Phil's comments about remembering not to panic in a down turn and working with clients in the financial services industry led me to think of the sometimes inevitable loss of people this means. The connection with leadership and organisational processes came to mind when I recalled some really ‘classic’ examples of how not to let people go last time we had a downturn.

I recently had and email exchange with a colleague of mine about the role of leaders as both students and teachers in in-company leadership development initiatives.  Our debate was wether is was better to develop a pool of leadership talent using external expertise or have the intervention led by organisational leaders.  It was such an interesting thought that it led me to 'pencil' my own views.

I came across an except from a speech given by JK Rowling (Harry Potter fame as if you didn't know) to Harvard graduates.  Her subject was learning from failure.

Most team development work focuses on teambuilding. But Jon Katzenbach and colleagues show in this book how commitment to performance goals and common purpose are more important to team success than team building. Very useful book for broadening your understanding of what makes teams work beyond the ‘one third’ of the equation that everyone else seems to focus on. Recommended by us here at Performance Equations .