The Power of Habit
Charles Duhigg has written a powerful book that is a must read for anyone serious about leadership and success.
In The Power of Habit, he documents how our everyday actions are governed by habits and how changing even one habit can have a massive domino effect. One case study worth mentioning concerns how Alcoa, a US Aluminum manufacturing company turned around the company culture with just one small change.
In 1987, at a time when people were more focused on maximising profits than ...
A sum of small conversations
I’ve been speaking a lot about the power of conscious and unconscious communicatioins in driving people’s performance. The effect of small gestures and asides have a powerful impact on others that extends far beyond what you might think it possible. Recently though, I remembered my experience with a former manager and it brought home to me just how insidious those conversations can be, especially if coming from a leader, manager or someone in a position of authority.
Years ago in ...
Five Ways to be a Smart Leader
I feel a bit silly here. Since my book was published, I’ve been writing and speaking a lot about different aspects of leadership but still haven’t shared the actual model that was the framework for my whole book!
The SHAPES model shows the interrelated pillars of leadership excellence, inside a context for integrity that translates into success when action is taken. There are too many nuances for a single blog, but I’ll start with one element. Since it is intuitive to start at ...
4 Future Trends from Google
At the CEO Institute Leadership Forum held last week, Head of Google Enterprise and Innovation, Stuart Mclean, discussed future trends for business that we need to be prepared for.
They include:1. Greater Connectivity – enterprises will move away from the isolated silo system to inter-connected company ecosystems. Companies will need to create a more liquid network where people can collaborate and share ideas.
2. A Truly Global Market – your market will no longer be limited to any ...
Why People Do (and Don’t) Take Action – Part Three
While there are serious implications and repercussions when people fail to take action, the real problem is when they are acting in the lower right quadrant, the one I refer to as corruption.
Not corruption in a moral sense. More like a pipe corroding. But, it can also lead to corruption in the moral and legal sense.
At it’s most benign, when people take action without integrity they may be dysfunctional. Their actions may disrupt the company’s workability, relationships, ...
Why People Do (and Don’t) Take Action – Part Two
Last post I started the conversation about what it takes to be successful in any venture. Now that we know how to succeed, let’s look at why people fail.
On the left is a diagram that shows the different combinations of action and integrity. When people take action above the line, they will achieve at different levels of success. To the degree that they take action with integrity, they will succeed.
Pretty straightforward.
So, what’s going below the line? Now it gets ...
Why People Do (and Don’t) Take Action – Part Two
Last post I started the conversation about what it takes to be successful in any venture. Now that we know how to succeed, let’s look at why people fail.
On the left is a diagram that shows the different combinations of action and integrity. When people take action above the line, they will achieve at different levels of success. To the degree that they take action with integrity, they will succeed.
Pretty straightforward.
So, what’s going below the line? Now it gets ...
Why Use Alternatives to Traditional Publishing
I’m a lucky new author. Very few write their books with a fairy godmother waiting in the wings to help them publish it.
Most authors need agents, lawyers, advisers, as well as some inside contact (new authors especially) to get the attention of traditional publishers and secure a reasonable deal. It helps if you can juggle too.
However, when I asked Don Grover, CEO of Dymocks, to participate in my research on leadership excellence, he let me know about their up and coming assisted ...
