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.)
Wozniak or Jobs? Which Steve are you?
May 31, 2016
In the film ‘Steve Jobs’, there is a tense stand-off between Apple co-founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The scene is prior to an Apple product launch and Wozniak is berating Jobs in the middle of a theatre rehearsal. Frustrated by Jobs’ stubborn and arrogant nature, he throws his hands in the air, turns and walks up the aisle to the exit. Then he pauses, spins on his heels and shouts out, ‘You can be decent and gifted at the same time, Steve. It’s not binary’.
But, can you?
Read more ›Three simple and essential questions about how to win trust
May 12, 2016- What is trust?
Our academic colleagues have been debating the definition of trust for over thirty years and they still haven’t reached a final agreement. However, all definitions of trust agree that it involves these three components:-
- Risk – to trust someone involves making ourselves vulnerable
- Hope – when you take the risk of trusting someone you hope they won’t let you down
- Reasons and Feelings – I make a decision to trust you partly based on the evidence and partly on my feelings
Four Leadership Lessons on Trust from the Panama Papers Leak
April 6, 2016‘After all this country has been through, how can he possibly pretend to lead Iceland’s resurrection from the financial crisis? He should go’. Such were the words of one of the 10,000 or so protestors who gathered outside the parliament building in Reykjavik this week to demand the resignation of Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, Iceland’s embattled prime minister. Their words were echoed by others who said, ‘These people, they say they’ve learned the lessons from what happened to us in 2008, but they’re still just hiding our money’, and another who said, ‘People just feel humiliated and very, very angry. After what happened to this country in 2008 we needed honesty, transparency and integrity from our leaders’. As the fallout from the Panama Papers leak continue to gather pace, what do these events tell us about the current status of trust in leadership?
Read more ›The Trusted Executive Infographic
March 30, 201620190401-040In the beginning, business leaders relied upon intellectual ability and authority to drive profitability for the owners of a business. This model is breaking down because we live in a transparent world where nothing can be hidden. Deference to authority is collapsing with each successive generation and diverse, modern stakeholders are demanding a broader purpose for our business institutions. In response to these trends, a new glue is required to hold our organisations together. That glue has two components. First, a renewed purpose for business focussing upon the triple bottom-line of results, relationships and reputation. Secondly, a new breed of trusted executives who rely upon ability, integirty and benevolence to influence others. This new breed of executives will need to learn new leadership habits under each of the three pillars of trustworthiness. They will need to make new choices:-
Read more ›Eight reasons why trust is not as simple as delivering on your promises
February 26, 2016There’s a lot more to trust than delivering on your promises. This much became clear when this week I shared a quote from one of my CEO interviews on social media. The quote was ‘Trustworthiness is about doing what you say you are going to do’. Quickly, readers jumped in and said ‘Yes, that’s part of trust, but it is not the whole story’. Barbara Brooks Kimmel, CEO and Co-Founder of Trust Across America’, captured the point succinctly when she said, ‘Hit men deliver on their promises, but I am not sure we’d say they were trustworthy individuals’.
Read more ›Why kindness is both essential and irrelevant to modern leadership?
January 23, 2016Some weeks ago there was a lively debate on the Harvard Business Review LinkedIn group as to whether people felt kindness was an important attribute of leadership. The debate drew some varied reactions, including the following comments:-
Read more ›Four Questions To Assess Your Business Purpose
December 12, 2015At the Stretch leadership conference in Budapest this week, one of the recurring themes was that of business purpose. One of the quotes I shared as part of my session was Peter Drucker’s far-sighted observation from 1954 that ‘Profit is like oxygen. You need it to survive, but if you think that oxygen is the purpose of your life then you’re missing something’. Similarly, if you are a business leader and you think the sole purpose of your business is to make profit then, increasingly, I think you’re missing something.
Read more ›Level 5 Leadership: The Four Keys to Personal Humility
November 11, 2015Some weeks ago, my Vistage CEO advisory group were treated to a session with Carole Gaskell, a leading coach, entrepreneur and speaker. It was inspiring watching Carole engage the group; she ‘walked the talk’ by coaching them through a learning cycle rather than putting on a showy performance. Though she was one of the most under-stated speakers we have engaged, Carole achieved the highest feedback scores from the group. One of the members commented, ‘Carole role-modelled Jim Collins’ level 5 leadership – she exuded professional will and personal humility’. His observation reminded me that the level 5 leadership model from the book ‘Good to Great’ applies to leaders and to speakers and coaches too.
Read more ›
