'Unconditional leadership' by David Robinson

It's a bit like buses really. You wait for ages and then two come at once. No sooner did I stumble across one brilliant and impact book on leadership ('the Secret' by Kan Blanchard) then a client gives me another one.

'Unconditional Leadership' is written by a guy called David Robinson, founder of a very successful charity called 'Community Links.' What I love about it is that it's short (only 77 pages), and it's written in an engaging and informal style. The author focuses on practical examples, not leadership theory, and at no time pretends he is a perfect leader. In fact he makes the point that such a person simply does not exist. Every great leader has their failings, in a way that's what makes them stronger.

Most importantly it's a really powerful story of how great leaders lead, with many pertinent personal examples. I've just picked a few things out here which work for me.

1. Be visionary, but translate that vision into practical action. As Mandela said 'vision without action is merely dreaming. Action with no vision is just passing time. But with vision and action you can change the world.'

2. Leadership is all about maximising potential, it's what great leaders do. They understand that people have so much potential inside them and it's a leader's job to unlock it.

3. Conditional leaders think of themselves at the top of the conventional hierarchical pyramid, focussed on command and control. Unconditional leaders instead see themselves at the centre of a circle, leading from the centre but pushing out supporting their people. It's as close to servant-leadership as you can get.

4. Anyone can be a leader, wherever you are in an organisation, or outside work as well. You don't have to be at the head of a whole organisation. You can lead a team, your colleagues, your boss or just yourself. It's about who you are not what you are.
Unconditional leadership is open to us all.

5. And you can start leading and changing things now. As Anne Frank wrote, 'how wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.'

6. Robinson then stresses the point that great leaders base everything they do on a deep rooted commitment to values. They guide everything, pushing you towards your vision. But values have to mean something, they are not just window dressing. Even Enron had a published code of ethics. Strong leadership must be build from a solid foundation. Values provide that bedrock.

7. If values push you, goals or objectives pull you towards that vision. And every individual, team and organisation must have well thought out goals. Without them we drift aimlessly. To quote from Alice in Wonderland, 'would you tell me which way I need to go from here?' 'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to' said the cat. ''I don't much care where', said Alice. 'Then it doesn't much matter which way you go' said the cat.' Objectives should always be in place, giving us something to aim for, but should change whenever necessary, pulling us even further. Convincing people of the need to constantly change and evolve is a crucial trait of a highly effective leader. As Darwin said 'it is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.'

8. Robinson then goes on to explore other strengths a great leader needs to have. He focuses on 'developing leaders in the middle.' People at the top of organisations cannot deliver transformational change on their own, they need leaders everywhere. But too often it is the people in the middle of organisations, middle managers as they are often called (horrible title), who block change. They worry about being exposed, of losing the power they have built up. But they are the very people who are fundamental to the journey. It is they who have most contact with front line staff, those who interact daily with the customer.

9. Unconditional leaders are truly passionate. They demand the same from those around them. In an environment where everyone feels passion for what they are doing we don't shrink from responsibility, we hunger for it. Unconditional leaders help us understand that although individually we are laying bricks, or fitting windows, or painting doors, collectively we are building the finest cathedral in the world.

10. Many organisations establish a mentoring system whereby people can be mentored by an alternative manager to their boss. I see the sense in this, but as Robinson points out, great leaders are both line managers and mentors to their people. Unconditional leaders put the emphasis on encouraging their people to solve their own problems, not by always telling them what to do or providing ready made solutions.

11. Valuing every individual will accentuate positive differences. How often do you come across teams where every member seems like a clone of the manager. Often managers recruit in their own type because the thought of someone different is just too challenging. But teams thrive when there is constructive challenge and different skill sets, where people are different. As the ex-Chairman of grand Metropolitan said, 'only cemeteries have people in tidy rows.'

12. Unconditional leaders listen. They believe that listening is the greatest gift they can give another person. Listening implies a willingness to embrace change. Change entails a measure of risk, but all around us we see people and organisations becoming more risk averse. We are stifled by legislation which is ripping the heart out of the ability to take risks and to learn from failures. Robinson calls those failures we can learn from a s 'good failures' and argues that no leader can be effective without experiencing them. He is particularly scathing of public sector managers and their risk averse culture. He even quotes Jimmy Greaves who, when asked for the secret behind his high scoring career said 'I took a lot of shots.'

13. Robinson concludes by stressing that unconditional leadership is not a soft touch. Being open to ideas and criticism, encouraging others to develop, to take risks and fail, celebrating diversity and difference, encouraging and supporting people to be strong, passionate, challenging and provocative taeks real determination and courage. But the rewards are enormous.


