Committed leaders are continuously learning, seeking to hone their skills as effective leaders. The best of them do the following really well: Listen – they know that listening carefully, to ensure they understand what’s actually being said, is key to engaging effectively with their people. Notice – they observe carefully with full attention to what’s […]
Recently I have worked with a variety of clients who each asked me to help their people through difficult situations such as redundancy and re-deployment and other disruptive changes, as well as dealing with difficult people and relationships. I investigated each client’s culture and situation and came up with six statements that actually applied to […]
There are a plethora of labels depicting leadership styles, mainly emanating from book and program marketers. You’ve heard them - laissez faire; consultative; democratic; authoritarian; transformational etc. It seems that rarely are the people being led asked what their leader is like and rarely do we ask the leader themselves – with the exception of […]
Warren Buffett, in his 2014 letter to shareholders said: “My successor will need one other particular strength: the ability to fight off the ABCs of business decay, which are arrogance, bureaucracy and complacency. When these corporate cancers metastasize, even the strongest of companies can falter.” Arrogance, Bureaucracy and Complacency! They are the symptoms of the […]
Trust is the most valuable currency of leadership. So much depends upon having a trustworthy leader. The very sustainability of the organisation is at stake when that value is eroded or not present. Effective leaders earn and keep trust by following a powerful and simple path: Being consistent in their competence and care. See my […]
Everything we do, whether leader or not, begins with our mindset, doesn’t it? So what characterises the effective leader’s mindset? Firstly let’s agree on what we mean by ‘effective leader’. After all, deploying a workplace psychopath to lead a short term essential crucial task may be justified. She’ll get the job done, at whatever the […]
How come we call people skills ‘soft skills’ when they appear to be the most challenging, difficult and needed skills in commerce and government, requiring courage, authenticity and practice? I wonder if they were named by a boss who was scared to be seen as both caring and competent and wanted to be seen as […]
We all realise the value in developing leadership in our companies and community. Yet often we wonder whether it’s been worth it. Resolve this concern by insisting on the following: Ensure the content of the development program is contextualised to the needs of your enterprise. Insist that participants apply the learning to real workplace issues […]
I met the company chairman at an evening function. After dinner, as we were leaving, he asked if he could have a conversation with me over coffee as soon as practicable. I agreed. When we met he launched straight into it “I’ve done my homework on you and I’d like your thoughts. I’ve got a […]
Business, whether to consumers or other businesses, can no longer afford to operate under a competitive model or mindset. Large dinosaurs (remember Kodak) that move slowly, with shareholder value top of mind, may continue to seek dominance. But they’ll be gone before they know it. Being competitive in business now when information and choice is […]
