List

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June 23rd, 2014

So, what do you do Joe?

Spot the differences at the dinner party or barbeque. So, what do you do Joe?. [You must start with ‘so’ […]

June 22nd, 2014

Trust is tribal, it’s ‘people like me’, it’s horizontal

Consistently over years, the Edelman’s Trust Barometer keeps telling us that the greatest source of trust inside the organization belongs […]

June 21st, 2014

When management is overweight, leadership may be starving

I must confess I have never been 100% comfortable with the traditional distinction by Warren Bennis between leaders and managers […]

June 20th, 2014

Not even wrong

Consistently attributed to physicist Wolfgang Pauli, who had no time for sloppy thinking, ‘not even wrong’ has become a category […]

June 19th, 2014

‘When the sea was calm, all boats alike; showed mastership in floating’

This is scene one of ‘The Tragedy of Coriolanus’ by William Shakespeare. It says a lot to us. It’s easy […]

June 18th, 2014

In need of Netflix irrational logic

The American version of the British ‘House of Cards’ (book, then TV series), is a fine piece of art. Kevin  […]

June 17th, 2014

Gene and Tony are coming next week

If you work in a corporation with headquarters and affiliates, or scattered in may places, or with international sites, you […]

June 16th, 2014

Let’s elevate the confusion to a higher level

There are times when you get stuck in arguments.  Discussions seem to go nowhere. You are running in circles and […]

June 15th, 2014

Could the ‘global teenager’ teach us about ‘global leadership’?

Today, there are more similarities between a teenager in Shanghai and a teenager in Rome, or Singapore and Madrid, or […]

June 14th, 2014

Purpose is the new Black (and Solidarity is a building block)

A combination of wisdom, moral compass and social doctrine from the Catholic Church, scattered through a series of documents over […]

June 13th, 2014

‘Bed in ten minutes, you can play till then’, versus ‘You have ten more minutes to play before bed’.

A little booklet on Behavioural Economics for kids gives this wonderful example on how the same ten minutes can be […]

June 12th, 2014

“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there’d be a shortage of sand”

These were, Milton Friedman’s (1912-2006), Nobel Prize winner in Economics, unkind words about governments. The leader of the Chicago School […]

June 11th, 2014

For leadership, look around, not in research papers

Leadership has traditional sources of learning, reflection, role modelling and a ‘body of knowledge’. There are four that dominate. This […]

June 10th, 2014

Gandhi’s concept of Western Civilization

Interrogated by a journalist: ‘Mr Gandhi, what do you think of Western civilization?’, Mr Gandhi answered:  ‘I think that it […]

June 9th, 2014

Initiative fatigue, leading to exhaustion , leading to switching off.

Many organizations seem to run layers of parallel initiatives, all directed at noble goals, and in many cases, without talking […]

June 8th, 2014

‘God, make me chaste, but not yet’

Augustine of Hippo, Saint Augustine in the Christian world, was very clear with his plea. He had a good idea […]

June 7th, 2014

The great ‘How to’ takeover

There is a period in child development when children start asking the question ’why?’. They usually seem unsatisfied with one […]

June 6th, 2014

We are not resistant to change

I was reminded, by a recent newspaper article, that Michelle Obama was born into the Chicago of the 1960’s where […]

June 5th, 2014

This company will reboot itself from Friday to Saturday. Apologies, services will be limited during this period.

I like the concept of reinvention, renewal, or transformation. But I like most the concept of rebooting! Organizations, teams, groups, […]

June 4th, 2014

Don’t fight an epidemic of bad things. Create a counter-epidemic of good ones.

When you have reached epidemic levels of a negative thing, fighting the epidemic from within is futile. You need to […]