Even as I write this I realise how many gems and nuggets there are in this book. I've already recorded 13 insights in the 77 pages which resonated with me and I could have included twice as many. What I took most from the book is that no leader is perfect, but if you are willing to make mistakes, but to always strive to do the right thing and to lead in the right way the chances of success are very high.

And I do think the tide is turning. For many, many years far too many people have believed that command and control is the only way to lead. If we grew up experiencing that style, and seeing it get results, because it does, we believe it is the only way to lead and we copy it. Yes command and control does get results, but it will never ever get the long-term sustainable results that unconditional leaders do, leaders who know that who we are and the quality of what we do and how we do it are the hallmarks of great leaders.

As Dennis Healy is supposed to have wryly commented to Gordon Brown on the difference between running the Treasury and running the country, 'Chancellors must do something, Prime Ministers must be something.'



The 'secret' of Servant-Leadership

Throughout my working career, which began with 8 years in the voluntary sector followed by 16 years in the private sector, I became increasingly interested in leadership, and what makes a good or great leader. Much of this was prompted by my own experiences. At times over those years I had some good bosses (I struggle to come up with a great one) but I also experienced my fair share of mediocre and sometimes unpleasant managers, those who thought the only way to get results was to shout louder.

During those years I tried to develop my own leadership style. I intuitively knew that people gave their best when they felt good about themselves, motivated and respected, but I never really understood how to make that happen as a leader. That was because so much of what happened to me, and what I saw around me was the opposite of that, autocratic, often insecure managers caught up in a culture which believed results came through telling people what to do and demanding they performed. So often it was no different to what I guess happened in the factories and mills after the industrial revolution. The big boss in the big office demanding more results and harder work, his (always his) approach to managing re-enforced by his underlings at various levels.
Part of my feeling of helplessness lay in the fact that no-one was there to show me a different way, I had no role model to grab onto. The training I received was skills based, not about developing me as a leader. The inevitable outcome was that I often acted and behaved in much the same way as that I saw around me, believing it must be the way to get results.

The point is that shouting at people, telling them what to do, will always deliver results for you. People become scared and will do as they are told. But are they sustainable results? Absolutely not. And there is always a better way to get the best out of your people.

When I started my own business 8 years ago I was determined to discover different way of leading, ones that would unlock the potential of people and enable them to deliver sustainable amazing results. Since then I have tried to learn as much as I can and to share it with my clients, on an exploratory journey together. The problem is there is just so much to learn. There is no one simple solution to leadership, no one model or approach that is right.

But now, over 30 years after I first entered the world of full time work, some of my thoughts have begun to crystallise around one or two big ideas, the concept of servant-leadership, mixed in somehow with the 'Level 5 Leadership' explored by Jim Collins in 'Good to Great.' In 'Good to Great' Collins identifies 'Level 5 Leaders' as combining personal humility and professional will. I was introduced to his work by a mentor who helped me set up my business. I came across the idea of servant leadership just a couple of years ago, but now it is starting to all make sense.
Which brings me to today. I have finally come across a short, easy to read book on servant leadership which just allows so many pieces of my leadership jigsaw fall into place. It's called 'The Secret', it's by Ken Blanchard (him of 'One Minute Manager' and 'Gung Ho!' fame) and it's been around for several years now, I just happened on it in a bookshop. The book is very simple, as so much of Blanchard's work is, telling a story of a woman struggling to lead her team at work and then being introduced to a different way of doing things by a new mentor, who is the President of the company. The problem with the book, as ever, is that it is just so American, and just occasionally a little evangelical, which can make it difficult for us more reserved Brits to relate to. But what I would like to do is to try and summarise the learning and insights from the book here. I hope that's okay, I guess of it's not you'll have stopped reading this by now anyway.

The story is about a woman in a large company who is new to managing a team of people. Before this she was successful in a role with no line management responsibilities, and this earned her promotion. But team performance is poor, customer relations terrible and results bad.

Then her company offers her the chance to have a mentor, and she is allocated the company's President, much to her shock. She is asked to define leadership, in advance of the first meeting, and comes up with 'a leader is a person in a position of authority who is responsible for the results of those under his or her direction.' Not a bad first effort, you might think, very familiar for me from my past. She is surprised when she meets the HR Director to discuss the mentoring, for this senior manager tells her 'I'm here to serve, let me know if I can help in the future.' This manager's reaction is 'how odd that she would say her role is to serve. For goodness sake, she's head of Human Resources. Someone had better tell her that her role is to lead.'
When this manager meets the President of the company she is surprised at how relatively small and unpretentious his office is. He explains he chose to mentor her because he loves working with young leaders, and he believes that 'developing leaders is our highest strategic priority as an organisation', and also that 'if I don't invest time in helping other leaders grow and develop then the people I work with won't see it as a priority.'

