Compelling Cause
What's the difference you want to make?
When I was growing up, my dream was to become an Engineer and much of my early career was spent managing engineering projects. A key lesson I learned in that role was that you can manage things, but you need to lead people.
I discovered that a key differentiator between success and failure usually had a lot to do with effective leadership skills; with leading people well. I found that you can get the best out of people when you can turn “have-to” into “want-to” because then people inspire themselves to be great.
Collaborative Culture
I first noticed corporate culture when I moved to my second employer. I didn't know that work environments could be so different! I had been with my first employer - a multinational manufacturing company - for 10 years, and so until I moved to a new company I had no understanding of "Company Culture" at all.
All I knew was what I had experienced. We were a "no-frills" company, and a part of the culture was to make sure that you held on to the best office furniture that you could accumulate as people moved on through.
If someone got a promotion, moved to a different department, or handed in their notice, the rest of the team would be on the lookout for a furniture upgrade - perhaps a more comfortable chair or a newer filing cabinet.
How to "live usefully"
We can choose to be intentional and live usefully; to live our lives “on purpose”, to make a living “on purpose”, and to run our organisations “on purpose”, with a purpose that is greater than simply making a profit or surplus.
“I would rather have it said ‘he lived usefully’ than ‘he died rich’.”
~ Benjamin Franklin.
A soul whose intentions are good
Recently I was looking for examples of a great leader. It seems that we've always had some good leaders among us, and we've often even had some impressive leaders demonstrating moments of absolute brilliance.
However, from my research, we've rarely seen a great leader. Leaders who don't rely on their position or role to get things done, but who seem to gather followers naturally; leaders who lead by acclaim, not by position; leaders who really want to make a noticeable difference in the world around them.
SORTED Magazine Interview
Last year I was interviewed by SORTED Magazine Deputy Editor Tony Yorke, and here is the article that was published in the Jan/Feb 2022 Magazine.
Roger Fairhead has a dream: he wants all men to understand they have influence; they are all leaders in some shape or form – and need to take their roles and responsibilities seriously.
Leadership is in crisis the world over ~ 3
The world today has all the hallmarks of living through an International Conflict, and when we emerge on the other side, we’ll not simply find a new normal, we will be living in a new era; never have leadership skills been in greater demand, and yet seemingly in such short supply.
Effective Leadership can be defined as seeing beyond the horizon, plotting a course to get there, and inspiring people to 'want-to' go there with you. So, what can we see as we start to look beyond the horizon? This is my third post exploring this topic, and here are some more thoughts.
Leadership is in crisis the world over ~ 2
It seems that increasingly, people are taking up the option to stay with remote working, at least for a few days a week, since they have been able to redeem the time spent commuting for other activities, and many people are reluctant to give that up. For example, here’s a graphic for the UK from iNews showing time spent in the workplace and public transport usage.
Leadership is in crisis the world over ~ 1
As in all periods of large-scale conflict, technology has accelerated at an enormous rate. We've probably seen a generation's worth of change happen in just a couple of years, especially in terms of communication via zoom and teams. No longer do we all have to meet in the same physical space; now a 1-hour meeting takes ... 1 hour.
I have a regular 3-hour board meeting with people from around the country, and it used to be a very long day with 6 hours of travel included to get to the meeting and back. Now it takes 3 hours in total, and I get the rest of the day to do something else.
In this blog post, I want to explore some of the hallmarks of the world we’re living in today and then look at the implications in a subsequent blog post.
Seeing Beyond The Horizon
I recently listened to one of my favourite leadership voices, and I was reminded of one of his recent messages. John Maxwell was introducing the second publication of one of his earliest and most widely purchased books "Developing the Leaders within you 2.0" when he spent a few moments talking on the two themes - that effective leaders see more than others see, and they see before others see.
“A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others do.”
~ Leroy Eims
