Category: Leadership
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The goal of strategy
The following is from Dan Gray’s blog post about Stephen Bungay’s book The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results. Stephen Bungay is a military historian who has examined the nineteenth-century Prussian army. There are some unexpected strategy lessons here. At least for me. The goal of strategy, according…
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A 2500-year-old perspective on rules
When the greatness of the Tao is present, action arises from one’s own heart. When the greatness of the Tao is absent, action comes from the rules of “kindness and justice.” If you need rules to be kind and just, if you act virtuous, this is a sure sign that virtue is absent. Thus we…
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A 2500-year-old perspective on leadership
With the greatest leader above them, people barely know one exists. Next comes one whom they love and praise. Next comes one whom they fear. Next comes one whom they despise and defy. When a leader trusts no one, no one trusts him. The great leader speaks little. He never speaks carelessly. He works without…
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How will companies approach the management challenge?
Here is a visionary tweet by Kenneth Mikkelsen on how companies in the future will approach the management challenge. The businesses will: Have a higher purpose beyond making profit Hire people who are passionate about this higher purpose See all stakeholders as equally important Cultivate long-term relationships with suppliers Have open doors and be transparent…
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Beliefs influence results
Peggy Holman writes in Open Space Technology: A User’s NON-Guide, pp. 48—50, that different methods can work in a given situation but what matters most are the beliefs of the facilitator. “My belief (and I don’t have sufficient empirical evidence for it to be more than an opinion) is that while method may be one…
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The end of hierarchy
Here is a conversation between Gary Hamel and Terri Kelly, president and CEO of W.L. Gore, on Gore’s long-running experiment in natural leadership and managing without managers. Very interesting and fascinating!
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Turn the ship around
David Marquet is the submarine captain who turned the ship around by treating his entire crew as leaders, not followers. He vowed never to give an order. This is an example on how to release the passion, initiative, and intellect of everyone on the team. The submarine crew continued to do well long after his…
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Eco-leadership
Eco-leadership is leadership for networked and inter-dependent organizations. The term was coined by Simon Western in 2008. He challenges the notion of the individual or hero leader. Eco-leadership is a distributed leadership approach based on connectivity, networking, and adaptivity.
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Should the boss have all the answers?
Here is a thought provoking tweet by Sïmon Saneback revealing huge cultural differences. The question is whether the boss should have all the answers? The answer is yes (77%) in India, maybe (46%) in the UK, and no (7%) in Sweden.
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Consent & Sochi 2014 gold medals
The secret behind Sweden’s gold medals in the cross-country skiing team relays at Sochi 2014 is said to be hard work. I think the true secret is the use of consent! Here are two quotes (my translation into English): “We’ve basically made the decisions ourselves all the time and then we’ve had a team behind…