He then goes on to outline his views on leadership, central to which is that anyone can be a leader, wherever they are in the organisation. You don't need to line manage a single other person to be an effective leader. Equally there are many others who hold senior positions who are not exerting much leadership at all. He likens effective leadership to an iceberg, above the surface is the bit we first see, the leadership skills of the individual, but most of the talent of great leaders lies beneath the surface, it's to do with their character.

He then reveals the secret of great leaders. They serve. If a person is leading with the intention to serve their people and their organisation, they will behave in a fundamentally different way than if their intention is self-serving. People become great leaders one day at a time throughout their lifetime. They constantly find new ways to serve.

The issue now is understanding what servant-leader really means in practice. This is a big and uncomfortable leap for many people, they have not worked hard for so many years to drag themselves up the organisation to the big office and feeling of power to now be told that they have to serve others. People also think it means things like making tea for the team and picking up litter in the car park. Although these might sometimes be important examples of role modelling (why expect one of your people to do something you won't do yourself) this misses the point of what servant-leadership is really about. It's about finding more strategic ways to serve.
The leader in the book then sets out five ways in which a servant-leader can strategically serve others. They are as follows:

1. Serving their team by building a compelling vision. It's about building clarity and setting a sense of direction, creating a picture of where the team or organisation will be in, say, three years time. It is through setting a compelling vision that you build passion, a reason for your team to get out of bed in the morning. It's the balance a leader has to develop between being 'heads up' (looking to the future) and 'heads down' (dealing with the here and now).

2. Serving their team by getting the right people on the bus in the right seats, engaging their hearts, minds and spirit, then developing them and releasing them through empowerment. Servant-leaders spend considerable amounts of time and energy making sure they have the right people (including getting the wrong people off the bus when necessary) and they unlock potential through development and empowerment. They constantly seek ways to engage heart, mind and spirit.


3. Serving their team through constantly improving yourself, and through improving and aligning structure, systems and processes. You cannot serve others effectively if you are not effective yourself, and unless structure, systems and processes are aligned to support the team it cannot be highly effective.

4. Serving the team through a constant focus on delivering results in the right way and on building relationships. This includes getting to know team members on a personal basis, including their interests outside work in their life as a whole. This is not to be confused with becoming personal friends with every member of your team, that is neither possible nor necessarily desirable. In the story the President spoke of learning each team member's 'Be, Do, Have and Help' in their lives and then making small contributions from time to time to that person achieving them.


5. Serving the team through acting and behaving in line with a set of values. All genuine leadership is built on trust. There are many ways to build trust. One way is to live consistently with the values you profess. If you value customers as being important, your behaviour and actions must display that all the time, or you lose that trust.


Towards the end of the book the President admits that he had not always been a servant-leader. In his early days he was a self-serving leader, where things were all about him. It took someone who saw potential in him and invested in him, showing him a different way of leading. I think this is so true, I just wish someone had showed me many years ago.

Defining Leadership

A couple of years ago (maybe more) I asked a whole number of people to define what leadership meant to them. I was overwhelmed with the response, and with the debate it generated. As I now launch a new leadership group on Facebook I don't want to lose this work and therefore have moved it into this section.

If you haven't read it before see what you think.

The two questions asked were as follows:

What is your definition of leadership (max 15 words)?

Think of the best leader you have ever worked for or with. What three adjectives would you use to describe their leadership style?

These questions did provoke a lot of interest. Thank you to everyone for your replies. Trying to define leadership is, of course, an enormous challenge, and we are not the first to attempt it. Indeed, if you 'Google' the word 'leadership' there are 126 million references to choose from! Visit any branch of Waterstones and you will find shelf after shelf of books on the subject. University business schools no doubt have professors who have spent their academic careers in pursuit of the answer.

But that doesn't stop us trying, and maybe not making it too complicated, let's leave that to the professors!

Over the past five years or so leadership has become something of a passion for me. I have seen so many examples of what I believe to be poor leadership and have also come across some great leaders. There are some consistent traits I seem to see in these great leaders.


