Positive Leadership: No Standing Still
Positive Leadership Limited is a strategic leadership and corporate finance advisory firm. We use our considerable experience to provide unique perspectives and innovative solutions which help corporate leaders unlock maximum value from complex business challenges. There is no dress rehearsal for delivering answers to critical business challenges. When you are under intense pressure to succeed, we help deliver the vitally important marginal gains which let your business excel and win.
The Positive Leadership Blog has been recognised as a Top 50 Leadership Blog by the number of pages indexed by Google and as one of the Top 100 Most Socially Shared Leadership Blogs of 2013.
Positive Leadership has also been recognised as a Top 50 Leadership Expert to Follow on Twitter.
Follow us on Twitter @posleadership
LEADERSHIP IS A PROCESS OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE, WHICH MAXIMISES THE EFFORTS OF OTHERS TOWARDS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF A SHARED GOAL.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Positive Leadership Leads to Higher Levels of Performance
Positive
relationships enhance individuals’ resiliency, their
ability to adapt and bounce back from different experiences, create stronger
self-identity and more accurate self-assessments, greater degrees of
creativity, trust, and openness to new ideas, higher levels of commitment to
the organisation, higher levels of energy, learning, cooperation, resource
utilisation, cost reduction, time savings and human capital development, as
well as higher levels of project performance in organisations.
Positive Leadership Leads to Higher Levels of Performance
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Positive Leadership: Why Leadership Development Programmes Often Fail
The key reasons?
2. Decoupling reflection from real work
3. Underestimating mind-sets
4. Failing to measure results
Companies can avoid the most common mistakes in leadership development and increase the odds of success by matching specific leadership skills and traits to the context at hand; embedding leadership development in real work; fearlessly investigating the mind-sets that underpin behaviour; and monitoring the impact so as to make improvements over time.
Positive Leadership: Why Leadership Development Programmes Often Fail
Labels:
Leadership Development,
Training
Monday, January 20, 2014
Positive Leadership: Building Trust as a New Leader
Too many new leaders believe they’re expected to know answers without input or guidance, but many of the best insights on how to fix a company lie with employees further down the org chart.
Creating a trusting, honest dialogue with these key personnel should be every new leader’s top priority. Meet with as many individual contributors as you can, as soon as you can. Ask simple but effective open-ended questions: “If you were put into my role tomorrow, what are the first three things you’d do and why?” “What are the three biggest barriers to our success, and what are our three biggest opportunities?” Listen intently and take notes.
Really great ideas can emerge from these meetings — along with some really mediocre ones — and your intent listening will show your employees that you respect their expertise.
For more, see: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/12/the-best-way-for-new-leaders-to-build-trust/

Creating a trusting, honest dialogue with these key personnel should be every new leader’s top priority. Meet with as many individual contributors as you can, as soon as you can. Ask simple but effective open-ended questions: “If you were put into my role tomorrow, what are the first three things you’d do and why?” “What are the three biggest barriers to our success, and what are our three biggest opportunities?” Listen intently and take notes.
Really great ideas can emerge from these meetings — along with some really mediocre ones — and your intent listening will show your employees that you respect their expertise.
For more, see: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/12/the-best-way-for-new-leaders-to-build-trust/
Positive Leadership: Building Trust as a New Leader
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Positive Leadership: Staying in Love
"When anyone asks me what I would recommend to anyone to whom they were writing to or speaking with on how to develop themselves as better leaders for the future question, I tell them I have the secret to success in life.
The secret to success is to stay in love.
Staying in love gives you the fire to really ignite other people, to see inside other people, to have a greater desire to get things done in other people. A person who is not in love doesn't really feel the kind of excitement that helps them to get ahead and to lead others and to achieve. I don't know any other fire, and other thing in life that is more exhilarating and is more positive a feeling than love is."
- Major General John Stanford
Positive Leadership: Staying in Love
Labels:
Emotions,
Leadership Lessons,
Love,
Military Leadership,
Quote
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Positive Leadership: The Importance of Rest and Recovery
World-class competitors, from athletes to pianists, limit the arduous part of their practice routine to a maximum of about four hours each day.
Rest is an equally important part of their training regimen, to restore their physical and mental energy.
Without rest, our brains grow more depleted, often signified by distractedness, irritability, and fatigue. At work, all too often we try to “push through it,” even though there is no magical energy reserve waiting for us.
To recharge, take a break; a short rest at midday reboots the brain for the rest of the day. If you can’t take a nap, try mindfulness meditation, which can serve as the mental equivalent of a weightlifting rep.
Attention is a mental muscle—strengthen it with the right practice.

