The current news agenda is awash with stories of deficit in ethical behaviour among leaders – the Vietnamese businesswoman convicted this week of siphoning £billions from a bank she owns 90% of, multiple fraud cases against an ex and wannabe again US president, and the Post Office scandal rumbles loudly on. Ethics and morals can...
We could be forgiven for thinking big talk describes the kind of boastful and often unsubstantiated, self-aggrandising, other-blaming claims broadcast by leaders in the public eye. Let’s face it there’s a lot of this about and a particularly consistent example across the Pond. However, big talk is about something much deeper and higher and a...
The latest edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer shows yet another drop in the trust vested in business leaders. According to the 2024 report 61% of respondents (32,000 people globally) worry that business leaders are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations (a 2% rise in 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...
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...
Competence can be a blessing and, if not exactly a curse, a hole we, as leaders, can easily fall into. How lucky we may count ourselves if all our team are highly competent. People who need little guidance to do their thing with excellence. We may feel it frees us to contribute at a higher...
Most of us are guilty at one time or another of prioritising action over interaction. At times, usually in crisis, that may be needed. Mostly it’s not. We might notice excellence in the work of one of our colleagues yet fail to recognise it with them in the moment as the task list beckons us...
In the week since my friend and colleague @LorraineFlower and I published our second book – Heartful Business: leading with the world in mind – we’ve been on the receiving end of others’ generosity in supporting its first steps out into the world for which we are immensely grateful. This well of support got me...
‘It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.’ Charles Darwin The super temperatures and wild fires in Southern Europe, and other parts of the world, have shown us the need for change if we are to address our climate crisis. Conversely, we’ve...
Leading by example is one of the oft quoted qualities needed of effective leaders but isn’t it missing something…the word good as in leading by good example? Leadership is a 24/7 commitment, a way of being as well as doing. Everything we do and say, the attitudes we hold, our presence, are being experienced and...