“Change Management” is often described as if it’s like building a wall. One brick put neatly on top of another. “Define the problem” “Implement the solution” etc…“tick the box”. Anyone who has led real change knows it isn’t like that. Real change only looks certain in hindsight. You don’t know…
86. Are you Decisive ?
“More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind…” Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman Statesman, 106-43BC Leaders are paid to make decisions. How they make them matters. An indecisive leader isn’t just slow, they’re uncertain, and likely uncommitted. Maybe afraid of…
81. Are you an imitator?
A rabbit’s owners wanted it to help them. So they convinced the rabbit to copy how they buy food from the local supermarket. It did well. It could put items in the trolley, go to the checkout, pay, and even carry them home. Sadly the rabbit wasn’t much help to…
75. Do you use Suggestion Boxes?
I hate suggestion boxes. Not just the old school physical ones. They don’t work, and they actually do a lot of damage. They’re meant to encourage ideas by enabling ideas to be collected, maybe anonymously. In practice they end in frustration & enforce hierarchy, actually killing ideas. In most organizations…
62. What have you done?
Every leader must carry it. The need to Achieve. Not success, though everyone enjoys success. The need to get things done. Achievement isn’t just about targets or deadlines, though these can mark the spot where achievement is gained. Achievement is that inner drive to gets you to the target, the…
50. Meeting with Danger.
How many people do you know who are true daredevils? One of those people who deliberately take real risks? Chances are that you don’t know many, or even any adults who happily take real risks. Risk takers are rare. Despite all the hype about heroic entrepreneurs, conscious risk taking is…
43. Friend or Enemy…?
A key testing point for leaders is when their team fails to deliver. One way to look at failure is to see it as a defeat by an enemy. If your team are pigeons, one of them just got eaten by a cat. Another way to see it is as…
37. What do you have to lose?
Leaders have to understand “Risks” but what they first need to understand and manage is our reaction to Danger. Humans are experts at detecting and assessing danger. Most people don’t even realize they have this “6th sense”. We are hard wired in our primeval brains to sense danger instantly –…
23. Passion
“Passion” (together with it’s many synonyms) is the most popular Corporate Value. “Entrepreneurship”, “drive” and “decisiveness” are vital success factors according to the leadership industry.. Vital but not sufficient. Energy has to be directed to be useful. If your organization has Passion or similar as a value your opportunity and…
18. Are you sure?
In our series about Strategy we now come to the question of Risk, but not the type of Risk that management consultants and others usually talk about. We’re not talking about external risks like competitors, but our fundamental attitude towards taking risks, and how the wrong attitude can turn a…