It won’t have escaped your notice that a transfer of power is underway in one of the most powerful countries in the world. Power is a word that many find distasteful. The thing is, love it or loath it, power exists and has an impact on us all – whether we wield it or are subject to it. In this post, I set out five home truths about power because leaders need to build a healthy relationship with it if ...
Big question for you this week. Assuming you did nothing else, how many years would it take to read everything that’s been written about leadership? 10? 20? 100? When I was studying for a Masters in Management & Leadership way back in 2004, the figure stood at 45 years – and this was growing at an exponential rate. Wanting to be bang up to date, I asked my mate ChatGPT how many years it would take – in 2024 – ...
A couple of weeks before I turned 8, I had to make a tough decision. I was shopping for a new dress with my mum and I picked one that was way over budget. But, to almost 8-year old me, it was the most beautiful dress I had EVER seen. Just perfect for the Children’s Day church service I was singing at in a few days time. Mum said I could have it BUT IT WOULD MEAN NO BIRTHDAY PRESENT ...
Do you have so much time you don’t know what to do with it? Do you feel that you have such a lot of excess energy you could be mistaken for a Duracell battery? If feedback from my recent research across 300 leaders is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding NO! Few business leaders are sitting around wondering what to do with their spare time and energy. And yet, chances are, we’ve all wasted both this week ...
Did you have a Weeble when you were a kid? Did your Weeble wobble but not fall down? If you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, you probably weren’t a child of the 70s – so, to make it easier – here’s a quick link. Yes, in the 70s, a Weeble was top of your Santa list. Do Weebles epitomise resilience? I always think of Weebles when I hear leaders talking about resilience. The common definition of resilience is bouncing ...
The Amazonian leader, Jeff Bezos, suggests that leaders should set up a culture where the most junior person can overrule the most senior person, provided they have the data to do so. I whole-heartedly agree! To encourage this culture, he always speaks last in meetings because it makes sure that others will share their ideas more freely. He reckons that, if he speaks first, even the most intelligent, strong-willed individuals will doubt themselves and their views. ‘If Jeff thinks that, ...