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Leadership

External brand and leadership brand. How well do yours mesh?

There seems to be a disconnect between the public experience of the Olympic Games and the IOC’s jealous guarding of their symbols. It is similar to what we commonly see when there is a misalignment between the external brand of an organisation and the prevalent ‘leadership brand’ inside it. Organisations with a strong and resilient connection between external brand and the customer experience achieve this through their approach the development of leaders who have a strong brand themselves.

By |2017-02-08T12:22:34+11:00August 1st, 2012|Emotional health, Leadership|2 Comments
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Blending leadership development with CSR

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a concept has been around for many years – since the 1970s – however we think it’s fair to say that for many corporations it remains a challenge. While we may have moved past the stage where CSR initiatives were largely tokenistic, it can still be difficult to properly integrate these initiatives with the overall business direction. The trick is in meshing these two things together so CSR becomes more than just ‘something we do on the side’.

By |2017-02-08T12:22:34+11:00July 2nd, 2012|Leadership|Comments Off on Blending leadership development with CSR
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Seeing over the horizon

Every time we return from one of our Leadership Experiences I am reinvigorated by the effect the week has on our participants. As I have written before, there is something particularly powerful about taking leaders well away from their everyday environment - something which stretches their development far more than we are able to do in a traditional setting. Our recent trip to Tetepare, from which we have just returned, left me thinking again about why working in these remote places is so important. It is all about seeing the horizon, both literally and metaphorically.

By |2017-02-08T12:22:34+11:00May 21st, 2012|Emotional health, Experiences, Leadership|Comments Off on Seeing over the horizon
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The real difference between leadership and management

Continuing the theme of leadership of my last two posts, I thought it would be good to touch on the differences between management and leadership. Although this distinction is constantly debated in books and papers elsewhere, I think it is relevant here because it leads on from last time’s discussion about recognition of authentic leadership.

By |2017-02-08T12:22:34+11:00May 7th, 2012|Emotional health, Leadership|4 Comments
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Leadership and recognition

Recognition and leadership have an interesting history together. In many of these cases, a recognised leader is a ‘big’ leader – someone with charisma, conviviality and, often, volume. He or she is someone comfortable in the spotlight and decisive in a crisis. There is nothing wrong with any of these characteristics, but it would be a mistake to think that they define leadership simply because they are characteristics common to prominent leaders. Authentic leadership is more than conspicuous leadership.

By |2017-02-08T12:22:35+11:00April 24th, 2012|Emotional health, Leadership|Comments Off on Leadership and recognition
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The Caring Leader

When working with leaders, we notice that this form of caring is one of the gifts that others are attracted to. Caring leaders demonstrate a style of leadership which brings others along with them. But it needs to be inherent in the leader, not a part of their role. A caring leader is someone who has a genuine interest in others. Let me explain what I mean. (Dedicated to my father, Gordon Henderson, who passed away on March 27.)

By |2017-02-08T12:22:35+11:00April 12th, 2012|Emotional health, Leadership|7 Comments
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Giving leaders time to think

In my last post I talked about our desire to create environments in which leaders can really explore what is important to them. This usually means breaking away from the ‘standard’ approach to workshops and conferences, and instead giving leaders both time to reflect and time to be heard. To this end we often, within our leadership programs, use a framework called the 'Thinking Environment' to give leaders the opportunity to reflect and be heard on an issue of their choosing.

By |2021-04-21T16:40:14+10:00March 26th, 2012|Leadership|2 Comments
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Open Space and the Leadership Experience

One of the things we have noticed when working with leaders on their development is that traditional approaches to learning and building understanding about themselves don’t always achieve the outcomes they want. In many cases their journey through both life and work has already given them enormous experience and knowledge to draw on. They find that conventional development programs tend only to confirm what they are already aware of, while pre-determined or tightly facilitated programs don’t give them the opportunity to identify what they see as important in their learning. In this context it is really important to us that our leadership development programs, including our Leadership Experiences, provide ample opportunity for this exploration.

By |2017-02-08T12:22:35+11:00March 13th, 2012|Leadership|4 Comments
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Chinese dragons and a wonderful welcome in Cyprus

I'm not normally in the habit of using this blog to report on the work that Malcolm and I do, but the week we've just had has been so extraordinary that I just have to share it with you. If I tell you that it included celebrating Chinese New Year in a UN demilitarised zone, including dragons and lions with 'camouflaged legs', and fireworks as well, you might understand why. We have just returned from a week in Nicosia, the capital and largest city in Cyprus. We were there to work with the teachers, students and parents of Highgate School, an independent school in that city ...

By |2017-02-08T12:22:36+11:00February 1st, 2012|Emotional health, Leadership|2 Comments
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