Posts

It’s too easy to lose sight of these basic foundations of leadership. Especially in situations where the leader shares in operational duties, the sacred duties can take a backseat. Somehow. As a leader of a team (assuming the team setup is working) there are two activities that should likely take up 80% of my time. Direct Everybody should know where we’re going, and why. Anyone who is tasked with directing work should be especially diligent in this endeavour, and in communicating it often, early, and far more frequently than seems natural....

Sometimes it’s easy to ask for help. Sometimes it’s hard. Maybe it’s a question of framing. When there’s something I can’t do at work, I reach out for help. It’s OK to say “I can’t fix this spreadsheet up, could you show me how?”, or “I think I’m missing some perspective here, could you take a look for me?” When there’s something I can’t work out how to express, I chew on it for ages....

We spend an incredible amount of time working on marketing to sell stuff. To that end, we develop these little stories, designed to evoke emotion, curiosity, connection – to manipulate an audience to come buy stuff. But there’s another, far more fascinating reason to tell those stories. When we tell a story that’s true, that we’re passionate about, that excites us, we become inspiring. We become elevated. We energise our organisations, teams, friends and family....

When developing a concept, it’s tempting to refine, polish, and make sure the direction is just perfect. It’s also tempting to let it “grow” naturally out of the organisation. Both options conveniently prevent you from having to put your own work into the world and standing by it. I believe that more often than not, it’s more important to make it, than it is to make it just right. The consequences of a wrong communication angle are most likely straightforward and low-risk: Total ignorance on the part of your target audience....

This book review is slightly different. There are two components. First, a review of the book, and second a list of talking points for anyone wanting to dig further into the messages in the book. It’s important to note that this book doesn’t just discuss principles for business – it applies to anybody who aspires to cooperate with anybody else. Review The book is built around the idea that by mastering 3 critical skills, any organisational culture can become world-class....