“Strategy” can be a mysterious thing in business. The Leadership Industry devotes a lot of literature to it, as do most large organizations & Management Consultants, but many leaders just don’t understand it. They are also likely to be afraid to admit that they don’t. Many organizations see “Strategy” as…
15. Staying on Course..
Finally we get to the Hare and the Tortoise. Aesop’s fable about the slow old Tortoise who wins a race against the speedy but arrogant Hare. The moral is that “the race is not always to the swift..” – which is complete rubbish of course, because slowness doesn’t win races.…
14. Are you close enough?
A Fox tried to reach some delicious looking grapes, only to decide when he couldn’t reach them, that they must be sour. The moral of this ancient story is that it is natural for us to dislike or scorn something that is not within our reach. The leadership lesson is…
13. When Less is More…
A Fox and a Cat were comparing how many tricks and escapes they had from predators. The fox boasted that it had many, whilst the poor old cat only had just one, that is to climb the nearest tree. Hunters suddenly arrived with their dogs, and the cat immediately climbed…
12. What are you?
Fables aren’t just for children. They reflect and shape popular cultural beliefs but they can also reveal cultural weaknesses. Their positive moral lessons are obvious, but when turned upside down they can reveal leadership lessons as well, showing what cultural norms good leaders have to fight against to be successful.…
11. The Boy who cried Wolf
An important management lesson was written over 2600 years ago. It’s a story about a shepherd boy who gives fake warnings about a wolf attacking his sheep to get attention from the villagers. Unfortunately his fake reports prove fatal later when an actual wolf attacks him and the villagers don’t…
10. What you see is what you get.
Napoleon Bonaparte, arguably one of the most successful military leaders in history, owed part of his success on the battlefield to his ability to choose a place to fight. When he could, he fought where he could see the whole battlefield, and then positioned himself so that he could see.…
9. Practice makes Perfect
There are 2 things that Mozart and Messi have in common. Both showed genius from an early age. Both also worked and sweated and practiced for years before the world saw that talent. A professional orchestra musician practices 2-3 hours a day minimum, plus actual performances of course. No professional…
8. Fake News!
Fake News is not limited to Media Barons or Political leaders. We generate it ourselves every day inside ourselves and our organizations. It’s a part of being human. Shinkansen drivers in Japan have special protection against Fake News. They carry it with them in a leather briefcase. Their briefcase contains…
7. You are what you Aim for.
There are few things more polarizing in an organization than target setting. I don’t mean that leaders are divided on the merits of objectives, though they often are. I mean that the whole subject of targets is what separates leaders from their teams. There’s a theme in leadership literature that…