Blog
Take a look at recent insights in leadership, strategy and more.
We want a thriller not a thesis
Like it or not, we find it hard to engage with dry, factual, objective communication. We need the information, of course, but nevertheless we find a “thesis” hard to access and to assimilate. Instead, even though we know we maybe shouldn't, we find it easier to...
To be a critical friend you need to start by being a friend
The phrase “critical friend” is sometimes used to describe the role of a trusted adviser and, in particular, one who is prepared to tell you something you might not really want to hear—but do need to hear. The role is reasonably widely understood, but that doesn’t...
Does delegation go up or down?
Does delegation mostly go up or down your organisation? Seriously. The art of effective delegation is perhaps the poor relation of management and leadership practice—not very exciting to study—but nevertheless very important. So often, I meet leaders or even whole...
Much easier to shut down initiative than get it going
I think we underestimate this asymmetry. The taking of initiative by team members can be a fragile thing. It’s much, much easier to shut it down than get it going in the first place. The truth is we really don’t need to worry that we can stop something if we need to...
If in doubt, communicate
Sometimes we wonder whether we should say something or not, probably because it's sensitive in some way. I've always reckoned that if we're unsure whether to take a particular action or not, we should do the positive thing i.e. take the option that is active rather...
New Year every month?
How often do you review your goals (assuming you set some in the first place, of course)? Obviously, it’s traditional to set personal goals at the turn of the year and it’s a good idea. It’s a good time to do it too, because we need a bit of downtime to reflect on...
Resolution wasn’t built in a day
Our inclination is to think that it should be possible to resolve issues, disagreements, and even conflict in one go—in a day perhaps. Sometimes, no doubt it is, if we can bring enough goodwill and expertise to bear. Other times, we may only be able to proceed part...
The value of validation
Of course, it’s good to make up our own mind about whether something we’re doing is right or not. Nevertheless, a bit of external validation is still very welcome. We can seek it out ourselves, for our own needs. But what about other people—those we have reason to...
Connection or fluency?
Which is more important: being fluent or being connected with your audience i.e. the other party? Traditionally, we pay a lot of attention to being fluent, even organising many aids to make sure we can join words together in a smooth and flowing way. Actually... It...
The problem of filtering
Sometimes we need to conduct a relationship through a third party. For example, we might be supplying something to our customer's customer, and need to discern indirectly what they require. Unfortunately, the person or organisation in the middle may not be that...
Dangerous questions
Been reading Daniel Kahneman’s excellent and very useful “Thinking, Fast and Slow”... He says: If asked a difficult question we don’t know the answer to, we will normally pick an easier one we do have an answer to, and provide the answer to that one instead. And we do...
We want you to step up (except when we don’t)
Leaders in businesses and organisations often say they want their people to step up and take more initiative. Unfortunately... Some, in the next breath, will say they want certain things done a certain way, and they’ll end up directing the action they want. Other...
Taking people along with you
It's remarkable how often this comes up as a theme: the challenge of getting a group of people on board with a course of action. Our natural inclination is often that the hard task in a situation is working out what to do and the easy bit is taking other people along...
If we let go of the big goal…
It's seem slightly paradoxical, doesn't it? If we put our big goal out of our mind and just focus on getting small things done, it's easier to take those minor steps—to do the mundane. And so we make more progress towards our main objective. The tasks we put in hand...
Can a business leader sell with the same approach as a salesperson?
The processes of selling are well-known, though, of course, what's most effective and appropriate varies from context to context. And there’s always room to get better at it. An important question is whether it's entirely open to a leader with more rounded...