Change or transformation? Big, fat words, used interchangeably, describing radically different fields of play and outcomes. Change is like moving the deckchairs. Transformation puts us into an entirely different universe. A new state. Reimagined, reinvented. Think tadpole to frog, caterpillar to butterfly. In organisations, and life, change ensures we survive the headwinds and turbulence. It’s...
The world is changing – with or without you. Taking time to consider whether your leadership is part of the solution, or the status quo seems like an important question for us all to ask ourselves. The visible changes in the world seem to call for even more resilience and flexibility of mind and approach....
Mike and the Mechanics famously sang that ‘every generation blames the one before’ and based on a qualitative survey of two – so neither statistically significant or scientific – I am informed that ‘blaming the Boomers’ is a thing among young people. There’s a wake-up call in this. With the many challenges our world faces...
Growth is an ever present in our current discourse – in organisations as well as nationally and globally – centred entirely (or so it seems) on the financial economy. In business it’s about pulling the levers enabling one resource or constraining another to grow the numbers and bottom line in service of an exclusive group...
On one of our recent leadership programmes we asked people to envision the future shape and scope of a particular aspect of their business. ‘How will such and such look and feel in 25 years’ time?’ we asked. For some the pragmatism of now and what we know took over. Others let their imaginations run....
For 25 years or more I personally have sought to better understand this wake-up call. Can you hear it? Or are you hitting the snooze button? Anyone who considers themselves to be a leader is being asked, called, prompted, cajoled, maybe even forced into living up to that function from a higher vantage point. Who...
As leaders we all hope to be visionary, don’t we? To aspire and inspire. We are fortunate in our interconnected world to have a window on the efforts of other visionary leaders, their impact and example. We can also discern, for ourselves, any gap between rhetoric and reality. A few days ago I was reminded...
We are surrounded by crises big and small and the inclination to see them as something to be afraid of is strong – after all we have inbuilt fight and flight mechanisms for a reason and when we see the danger posed by many of the crises why wouldn’t we allow ourselves to feel fearful....
Latter day heroes conjure up very clear archetypes of dragon slaying, evil beating, world saving on a vast scale. Romantic, seemingly invincible and invariably male, these heroes were the very epitome of courage and strong values. The courage needed in leadership today is no less great, but my sense is that its nature is quite...
The idea that there is a price to pay for everything can feel a little harsh and yet if we think about it, it’s true. Not necessarily in the sense of money but in the sense of consequences. Every choice we make, every plan we set in motion, every relationship we invest in sets off...