Acknowledgement: I stole the name from a University Revue in 1979. It’s also a song by Sabertooth Zombie but you probably knew that. At the end of every decade we may feel that the human condition/society has lurched another step down. But the reality is much more uplifting: most of the poorest people today have better lives than a billionaire had a century ago. As we head for the beach and then gear ourselves up for a new decade, give yourself some reasons to be hopeful.
Read MoreThe HR Industry Benchmark Survey Report 2019 released in November identified that succession planning was a challenge for 16% of respondents – well behind leadership development, culture change and change management.
But for those facing the issue, it can be their greatest challenge.
Read MoreI was leading the debate for the cynics by asking why we should start with why. I lost the argument.
Being clear about purpose and values doesn’t drive performance on its own. But it helps you hire and grow people who get what that purpose is about and who you are. And it helps you dehire them too, which is every bit as important.
Read MoreThere’s not a lot to say about the result that hasn’t been said. That’s sport. That’s life.
But I was interested in how Ian Foster characterized Hansen’s approach. He praised his combination of high expectations, empathy and compassion, which I thought was just a fabulous definition of what good leadership looks like.
Read MoreCertainly, one of the things I enjoy about playing guitar is improvising on the spot, just picking it up and playing whatever comes into my head and fingers, creating something that will disappear the minute I stop.
But being self-taught cuts both ways. If you’re a genius like Paul McCartney, you don’t know the rules so you create all sorts of extraordinary music that changes the world, not just the music industry.
But I’m not a genius.
Read MoreWe want to empower people, let them get on with it, avoid micro-managing, let them make mistakes, allow them to fail, give them responsibility.
However, there are times when it’s your job to chuck all that and read the riot act. Only once, and only when it really matters. But in such a fashion that people never forget the experience of your displeasure. Anger, rarely expressed, can be the best evidence of your commitment to quality.
Read MoreI’ve been thinking and talking a lot about performance culture. One of my reference points is the All Blacks who exemplify a self-regulating performance culture
There’s one dimension which I think underpins everything else – the strategy of devolved leadership. This was developed very early in Graham Henry’s tenure.
Read MoreThe words came back to mind when I was thinking about high performance culture. I’ve believed for a long time that the only source of sustainable competitive advantage is a self-regulating performance culture. That is a culture that is able to adapt to its environment without being directed from above or being forced to change by external forces.
Read MoreEmmy Lou Harris has collaborated with many (perhaps even most) of the great recording artists over the last 30 years in the country/folk rock space. She said, "When you combine two unique voices it creates a third phantom voice.”
I know what she means.
Read MoreWhat changes is our ambition, and that is underpinned by what we value as important. There’s a lovely book I read years ago called “Rules for Aging” by Roger Rosenblatt. Rule 1 states: it doesn’t matter, it really doesn’t. I think most of us would say that our preoccupations change as we ease into our 50s. My version is “there’s not much that matters, but what matters matters a lot”.
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