The Dutch Soccer Team and Personal Development

Many people are holding back their personal development by ignoring an important step – accepting responsibility for their actions.

A great example of this has been the reaction of the Dutch to their loss in the World Cup final last Sunday. 

As a nation, they have a legacy of playing inspirational, total football. But someone took the decision that this would not work against Spain so they took a different approach. They were brutal, frequently on the wrong side of the line that separates aggressive from illegal. Because the referee stopped them, they have turned on him as the reason for their loss. The Dutch players, management team an press all blame the referee, Howard Webb, for their loss.  Yet an objective analysis showed that far from being at fault, Webb got well over 80% of his decisions right.

The only Dutchman to openly criticise his country’s approach is Johan Cruyff who in fact blamed Webb for being too lenient, pointing out that Holland could, and perhaps should, have been down to nine players by half time. As a side issue, if Webb had done that, people would have criticised him for ruining the final!

Instead of blaming others, the Dutch players and managers should take a long hard look at themselves and accept responsibility for their decision to play as they did, and for the consequences.

It is easy when we are under pressure to perform, to change winning tactics and to blame others if we fail. For the Dutch football team, there is no greater pressure than playing in a World Cup final. They could turn themselves into admirable role models if they were to take a deep breath, admit that they were wrong and accept responsibility for the consequences of losing.

Of course, equally dangerous are those people who accept responsibility for everything, not realising when it’s just not “their stuff”.

If you look at the word “responsibility”, you can break it down into” response” and “ability”: the ability to respond. If something isn’t working, someone involved has to have the ability to respond and to try something else. If instead, you do more of what isn’t working, you get more failure.

Shame nobody from the Dutch side realised that last Sunday!

The Dutch Soccer Team and Personal Development

Winning Under Pressure

Give Hall of Fame golfer Gary Player 15 minutes and he'll try to save the world.

Ask him about his new book Don't Choke: A Champion's Guide to Winning Under Pressure and he'll recruit you into his army of revolutionists trying to change the way we live.

"One of the reasons that I wrote this book is I would like to try to help people," said Player, 74, a nine-time major winner from South Africa. "This is not for golfers only. How about a businessman? How about a mother who has to make a big decision? A granny speaking to her grandchildren."

Here is what he Gary Player has to say about why now is the right time for him to publish this book:

'Maturity. When you write a book like this in your 30s people say "what does he really know about life?" Now "this man has done something, nobody else in the world has done. He must have some common sense and reason for his success and worthwhile to listen to."'

Winning Under Pressure

What Separates Winners

"Mental fitness is much more important to my game. To be at this level, everyone has great physical tools. What separates winners is the mental game." 

Serena Williams

What Separates Winners

Are you Making Mistakes with Top Talent?

With today's difficult job market limiting employees' mobility, executives have a unique opportunity to boost the motivation and productivity of their top talent without spending lots of money. Unfortunately, many companies are missing the mark – especially when it comes to managing their emerging leaders, or "high potentials." 

Here are the five biggest mistakes companies are making with high-potential talent:

1. Ignoring the view from the pipeline.

2. Treating all high potentials the same.

3. Leaving high-potentials on their own.

4. Not using high-potentials to develop others.

5. Being unclear about high-potential status. 

For more, see - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303695604575182172745155334.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Are you Making Mistakes with Top Talent?

Think Different!

This Apple ad leads with a fundamental leadership premise: Be courageous enough to be yourself. Entertaining, inspiring, and educational, this clip is a must-download on any leader's iPhone. Filled with role models and ideas to emulate, this clip will get you thinking about your leadership style, philosophy and broader goals.

Think Different!

Control Over Your Emotions

When you hit your thumb with a hammer, you know what causes the pain. Do you know what causes the emotion?

All of us have nervous systems that cause us to feel pain. All of us have emotions, too. We feel happy, sad, angry, elated, hopeless, inspired. But where do the emotions come from? What causes them?

When you hit your thumb with a hammer, you feel pain. You may also feel some anger and maybe even some shame. We can safely say that the hammer caused the pain. But we can't say that the hammer caused the anger or the shame. If that were true, then it wouldn't matter who hit them on the thumb, every single one would feel exactly the same emotions.

So how come you get mad when the same situation doesn't bother someone else at all? They laugh it off without a hint of anger. You see, the truth is that you cause you own emotions, and you do it with your thoughts. Many centuries ago, Epictetus said, "We are disturbed not by the things that happen, but by our opinion of the things that happen." However, you don't have to let your inner feelings be dictated by the external environment.

