ROI - You're making it up and it's the wrong question!

Anyone who can demonstrate a financial Return on Investment on leadership development is making it up.

Anyone who asks to see the ROI on leadership development is asking the wrong question.

Dr Mike AshbyApril 18, 2023ROI, leadership, leadership development, management trainingComment

Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty

COVID-19 is one of the greatest challenges any leader will face in their career. There are no certainties. The scope, scale and significance is unknowable, and the secondary effects on the economy are potentially even greater than the outbreak itself. How will you meet that leadership challenge?

generalDr Mike AshbyMarch 25, 2020blog, business blog, leadership, leadership development, business advise, management development, management training, coronavirus, covid19, covid-19, pandemic Comment

Active at Active VMA

In this blog Mike talks about the transformation he’s seen working directly with a client, Active VMA, who are moving further and faster. As Troy, their Production Manager says “getting shit out the door faster than ever”.

Dr Mike's Blog, generalDr Mike AshbyMarch 11, 2020blog, business blog, leadership, leadership development, business advise, management development, management training, self-awareness, collaboration, active, conflict, teamComment

Purposeless Exploring

I found the process of exploring without purpose was good for my soul. We spend so much of our lives being purpose driven and outcome driven – I've got this objective by that date as a step towards that long-term goal. And of course, as an Achiever on the Enneagram scale, my need to hit targets of any kind is hard-wired.

Two Things

I don’t have McKinsey’s fabulous research resources, so I can’t prove my theory, but I believe self-awareness and a learning mindset are essential in any stage of an organisation’s development. As Jack Welch said, “when the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.”

Dr Mike's Blog, generalDr Mike AshbyFebruary 13, 2020blog, business blog, mindset, growth mindset, mind, leadership, leadership development, business advise, management development, management training, self-awareness, learning mindset, learning, learning and development, self-awareComment

Growth Mindset - Not

Someone was telling me the other day that they were sick of mindset. I’ve been a fan of Carol Dweck’s work for 10 years, so I asked her why. She said that in her experience the way it was being used was as a bit of a putdown by managers.

Dr Mike's Blog, generalDr Mike AshbyJanuary 29, 2020blog, business blog, mindset, growth mindset, growth, fixed mindset, mind, leadership, leadership development, business advise, management development, management trainingComment

Decayed Decade

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.

Dr Mike's Blog, generalDr Mike AshbyDecember 18, 2019auckland business, blog, business advice, business advisors, business blog, management, management development, management team, management training, new zealand business advisorsComment

Succeeding at Succession

The 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.

Cultivating Purpose

I 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.

The Last Word on Hansen (for now)

There’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.

Self-Taught Genius

Certainly, 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.

Dr Mike's Blog, generalDr Mike AshbyOctober 23, 2019auckland business, business advice, business advisors, genius, great managers, guitar, High performance culture, management, management development, management team, management training, music, new zealand business advisors, Paul McCartney, self-taughtComment

Upside of anger

We 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.

Dr Mike's Blog, generalDr Mike AshbyOctober 9, 2019all blacks, anger, angry, auckland business, business advice, business advisors, business collaboration, devolved leadership, fustration, High performance culture, management training, new zealand business advisors, shared leadership, upside of angerComment

Creating on-field leaders

I’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.

Dr Mike's Blog, generalDr Mike AshbySeptember 25, 2019all blacks, auckland business, business advice, business advisors, business collaboration, collaboration, culture, devolved leadership, High performance culture, management training, new zealand business advisors, on-field leadership, shared leadershipComment

Moon shot culture

The 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.

Dr Mike's Blog, generalDr Mike AshbySeptember 11, 2019auckland business, business advice, business advisors, business collaboration, business leader podcasts, business podcasts, collaboration, culture, gene kranz, High performance culture, management training, moon culture, new zealand business advisorsComment

The third voice – the magic of collaboration

Emmy 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.

Dr Mike's Blog, generalDr Mike AshbyAugust 21, 2019auckland business, business advice, business advisors, business collaboration, business leader podcasts, business podcasts, cocreation, collaboration, management training, new zealand business advisors, synergyComment

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