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The Practice of Leadership
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Leadership today often seems to be very theoretical. Much has been written and discussed, but its only in the practice of leadership that we influence our world.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'execution'
When goal-setting backfires
Photo by Anderaz "A goal properly set is halfway reached." - Abraham Lincoln “Ready, aim … fail” by Drake Bennett discusses research that found goals which are incorrectly set can have negative consequences. Goal-setting dr...
How to Create Practical Checklists
Photo by Marcin Wichary The humble checklist has been used for may years as a memory aid. Checklists help to ensure tasks are completed to the right quality and standards. The best example of a checklist is the daily “to do” list, a reminder of w...
Leaders create the future by doing
Bre Pettis and Kio Stark have developed and interesting manifesto called “The Cult of Done Manifesto”. Leadership is about creating, it’s not about problem solving. To create we must focus on doing, learning and adapting. The core idea in this ...
The management of attention through vision
Photo by shoothead “The scarcest resource for today’s business leaders is no longer just land, capital or human labor, and it certainly isn’t information. Attention is what’s in short supply..” - Thomas H. D...
Moving from a language of destinations to a language of action!
Photo by striatic A post from Mark Howell from Strategy Central cites an interesting quote from David Maister’s blog on how to move from the language of destinations to action…. "Whether you are talking about purpose, ...
How to effectively delegate tasks…
Effective leaders delegate tasks to others, this allows them to work of more important concerns and to help develop other people around them. However, the reality is that you can only delegate work, not responsibility, if it’s your accountability i...
Planners vs searchers… the big programme vs small wins…
Tom Peters has a great post on his blog, "The Right Plan Is to Have No Plan" which discusses two belief systems adopted by leaders seeking to initiate change, that of planners who seek to impose top down solutions, who Tom says “more or les...
Agility Means Simple Things Done Well, Not Complex Things Done Fast
Creating agile organisations and teams are essential to keep pace with business today. Michael Hugos has a great post on agility where he makes the following point: “Experience shows me (again and again) that agility is not about working fast but a...
How to keep the company vision strong
The Ken Blanchard Company newsletter, Ignite!, for November 2007 has a great article “Keeping a Vision Strong through All Levels of Your Organization” which discusses why vision tends to dilute as you move down the organisational structure. “In...
The importance of questioning your work
Taking time out to think and reflect on what your busy with and what’s your purpose, what are you striving to achieve? Then ask yourself, is what I’m doing directly contributing to my purpose? To remain on track 37signals suggests that to remain ...
The power of commitment
As leaders we often underestimate the power of commitment, there is something powerful about being committed, I mean being truly committed to a cause, to a vision or to a meaningful purpose. "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Bold...
Time is limited…… Are you spending it on purpose?
Photo by eugene "Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action, and purpose." – Lance ...
The importance of sensemaking in leadership
One of the critical leadership capabilities required today is sensemaking, which is defined by Wikipedia as: “..the ability or attempt to make sense of an ambiguous situation. More exactly, sensemaking is the process of creating situational awarene...
Insights into effective decision making
Leaders are central to the development of an environment that encourages effective decision making. As CCL discusses in their article “Unbalanced Influence: How Myths and Paradoxes Shape Leaders Myth of Effective Decision Making“. The art...
Peter Drucker On Leadership
There is a great article “Peter Drucker On Leadership” discussing the leadership principles of Peter Drucker, some of his ideas from the article that stood out to me are as follows: What Needs to Be Done: “Successful leaders don...
Moving from vision to action…
Photo by IvanoMak A post from Mark Howell from Strategy Central cites an interesting quote from David Maister’s blog on how to move from the language of destinations to a language of action…. "Whether you are talking about purp...
Leaders relentlessly simplify…
Photo by yoshiko314 Simplicity is critical to the effective execution of an organisation’s strategy. Raj Sheelvant’s discusses the importance of simplicity in his post “Simplicity Minded Management“....
Do you have a set of leadership principles that enable others to act?
Photo by homelessballoon An article by Dan Heath and Chip Heath, in Fast Company, Analysis of Paralysis discusses a key principle, "If your strategy doesn’t help employees act, it’s not a strategy.", as discussed in the ...
The gap between strategy and execution
A study by OnPoint Consulting which surveyed the gap between strategy and execution. Of the leader's surveyed 49% perceived a gap between their strategies and execution (the ability to make their strategies happen) and of these 64...
