Leadership
Seven Tips for Becoming a Better Leader
My son plays the clarinet. I don’t know if you’ve seen one up close, but it’s a beautiful instrument: a glossy black wooden tube, encrusted with silver stops and levers.
But it takes time to learn how to play. (It takes time to learn how to put it together!) Everything to do with this beautiful instrument […]
Compensate to Motivate Your Sales Team
When I speak to business executives, one of the challenges I often hear is that their sales team is not doing the things they feel are most critical to the success of the company. I then ask to see their compensation plan. After a thorough read, I share my impression of the message of the […]
How to Learn from Your Leadership Mistakes
We learn most from our mistakes. It’s true. But problems occur for us when we forget this. Or when we deliberately deny that we made a mistake. And - if we’re honest - most of us do this, from time to time.
So in this article I want to share with you the IMPORTANCE of learning […]
The Ultimate Leadership Strategy
Put people first. It’s the great cliche, isn’t it? When a business school professor like me asks you ‘what’s the most productive leadership style?’, you know the answer don’t you? Put people first.
But if everyone knows the answer, why aren’t more people doing it? Why aren’t executives focused on motivating and inspiring their people?
The reality […]
Three Steps to Unleashing Your Team’s Potential
Most people could perform at a much higher level than they do if their boss created a suitable environment for them to flourish in. In many instances, it’s the boss who is holding the team back by trying to control it too closely.
So ask yourself, do you set unnecessary boundaries for your teams? If […]
Are You the Worst Leader in the World?
The question I am most often asked by managers is: ‘Why won’t they do what I want?’ This is usually followed by: ‘And why don’t they work harder?’
As leaders and managers, we often assume that, if our employees really wanted to perform better, their performance would just increase. We assume that people’s ability to boost […]
Leadership… It’s Not Just For Managers
The other day my nine-year old daughter and two sons (seven and five years old respectively) were playing with neighborhood friends. Out of the blue, my two sons came running home upset because the girls in the group told them they didn’t want to play with them. I was puzzled. Wasn’t my daughter also in […]
Two Serious Failings of Really Useless Leaders
It’s daunting for business leaders who aspire to improve their leadership to be told to follow the example of Gandhi or Martin Luther King. These people are certainly inspirational, but they’re a tough act to follow in the real world.
I’ve therefore been looking at what we can learn from leaders who get it wrong. In […]