Tag: People

24/7 Leadership and the Burning Platforms Index

Post author By The Burble....
Post date October 24, 2015
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illustration of fire extinguisher — Use in case of burning platform – turn this on the leader

Leaders don’t set things on fire.

I am struggling. I have been looking at so much research about leadership and leaders and so much news and information about the topic that I find it remarkable that there still doesn’t seem to be a definition of leadership or what a leader actually is.

What I do know is that there is a fervour amongst leadership devotees that their particular brand of leadership is the best (for which read) the only one. And anyone who has an alternative view of leadership is simply wrong. I have seen friendlier debates between the US and Iran.

Tags Business, change, Communication, Leader, Leadership, organisation, People

Change Communication People

When to be More or Less Diplomatic

Post author By The Burble....
Post date September 16, 2015
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Hopefully he title has piqued your interest and so I would like to introduce an old colleague and friend of mine Colin Gautrey. Colin has been one of those individuals who I probably talk to less than once a year and yet who’s advice and support I value a huge amount. His focus is on Influence a topic that is one of the most important for anyone to understand. Being able to influence others, in a business or personal environment is one of the key skills that we all need to learn.

So please read on and see what you think. I spend almost all my days influencing people in 8 countries in Asia to do different things in different ways. Its probably the only way to really make things happen in any organization of more than 2 people. As Colin says

‘When you have to engage with someone, and you have a difficult message to deliver, a decision needs to be made about how direct and assertive you can be. Put another way, you need to decide how tactful and diplomatic you have to be to avoid causing offense.

Source: When to be More or Less Diplomatic‘

Tags Business, change, Colin Gautrey, Communication, People, Risk

Change Communication Customers People

I guess we have a way to go…

Post author By The Burble....
Post date February 27, 2015
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Hong Kong

There are more men on corporate boards named John, Robert, William or James than there are women on boards altogether – The Washington Post

As you will have seen from a previous post – Let’s take a stand – I am a strong supporter of inclusion. Articles like this one reinforce the need to keep trying to make a difference.

And there are many reasons why it makes sense to do so for any business. Apart from fairness alone (50% of the population are women) results improve for more balanced companies and decision-making becomes more rounded. Groupthink is avoided.

And with more women running businesses its possible they will want to deal with companies who recognize this fact. According to research undertaken across East Asia in 2013 between 38% and 47% of all SME’s businesses are owned by women. With SME’s accounting for the majority of economic output in most countries women will have an ever growing impact.

Probably sensible to be prepared then.

Change will take time but let’s keep going.

Tags Business, change, company, corporate boards, Customers, Experience, human rights, People, women

Background Change Communication People

Let’s take a stand

One of the issues that business in general struggles with, as do many other areas of society, is the issue of equality. It’s something that we all know needs to be dealt with and there is a lot research that will tell you that business performs best when the company is truly representative of the society in which it operates.

Doing something about it seems to be beyond many people and businesses. But even small steps can help.

So I am going to take a stand on this issue. I’ve signed up for the HeforShe campaign being run by the UN; a campaign that seeks to involve both men and women in making the issue of equality one for the history books.

I’d like to encourage everyone to join in.

And if you need some more background on why this issue is important please watch the video. An obviously nervous Emma Watson gives some background on why the issue is important and why its an issue for all of us.

Take a look. Take a stand.

Tags Business, Communication, human rights, People, Risk, women