What do we do next? The only leadership question you need to ask
Andrew’s insight in this article is based on three years spent with the Royal Navy, examining their attitudes and. From this experience he wrote a book, Royal Navy Way of Leadership. Every time we put ourselves in dangerous situations there are leadership lessons to be learned. Mountaineering and military operations are some of the best places […]
Top 10 leadership articles from February
21st century leadership is a tough nut to crack, and a whole different ballgame for many leaders who have built-up notions of success based on the latter half of the 20th century. Science and psychology are bringing new insight to bear and it's essential we get rid of pre-conceived notions about what makes a leader […]
Breaking through the leadership development fog
Although current economic news is finally sounding a more positive note, the challenges of the past five years have provided a stern test of leadership for many businesses which continues today; this week the CIPD suggested that wage rises would remain below the rate of inflation unless and until productivity improves. A 2012 review by […]
Leadership vision for the future – faith, hypertext and clarity
Last year, there was a fire in the warehouse right next door to TelecityGroup’s Paris operation. This was a massive conflagration – I’ve still got some footage of it on my phone – which threatened to close down all the businesses in the vicinity. The firefighters who arrived on the scene advised our staff to […]
Leadership – too much, too soon?
As we get into the swing of 2014, it’s a different business landscape than that of the start of 2013. The news agenda is a lot more upbeat, with positive statistics around economic growth, decreasing rates of unemployment, and UK businesses successfully leading the way with entering into new markets. Recruiting leaders – tough nut […]
Ethical leadership – do things right, do the right thing
Andrew's insight in this article is based on three years spent with the Royal Navy, examining their attitudes and. From this experience he wrote a book, Royal Navy Way of Leadership. Work is all about execution. It’s about getting things done, meeting the deadline, collecting the money, changing the organization. The discipline is there every month […]
Engaging the Millennials: one HR director’s modern approach to technology
Businesses have found themselves grappling with a workforce that has increasingly become saturated with millennials, or Generation Y. While preconceptions, whether accurate, positive or otherwise, have been assigned to this group of workers, the certain thing is that they aren't going away – in fact, they'll only increase in number for the foreseeable future. The […]
Do you need an HR department?
Andrew's insight in this article is based on three years spent with the Royal Navy, examining their attitudes and. From this experience he wrote a book, Royal Navy Way of Leadership. I have spent the last three years writing the Royal Navy’s leadership manual, now issued to 15,000 naval staff. One of the things that struck […]
Getting HR the boardroom impact it deserves
Boards need your help Hand on heart, in the last 25 years has HR moved closer to having strategic boardroom impact? In my opinion, no. Yes, HR has flourished, developing new tools and insights and becoming a vital partner in operational delivery and corporate change. But so has finance, and look at what hasn’t changed: […]
How to smash leadership barriers
It has become a common mantra that it is vital to develop leadership in our organisations. Many firms spend thousands of hours and millons of pounds trying to develop their leaders. But when would-be leaders return to the workplace, they find the all the inspiring ideas about leadership are impossible to put into practice. Why […]
The key to 21st century leadership
Despite the IMF forecasting an increase in the UK’s GDP by 1.4% this year and 1.9% in 2014, and initial green shoots of recovery that are beginning to appear, it is clear from the CEOs we speak to that today’s climate is anything but comfortable. Finding strong business leaders has always been a challenge. It takes […]
Leadership figures in focus – Napoleon Bonaparte
Professor Stephanie Jones is co-author of the upcoming book Napoleonic Leadership – A Pact with Power, to be published by SAGE in London in mid-2015, to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon as a leader was complex and is a challenge for us to understand, despite dozens of new studies appearing as […]
Simon Sinek – how do great leaders inspire action?
This article is a summary of Simon Sinek's TED Talk, which asks how great leaders inspire action. His talk is the most-viewed of all time – many millions of people have tuned in. How do you explain when things don’t go as you assume? And, more importantly, how do you explain when others are able […]
Secret to brand engagement? Trust in good leadership
Brand engagement only works if there is employee trust in the new values. But trust cannot be won through good internal marketing alone, although it undoubtedly helps. Leaders need to be seen to be involved, to be actually leading the programme and above all, to be trusted. We must remember though, that leaders include all […]
Cheerfulness is the most important leadership quality
Andrew's insight in this article is based on three years spent with the Royal Navy, examining their attitudes and. From this experience he wrote a book, Royal Navy Way of Leadership. What is the single most important quality in a leader? For me, it’s cheerfulness. No one follows a pessimist. No one. Never. I have spent […]
Interview: Ann Francke, Chief Executive, Chartered Management Institute
Why is the pay gap still prevalent when more and more women are in the workplace? In this practical report, Cherie Blair CBE and Ann Francke explain why and – more importantly – what you can do about it. 1. How are employers’ expectations of managers changing? One of the biggest expectations of managers today […]
Changing world of work must drive management makeover
Management needs a makeover if optimism is to fuel long-term growth and companies are to prepare effectively for the future business landscape, said the Chartered Management Institute recently. CMI’s survey of 750 of the UK’s top leaders identified where managers will need to excel by the end of the decade if the UK economy is […]
The HR identity crisis and what we can do about it
When you think of Human Resources, what’s the first image that springs to mind? Is it that of a minor, admin-intensive department, responsible for managing employee sickness, holiday and training? Or do you instead see a team of strategic business partners capable of developing and implementing your corporate strategy across a number of different levels? […]
Leadership lessons from Nelson Mandela’s life
Two big leadership lessons can be drawn from observation of Nelson Mandela’s life and time in history. The first lesson is that it takes more than a single heroic leader at the top to change the trajectory of an institution, or a nation. The second lesson is that in leadership, character is always more important […]
Lessons from Colonel Chris Hadfield, astronaut extraordinaire
Commander Chris Hadfield is the former commander of the International Space Station whose awareness-raising activities – both on the ground and traveling at 7km/s around the Earth – have in many ways re-ignited public interest in space travel. On the social networking site reddit, which features 'ask me anything' interviews, Commander Hadfield has many times […]