The Dearth of Leadership

Leadership lessons from Brexit?

It has taken me a full week to even begin to gather thoughts about the outcome of the European referendum that can be articulated in a business blog.  At the end of a tumultuous week I am, with many others in business, still processing what this means for us and what lies ahead.  The chaos engulfing us right now as I write this, doesn’t feel as if it will resolve itself any time soon and I am concerned as to how this will affect companies like ours.  Business hates uncertainty and in my lifetime I have never experienced such a deep unease as events appeared to spiral out of control this week.

Most worrying of all is the dearth of Leadership at the very top of our political system.

So what can be learned about leadership and leading change from Brexit? (more…)

It’s not about PowerPoint … so give them a Show

A quick guide to effective Business Presentations. 

(2 minute reading time)

I thought I would follow up my ‘9 Mantras for Presenting’ blog with a short list of things we can STOP/START doing, (more…)

Presenting: there’s no need to be afraid

9 Mantras to build your confidence and deliver great presentations 

I had a great time with one of my groups this week delivering Presentation Skills. It’s one of my favourite courses and I wanted to share (more…)

The Problem with “Drift”

Woman floating in water

How great leadership teams address their most pressing problems

One of the things I enjoy doing most is working with Teams in solving problems. There are a number of elements to problem solving (or creating solutions) and one of the techniques we use is (more…)

Motivation – for people who don’t do ‘Goals’

Today’s blog is for anyone who feels daunted by goals and self improvement and may want a different strategy to the ones that aren’t working.  If you are really motivated by setting Goals and SMART Objectives this may not be for you…

An amusing tweet appeared at the start of this year (more…)

Bowie. The man who …

I watch the ripples change their size

But never leave the stream

Of warm impermanence and (more…)

Emotionally Revealing

The Tears of a Leader –  are they a good thing?

Yesterday’s announcement by President Obama has, as expected, sparked further furious debate about gun control and civil liberties in the USA.   People are also talking about the moment where the emotion (more…)

I don’t want to go to Chelsea…

What do we do with staff who take the initiative?

I don’t want to check your pulse
I don’t want nobody else
I don’t want to go to Chelsea

So sang Elvis Costello and anyone (more…)

When the juice doesn’t work …

The danger of inflated self-assessment

I’ve previously mentioned humility in leadership and it’s a theme I would like to pick up on.

The following story comes from a paper by James Kruger and David Dunning (Psychology Today, 2009) who studied cognitive bias; the tendency to inflate our own assessments of our own abilities.

(more…)

Pretty Amazing Grace – Obama and Emotional Intelligence

I always had high hopes for President Obama, and while he may have failed to bring about change at the pace many hoped for (remember “yes we can”?), he will be remembered for something wonderful, long after his (more…)

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