I’m not much of an historian, and certainly not a military historian, but the name of Field Marshall William Slim keeps coming up in my leadership reading. Slim commanded a British field army in Burma fighting the Japanese in the ’40s. Here are some things that Slim did that made him highly effective as a leader, despite …
Last week I made a presentation to a group about increasing employee engagement and improving culture. At the end I opened up for questions. “A couple of us are first time managers – what advice would you give us?” Great question! Here are five things that I think first time managers would benefit from knowing. 1. …
Body language tells you a lot. I was working with a team some time ago and the way they sat at the meeting was reflective of each individual’s willingness to take on responsibility. We were talking about some future projects that had to happen and we were breaking the projects down into individual tasks. Responsibility for …
Many aspiring leaders I work with have a lot of responsibilities. Trouble is, things get messy, and some are hanging on to things they would be far better off sharing around. Effective delegation is a key to good leadership. It means that you are making the highest possible value contribution to the organisation. It also means that …
I recently read an article by American author Walter Isaacson about Steve Jobs. He tells a story about Jobs who, when reflecting on a decision to do something or not, thought to himself, what would I do if this was my last day alive? This reflection guided his decision. It got me thinking. What would you …
That was the question asked by a member of the audience to Wayne Bennett at a corporate lunch I attended in 2012. Wayne shared a lot of stories and ideas that he has used over the years in becoming Rugby League’s most successful coach. The largely business crowd seemed comfortable with adapting his football philosophies to …
Put really simply , the difference between leaders and non leaders is that leaders HELP others. HONOUR – leaders honour others. They respect them. They treat them as humans, not as ways of getting things done. They recognise diversity and difference. ENGAGE – leaders are about others. They try to understand what motivates people. Instead …
I’d like you to meet some people that I know. First, meet BOSS. Boss has got it all going on (or so he thinks). He knows everything, has done everything and pretty much gets it right every time. Boss gets results. Sure, some people get trodden on on the way to success, but hey, that’s inevitable, …
I hope you’ve had a great year and are looking forward to a well earned break. But before you sign off, let me ask you an important question. What decisions have you made about 2016 that will make it your best year ever? Maybe you haven’t thought about it yet and will when you get back …
Malcolm Turnbull wants more Australian businesses to risk failing. He said so in his ‘Ideas Boom’ announcement recently. Here’s why I mostly agree with him, and also, some advice on how to make sure you don’t fail. “Innovation is our future”, spouted the PM in his $1.1 billion policy announcement. What comes with innovation is …