Tag Archives | Leadership
Lesson #1: Don’t jump to conclusions

Lesson #1: Don’t jump to conclusions

A while ago I wrote a blog article entitled “Never Judge a Book by its Cover.” In essence, it was a story about a couple of people I met on a cross channel ferry that had a surprisingly compassionate side to their otherwise unsavoury demeanour. The episode taught me a lot about not pre-judging people [...]

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Leadership is a lonely place

Leadership is a lonely place

A friend recently tried to recruit me into a business he was invested in. It was in a market sector that I have absolutely no knowledge of and I felt uncomfortable with my lack of understanding of the firm and its products.  I was told that collectively, the co-founders and the investors agreed that it [...]

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“It’s Not My Problem”

“It’s Not My Problem”

How many times have you heard “It’s not my problem” or “It’s not my job” when a problem arises or someone needs help? In my experience the incidence of this happening increases exponentially with the size of the firm. This usually points to a lack of unity and shared vision where individuals are more concerned [...]

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Have courage and integrity; Be focused and persevere.

Have courage and integrity; Be focused and persevere.

I have been reading Max De Pree’s book, Leadership is an Art. It is a fascinating insight into the De Pree family and their views on leadership.  The book speaks about why it is important to understand and accept diversity and how admitting that we cannot know or do everything leads to being able to [...]

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Do you have nothing left to take away?

Do you have nothing left to take away?

I have to admit that I have never heard of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry so when a friend quoted him I had to resort to Wikipedia to find out who he was. I was surprised to find out that he was an aristocrat French writer, poet and pioneering aviator that became a laureate of several of [...]

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Counting the cost of managers that bully?

Counting the cost of managers that bully?

I recently met an ex-colleague from a large multi-national that I worked for a few years back. For the most part, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time at the firm and made some great, long lasting friendships. I do, however, have one enduring memory that I would rather forget. For a short period, I reported [...]

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Either you are a leader or you’re not!

Either you are a leader or you’re not!

A leader understands and accepts that everyone has their own opinions. As a leader you know that it is wrong to expect that everyone will always agree with all of your decisions. As a leader you will also know, however, that even though some may not always agree with a decision they will still follow [...]

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The 5 Levels of Leadership

The 5 Levels of Leadership

October 2010 saw the publication of John C Maxwell’s latest book, The 5 Levels of Leadership. Maxwell describes the 5 levels as: Position: People follow you because they have to. Permission: People follow you because they want to. Production: People follow you because of what you have done for the organisation. People Development: People follow [...]

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Are you a leader?

Are you a leader?

I recently stumbled upon The “Instigator Blog” and an article entitled “10 Essential Business Leadership Skills” by Ben Yoskovitz. The opening question was “Are you a leader?” This grabbed my attention as I am always interested in putting this to the test. In my opinion, there are those who lead, those who call themselves leaders [...]

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There are leaders and there are those who lead…

There are leaders and there are those who lead…

In May 2010 Simon Sinek gave a TED talk entitled “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” I recently watched a recording of his talk on YouTube and I actively encourage you to watch it too. The talk describes how great leaders inspire action and why some people are able to achieve things, when others are not.  [...]

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