When moving on to head new teams, it is often tempting to dive in to find similarities between the new team and the previous team. Indeed, for some of us our previous team may be our only reference point for us to base any decisions or comparisons on. While it is certainly effective to find similarities between teams to guide our actions and decisions, more importantly it is crucial to note the differences between the teams that may potentially make the difference.
We have previously discussed the fatal mistake a leader …

The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner is outdated, having originated in the early 1980′s.when everyone was trashing management. Hence why Tom Peters said in the preface to their first edition of 1987 that ”…management as we know it is not dead. But it darned well ought to be!” There is no mention of management in their book. The result is an overloaded concept of leadership. One problem with this account is that it makes it hard to see how lower level employees can lead. Greater specialization, driven …

Many will claim that the difficulty in conveying our message across to our listeners accurately is what makes communication so hard. Here, we will look at why listening to messages from our team may be harder, and how learning to do so is essential to maintain respect for our team members.
As leaders, we often hear advice like “listen first, then speak”, or “seek first to understand, then be understood”. Indeed, such conventional wisdom often bears much truth. All too often, many leaders, from ground managers to senior executives, get too …

Warren Buffett is in the news these days after publicly expressing his confidence in the future of American corporations and recently investing $8 Billion Dollars to purchase interests in GE and Goldman Sachs. With the recent stock market turmoil, many look to the world’s wealthiest man for guidance, and rightly so. Buffett is widely recognized as an exceptional judge of corporate value. “The Oracle of Omaha,” as he is known, is arguably the most successful investor in history. Corporate leaders regularly make the trek to Omaha, Nebraska, seeking his wisdom. …

Also known as democratic leadership, participative leadership is the most common form of leadership practiced in the corporate world and political scene. The participative leadership model favours decision making by a group. In this model, the leader consults his team and seeks their opinion, making the decision subsequently. Compared to the autocratic leadership model, this model allows the views of the team members to be heard and encourages team members to participate, hence its name. It is worthy to note that in this style of leadership, the decision is still …

It is important that as leaders, we are aware of our own leadership styles, and the effects of it. One of the largest mistakes a leader can make is to be uncertain about his own style of leadership, as when he can’t make up his mind as to what kind of leader he wants to be, he’ll not just create confusion for himself but for his team too. Can you imagine if one fine day your boss wakes up and can’t decide whether he wants to be a dictator or …

Some of us find it easy to make decisions while others tend to procrastinate a lot when it comes to making decisions – particularly if they are important ones that could alter the pathway of our life. When making decisions in life changing situations it can be hard for everyone, after all the choice you make will affect your life and the route you choose to go might not be easily reversible or impossible to change. If we stop and look back on some of the biggest moments in our …