TIP: This is all the JB blogs, except those in the category JB-TTEF-Hand-Sort, in descending date order and paginated. (This is only visible if you’re logged in.)
Interview for Director Magazine: ‘Managers Manage, Leaders Anticipate’
July 18, 2017
John Blakey visited Estonia in April, at the invitation of the Estonian Business School, and spoke at the conference “University of Employers” about the role of trust in today’s business world. He noted that business leaders play the key role in restoring trust in society, since studies indicate that the trust of people towards all institutions is at an all-time low. Lennart Komp, Senior Consultant of the communications company, Dalton, interviewed John for the magazine ‘Director’:-
Read more ›Grenfell Tower: Let the Trust-Builders Come
June 16, 2017The charred remains of Grenfell Tower stand over the city of London as an accusing finger.
The anger seething in those Kensington streets boils in its own intensity.
Seeking an outlet.
Seeking someone to blame.
Read more ›May vs Corbyn: Trust in Power vs Power of Trust
May 31, 2017We all saw it. That moment when the guy in the audience at the TV election debate mouthed the word ‘bollocks’ as the Prime Minister was talking about her plans for the NHS. Maybe we laughed? Maybe we were shocked? Maybe we were disgusted? Yet somehow, as the clip went viral on social media, we sensed it was a pivotal moment in this election campaign. Why was that? Because we sensed it was the moment that our Prime Minister became one of ‘them’ rather than one of ‘us’. Meanwhile, minutes earlier Jeremy Corbyn had been lynched for being a pacifist by the nasty pantomime villain, Mr. Paxman. In that moment, you sensed that Jeremy Corbyn had suddenly become one of ‘us’ – someone who didn’t want to kill thousands of innocent people in a nuclear holocaust. How do we make sense of these differing gut reactions?
Read more ›Do Nice Leaders Get Things Done?
May 10, 2017I am delighted this week to feature guest blogger, Mac Farquhar. If you would like to blog on a theme related to The Trusted Executive then please get in touch. Here is Mac’s valuable insight into habit no.6 – Choosing to be Humble:-
How many of us are used to a kinder style of leadership, where the bosses are human, caring and often humble in their interactions with people? Not many I suspect. But a recent article, ‘Are Nice Leaders Effective?‘, by executive coach Tom Loncar reminded me that there are a few well known leaders in the public eye who are like this, such as former US president Barack Obama, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, and Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella. Who would you add to this list? And do you think that managers should give up their caring, human side to get ahead? Let’s look at the evidence for nice leaders getting the job done.
Read more ›United Airlines, Transparency and the Inner Wolf
April 17, 2017This week United Airlines was the latest corporate brand to the slaughter. Like BP, Volkswagen, Uber and Sports Direct before it, the beleaguered airline was caught revealing its true heartless soul in the full glare of the media spotlight. The thin veil of corporate goodwill slipped and, in a sudden violent outburst, David Dao was dragged from his airline seat semi-conscious and with blood pouring from his mouth. The resultant video clips of the incident went viral, being watched by over 210 million people in China alone. In response, CEO, Oscar Munoz, showed his inner wolf by instinctively branding the victim ‘disruptive and belligerent’. 24 hours later he apologised having experienced a humbling ‘road to Damascus’ change of heart, which strangely coincided with a 4% drop in the airline’s share price.
Read more ›Trust Habit No.7: The Awesome Power of Evangelism
April 12, 2017There is nothing like eating your own dog food.
At a recent Trusted Executive training day, I completed my own self-assessment exercise based on the Nine Habits of Trust. It was a revealing experience which I then had the opportunity to de-brief with another coach in the AoEC team. I expected we would focus exclusively upon my weaker habits of being open and being kind, but, to my pleasant surprise, we also worked on a hidden strength – the habit of evangelising. As a result of the coaching, I committed to being more open to sharing my personal stories of being a successful evangelist. So, in writing this blog, I hope I am exercising two habits for the price of one!
Read more ›The Aggregation of Marginal Decays: Team GB Cycling’s Trust Crisis
March 19, 2017Back in 2012, my co-author in ‘Challenging Coaching’ Ian Day, wrote a popular blog titled ‘Aggregation of Marginal Gains, Aggregation of Marginal Decays’. In the blog, he spoke of the positive impact of the tiny, multiple performance enhancements that had been popularised by Sir David Brailsford in the aftermath of the 2012 Olympics.
Read more ›May, Trump & The Edelman Trust Barometer: The Language of Trust (Part 2)
February 1, 2017It has been a fascinating couple of weeks in the language of trust. In my previous post on this topic, I highlighted examples from a variety of politicians as to the language they use and the impact this has on whether we trust them or not. That blog preceded the events of the last two weeks which have included two keynote speeches from Theresa May, the inauguration speech of Donald Trump and the publishing of the 2017 Edelman trust barometer. What have the events of the past week added to our understanding of the language of trust?
Read more ›
