“Strategy is not about guessing the future but preparing for whatever it will be!”. Many of you have heard our friend and partner Nick van Heck claim this. And preparing our organizations, start with preparing ourselves, as leaders and human beings. Many of you know the fascination that the work of Joseph Campbell has on me. Campbell was a university…
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Engaging Leadership
Disrupt or be Disrupted: the Principles of War by Michael Newman
Thursday December 1st, 2011 0 commentsIn 1988, as a newly commissioned Officer in the British Army, the world of disruption was my context. As a commander of 28 Royal Engineer soldiers (the famous ‘Sappers’) I was a very small, but I like to think important, part of the NATO master plan to defend Western Europe from the Warsaw Pact. Back in the 1980s, Hundreds of…
Sense of Purpose saves lives
Saturday November 19th, 2011 1 commentIn my office, well in sight, are the remains of a bed’s part coming from a concentration camp with a profile of the Virgin Mary engraved. This is all that the nazis returned to my grandfather, about his best friend, a catholic priest, caught by the Gestapo for hiding Jewish children. Father de Soil had no family left and he…
Smile, and the world smiles with you… by Michael Newman
Saturday November 12th, 2011 0 commentsIn a non-descript, grey and often wet corner of East Manchester, just off the ring motorway, you will find a large furniture shop with the not especially inspiring name of ‘Housing Units’.1 There are many other stores in the Greater Manchester area from which to furnish a house, but there is something unusual about a visit to Housing Units. If…
“Most integration processes fail by focusing exclusively on Logos”
Saturday October 29th, 2011 0 commentsGo back to your own experience: 8 to 10 months into the integration process (after a merger or an acquisition), the momentum seems to slow and difficulties surface. Michael Newman and I researched literature to see whether or not the observation our colleagues and I had about this specific moment was matched by others. These are some of what we…
My best interview on the future of Leadership
Saturday September 3rd, 2011 5 comments(NEW CLIP OF INTERVIEW IN PORTUGUESE ADDED AT END OF THIS POST) During my recent stay in São-Paulo, I was interviewed by Patricia Bispo, who runs an excellent site dedicated to people and leadership issues. Her questions helped me clarify my thoughts on the future of leadership. Here are, in English, the key parts of the interview: Patricia Bispo –…
"The leadership generation gap and the impact of the changing landscape"
Saturday July 2nd, 2011 1 commentArto Joensuu is one of these sharp and bright minds that Nokia used to enable, foster and develop. He has now started his own business in the Middle East and is a remarkable speaker on the impact of “digital” on today’s economy and leadership. He publishes a blog http://www.artojoensuu.com/. I found a recent exchange of mails with him so enriching…
"Generation gap in leadership"
Sunday June 26th, 2011 2 commentsLast week’s post has been our most successful to date. Heartfelt thanks to all of you who read and shared it with so many new others! The post created a lot of direct exchanges, as, I guess, most of you hesitate in posting public comments and sharing confidential information. In your private comments, one theme seemed to come back consistently…
"Adding my own signature to the job!"
Saturday June 18th, 2011 3 commentsMy team and I were invited to support The Dow Chemical Company’s LATAM region in implementing a strong initiative blending local reality with strategic direction coming from headquarters. To that effect, Pedro Suarez, the President for the whole zone (covering from Mexico down to Chile and Argentina) and his leadership team had invited their top 300 leaders to engage them…
"How to live up to our brand promise"
Sunday May 22nd, 2011 4 commentsIn a Financial Times article from November 2006, titled “My two weeks in Hell with the tortured Soul of Dell”, journalist Stefan Stern shared his frustration at his Dell experience, conflicting badly with the brand’s promise such as conveyed in its tagline, advertising and marketing material. I regularly write to CEO’s in order to inform them about my client experience,…