How to find your purpose (a sceptic’s guide)
Simon Sinek’s bestseller Start With Why hit a nerve in 2009 with a message that was both revelatory and obvious: great businesses and great leaders are not determined by what they do or how they do it; what mattered was why. Purpose duly became the business buzzword of the following decade, no doubt helped by the global […]
Is work-life balance still relevant?
There are many who shake their heads at the term, before evangelising instead about the importance of work-life blend, fit or integration. If it sounds like a cynical mix (blend? Combination? Entanglement?) of semantics and posturing, that’s because it mostly is. However, there is some substance to it. The objection to the concept of work-life […]
5 black leaders you should know about
In 2021, something unusual happened – a fact made the news! This fact was one that most people in the headhunting world could have told you: there were at the time precisely zero black CEOs, CFOs or chairs of FTSE 100 companies. Progress has been made, according to the recent Parker Review, with 96% of FTSE 100 […]
3 characteristics of inclusive leaders
The Black Lives Matter protests that reignited after the murder of George Floyd in 2020 belatedly made these business issues too. Many firms have since ventured into the somewhat uncomfortable political territory of standing up for a cause, if for no other reason than because consumers and employees expect it. Sometimes, they get into hot […]
Lessons for a new leader from King Charles
Unlike ambitious executives, the then-Prince of Wales was dreading the moment of his accession, but there are some similarities. Most importantly, new CEOs and new Kings alike will quickly discover that no matter how much thought and planning they’ve put into what they will do, they can never fully prepare. Partly, this is because you […]
Is it your job to make your employees happy?
The more self-aware among us will know how important it is to keep ourselves motivated and inspired too. But does that sentiment extend to happiness? The old adage ‘a happy worker is a productive worker’ may seem to come from another, more paternalistic age, but the idea has hardly gone out of fashion. Silicon Valley […]
Liz Truss: Turnaround leader or growth CEO?
The old leader leaves in good time and on good terms, with the organisation in good stead. It doesn’t need them to survive because they developed leadership capabilities in depth throughout their time there. The new leader is a perfect fit for the demands of the role and what the company needs to take its […]
Why growth matters
Environmental and social activists have rightly called into question the desirability of pursuing economic growth at all costs, while others have pointed out that raising GDP is a poor policy objective, because it fails to account for social quality or quality of life. Individual businesses face a concurrent critique over claims that rapid scaling frequently […]
Dealing with disengagement
Unfortunately, it’s not something you’re going to be able to avoid. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2022 report, the proportion of workers who are engaged – who thrive at work – is only 21%. Six in ten are emotionally detached (i.e. not engaged), while the remaining 19% are miserable, or actively disengaged. […]
Does working your way up the ranks make you a better leader?
New recruits couldn’t go anywhere near head office without serving time in the trenches as shop floor trainees. “There’s no substitute for that in retail,” Whiteside said, making a point to spend time in stores before starting subsequent CEO roles. It’s an approach to leadership development that became less popular over the following decades, coinciding […]
