Leadership Inspiration

I get asked many times about the differences between management and leadership. I always start the answer with the implications of an over managed organisation and then link that to the individual and then explain my view of the differences.

Here's how it all starts with a crisis of being over managed and under led....

Stage 1: Some combination of visionary entrepreneurship and/or luck creates and implements a successful business strategy.

Stage 2: A fairly dominant position (and thus lack of...

One night a group of nomads were preparing to retire for the evening when suddenly they were surrounded by a great light. They knew then, that they were in the presence of a celestial being. With great anticipation, they awaited a heavenly message of great importance that they knew must be especially for them.

Finally, the voice spoke, "Gather as many pebbles as you can. Put them in your saddle bags. Travel a day's journey and tomorrow night will find you are glad and also find you are sad."

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Jack Welch once said, " before you become a leader it is about growing yourself, when you become a leader it is all about growing others." I really believe this and have spent the last 31 years developing leaders. One area that is often missed in business is the ability of a leader to consciously build the confidence of the team around them. A common pattern I see is that where there is a good leader there is always a strong team around them.

In many organisations which are over managed and...