You can, bit by bit, learn to handle any and every situation you want to. You can learn to change your opinion of the things that happen so that you control your emotions, rather than letting them control you. Can you see yourself taking charge like this?

Control Over Your Emotions

The 5 Characteristics of a CHAMP Leader

These five characteristics of a CHAMP are to be applied inside organisations in two ways:

A standard for how organisational leaders must lead;

As a standard against which all potential team members are measured for during the hiring process and are held accountable to after becoming a part of the team.

These are same characteristics expected of all within an organisation although they are applied slightly differently. Here we outline how leaders should apply the five traits.

Commitment

Leaders need to know how to gain commitment to a compelling vision and the strategy to achieve it. This also includes investing the time and energy in creating that compelling vision and strategy and having the courage to ask for help in achieving it. This comes from leaders who know how to communicate in a way that influences their team members in a positive way. It's a way of communicating that shows how each individual team member benefits when the organisation fulfils it vision and strategy, gaining buy-in from all.

Humility

Leaders must lead by example in setting the expectation of constant and never ending improvement, and they show it by being open to feedback from all sources. Being open to feedback means more than just proclaiming there is an "open door" policy. It must be shown by actually taking feedback and true appreciation for that feedback by saying "thank you' without rationalising and justifying the present situation and then communicating back to the individual who offered the feedback with what is being done with it (it doesn't have to be implemented, it just needs to be shown as being truly considered, to have been effective).

Accountability

Leaders must set the tone that there is accountability to responsibilities and roles throughout the organisation. Leaders must set up systems for identifying realistic goals and outcomes with accountability to them (in all sports there is a Scoreboard in the arenas, a Scorecard for everyone involved to track progress in a game and a Final Score in the newspaper for all to see the results the next day).

Motivation

Leaders must be exemplars in showing they are motivated in nuanced ways. It is usually easy for leaders to look motivated by showing up early and staying late and expecting others to do the same. But motivation is more than just "hard work" and "long hours." It means being motivated to take action on difficult decisions and in challenging situations. This means avoiding procrastination at all costs and refusing to tolerate things that do not improve the organisation and support the best efforts of team members.

Leaders must understand human motivation and apply the following assumptions in their approach:

Everyone on the team wants to d a good job.

Actions/decisions are always done with positive intent with the best resources individuals have available to them at the time.

People want to be recognised for their contributions.

People are motivated by intrinsic factors.

Preparation

Leaders must also lead by example and set the tone for their organisation that preparation is vital to an organisation's success. It means that leaders should be certain any meeting they hold are designed in a way in which all those invited to a meeting  clearly communicated. Schedules should be well maintained and projected as far in to the future as possible while offering enough flexibility to allow for reasonable adjustments. The leader should be continually looking for ways to raise the bar on individual and organisational preparation. This includes punctuality, meeting deadlines, returning phone calls, and planning the year, quarter, month, weeks and days to maximise results.

The 5 Characteristics of a CHAMP Leader

Friendships

No friendship is as crucial to your self-esteem as the friendship you maintain with yourself.

There's no doubt about it, friendships are an important part of life. However, all your other friendships combined aren't as important as the one you have with yourself. Every day of your life you send yourself thousands of messages that determine how you elevate your own worth.

The evaluation you make of your worth is what determines your level of self-esteem. Of course, the messages of love and acceptance we get from our family and friends affect our self-esteem, too. But they don't send even a tiny fraction of the number of messages that we send to ourselves. They don't have the opportunity to affect you.

Besides, if you're continually sending yourself negative, devaluing appraisals, you'll drown out the other messages, even if they're as positive as they could possibly be. It's important that you, yourself, become the source of these positive messages. When this happens, the leverage you'll have from your "inside" position will make enormous change possible in an incredibly short period of time.

Unfortunately, most people spend much more time focusing on their faults and mistakes than they do on their strengths and successes. But it's a skill that can be learned and perfected, and you have a lot of options to help you learn this skill. 

Friendships

Mental Toughness

Positive Leadership will be at the US Women's Open golf championship this week. This tournament is a test of many of the values of Positive Leadership - not least, mental toughness. Good luck to all those competing!

Mental Toughness

Playing for the Team

How many leaders understand the importance of communicating with employees about the connection between their work and their company’s mission?