Rest is an equally important part of their training regimen, to restore their physical and mental energy.
Without rest, our brains grow more depleted, often signified by distractedness, irritability, and fatigue. At work, all too often we try to “push through it,” even though there is no magical energy reserve waiting for us.
To recharge, take a break; a short rest at midday reboots the brain for the rest of the day. If you can’t take a nap, try mindfulness meditation, which can serve as the mental equivalent of a weightlifting rep.
Attention is a mental muscle—strengthen it with the right practice.
Positive Leadership: The Importance of Rest and Recovery
Labels:
Attitude,
Energise,
High Performing Organisations
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Positive Leadership: Leading Through The Generations
Regardless of the hashtag used to mark our generation, most of us need:
- Focus and direction
- Meaningful work, and the freedom to pursue it
- Clear, helpful feedback
- Appreciation
- A leader who cares about us and has our best interest at heart.
Positive Leadership: Leading Through The Generations
Monday, January 13, 2014
Positive Leadership: Scaling Up Excellence
In Scaling Up Excellence, Stanford faculty Robert Sutton
and Hayagreeva "Huggy" Rao tackle a challenge that determines every
organisation's success: scaling up farther, faster, and more effectively as a
programme or an organisation creates a larger footprint.
Sutton and Rao have devoted much of the last decade to uncovering what it takes to build and uncover pockets of exemplary performance, to help spread them, and to keep recharging organisations with ever better work practices.
Drawing on inside accounts and case studies and academic research from a wealth of industries -- including start-ups, pharmaceuticals, airlines, retail, financial services, high-tech, education, non-profits, government, and healthcare -- Sutton and Rao identify the key scaling challenges that confront every organisation.
They reveal how the best leaders and teams develop, spread, and instil the right mindsets in their people -- rather than ruining or watering down the very things that have fuelled successful growth in the past. They unpack the principles that help to cascade excellence throughout an organisation, as well as show how to eliminate destructive beliefs and behaviours that will hold them back.
Robert Sutton is professor of management science and engineering in the Stanford Engineering School. His previous books include Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to be the Best...and Learn from the Worst, and The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilised Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't. Huggy Rao is professor of organisational behaviour at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the author of Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations.
Sutton and Rao have devoted much of the last decade to uncovering what it takes to build and uncover pockets of exemplary performance, to help spread them, and to keep recharging organisations with ever better work practices.
Drawing on inside accounts and case studies and academic research from a wealth of industries -- including start-ups, pharmaceuticals, airlines, retail, financial services, high-tech, education, non-profits, government, and healthcare -- Sutton and Rao identify the key scaling challenges that confront every organisation.
They reveal how the best leaders and teams develop, spread, and instil the right mindsets in their people -- rather than ruining or watering down the very things that have fuelled successful growth in the past. They unpack the principles that help to cascade excellence throughout an organisation, as well as show how to eliminate destructive beliefs and behaviours that will hold them back.
Robert Sutton is professor of management science and engineering in the Stanford Engineering School. His previous books include Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to be the Best...and Learn from the Worst, and The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilised Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't. Huggy Rao is professor of organisational behaviour at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the author of Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations.
Positive Leadership: Scaling Up Excellence
Labels:
Excellence,
Excellence Under Pressure,
Video
Thursday, January 09, 2014
Wednesday, January 08, 2014
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
Wednesday, January 01, 2014
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Friday, December 20, 2013
Positive Leadership: Congratulations @sallywatsongolf
Apologies for the absence of posts recently but the Positive Leadership team has been on location in Turkey and Morocco helping Sally Watson gain her Ladies European Tour card for 2014 at the LET Tour School.
Congratulations Sally on putting the Values of Positive Leadership to the test so successfully!

