Taking control of contagious leadership
Leadership behaviors spread contagiously through organizations as employees copy traits from colleagues they work with most frequently, not just senior leaders. Research shows 74% of UK professionals actively emulate attributes they observe, with both positive and negative behaviors transmitted based on what helps achieve results or career advancement.
Are you ready for an Alpha workforce?
Generation Alpha workers (born since 2010) will demand instant feedback, direct communication, and individual challenges rather than routine tasks, fundamentally changing management practices and workplace culture as digital-first expectations reshape traditional hierarchies and respect for experience.
When does a boss become a leader?
Modern leadership differs fundamentally from traditional management: true leaders motivate, coach, and develop their teams toward shared goals, while bosses simply delegate tasks. In today’s mobile, global workforce, companies need leaders who inspire and empower employees, not command-and-control bosses stuck in outdated hierarchies.
How leaders can make their dark side brighter
Leaders with dark personality traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—typically underperform and damage team relationships. However, research shows that leaders can mitigate these negative effects by actively improving their relationships with followers, particularly when personality traits align.
Why compassionate leaders do come first
Compassionate leaders who practice self-compassion develop greater resilience and motivation while avoiding the harmful effects of chronic self-criticism. Research shows that self-directed anger and resentment trigger prolonged cortisol release, impairing problem-solving and damaging long-term health—making self-compassion essential for effective leadership.
Why leaders need to be positive thinkers
Positive thinking is essential for effective leadership because it enables leaders to overcome challenges, inspire teams, and create lasting change. Rather than fake optimism, genuine positive leadership involves managing negative thoughts, speaking truth to self-doubt, and maintaining resilience when facing adversity.
Fostering a leadership pipeline: a springboard for long-term success
Building a strong leadership pipeline requires a long-term hiring strategy focused on retention and development rather than quick-fix recruitment. With the UK skills gap costing £63 billion annually and replacing a manager costing 2.5 times their salary, organizations must prioritize finding adaptable talent with leadership potential over simply filling vacancies fast.
Do the best leaders have big mouths?
Research reveals an unexpected predictor of leadership success: mouth width. Studies show people perceive wider mouths as more leadership-capable, and this bias correlates with real-world outcomes like CEO profitability and electoral success.
How to make change easier and smoother
Organizations underestimate resilience when managing change. While wellbeing programs help, sustained resilience requires developing personal thinking, learning, and social strategies alongside supported education and tools to help employees thrive amid ongoing transformation.
HR challenges for 2017 – and beyond
HR faces mounting pressure to support digital transformation and talent acquisition while operating with reduced budgets and headcount. The Hackett Group’s 2017 report reveals that 80% of HR executives expect digital technology adoption by 2020, yet only half have a defined strategy and fewer believe they have the resources to execute it.
We need to talk about race: why are we making so little progress on ethnic diversity?
Ethnic minorities hold just 6% of top management positions despite making up 12% of the UK population. Lack of leadership commitment and silence around race remain key barriers to BAME diversity in the workplace, with only 21% of companies publicly reporting diversity data.
How leaders are silencing their people
Most leaders underestimate how difficult it is for employees to speak up, causing organizations to miss critical intelligence about problems, inefficiency, and misconduct. Research shows that power dynamics prevent workers from sharing vital information, even when facing serious organizational risks like scandals or unethical practices.
Speaking truth to power: the empowering culture
Ashridge Executive Education research reveals how organizational cultures shaped by leaders’ dialogue practices influence whether employees feel safe speaking truth to power. The study identifies four culture types—directive, adjudicated, empowering, and dialogic—each with distinct challenges for fostering honest communication and employee voice.
Speaking truth to power: the adjudicated culture
Research from Ashridge Executive Education identifies four organizational cultures, including the “adjudicated” or “owl” culture where leaders act as wise judges weighing competing viewpoints. In this model, leaders must balance encouraging healthy debate with preventing destructive competition while managing the “losing side” after decisions are made.
Speaking truth to power: the directive culture
A directive organizational culture revolves around one all-powerful leader with a single vision of truth. While this command-and-control approach can work during crises, it risks silencing critical feedback and suppressing ideas that could improve competitiveness and organizational survival.
Speaking truth to power: the dialogic culture
Ashridge Executive Education research identifies four organizational cultures that influence whether employees speak truth to power, with the dialogic or “starlings” culture characterized by limited hierarchy, collaborative decision-making, and open dialogue—though leaders must prevent it from becoming an ineffective talking shop.
Book review: Riding the Leadership Rollercoaster
Riding the Leadership Rollercoaster presents thirty parables examining common leadership flaws through psychological analysis. Reviewed as 4 out of 5 stars, Kets de Vries’s book combines anecdotes with self-help questions to help leaders recognize personal weaknesses and organizational challenges.
If you want to be a great leader, it pays not to be too smart
Research shows that leaders with IQs too far above their followers’ intelligence levels may be perceived as less effective. An optimal intelligence gap of about 18 IQ points maximizes perceived leadership effectiveness, as larger gaps create comprehension barriers and reduce follower identification with their leader.
Inclusion is the glue: 5 ways to create a holistic diverse and inclusive company
Recruiting diverse talent is just the first step. True organizational success requires inclusion—the “glue” that transforms diversity into innovation, creativity, and competitive advantage by fostering psychological safety and trust among team members.
Male managers command less authority in ‘female’ jobs
Research reveals that male managers in female-stereotyped jobs experience less authority than those in male-stereotyped roles. Gender stereotypes about leadership persist despite diversity initiatives, affecting how workers respond to managers based on the job’s perceived gender association.
