How many lists of organisational and business challenges have you seen? I bet they include the following in no particular order of priority: Finance management, including cash, borrowing and risk management Competition Marketing Regulations Staff selection and retention Culture Values adherence Technological change Uncertain economic conditions Stress Complexity of the marketplace Yet the one problematic […]
Leaders must act, right? But what actions can they take? I’m not referring to thinking, talking, asking, telling or listening – I mean real action. If we ponder this, I believe there can only be four actions. Let me give you a scenario to illustrate this. Mary is the new CEO of a public listed […]
The in-house architect was important to the success of the development project. She was talented, creative yet pragmatic and realistic in her technical design output. The leadership valued her work highly. But she was painful to work with. She was never wrong - in her opinion. She was rude, even brutal in her criticism of […]
Having spent my early career hunting humans, I know hunting elephants is as great a challenge. I don’t mean hunting elephants in the wild or on game reserves. I mean in the boardroom and in the organisation. The boardroom is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. If there’s an elephant in the boardroom, there’s at […]
I’ve seen fantastic lists of challenges that leaders face, ranging from acquiring more revenue to retaining talent. What I haven’t seen on the list is the one thing that could make all the difference. In fact I believe it is the top challenge we face as leaders. Let me give you three examples. I reviewed […]
I’ve just seen Bernard Marr’s slideshare answer to this dilemma. With full respect to Bernard’s expertise, I disagree with some of his suggestions. We all have weaknesses, both professional and personal. The conscientious interviewer is aware of his or her own too. The question is difficult because it causes us to become fearful of a […]
The newly appointed executive was invited to lunch with the chair of the board. “Welcome to the rank of servant” said the chair. There was no smile on her face. “What do you mean?” asked the executive. “What do you think I mean?” The executive paused. This is not what he expected. He’d imagined he […]
There it was. This great grey amorphic beast filling all the gaps around the boardroom table, spilling over the table and into their documents. The board themselves were tainted with its grey tones. It was no wonder the C-level team believed they “managed” the board. The elephant hunter was called in to deal with it. […]
Whether you’ve just started as a leader or the leader, or you’ve already been there for a while – start right now. Yes it has a multiple meaning, start right; start again but right; and now. Why? Because you can, and yesterday is past, tomorrow never comes, but now is always here. And because you […]
Major Insights Workplace Attitudes supported by Great Leadership Behaviour have the biggest impact on viability, productivity and sustainability. Structures, systems, product and service creation, productivity, acquisition and use of resources and talent, and stakeholder relationships are all dependent upon these two wings. Without these wings, the organisation is like a dodo – can’t fly, can’t […]
