.  Social media is the topic du jour for many journalists and bloggers and so there is plenty of literature from which to choose.  When people now have questions about social media, it is convenient to point them to my blog articles.  Also, this body of work makes it easy to give a presentation on it when asked.

I invite your comments and suggestions online or offline.  Let me know what topics about which you would like to learn or on which you seek clarification or amplification.  In many instances a reader will know more about a topic than I and I hope to have my readers and I learn from such knowledgeable commenters.  I wish you good reading and plenty of it in the New Year.