I’m really excited to be speaking at the World Business of Leadership Summit but before I explain it and your chance to participate, I need to discuss reading. I do a lot of reading. I properly read a few books a month, I skim or power-read a few more and I’m always digesting blogs, research papers, articles, tweets and other social bits and bobs. Perhaps you do the same? In 2012, Pew Research asked Americans how many books they were reading on an annual basis and the results broke down as follows: 7% of Americans ages 16 and older read one book in the previous 12 months 14% had read 2-3 books in that time block 12% had read 4-5 books in that time block 15% had
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We could learn a thing or two from Star Wars. Take for example what happens when you forget to brush your teeth, floss or use mouthwash. No one wants green slime oozing out of their mouth like Jabba the Hutt. I think some of it might have actually fallen on Princess Leia when she was shackled to Jabba’s throne while wearing what was the coolest bikini I had ever seen as a then 11-year old boy. But I digress. One aspect of Star Wars that goes relatively unnoticed is the galaxy-class mentoring program that is woven into the story arc. No, I’m not kidding. How do Jedi’s become a Jedi? It’s a masterful example of a mentoring program. Anakin Skywalker had Obi-Wan Kenobi as his
There are a lot of fools in our organizations today. Why else is employee engagement at deplorable levels? Why else do we see senior leaders failing to adopt social collaborative technologies inside (or outside) the organization? Why else do we see authoritative, autocratic, fear mongering and controlling leaders still operating in vast numbers? Why do we see information and knowledge hoarding? It’s because the people who act this way are fools. They have a fear of open leadership. They are the FOOL. (It’s an acronym) Work with me. In my book Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization I define open leadership as follows: “the act of engaging others to influence and execute a coordinated and harmonious conclusion” There are some key words and
Far too often I come across stories or direct examples of a leader who has surrounded herself with the same general characteristics and behaviours of the leader herself. And not in a ‘geez, this beer tastes great’ way. The trait I see that causes the most damage or stagnates a team and indirect teams into an endless pit of debate is the ‘no’ trait. No, that will never work. No, I don’t think we should pursue that. No, it’s not something we would ever do. These are lines a leader might say, but leaders are equally influenced by the team she is surrounded by and it’s highly likely she might be fed the ‘no’ ingredient well in advance. It’s the ‘no’ seed planting approach. Some