As 2023 drew to a close and a New Year dawned that thorny issue of standards in public life and leadership raised its head once more with the Baroness mired in the Covid/PPE scandal, the energy company boss stepping down for economy with the truth about relations with employees and, of course, the Post Office....
We are often reminded about the power of gratitude but there is scientific evidence to show that it has both physical and psychological benefits. Benefits that stabilise our heart rate, calm our emotions and generate more optimism. Gratitude and Its Impact on the Brain and Body | Psychology Today Creating a habit of gratitude, like...
Time for reflection is often at a premium for leaders so as we approach the season of giving of ourselves to others we might also choose to give something of a gift to ourselves in the form of some time to reflect. That gift might be usefully spent considering what, over the past year, our...
We are taught to build and create not destroy. We learn about continuous improvement, as step by step we refine an idea, a project, a programme, an offering. Our focus is on making things better and at one level that makes perfect sense. However sometimes, we need to destroy something in order to build the...
As world leaders, climate scientists and eco-experts and activists gather for COP 28 we might also consider that other climate change…the one on our doorstep and over which we have considerably more control and the ability to make positive change more quickly. The climate in our organisational world is undergoing change. Only a few years...
When you look inside your organisation and the governance it’s applying do you see the right distribution of delegated authority. Over time it’s quite likely that authority to act becomes crystallised within the culture in a certain way with leaders. This can become further crystallised if there are prolonged crises (such as the recent pandemic...
Most people don’t tend to think about shapes or geometry in relation to leadership. And yet if you think about it we have many linear, square and oblong shapes that pervade our organisational spaces especially in business. The boardroom table, the office desk, the rows of desks. Perhaps it’s driven by space efficiency but I...
Often our most important work gets left until last – until it’s to late to do our best work. Until the issue has mushroomed or the time to realise the opportunity has evaporated. We only have to look at the world’s Government’s rowing back on climate change commitments to see this in action. Whether the...
Time was when the leader was cloaked in power, charisma, visionary capability, perhaps even a little showmanship. In essence it was all about the individual, about their star shining brightly. Times have changed and so has the world. In truth, back then but even more so now, great leadership is about the people we lead...
When we look at the ever-growing list of capabilities leaders need to lead well and consider the rapidly changing, uncertain and often ambiguous context in which organisations must operate the temptation to give up may be strong. Yet we know that’s not really an option. Of course no one can claim all the capabilities on...