As one of our client’s reminded us recently: "I always think of the old story about a man who was walking along a road and saw two men moving bricks. 'What are you doing?' he asks. One worker says 'I'm moving bricks from this side of the road to the other.' Another says, 'I'm building a cathedral.'"

As a leader, you have to find ways to make sure people in your organisation know exactly how their work connects to the broader mission of the organisation. They need to know: How is this making our organisation better? "

A lot of the time, people are not sure how their work contributes to the larger whole. Leaders can provide the context.

Keep in mind that most people have some desire to make a difference. Here are three concrete ways to make sure your company’s employees understand how their work is making an impact:

Formalise it. Don't just develop performance objectives with a list of tasks and outputs. Incorporate the mission-connection into your employees' performance plans by including a link to the results your company delivers.

Celebrate success. It's easy to become so wrapped up in the day-to-day rush of activities or the next big challenge that we forget to recognise the victories already secured and how they've contributed to the mission. Don't make that mistake. This is about more than the annual employee awards programme and spot awards. It's about personal e-mails or phone calls. It's about making an unscripted appearance at a team meeting to thank everyone for getting closer to the goal. It's about a sincere expression of gratitude.

Make it a habit. 'One and done' will not suffice. As a general rule of thumb, you'll need to communicate your message connecting employees to the mission at least seven times before it begins to stick. 

Playing for the Team

5 Team-Building Lessons from the NBA Playoffs

Experience Matters

Build a Deep Bench

Strive to Reduce Turnover

Compete Hard, and Follow Through

Maturity turns out to be a pretty potent competitive advantage. Just ask Derek Fisher of the Lakers who, even at the age of 35, has been a game-changer during the team’s playoff run. And he’s not alone. The average age of a player on the Celtics is 29 and on the Lakers, the average age is 28. And even the kids are pretty deep on experience. The youngest player on either team is Andrew Bynum; though he is 22, he has spent a full five seasons in the NBA.

In the USA, the National Basketball Association has just completed its season ending play-offs, with the Los Angeles Lakers beating the Boston Celtics in the final game of a 7 game series. 

Here are some team-building lessons from the play-offs:

Experience Matters

Managing Seasoned Teams Takes a Deft Touch

Build a Deep Bench

Strive to Reduce Turnover

Compete Hard, and Follow Through

Maturity turns out to be a pretty potent competitive advantage. Just ask Derek Fisher of the Lakers who, even at the age of 35, was a game-changer during the team’s playoff run. And he’s not alone. The average age of a player on the Celtics is 29 and on the Lakers, the average age is 28. And even the ‘kids’ are pretty deep on experience. The youngest player on either team is Andrew Bynum; though he is 22, he has spent a full five seasons in the NBA.

Managing Seasoned Teams Takes a Deft Touch

Build a Deep Bench

Strive to Reduce Turnover

Compete Hard, and Follow Through

Maturity turns out to be a pretty potent competitive advantage. Just ask Derek Fisher of the Lakers who, even at the age of 35, has been a game-changer during the team’s playoff run. And he’s not alone. The average age of a player on the Celtics is 29 and on the Lakers, the average age is 28. And even the kids are pretty deep on experience. The youngest player on either team is Andrew Bynum; though he is 22, he has spent a full five seasons in the NBA.

Accomplished veterans such as Fisher, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Kobe Bryant require a different kind of coaching. When the Celtics find themselves down in a game, Doc Rivers is often seen in the huddle reminding players to play together; he focuses on the big picture, and trusts the veterans to follow through in their own way. Lesson: You need to pursue a low-key management approach with a veteran team if you expect to succeed.

Build a Deep Bench

Strive to Reduce Turnover

Compete Hard, and Follow Through

Maturity turns out to be a pretty potent competitive advantage. Just ask Derek Fisher of the Lakers who, even at the age of 35, has been a game-changer during the team’s playoff run. And he’s not alone. The average age of a player on the Celtics is 29 and on the Lakers, the average age is 28. And even the kids are pretty deep on experience. The youngest player on either team is Andrew Bynum; though he is 22, he has spent a full five seasons in the NBA.

Accomplished veterans such as Fisher, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Kobe Bryant require a different kind of coaching. When the Celtics find themselves down in a game, Doc Rivers is often seen in the huddle reminding players to play together; he focuses on the big picture, and trusts the veterans to follow through in their own way. Lesson: You need to pursue a low-key management approach with a veteran team if you expect to succeed.

Your stars can only carry you so far, but your bench can sometimes surprise you by taking you farther still, as the Celtics learned in Game 4 against the Lakers. Glen Davis put up 18 points in 22 minutes, showing that even a 'sometimes contributor' can make a big impact at an important moment.

