In my experience, everyone who really wants to be a better leader has some success. If you want to be an even stronger leader, understand these differences. Respect vs Like. Strong leaders care more about being respected than being liked. Now, everyone wants to be liked but sometimes the need to be popular gets in …
“What can I do to help you do your job?” This is about finding out what’s going on at the frontline showing that you care, and taking responsibility for empowering your guys to do well. This is not about promoting whinging lip service, or micro managing. The challenge is, once you ask the question, what …
I heard this saying years ago. “You can’t manage it if you can’t measure it.” Fundamentally I took it to mean you need to monitor important things so you can tell if actual performance matches expected performance. Most people would agree that we should measure things like sales, safety and quality, but there are other …
I often get asked about good books to read about business, management and leadership. High on my list is ‘Good to Great’* by Jim Collins. In this modern classic Collins claims that ‘good is the enemy of great.’ He covers the things that some companies do to make the leap from being good to being …
The number one responsibility of a leader is to grow and develop other people. I believe that a leader should be judged not by how many followers they have, but by how many other leaders they create. As someone who encourages aspiring leaders to focus on lifting the performances of others, I often get asked “what …
So, there are several reasons why you could be reading this. First, you like reading the leadership blogs. Second, you thought there was going to be some hot gossip. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it was the first! You see, we love gossip. We can’t get enough of it. Sometimes it’s …
Shane Warne and Babe Ruth were sporting champions. But in both of their cases they had to risk failure in order to succeed. At the time Shane Warne claimed the world record for being cricket’s leading test wicket taker he was also the international bowler who had the most sixes scored off him. Similarly, in …
Someone once told me that being a parent is a gradual process of letting go. The day you take your new baby home it is completely and entirely dependent upon you in order for it to survive. Gradually over the years your child is able to do more for itself and its reliance on you lessens. …
None of the aspiring leaders and managers I know could be accused of being lazy. On the contrary, most work really hard, working long hours and being stressed about improving their organisations. I surprise them when I tell them that what I want them to do is to create a situation where their people wonder what …
Those of you who have worked with me know that I obsess about being organised and productive. It’s especially important for leaders as the leading stuff takes lots of time, so getting all of the other stuff done in less time allows you more time to lead. Here are five really practical tips to help …