ideas
Managing people is a skill I've been a manager for over twenty years now, managing teams ranging in size from 2 to 263. One thing that I have learned is that if you want to do anything big then you need to work through other people to achieve
business
"We measure a leader, not by the absence of problems, but how he or she confronts those problems and takes action." - Rosabeth Moss Kanter There has been a long and largely unprofitable debate in management circles about the difference between management and leadership. Over the years I have
ideas
Business Insider In large companies personality tests and similar instruments are often deployed to provide people with better insight into their own and team performance. Over the years I have participated in many of these - for example, Myers Briggs, DISC, Belbin Team Roles, Hermann Brain Dominance, 16PF, Big Five Inventory,
ethics
I came across an article in Wired Science by Jonah Lehrer titled Do Nice Guys Finish Last?. It had plenty to get me thinking. Apparently: "... levels of 'agreeableness' are negatively correlated with the earnings of men" Then: "There are six facets to agreeableness: trust, straightforwardness,
management & leadership
It is sad to hear of Steve Jobs' passing. Not unsurprising news given his long battle with cancer. But the heartfelt responses to his death made me think. How many other leaders of big companies would elicit similar responses? Hardly any I suspect. His was a remarkable career, and
ethics
There have been astonishing revelations in London about leaders in the News International group of companies and in the UK Parliament. Perhaps even more shocking is the disclosure of the deep and complex relationships between the two groups? It is a classic case study of power and the old-fashioned
ideas
The common thread between these items is the importance of communication. And it is the communication by leaders and managers within organisations that signifies to people what standards of thinking and behaviour are acceptable. This communication takes the form of spoken words, behaviours, gestures and also of absence, silence and
ideas
That heading was inspired by the well known saying regarding pornography by Justice Potter Stewart: But I know it when I see it by Justice Potter Stewart, concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio 378 U.S. 184 (1964), regarding possible obscenity in The Lovers. I was reading this case recently
ideas
Had an interesting conversation with my friend @MaverickWoman about leadership over the weekend. Conversations with @MaverickWoman are always thought-starters and this was no different to usual - she got me thinking. The big question I started thinking about was: Is leadership only about leaders? At business school there was so
ideas
"Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy." -- Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf