Positive Leadership: Principles

Positive Leadership: Principles

Positive Leadership: Happiness

Positive Leadership: Happiness

Positive Leadership: Be Yourself, But Don’t Overshare

A rise in team-based workplaces has heightened the demand for managers who are “authentic” and “instantly intimate.” But sharing your thoughts, feelings, and experiences at work can sometimes backfire.

Here are a few pointers for effective—and authentic—self-disclosure:

Consider relevance. Before sharing personal information, ask yourself if it’s germane to the situation. Make sure it contributes to the overall goal of building trust and engendering better collaboration.

Understand the context. Some societies are more inclined than others to disclose personal information. Investigate regional and organisational norms about sharing so that you’ll know when it’s best to keep quiet.

Delay or avoid very personal disclosures. In some workplaces, you will eventually find it safe and helpful to share; in others you’ll realise it’s unwise to do so.

For more, see: http://hbr.org/2013/10/be-yourself-but-carefully/ar/

Positive Leadership: Be Yourself, But Don’t Overshare

Positive Leadership: Instant Success Takes Time

One of the more mundane differences between perpetual winners and long-term losers among businesses, sports teams, and other organisations is that the winners simply work harder. 

Winners are more likely to take the time to keep honing skills and testing ideas in preparation for change. That’s not too dramatic or glamorous, but it’s among the biggest differentiators. 

In contrast, teams or organisations headed for losing streaks lurch from tactic to tactic without any apparent long-term direction. They lack discipline, do not always rely on facts before chasing fads, and panic under pressure.

For more, see:   http://blogs.hbr.org/2008/11/instant-success-takes-time/

Positive Leadership: Instant Success Takes Time

Positive Leadership: Dreaming and Disruption

Dreaming is at the heart of disruption.  

Whether we want to disrupt an industry or our personal status quo, in order to make that terrifying leap from one learning curve to the next, we must dream.  The good news is that the causal mechanism for achieving our dreams is always, always, always showing up:  and as we show up, our future will too.

For more, see: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/always-always-always-show-up/?utm_content=buffer81224&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

Positive Leadership: Dreaming and Disruption

Positive Leadership: George P. Shultz: "Issues on My Mind"

George P. Shultz’ storied career in government, academia, and business includes four US cabinet posts; appointments at the University of Chicago, MIT, and Stanford; and the presidency of Bechtel Corp. 

Now 92, the economist is the author of the new book, Issues on My Mind: Strategies for theFuture, a guide to policymakers on how to govern more effectively in a wide range of areas. 

In an interview with Stanford Business, Shultz discussed technology, U.S. relations with Russia and China, the environment, and how the United States can get its house in order. 

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/george-p-shultz-issues-my-mind?utm_source=Stanford+Business+Re%3AThink&utm_campaign=7cf8eca650-RT_24_10_4_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0b5214e34b-7cf8eca650-70282129&ct=t(RT_24_10_4_2013)

Positive Leadership: George P. Shultz: "Issues on My Mind"

Positive Leadership: Purpose

Positive Leadership: Purpose

Positive Leadership: Finding Your Purpose and Passion

Positive Leadership: Finding Your Purpose and Passion

Positive Leadership: Why Grit Determines Success

Wisdom from psychologist Angela Duckworth on ‘Why Grit, Not IQ, Predicts Success’

“Character is at least as important as intellect.”

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/09/26/angela-duckworth-grit/

Positive Leadership: Why Grit Determines Success

Positive Leadership: Great Mentors

A few truths about great mentors:

* a mentor will help me to be self-dependent

* a mentor can have tremendous coaching skills and not impose answers.

* my mentor should bring clarity of distance

* a great mentor is a great communicator: succinct, simple and specific

* a great mentor can learn from me

* a great mentor can share stories of his/her own failures and weaknesses

* a great mentor can also ask me for advice

* a great mentor can be a sponsor (ie. open doors and speak highly of me).

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/05/17/how-to-become-a-great-mentor/

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. - William Arthur Ward

Positive Leadership: Great Mentors

Positive Leadership: Do We Have the Right Core Values?

Values are important because they may be the only force that can counter the power of markets and market-based thinking. 

Today’s ever-present markets have their own implicit values, and they can easily overwhelm whatever values leaders want to instil in their organisations. 

To lead responsibly, leaders must commit to clarity, meaningful projects, and bright ethical lines. 

In different ways, each of these helps leaders and organisations respond to the risks and opportunities created by pervasive market forces.

Positive Leadership: Do We Have the Right Core Values?

Positive Leadership: Want to Be More Decisive?

Great leaders are decisive. 

They make tough calls, and they have the spine to follow through. Yet, the rest of us seem to get stuck in cycles of indecisiveness. So what sets our more decisive-minded colleagues apart from us? Not much, really. 

Research has shown that everyone experiences traces of indecisiveness — say, pessimism, or a low sense of control — when contemplating a decision. There’s no avoiding it. But decisive people don’t let these negative feelings hold them back. Once they make a decision, and begin the steps to execute it, they start to feel confident, capable, and in control. 

The good news is we can all train our brains to think this way. We just have to be willing to bite the bullet. Gulp.

From: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/just-make-a-decision-already/

Positive Leadership: Want to Be More Decisive?

Positive Leadership: Ten Essentials for Getting Value from Values

Many organisations have statements of mission and values. Unfortunately, most of them sound alike. Who could quibble with the importance of “respect” or “customer focus”? Values statements can seem like passive decoration for walls and the Web, easily ignored. And the words don’t really tell anyone what to do in any specific sense.

But that does not mean that values do not matter. In organisations that are innovative, profitable, and responsible — widespread dialogue about the interpretation and application of values enhances accountability, collaboration, and initiative.

Here are ten essential ingredients that make values work to produce organisational value.

Values are a priority for leaders, invoked often in their messages and on the agenda for management discussions.

The entire work force can enter the conversation; employees are invited to discuss or interpret values and principles in conjunction with their peers, who help ensure alignment.

Principles are codified, made explicit, transmitted in writing in many media, and reviewed regularly to make sure people understand and remember them.

Statements about values and principles invoke a higher purpose, a purpose beyond current tasks that indicates service to society. This purpose can become part of the company’s brand and a source of competitive differentiation.

The words become a basis for on-going dialogue that guides debate when there is controversy or initial disagreement. Decisions are supported by reference to particular values or principles.

Principles guide choices, in terms of business opportunities to pursue or reject, or in terms of investments with a longer time horizon that might seem uneconomic today.

As they become internalized by employees, values and principles can substitute for more impersonal or coercive rules. They can serve as a control system against violations, excesses, or veering off course.

Actions reflecting values and principles — especially difficult choices — become the basis for iconic stories that are easy to remember and retell, reinforcing to employees and the world what the company stands for.

Values are aspirational, signalling long-term intentions that guide thinking about the future.

Principles, purpose, and values are discussed with suppliers, distributors, and other business partners, to promote consistent high standards everywhere.

In short, it’s not the words that make a difference; it’s the conversation. Frequent discussion about organisational values can be engaging and empowering. The organisation becomes a community united by shared purpose, which reinforces teamwork and collaboration. People can be more readily relied on to do the right thing, and to guide their colleagues to do the same, once they buy into and internalise core principles. People can become more aware of the drivers and impact of their behaviour. 

And, as you can see in leading companies, active consideration of core values and purpose can unlock creative potential.

For more, see: http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/06/ten-essentials-for-getting-val/

Positive Leadership: Ten Essentials for Getting Value from Values

Positive Leadership: Using LinkedIn

Even committed LinkedIn users can be uncertain of which connection requests to accept or extend. It’s possible to connect to almost anyone—but that does not mean you should.

Instead, think about the two-way quality of your relationships.

Use a filter to help you connect to those people who will be able to help you, or whom you would be willing to help. Try the “favour test”: Would you do a favour for this person, or ask a favour of them? If so, make the connection. If not, take a pass. 

If you're consistent in applying the favour test and selective about which connections you initiate and accept, you can tap LinkedIn’s power as an introduction machine: an address book in which all the entries can see and connect with one another, and a network that’s efficient in supporting your professional goals. 

Positive Leadership: Using LinkedIn

Positive Leadership: What Makes a True Champion?

What makes a true champion?

Positive Leadership: What Makes a True Champion?

Positive Leadership: The Secret of Prolonged Success (at Manchester United)

In this interview with US talk-show host Charlie Rose, former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson talks about dynasty building and the secret of prolonged success. Ferguson explains how trusting youth is key.

Positive Leadership: The Secret of Prolonged Success (at Manchester United)

Positive Leadership: The 'Generosity Gene'

Former General Electric ceo, Jack Welch argues that the key to good leadership is the "generosity gene".

Positive Leadership: The 'Generosity Gene'

Positive Leadership: Values and Value in the Marketplace - Ken Costa

Positive Leadership: Values and Value in the Marketplace - Ken Costa

Positive Leadership: Leadership at a Time of Transition and Turbulence - Ken Costa

Positive Leadership: Leadership at a Time of Transition and Turbulence - Ken Costa

Positive Leadership: Vision and Values in a Volatile World - Ken Costa

Positive Leadership: Vision and Values in a Volatile World - Ken Costa

Positive Leadership : Ken Costa and God at Work

Professor Ken Costa is the former Chairman of Lazard International and is the Emeritus Gresham Professor of Commerce at Gresham College in London. He studied philosophy and law at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and then went on to study law and theology at Queens' College, Cambridge.

Following university, he went to work for an investment bank in the City of London, where he has worked for over 30 years. After serving as Vice-Chairman of UBS Investment Bank, a global financial institution, where he advised international corporations, Mr Costa was named as the Chairman of Lazard International, joining the bank in October 2007.

Ken Costa is the Chairman of Alpha International, which promotes the Alpha course - an introduction to the Christian faith attended by over two million people in the UK and ten million worldwide - and Church Warden of Holy Trinity Brompton. He is the author of best-seller, God at Work.

Over the next few days, we will show a number of Ken's Gresham lectures. His thinking around values and purposes is both fascinating and enlightening and entirely in sync with our own Values of Positive Leadership.

Positive Leadership : Ken Costa and God at Work

Positive Leadership: Great Teams Are a Mix of Old and New

The best teams, we tend to think, are like a band of brothers. They have been together for a long time. They know each other extremely well. And they are more successful as a result. It’s common sense, right?

Well, it turns out that great teams — the most creative, the most innovative — are more temporary in nature than you would think. 

Take Broadway. The best productions, researchers have found, are made up of rag-tag groups — a mix of old and new faces. The old faces bring knowledge of the best processes and the best working methods, and the new folks bring a fresh creative spirit to the table. 

The most innovative companies work in similar ways, too. Ad-hoc teams form around a given project, then disband. But it’s not so easy pull off — in order for this to work, the entire organisation has to be diverse enough in order to make temporary teams a reality.

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/09/why-the-best-teams-might-be-temporary/

Positive Leadership: Great Teams Are a Mix of Old and New

Positive Leadership: Pitfalls in Creating Business Strategy

When creating strategy, far too many leaders give in to temptations that result in weak strategic choices, and ultimately, failure.

Here are three common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Failing to choose. Attempting to be all things to all customers is not a winning strategy. Select specific segments of consumers with particular characteristics that you can serve best.

Acquiring to change playing fields. Acquisition usually just adds unnecessary complexity. If you cannot strategise in your current environment, you will not necessarily excel in a different one.

Accepting an existing choice as unchangeable. A company always has a choice of where in the market they will play, so do not use this as an excuse for mediocre performance. Change will not happen overnight, but you can alter the course with focus and dedication.

Positive Leadership: Pitfalls in Creating Business Strategy

Positive Leadership: Thinking Like a Champion

We meet and learn from champions every day. We have learned that to be a champion you must ‘Think like a Champion’. Champions think differently than everyone else. They approach their life and work with a different mindset and belief system that separates them from the pack.

1. Champions Expect to Win - When they walk on the court, on the field or into a meeting they expect to win. In fact they are surprised when they don't win. They expect success and their positive beliefs often lead to positive actions and outcomes. They win in their mind first and then they win in the hearts and minds of their customers or fans.

2. Champions Celebrate the Small Wins - By celebrating the small wins champions gain the confidence to go after the big wins. Big wins and big success happen through the accumulation of many small victories. This doesn't mean champions become complacent. Rather, with the right kind of celebration and reinforcement, champions work harder, practice more and believe they can do greater things.

3. Champions Don't Make Excuses When They Don't Win - They don't focus on the faults of others. They focus on what they can do better. They see their mistakes and defeats as opportunities for growth. As a result they become stronger, wiser and better.

4. Champions Focus on What They Get To Do, Not What They Have To Do - They see their life and work as a gift not an obligation. They know that if they want to achieve a certain outcome they must commit to and appreciate the process. They may not love every minute of their journey but their attitude and will helps them develop their skill.

5. Champions Believe They Will Experience More Wins in the Future - Their faith is greater than their fear. Their positive energy is greater than the chorus of negativity. Their certainty is greater than all the doubt. Their passion and purpose are greater than their challenges. In spite of their situation champions believe their best days are ahead of them, not behind them.

If you don’t think you have what it takes to be a champion, think again. Champions aren’t born. They are shaped and moulded. And as iron sharpens iron you can develop your mindset and the mindset of your team with the right thinking, beliefs and expectations that lead to powerful actions.

Positive Leadership: Thinking Like a Champion