Today’s fast-changing and uncertain world needs leaders to have smart thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills. However, research strongly indicates that generally leaders do not have such skills. For example, a global survey in 2019 of business leaders by McKinsey found that fewer than half of respondents considered that decisions in Read more…
Most training in leadership has traditionally emphasized the cultivation of functional knowledge or skills (e.g. finance, operations) and a focus on ‘hard’ outputs like profits. But growing research evidence points to how most leaders need to do more to inspire and engage their employees. For example, a global 2016 survey Read more…
Differences in opinions and even conflict are a common part of life nowadays. What’s more, in today’s so-called ‘post-truth’ society, everyone’s particular opinion on an issue counts and, of course, many opinions can become polarised or extreme thanks often to the influence of social media. For most people in their Read more…
Most organisations have a natural, in-built bias to maintaining the status quo. To a large extent this is often because leaders think their previous decisions are still appropriate, or simply, of course, because change itself is often hard. If leaders do make change, often they prefer to make just incremental Read more…
Strategic thinking is a skill-set and approach that everyone in an organisation – not just senior managers – can practice and apply to help how they do their own job and improve the decisions and choices they need to make. Being strategic is not just about business or organisational-level strategy Read more…
How good are you at strategic thinking? Certainly, it’s a skill expected of most leaders today. But, despite lots written on the subject of strategy (like on leadership!) over recent decades, there doesn’t appear to be any consistent definition of exactly what it means to ‘think strategically’. In my view, Read more…
A professional, external facilitator can provide heaps of valuable support with an organisation’s strategic thinking and planning. More and more Boards and CEOs now use one. But exactly what potential uses can such a facilitator serve – beyond just the usual perception perhaps of someone standing at the front of Read more…
As a leader, it’s obviously important that you notice what’s happening around you. But, actually, how much do you think you may miss or, if you are honest, might you choose to ignore or ‘avoid’ noticing? And what can leaders do to ensure they do notice better? The truth is, Read more…
Since business strategy was conceived in the 1960s, it has been rather stuck in a mechanistic, analytically-based groove. The accepted process has been very much about valuing data, applying various analytical tools, trying to predict the future, and then drafting up multi-year plans (with a typical hope, of course, to Read more…
The recent pandemic has caused many people all over the world to reflect on their lives, their wellbeing, what their purpose in life is and what they want from their jobs. At the same time, employers have not only widely stepped up to provide much more support to their employees Read more…