Leadership? No Worries

Things to do about that fear stuff.

The deep end can be scary. When I was sixteen, I led an advance party to prepare the site for our annual cadet camp. Small beer, you would think. But not for me.

I was chosen because I’d performed well in other roles but this was different. When I assembled the team, I had no idea what I was doing. The main task was to create tent lines for about 300 cadets. I explained the job to the team. Then everything went quiet.

What got us started?

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Beating Inertia

What’s your big opportunity?

You probably know that you or your firm can go better. You are aware of specific strengths and you know you could knock the cover off the ball if you really gave it your best shot. Trouble is you don’t seem to get around to it.

Can you do anything about it?

There’s a couple of roadblocks you need to clear. The first is that you only need one idea, not lots of them. Having too many great projects can create more inertia than not having any.

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Rewarding work: bonuses and bailout

Output Vs Creativity

I’ve handed out a few bonuses in my time. Some years our results were spectacular; other times poor. Payouts went up and down accordingly. I can only remember two people opening the envelope and saying “thank you”. Both cases were in poor years. It never happened in a good one.

Perhaps that’s a function of good times. Bull markets are defined by optimism. Expectations climb beyond reality. Ask how much is enough and the answer, inevitably, is just a little bit more.

Do incentives work?

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Charisma: have you got any?

Has the “celeb” thing plundered this old word?

Charisma derives from Charis, an associate of Aphrodite in Homer’s Odyssey. Charis was beautiful, but not a central character. Nothing about her seemed particularly special. She was like many of today’s “celebs”: she looked OK but didn’t do much. 

We could make similar observations about celebrity CEOs. They don’t make much difference either. Several studies show corporate performance to be anywhere from average to disastrous under so-called charismatic leaders.

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Want some positive news?

Disadvantaged families can save the government money

I was abused by my own mother. She was abused by hers. I want it to stop now. I don’t want my children to go through this.

Her concern was not what happened to her. She was terrified of treating her own daughter the same way. It’s why she came to the Newpin centre.

Newpin is a voluntary therapeutic community where struggling young mothers and fathers spend as many as four days a week for up to two years.

They commit because they are troubled parents responsible for raising human beings. Despite often desperate histories of intergenerational dysfunction, they want to get it right.

Does it work?

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