by Jonathan Gifford | Jun 10, 2011 | Leadership Ideas
Successful leaders offer substantial autonomy to members of the team and to parts of the business. Individuals are empowered, and respond to this; decision-making is de-centralised, bringing more opinion and directly relevant experience into the process and,...
by Jonathan Gifford | May 4, 2011 | Leadership Ideas
If the tap in the staff kitchen is broken and nobody mends it, colleagues quite quickly begin to draw a number of very negative conclusions—in particular, that management isn’t particularly bothered about the welfare or comfort of the staff and that, since management...
by Jonathan Gifford | Jan 10, 2011 | Leadership Ideas
People still talk about ‘the masks of leadership’—about a leader’s need to present different ‘faces’ to different audiences. Forget it. People see straight through people who are not being honest with them; they know when they are being manipulated. And people...
by Jonathan Gifford | Dec 14, 2010 | Leadership Ideas
Everyone wants to please the boss. Few of us are immune to the joys of hearing what we want to hear. Bad news, on the other hand, is never welcome. Leaders need to separate the message from the messenger: not knowing about bad news is the most dangerous thing...
by Jonathan Gifford | Nov 26, 2010 | Leadership Ideas
Jack Welch, ex-CEO of America’s giant General Electric Company, is famous for his insistence on ‘candor’ in business: the burning need to get to the heart of the problem without social niceties. But this approach has its potential downside. Avoiding...
by Jonathan Gifford | Nov 24, 2010 | Leadership Ideas
Leaders need to tread the fine line between having the necessary confidence in their own abilities, and the lack of sensitivity and humility that will prevent them from successfully leading a team of other very able people. Confidence in your own convictions...
