For many people, the word leadership brings up resistance or even rebellion. Too often, what we see publicly is leadership driven by ego, control, narcissism, and hunger for power. Who can blame anyone for becoming disillusioned? These are the beastly models on display. But leadership is more than the person temporarily holding authority. It is...
Maybe ‘un-gifting’ sounds a bit strange as we enter the season of gifting. Yet it might be just what we need. From personal experience, we tend to hold on to things too long. Ideas, ways of working, our expertise, career milestones. They give identity. At times they’re lifebelts. But what if these tethers have got...
Are you in a rut? Is the way you lead pretty much the same as it was five years ago, give or take a few minor adjustments? Spotting when we’re stuck can, at times, be tricky. Relentless focus on delivering the goods means modern leaders have little time to look up, out, and ahead. Or...
Whether we’re more heart on sleeve or more poker-faced, or anywhere in between, we may move through life and especially work assuming our moods are managed, our emotions under our control, perhaps not on display and not affecting others. On occasion we might inquire of our human selves whether that’s really true. Imagine asking your...
Uncertainty breeds fear and that becomes a black hole, sucking in vast amounts of emotional and physical energy that could best be used in more productive and progressive ways. The shadow of uncertainty being cast across our world is entirely man made. After mostly surviving the cost of living crisis in the UK the rumours...
We can learn much about self-leadership and team work from the sporting jamboree happening now in Paris. Central to the Olympics are two ideals – that of Corinthian Spirit which is the embodiment of sportsmanship; and the Olympic motto…’Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together.’ For Corinthian Spirit in leading in organisations we can read ‘doing the...
In 1864, shortly after the American Civil War ended, President Abraham Lincoln, said in a letter to Col. William F. Elkins: ‘We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its end. It has cost a vast amount of treasure and blood … It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but...
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...
In many psychometric surveys designed to consider aspects of leadership, there are often questions that reveal the degree to which a person naturally gravitates toward the front of any group. Not because of ego but because of an inbuilt or developed sense of responsibility, accountability and, what we eventually come to call leadership. Even when...
What is our accountability and responsibility to step fully into our leadership capability in service of a better world? Some might argue that there are different responses to accountability and responsibility and that’s true if we consider leadership in a formal, positional sense. But what if we deeply acknowledge our fundamental identity as leaders, regardless...