Leadership Blogs

Just for fun, here's a link to a web forum which discusses the various merits of owning a Ferrari versus a limited edition guitar or other transient pleasures such as seeing a pretty woman.

 http://www.billnelsonmusic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=93909#93909

I attended the RSA last night and heard from Raymond Simon - Deputy Secretary of Education about how the US Govt is trying to make learning a priority for EVERYONE in the 21st Century.  Also attended by Michael Barber, Adviser to Tony Blair on Education Strategy for New Labour.

 I must say that the system in the US relies heavily on measurement and testing, although it appears that teachers like to know how their children are doing and do not see tests in quite the same way as some teachers in this country.

Covey calls it modeling. Most just call it setting an example. Wally Bock's has a great post on his 3 Star Leadership Blog about how leaders don't always set the best example. His father told him, "Remember, son, everyone is put here by God for a purpose. Some are to serve as horrible examples." Unfortunately, far too many managers are serving in this capacity. Click here for more.

In the attached paper, Professor Jonathan Gosling, who runs the Leadership Centre at University of Exeter in the UK, explains why Business School courses aren't enough to develop managers and leaders, and that we need a new model - 'wiki schools', in which we learn from each other - versus the ATM model of 'receiving' learning. Jonathan is a colleague of McGill (in Canada's) Henry Mintzberg, the strategy guru and pioneer of alternative approaches to leadership and management learning that move away from 'MBA as usual'.

Finished listening to Stephen Covey's Principle-Centered Leadership. This is going to be one of my big projects for implementation this year. It basically says to have a mission statement between individuals, between individuals & departments, between two departments, and between departments & and the organization. There are Four Areas: Personal (Trustworthy), Interpersonal (Trust), Managerial (Empowerment), and Organizational (Alignment). Trustworthiness is important to be able to Trust. When there is Trust, you can Empower.

The Internet has become an important business tool for frontline managers all the way to C-Level managers. However, using the Internet is becoming increasingly frustrating. There is too much Fluff, Spam and clutter in the results you get.

Just take a look at some studies

In his book, The War for Talent, Ed Michaels relays the following findings collected from the feedback of 12,000 managers:

“When you talk about development, … most people think about training. Training is 10% of the development equation. Fifty percent is the sequence of jobs that you have, and 40% is the coaching and mentoring and candid feedback that you have or don’t have.”

You Are What You Do... Or Are You?   I was watching the movie Batman Begins recently. There's a scene where Bruce Wayne's love interest and childhood friend confronts him, telling him that "It's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you." This sparked a small discussion amongst us viewers, and I especially was interested in the implications of this on-screen proclamation. Who you are or what you do?