Strive to Reduce Turnover

Compete Hard, and Follow Through

Maturity turns out to be a pretty potent competitive advantage. Just ask Derek Fisher of the Lakers who, even at the age of 35, has been a game-changer during the team’s playoff run. And he’s not alone. The average age of a player on the Celtics is 29 and on the Lakers, the average age is 28. And even the kids are pretty deep on experience. The youngest player on either team is Andrew Bynum; though he is 22, he has spent a full five seasons in the NBA.

Accomplished veterans such as Fisher, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Kobe Bryant require a different kind of coaching. When the Celtics find themselves down in a game, Doc Rivers is often seen in the huddle reminding players to play together; he focuses on the big picture, and trusts the veterans to follow through in their own way. Lesson: You need to pursue a low-key management approach with a veteran team if you expect to succeed.

Your stars can only carry you so far, but your bench can sometimes surprise you by taking you farther still, as the Celtics learned in Game 4 against the Lakers. Glen Davis put up 18 points in 22 minutes, showing that even a sometimes contributor can make a big impact at an important moment.

You may think that mixing things up on the talent front will help you succeed. But in fact, it takes time to get a team to gel. The Lakers and Celtics have enjoyed low turnover both on and off the court, and it shows. Doc Rivers has coached the Celtics for seven seasons while Phil Jackson has been at the helm of the Lakers since 1999 (save for a period in 2004 and 2005). Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher, the Lakers back-court, have played together for eight seasons - and made seven Finals together.

Compete Hard, and Follow Through

Maturity turns out to be a pretty potent competitive advantage. Just ask Derek Fisher of the Lakers who, even at the age of 35, has been a game-changer during the team’s playoff run. And he’s not alone. The average age of a player on the Celtics is 29 and on the Lakers, the average age is 28. And even the kids are pretty deep on experience. The youngest player on either team is Andrew Bynum; though he is 22, he has spent a full five seasons in the NBA.

Accomplished veterans such as Fisher, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Kobe Bryant require a different kind of coaching. When the Celtics find themselves down in a game, Doc Rivers is often seen in the huddle reminding players to play together; he focuses on the big picture, and trusts the veterans to follow through in their own way. Lesson: You need to pursue a low-key management approach with a veteran team if you expect to succeed.

Your stars can only carry you so far, but your bench can sometimes surprise you by taking you farther still, as the Celtics learned in Game 4 against the Lakers. Glen Davis put up 18 points in 22 minutes, showing that even a sometimes contributor can make a big impact at an important moment.

You may think that mixing things up on the talent front will help you succeed. But in fact, it takes time to get a team to gel. The Lakers and Celtics have enjoyed low turnover both on and off the court, and it shows. Doc Rivers has coached the Celtics for seven seasons while Phil Jackson has been at the helm of the Lakers since 1999 (save for a period in 2004 and 2005). Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher, the Lakers back-court, have played together for eight seasons - and made seven Finals together.

It’s sometimes fashionable to say that you should focus on your own business and forget about the competition. But sometimes getting in the competition’s face is both productive and satisfying. Case in point: Through the first six games of the Finals, the team that won the rebounding battle walked away with the victory in each game. Similarly, sales might be more fun than operations, but both are essential to the success of your business. Follow-through counts, and it counts for a lot.

5 Team-Building Lessons from the NBA Playoffs

Champions

"A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning." Billie Jean King

Champions

Lasorda's Law

Here is an interesting quote from Tommy Lasorda, who has worked for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team for almost 50 years, including a 20-year stint as the team's manager. 

The first day he took charge of the team, Tommy said to the press: "I believe managing is like holding a dove in your hand. If you hold it too tightly you kill it, but if you hold it too loosely, you lose it."

Call it Lasorda's law: Being just assertive enough, while not easy for any leader, is one of the most important features of a good one. And it isn't simply a matter of arriving at some correct calibration and then sticking with it. Rather, the best leaders get the balance right on any given day, and in myriad interactions with their followers, peers, and own leaders.

Lasorda's Law

Leadership Lessons from the U.S. World Cup Campaign

The U.S. soccer team's run in the World Cup came to an agonising conclusion against Ghana on Saturday, but unlike many of the major European nations competing, the team can at least head home with their heads held high. And none more so than coach Bob Bradley, who has offered myriad leadership lessons over the course of the two weeks the U.S. team was involved at the world's most-watched sporting event. Among the key lessons are:

1 Team Spirit trumps individual talent.
2 'It's never too late'
3 Admit your mistakes ....... then fix them.

For more, see - http://www.cnbc.com/id/37978436

Leadership Lessons from the U.S. World Cup Campaign

Appreciation Works!

