Blog
Take a look at recent insights in leadership, strategy and more.
Going into their world to make the relationship
Sometimes dealing with the extremes brings the mainstream into sharp focus... I'm watching an interview with the creator of a well-known intervention program for children with Autism. As he puts it, such children find "our" world a bewildering place. His philosophy...
Your innovation – A small step or a big leap?
Occasionally you learn something truly new and advance the field in some way. It feels like a tiny step to you—one you hardly think worthy of the name. And yet... For the rest of us, getting to that new layer you’ve added on top on an existing body of knowledge is a...
You can’t stand out by fitting in
To lead on an issue, you need to get attention somehow, and to do that you need to stand out in some way—no use, therefore, trying to blend in, at least not all the time. To take a lead you need to accept the possibility of ending up leaving "the tribe". Funnily...
Do you speak the language of resistance?
“Culture change program” “Public sector reform” “Get well program” We hear these phrases all the time. We might even use them ourselves. But there’s a problem... Using language like this, the hearers need to accept that what they were doing yesterday was wrong. Human...
To change the whole, stop trying to
Given the large scale challenges facing the world, it’s tempting to get on a mission of changing the whole system, thinking that’s the only way we can make progress. Trouble is... Pick any major issue you like and it’s easy to show that the system which determines it...
Do you give them time to think?
Do you even give yourself time to think? Culturally, in the West at least, we behave as if we're expected to move into action quickly, and usually we are. But what if the action we take isn't the right action? An action taken in haste is often exactly the opposite of...
Are you an architect or a gardener?
It is said that “The policy maker should act as a gardener not an architect.” In other words, the policy maker will do better to support good ideas that emerge rather than direct from on high. I connect that with experience of some organizations that assume new ideas...
Are you a model of not knowing?
Or do you always give an answer even if you’re not sure? One of the greatest gifts a leader can give their team (and themselves) is to show that it’s OK to say you don’t know, or at least it’s much better to say you don’t know than to pretend you do. Here’s the...
Brinksmanship: A relationship skill?
We rather admire the ability of the tough negotiator; the one who secures a favorable outcome at the last minute when the other side blinks first. Perhaps that's a component of a versatile skill set; part of the rough and tumble of public or private life, strangely...
What we need to learn next might be “counter-intuitive”
In fact, it probably is. We tend to dismiss new input which doesn't fit with our view of things, simply because it doesn't feel right. Our unconscious tells us something is "off". "Intuitively" we know something else to be true. Or do we? Could be that the new...
What if they were doing their best?
What would your response be then? We often feel other people have let us down in some way, or maybe they've let others down, or even themselves. We feel they could have done better. Maybe they could. Or maybe, actually, they couldn't... Maybe, in fact, they were doing...
Best wishes for 2013, and who are you going to be?
If you’re setting your goals for the coming year and beyond, you might find it helps to consider who you are going to be as well as what you are going to do, or how exactly you are going to be present to other people. At first sight, you might say, “well, of course,...
Who benefits from your questions: You or the person you ask?
In conversation, we commonly think the quality of a question is judged by the information gained and its usefulness to the questioner. But maybe that isn’t right... Perhaps the quality of a question really depends on how the person of whom it is asked works with the...
New language: Friend or foe?
We’re at a gathering of professionals... Some present find some of the language challenging. It doesn’t fit with their culture. They would like some of the words to be changed. They want met at their map of the world... Make what you’re saying fit our understanding,...
How much of what you learn makes you feel different?
Some of what we learn causes us to feel different physically. It’s profound enough that something changes for us psychosomatically—our different thoughts influence our body enough that we notice the difference. We get a feedback that something has changed for the...