Congratulations Sally on putting the Values of Positive Leadership to the test so successfully!
Positive Leadership: Congratulations @sallywatsongolf
Friday, November 29, 2013
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Positive Leadership: What is Talent?
Talent is a set of personal characteristics that enhance
one’s ability to achieve expertise in an accelerated manner.
These traits allow one to improve at quicker
rates than others in their field that are at the same level of
expertise/fitness/skill, etc. This is
because talent is one’s ability to adapt to training and develop skills in
their specialized field.
Talent exists
when strong genetics and a desire to practice come together to create superior
ability for a specific activity. It can
only exist along with a deliberate interest.
Because of this, talent will often only become apparent after a moderate
amount of practice as this is when one’s ability to adapt and improve is more
clearly visible.
Positive Leadership: What is Talent?
Monday, November 25, 2013
Positive Leadership: Staying in the Present
Not many people can say their office is a mountain. Then again, not many people can say they're a two-time Olympian alpine skier, either.
Kaylin Richardson can say both of those things, and attributes her success to a simple principle: staying present. "If you're not present people can tell," she says. "You might not realise it but if your mind is somewhere else when you're talking with someone they'll know--you're not connecting with them."
Of course, living in the moment doesn't just apply to racing down a mountain face at blistering speeds: taking a zen-like approach in business can pay dividends. "In this day and age we're bombarded with stimulus all the time--being present is something that resonates and people respond to that."

Kaylin Richardson can say both of those things, and attributes her success to a simple principle: staying present. "If you're not present people can tell," she says. "You might not realise it but if your mind is somewhere else when you're talking with someone they'll know--you're not connecting with them."
Of course, living in the moment doesn't just apply to racing down a mountain face at blistering speeds: taking a zen-like approach in business can pay dividends. "In this day and age we're bombarded with stimulus all the time--being present is something that resonates and people respond to that."
Positive Leadership: Staying in the Present
Friday, November 22, 2013
Positive Leadership: Motivate Yourself By Visualising Your Goals
Motivation expert Jon Gordon visits TODAY to offer some tips on motivating yourself to organize yourself, stay connected to friends and family, and achieve a healthier life.

Positive Leadership: Motivate Yourself By Visualising Your Goals
Labels:
Goals,
Motivation,
Values of Positive Leadership,
Video,
Visualisation
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Positive Leadership: Excellence
"If you want to achieve Excellence, you can get there today.
As of this second, quit doing less than Excellent work. The first 99.9% of
getting from here to there is the determination to do it and not to compromise,
no matter what set of road blocks those around you erect.”
Tom Peters
Positive Leadership: Excellence
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Positive Leadership: Teaching Young People to be Entrepreneurs
An entrepreneur since childhood, Cameron Herold wants parents
and teachers to recognise -- and foster -- entrepreneurial talent in kids.
For 20 years, Cameron Herold has been coaching entrepreneurs
on five continents, helping them build their companies. He started BackPocket
COO to coach and mentor young, fun companies -- and help them make their dreams
happen. Herold was a leading force behind one of the most successful new
business ventures of the last decade, 1-800-GOT-JUNK?. He was Chief Operating
Officer for nearly seven years. Prior to that, he was VP of Corporate
Development at Ubarter.com.
Positive Leadership: Teaching Young People to be Entrepreneurs
Labels:
Entrepreneurs,
Video,
Young People
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Positive Leadership: Let Ideas Flow
Business innovator Nilofer Merchant (Twitter @nilofer) thinks deeply about the
frameworks, strategies and cultural values of companies. She has been helping
to grow businesses -- from Fortune 500s to web startups -- for 20 years. Today
she serves on boards for both public and private companies, and writes books
about collaboration.
In this TED talk, she suggests a small idea that just might
have a big impact on your life and health: next time you have a one-on-one
meeting, make it into a "walking meeting" -- and let ideas flow while
you walk and talk.
For more, see: http://nilofermerchant.com/
And here is an interesting and challenging (for many reasons) comment on the above talk from Korea!For more, see: http://nilofermerchant.com/
'Enjoyed the video. Great idea! I am a high school student in Korea, and we have to stay more than 11 hours a day sitting. Much exceeding the sleeping hours, 6 hours maximum. I really do want to adopt your idea to my usual life, because girls here are experiencing the serious effects of sitting all day; we are getting rounder and rounder every day. However, I cannot really think of a way. Any good advise?? :('
Positive Leadership: Let Ideas Flow
Labels:
Collaboration,
Collaborative Leadership,
Video
Monday, November 18, 2013
Friday, November 15, 2013
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