Leaders Café
Commentary
Charles Baudelaire and hospitals
Came across a lovely comment by Charles Baudelaire, sort of variation on ‘The grass is greener…’ “This life is a hospital where every patient is possessed with the desire to change beds” – seems to capture the constant worry that we could be doing better, or worse, that others are better placed than [...]
Forecasting; useful… and dangerous
In 2013, dairy giant Fonterra was forced to undertake a recall of batches of its products due to a fear that they might be contaminated. Although it was later proven that the batches were not contaminated, the episode did reveal a number of interesting points. First-off, Fonterra was demonstrably not prepared for the above incident and [...]
On being prisoners …
“Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, it is our duty to furnish it well.” Peter Ustinov
Ian’s latest book ‘5 tools to change your world’
Straightforward and jargon-free, 5 tools to change your world avoids prescriptive lists of things you should do, keeps you firmly in the driver’s seat and treats you as the resident expert on your life. Powerful, instantly applicable, and timeless, the tools are simple. You are actively encouraged to decide when, where, and how to apply [...]
Behind the Self-fulfilling Cycle
Setting your leadership scene This Snapshot encourages you to consider the issues that shape your world-view and thereby your leadership style. A bigger view How you view the world directly influences how you experience it which drives the actions you take which, in turn, lead to your next experience: each step a part of a [...]
Beyond resilience
When you encounter a situation that challenges your mental ability to cope it is desirable to not only absorb and recover from the ‘hit’ but to learn from what happened and become psychologically stronger from having had the experience. Resilience or hardiness In engineering terms, resilience refers to the ability of a material to [...]
Are women better communicators than men? Some people think so…
At leadership workshops (usually quietly and to one side of the main discussion), I have been asked “Do you think women are better communicators than men?” As you may well imagine, even at the best of times, straying into this area by expressing an opinion one way or the other would be fraught with danger. However, the questions led me [...]
Is resilience enough?
In engineering terms, resilience refers to the ability of a material to recover its shape. For people it’s about ‘bouncing back’ and recovering from life’s hits which, in its own right, is quite a helpful strength but, is it enough to simply return to the status-quo? When you encounter a situation that challenges your mental [...]
Words matter
Some time ago I was invited to visit a local prison – just for the day you understand – to talk to staff about a programme they were running for violent inmates. They took me to a large, light and airy room in which they worked with those offenders who had shown an interest in modifying how they behaved. As I went into the room, I [...]
Dangerous loyalty
A diplomat famously pointed out that countries do not have friends, they have shared interests. Similarly, organisations do not have feelings; they have contracts. People have feelings. The point of the above statement is that, if we take it on board, it helps us to avoid becoming emotionally attached to an organisation we work for and [...]