Your organisation feels the economic difficulties. Your team knows that you have to make savings. You want to keep spirits up, but budgets are tight and getting even tighter. Everyone feels overworked, tired, and taken for granted. You are tense and irritable yourself.

Now is the time for a magnanimous but totally basic gesture. It is simple and free, and will lift your spirits too. It is so simple but it works.

The gesture: Send notes of appreciation to the people on your team telling them specifically what you value about each of them as colleagues. Surprise them with something they might not know that you notice. No form letters. Preferably handwritten notes, to stand out in the impersonal email clutter.

If you are not the big boss, you could also ask the next level above you to send a letter to your team acknowledging their contributions.

Some of the best CEOs are known for their handwritten notes. When Jeannette Wagner headed Estee Lauder, she always had stationery with her on trips to keep getting out those notes, sometimes sent in the next hour after a meeting. U.S. Presidents have built their goodwill banks of future supporters through handwritten notes (not the ones generated by machines).

In organisations and professions where a show of emotion is rare, recipients might secretly treasure the note because it is unexpected. Your own mood will improve as you think positive thoughts. This is scientifically proven. 

Appreciation Works!

Top Executives Lack Confidence in Corporate Leadership

Top executives consider their companies poorly prepared to face future challenges in terms of leadership line-up, according to a recent global survey of senior executives.  

Nearly 70 percent of executives do not believe there is sufficient leadership potential in such skills as the ability to drive change, drive customer focus, basic business competencies and innovation skills. Additionally, the survey shows that nearly 70 percent of top executives in global companies do not believe they have a well documented succession plan in place. 

In the US, only 32 percent of executives believe there is a succession plan process in place despite the fact that US public companies face increased SEC and shareholder scrutiny to ensure a CEO succession plan has been established.  New SEC guidelines redefine succession planning responsibilities as a key board function. 

For complete study see: http://www.egonzehnder.com/iep-resilience. 

Top Executives Lack Confidence in Corporate Leadership

Leadership Lessons from the BP Oil Spill

Lesson 1: Crises expose dysfunctional organisational cultures.

Lesson 2: Leaders must recognise when a crisis can't be spun.

Lesson 3: Leaders need to work together rather than scoring points or deflecting blame.

Lesson 4: Leaders are there to serve their companies, people and communities.

Lesson 5: True leadership exists beyond title and office — elected leaders should remember this.

Leadership Lessons from the BP Oil Spill

Character v Reputation

'Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.'

Coach John Wooden

Character v Reputation

How Can Leaders Build Followers?

Great leaders understand that people will not follow you just because you want them to, or because you say they must. Leaders create a following only by being the type of leader that people want to follow. So the question for aspiring leaders becomes, “How can I get people to want to follow me?”

If you’re a leader with this question on your mind, consider these things:

People follow leaders they trust.

No matter how good you may be at your job, regardless of your skills, knowledge or talent, you will not create a following without first being a person that people can come to know and trust. Character goes much farther than brains when attempting to recruit believers to your cause. People will quickly see through a charade if you are trying to be someone you’re not. Great leaders not only talk the talk, they walk the walk!

People follow leaders who care.

When you want to lead so others will follow, you have to care about them as individuals. When a person feels that he matters as a person, that his opinions are valued and his efforts appreciated, he is far more likely to respond in a positive manner. The more a leader or manager proves genuine interest and concern for his employees, the more loyal his believers and followers will become.

People follow leaders they can talk to.

It is impossible to make the kind of connection necessary for strong leadership support if your followers can’t approach you. You must be available and open to discussion, ready to listen sincerely, and willing to acknowledge valuable input and suggestions. This consistency will help build trust and increase the confidence of your team.

People follow leaders they admire.

The most important trait that others will see and value is a leader’s sense of commitment. A great leader must be ready to give everything he has for the cause he believes in. If a leader cannot demonstrate his own true dedication to the company goals and objectives, how can he expect others to follow along?

People follow leaders they respect.

Respect never comes automatically with position or title, it must be earned. Initially, people may follow along with a leader because he is the person in charge, but ultimately they will follow a leader whom they respect. Being able to do the job well increases a leader’s credibility. It is when things get tough and a leader must stand up to his commitments, that he will develop a following of individuals who respect him and his competence.

