A useful book on communcation
Conversations for Change: 12 Ways to Say it Right When it Matters Most
by Shawn Kent Hayashi.
Shawn introduces some highly useful and important ideas that contribute to effective communication – essential for building trust and buy-in from your people. It contains useful metaphors and concepts that any leader or manager will find highly relevant, practical and easy to implement.
Those ideas include:
Why emotional intelligence is so important in leadership – According ...
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 ...
Yelling Doesn’t Work
An oldie but still gold.
In the early 1960′s, when Tom Watson Jr. was CEO of IBM he discovered that one of his executives made a mistake costing the company $10 million. He called the man into his office asking him “Do you know why I called you here?” The man replied “I assume you’re going to fire me.”“Fire you?” Watson replied. “I spent $10 million educating you. I just want to be sure you learned the right ...
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 ...
Free to move forward
We’re in Jerusalem right now amidst incredbile history at the epicentre of the three major religions of the world.
Besides the historical significance and beauty of the city, we have experienced many perspectives on everything from the current conflict, to religion and life in general.
The other evening, we had dinner at the home of friends who are very religious orthodox Jews and I learned something quite interesting and important that can be applied to leadership, ...
The importance of a growth mindset
At the Neuroleadership Summit in San Francisco last week, neuroscientists and business leaders connected to share ideas around the theme “Adaptive Organisations.”
Carol Dweck’s conversation on the beliefs organisations should hold was particularly important as it illuminated one of the essential components of success: a growth mindset.
Organisations that are willing to learn will be more adaptive and innovative, making them more ready to deal with the increasing ...
Being Steve Jobs
While Steve Jobs’ body has died, his ideas will live for generations to come, earning him true immortality in a world of mortals.
If we look beyond his extraordinary innovations, there is a wellspring of lessons we can glean from Steve Jobs’ life.
First, and foremost, is that he gave himself over completely in pursuit of his ideals, with great integrity and intention. His life was about his innovations and he only stopped when his body could no longer support his massive ...
