Blog
Take a look at recent insights in leadership, strategy and more.
Goals, and how you present them
The studies show that having written goals makes all the difference to what we achieve, and the more we have to lead ourselves, the more that is probably true. But how exactly do you write them down? For years, I’ve just made a list with some dates—several pages...
Working back from the future
When there's a problem, we tend to try and evolve things from how they are now. That's natural. It's logical to start from where we're at. It's the obvious thing to do. Actually though... Sometimes it works better to decide how we would like the relationship to be at...
Straightening out your business
In program and project management, people talk about “straightening out the program,” meaning to set it on an orderly basis, with dependencies between one task and another, and resource availability in the face of constraints, properly recognised. Without that...
The double benefit of focus, and how to achieve it
Some lessons keep coming round, for me they do anyway... Getting focused has a double benefit—probably more than double actually. Dropping some tasks—disengaging from some projects or organisations—has the obvious benefit of freeing up some time. But it’s much more...
They don’t know they’re doing it, and nor do we
I imagine you’ve had this experience... Someone keeps repeating a behaviour that causes problems for everyone else. “Why do they keep doing that?” we ask ourselves. “Why do they not see that there are going to be consequences? Why don’t they change?” The answer of...
Do you know enough to not know?
How much knowledge do you need to have before it feels OK to say you don’t know? Seems like a paradox, doesn’t it? If we know quite a bit about something, we probably have a good idea just how much we don’t know. And we have some authority. If we don’t know that much,...
Are you playing pinball?
It’s a strategy for corporate or organisational survival... “Getting the issue off my desk” (and onto someone else’s). I think we all do this, one way or another—in our personal lives too. It’s one way of coping with the volume of communication we have to deal with....
Does change come before leadership?
In the dictionary it does, of course. And perhaps in real life too. Certainly the two things are closely tied up with each other. Is the need for leadership prompted by external change, or should we initiate internal change before the external world forces it upon us?...
One thing at a time—how hard can that be?
...em, quite hard. That's my experience anyway. Doesn't mean it isn't the right principle though, just that it isn't that easy to achieve, especially if our vision isn't very clear. I remember... The amazing effect of putting some delays in the start-up sequence of a...
“Gut feel”—unerring guide or subjective interference?
In a world obsessed with "evidence," what's the place for what we call "gut feel"—that inner signal which seems to let us know whether something—or someone—is right or wrong? Many of us have been brought up to present a rational argument, to marshall the facts, to...
How do you tell if you’re making a difference?
Quite possibly, you can’t. If you’re in a situation where you have a high degree of authority, you might well be able to associate cause and effect. On the other hand... If you know you’re one of many working towards the same end—working on the same issue in a similar...
If other people lean on us…
... our first thought might be to push back. If someone treats us as a resource to be drawn upon; as someone they can “unload” with; as a person who will always have resilience for them, it can be a load to carry, of course, but it’s also a compliment. It means they...
When making the case for something different, don’t forget…
... that we probably need to keep some of the existing order too. In our conviction that something different is needed, it's easy to fall into the trap of advocating wholesale adoption of the new, whilst completely disregarding the merits of the old. Usually, a bit of...
Sticking to the budget, or doing what you need to do?
Which is more important? That's a serious question. Maybe it is more important to be in control of your business; for everything to be predictable. It could be. On the other hand, it might be more important to do what you now know to be right. After all, you couldn't...
Why do we resist help so much?
It's remarkable really, how hard we work to stop others helping us. Why is that? Is it because the help is clearly rubbish? Is it because the help doesn't actually apply to us? Is it because the time isn't right? Or is it that we're comfortable where we are? Things...