All of the above actions are built on the principles of influence, not position. 

Everything a leader does, and everything he says plays a critical role in the way he ultimately influences those around him. It is this influence that builds the trust, confidence and loyalty that every good leader strives for. 

How Can Leaders Build Followers?

How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers -- and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling.

How Great Leaders Inspire Action

The Leadership Gap Between the Public and Private Sectors

David Rubenstein, a founding managing director of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s premiere private-equity firms, has built a career on assessing companies across industries and around the globe. 

In this interview from the McKinsey conversations with global leaders, Rubenstein shares his insights on how to manage a diverse and decentralised organisation, how to identify the markets of greatest potential in a changing world economy, and how to attract leaders who are both intelligent and “have their ego in check.” He also discusses the new ecosystem he sees developing for the private-equity industry as pressures build for some of its largest players go public -

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/
McKinsey_conversations_with_global_leaders_David_Rubenstein_of_The_Carlyle_Group_2605?pagenum=1#darub

The Leadership Gap Between the Public and Private Sectors

Is Your Leadership Consistent?

Is your leadership consistent, regardless of the setting you are in, the people you’re with or the circumstances you’re facing? 

Consistency in leadership may sound like a recipe for boring sameness or rigid thinking. On the contrary, being a consistent leader means:

• What is important today is also important tomorrow
• You don’t chase the latest fad, project or trend
• Your bad mood doesn’t cause you to act radically different
• People know what to expect from you.

Being consistent in your leadership means that even under duress, you make the right choices. You steer the ship, make mid-course corrections and align your “crew” around important best practices that will help you reach your destination.

Even the most reliable and unswerving of leaders must be able to adjust to change. Yet, the consistent leader will be grounded, so that unfamiliar and challenging conditions won’t change the quality of interactions, thinking and decision-making.

How do you stay on course and make consistently positive leadership choices?

Start by answering these four questions:

1. What is success? Success is defined first by the impact you want to make – and secondly by the results you need to achieve to have that impact. Think about who and what will be changed by your efforts. That’s your impact.

2. What is sacred? What are your non-negotiables? Make a list of the things you will not compromise, no matter what. For example, you might list ethical standards that are vital and unchanging.

3. What is important? List a few guiding principles for your life and your leadership. Examples might include:

• Act with integrity
• Be a good steward of resources
• Be humble
• Have fun

4. What works? Know – and grow – best practices that lead to success, help you hold fast to what is sacred and allow you to focus on what is important. Identify the thinking and actions that are requirements for questions 1, 2 and 3.

Consistent, dependable leadership choices provide a solid foundation for your people – enabling them to weather storms and operate at their peak. You shouldn’t be completely predictable. You don’t have to be perfect, and you’re allowed to have bad days. What you cannot do is permit outside conditions to change you fundamentally – causing you to shift whichever way the wind blows. Be the anchor that your organisational ship requires.

Is Your Leadership Consistent?

Buying and Selling Can Be Good For You

The Mergers and Acquisitions Research Centre (Marc) at Cass Business School in London has just published a paper on the deal-making record of new CEOs. Its analysis challenges some long-held prejudices about the wisdom (or otherwise) of hasty executive action.

Marc’s key findings were as follows. CEOs who carry out a big deal in their first year outperform their peers in the long run. However, attempting more than one major deal in that first year leads to poorer performance. The message? A big strategic change may be a good idea, but do not attempt more than one.

CEOs who choose to sell a part of the business early on outperform those who make an acquisition – but this only holds true in their first two years in the job. This finding reflects the actions of distressed companies that need the cash injection of a sale.

For more, see - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c67815c2-61ec-11df-998c-00144feab49a.html

Buying and Selling Can Be Good For You

How to Motivate Your Board

When serving on a board of directors is voluntary, sometimes members can lose focus or doubt that their participation is essential. At your next board meeting, try these three tips for reinvigorating and encouraging board members to devote more time and energy to growing your company:

1. Pose provocative questions. Spend a significant part of each board meeting wrestling with critical issues and asking your board to think through the toughest challenges facing your company.
2. Share the stage. Minimise time spent listening to prepared presentations. Be sure the conversation isn't dominated by one or two members.
3. Spend time one-on-one. Find out about members' individual interests and how they might translate to helping your company in a unique way — for example, by coaching an executive or attending a critical in-house meeting.

How to Motivate Your Board