Well, time for another update, apologies to the hub for not having posted more often. Positive things first.

In his book, The Wisdom of the Flying Pig, Jack Hayhow has a few thoughts on recognition. Here’s one of them.

Re the recent post in The Hub quoting Daniel Goleman on how CEOs mostly get sacked because of lack of EQ/Emotional Intelligence, not lack of IQ... 

More Savage Chickens from Rob Savage here, where you can sign up for his daily email hit.

Hub member Tim Clark sent me his book on change. I like it a lot. Here are some excerpts - from the flyleaf and a few sections that I enjoyed - to give you a taster. I particularly like his points about how the leaders' ability to draw out people's discretionary efforts is more important in success than strategy or other issues that are usually assumed to be primary success factors. I also like his central point that the leader's role is largely one of energy management within an organization; generating, releasing and channeling people's energy:

Interesting thread here;

 http://www.tompeters.com/entries.php?note=010549.php

http://www.tompeters.com/entries.php?note=010550.php

http://www.tompeters.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=10549

 Peter

“When Claudio Fernando-Araoz, head of research for the executive recruitment firm Egon Zehnder International, looked at CEOs who had succeeded and those who had failed, he found the same pattern in America, Germany and Japan: those who failed were hired on the basis of their drive, IQ, and business expertise – but fired for lack of emotional intelligence. They simply could not win over, or sometimes even just get along with, their board of directors, or their direct reports, or others on whom their own success depended.�

Shawn Doyle, of New Light Learning, is a master motivational speaker.

“Passion makes all the difference in the world. All obstacles fall out of the way… If you don’t have a passion for what you do, get out. Go do something you do have a passion for…�

Check out this video on one of his 10 Foundations of Motivation - The Power of Passion.

Leadership is a hard-nosed thing, right? Especially in a downturn. If you're too soft, people will take advantage, won't strive to hit their targets (aka to please you, in these days of evaporating bonuses) and you won't be a strong leader, right? Well, it's not really as simple as that, is it.

If you are looking for something to uplift your sprirt watch this wonderful clip.

In his book, The Manager’s Survival Guide, Morey Stettner has a “Before You Ask� checklist. He advises managers to…

Use this checklist to ensure you’re seeking wise counsel and you’re ready to digest what you hear:

I have written previously on the subject of ethical behaviour.     The headline story in the latest Centre for Creative Leadership newsletter really made me ‘snap’ to attention.    

I once heard 'conversation' described as the 'Sixth Discipline' - a reference to Peter Senge's Fifth Discipline - implying that conversation is the great secret, ignored discipine that managers and leaders need to get better at, and fast. I absolutely agree.

I've wondered about the connection between celebrity and leadership for some time. People increasingly 'follow' the lives of celebrities - 'follow' as in read about them, watch news items about them, live their own life vicariously through the life of the celebrity.

The Olympics are launched today. This caught my attention in my inbox this morning: 

Here's the inspiring clip, and below is the link to Avaaz where you can shake hands or just find out more: