This year try something different on New Year’s Eve: don’t make any resolutions. Why not? Well, they’re a feel-good distraction from what we really need to be doing. New Year’s resolutions give us comfort but they don’t help us change. Maybe that’s harsh, but from where I’m standing it’s the truest thing I’ve ever written. […]
Leadership: Develop Your Mindset Before Your Skills
If you’ve gone above and beyond on your CPD; if you’ve spent time, money and energy on your professional development to hone your leadership skills then I may have some bad news for you. Practicing skills isn’t the most effective way of developing as a leader. To be more precise; intense, focused and repetitive practice […]
Leadership Models: Learning How Not to Lead
Our business culture isn’t short on leadership books, models and theories. There are business books examining trends for leaders of the future, courses on effective leadership, print and online articles offering insight on leadership. And if all these theories and insights are beginning to sound the same to you, you’re right. Born vs Made I’ve […]
A Change Story
We’ve all heard about how hard it is to lead change. We’ve heard that 80% of change initiatives fail. And we’ve heard the biggest barrier to change is the people affected by it. Not surprisingly, a lot of words have been dedicated to getting people engaged in change. And one way to do that is […]
Leading… Creatively
“Birds fly, humans create” that’s how Kevin Ashton summed up creativity in his interview on Canada’s CBC radio. In one phrase he ends the idea that there’s anything elite about creating. Ashton believes there are no “aha” moments. For Ashton, creativity is about progress one step at a time. Creativity and Leadership The parallels with […]
Why Mindfulness Matters in Business
Mindfulness in business is popular right now. In fact, as the Economist puts it “selling mindfulness has become a business in its own right”. If that sounds like business co-opting another Eastern philosophy (anyone remember Sun Tzu’s The Art of War?) you might want to wait a second before you dismiss it. But let’s start […]
Leadership at all Levels: Do Leaders Need Followers?
“I’d really like to help you Sir, and I agree you should get some compensation, but I’m just not authorized… my supervisor will call you tomorrow morning. I’m sorry…” Feel like a familiar conversation? I think we’ve all been there. For me it was with a rental car whose wipers broke. And since we only […]
Employee Engagement = Involvement
Employee engagement is the end result, the fruit if you like, of increased interest in your business.