Archive
the road to hell
With another working trip coming to an end I find that, yet again, my list of things to do during dead time is pretty much untouched. There were so many things that I was going to write while I had time to myself, but almost nothing got done; so much for good intentions. Read more…
living up to expectations
They say that you should never meet your heroes, but that makes life a little hard for any aspiring leader, especially in any form of organisation. Of course in a large organisation not that many people get a close look at the person at the top, but their immediate team will and the same applies to every team leader throughout the organisation. Read more…
If you can’t stand the heat
When I talk to groups about leadership and team building we inevitably get around to discussing examples of good and bad leaders. The worlds of politics, sport and business usually provide candidates to pick apart, but there is another area that is, perhaps, almost a perfect example. Read more…
Sitting in judgement
That one of the things that leaders have to do is to make decisions is beyond question, but it is the quality of those decisions that separate good leaders from the herd. Read more…
there is nothing wrong in recycling old ideas
I suppose it is one of those signs of having been around for a long time; that feeling that you get when the next new thing that folks are raving about just gives you a sense of déjà vu and the old saying that there is nothing new under the sun begins to look pretty solid. In an age where recycling is a big ticket item the recycling of old ideas probably makes a lot of sense anyway. Read more…
what is truth?
One of the things that I try to pass on to others is the art of decision making. It is something that began to fascinate me as I moved through the ranks of management and began to recognise the differences between managing and leading and is something that I am still wrestling with. Read more…
you talkin’ to me?
In recent years we have begun to rely on emails, voicemail and text messages as primary methods of communication as we seek that immediacy of communication. Like me you probably know people who run more than one mobile ‘phone (maybe you do yourself?) and can’t bear to be out of touch. We seem to have developed an insatiable appetite for instant contact, but without any thought of the consequences. Read more…
on interactions and their consequences
The world is really all about relationships; how different species relate to each other and within each species and all that. It’s what we call the balance of nature. It affects so much of what we do and vice versa, for on a macro level we have the matter of the environment and on a micro level we have our business and personal relationships. Read more…
presentational skills, or a lack thereof
I do a fair bit of training in this area, often built into course on other topics, but when a client recently asked me about running a course I suggested that, as someone that regularly attends presentations, all that she needed to do was to learn from all of the mistakes that you commonly see made. Read more…
life lessons from a blind cat
A few months ago we noticed that our cat Tilly was a bit odd, or odder than usual, and then one evening she went out for her nine o’clock patrol and wasn’t back after the usual twenty minutes or so. Two hours later and after a couple of sessions checking the neighbourhood I started to come to terms with having lost her at which point she appeared back at the door. Read more…
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the Monday Musings column from that consultant bloke 