The adjectives

Your choice of three adjectives to describe the best leader you have ever worked for or with supported so much of what I have seen. Somewhat unscientifically I have simply picked out those words most commonly chosen by respondents.

Out on its own at number 1 is inspirational

Next most common were approachable, enthusiastic and motivational

Behind these came four more words, confident, driven, empowering and focussed.

Not a bad list as far as I am concerned.


The definitions

I've listed at the bottom of this page all the definitions that were submitted. Analysing them, I've picked out the following themes:

Setting out a vision and purpose: a leader sets out and articulates a clear vision. They provide direction, a sense of purpose and meaning.

Translation into action: a leader defines clear goals and creates a plan. They are clear in thought, decisive in action. They ensure best practice.

Leading their team: they enable others and develop their team. They direct, guide, influence and motivate others. They inspire their people and get them to want to do things. They engage their people through their enthusiasm. They create excitement and confidence in their people. They remove doubt and give clear guidelines and support.

Role modelling: they realise that leadership is not about action, it's a position. They display integrity, are principled and lead by example. They do the right things and demonstrate respect and trust. They are clear thinking, instil confidence and are passionate. They are hard working and demanding.


I think that the consistent themes from your definitions have pulled together a compelling picture of great leadership. I'm also delighted with the acknowledgement by many that leadership is not just about what you do, but who you are, and how you behave.


I have taken the liberty of choosing my favourites from all the definitions received. Again there is nothing academic or scientific about this, they just resonate with me.

In equal third place...

A positive, inspirational and challenging approach to life that makes people feel excited and confident in moving things on

A clear vision, and the ability to inspire people to join you on that journey

Anyone who can inspire, motivate and gain the commitment of people to achieve great things

In second place...

Provide a vision, create a plan, take decisive action and inspire others to follow


and my (totally subjective) favourite...



Coaching and conducting an orchestra where every other musician is in tune and in pace



Other Leadership Quotes

I'd like to just add a few other leadership quotes I have come across.

'Great leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion.' (Jack Welch)

'If you haven't been frightened by leadership you haven't understood.' (Ray Noyes)

'Before you are a leader success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader success is all about growing others.' (Jack Welch)

'Being a leader is like being a lady. If you have to tell someone you are one you're probably not.' (Margaret Thatcher)



The Leadership Model I Use

When I work with individuals, teams or groups on leadership I base my model of highly effective leadership around five distinct themes, summarised as follows:

Setting the direction: a leader sets the direction for their team or organisation. They listen to stakeholders to understand what they need, they provide clarity of purpose and vision, and communicate them superbly. They create a clear strategy and ensure that every single person understands their role and goals in delivering that strategy.

Aligning the organisation: they ensure that the whole organisation is aligned behind the strategy to enable its delivery. They recruit the best people, align rewards, ensure systems and processes work effectively and that decision-making is effective.

Engaging their people: a leader unlocks the potential of their people by inspiring and engaging them. They listen to them, involve them and treat them with respect. They provide constant updates on how they are doing and enable superior performance. They clear the way for them. They empower them through providing freedom within a clear framework. They build a high performance culture where people are encouraged to give their best.

Translation into action: they not only create the strategy, they ensure it is executed effectively.

Being a role model: great leaders understand that it is the way they act and behave, every day, that will determine how their people act and behave. They consistently model the behaviours they wish to see in others. They build a culture of trust.


I was delighted that this model is so much in line with your definitions, It's a reassurance that at least I'm on the right path!





Some other thoughts
Just a few other random thoughts that might add to the debate:


1. I do believe there is a real difference between leadership and management. Both are honourable professions, and no organisation can be effective without people performing both of these roles. Indeed, these roles are performed by the same person. However, I think all to often people focus too much on their management responsibilities (grounding out results, fixing systems, day to day challenges) and less on leading (inspiring and motivating their people, planning for the future, sharing the vision.) How do you divide your time? Do you need to consciously change the balance?

2. Leaders do not have to be at the top of organisations or teams. Anyone can be a leader. As Stephen Covey says 'leadership is a choice'. Leaders can exist at every level in any organisation.

3. That's because great leaders understand they do not just lead their people. They lead in every direction. They can lead upwards (their boss and beyond), lead sideways (inside and outside their organisation) and lead their people. They also lead themselves (through role modelling). So much of leadership is about influencing and inspiring others. It is rarely, if ever, about telling.

4. Great leaders do not have to have big egos or loud, forceful personalities. Indeed in his excellent book 'Good to Great' Jim Collins sets out a compelling, well-evidenced case that in truly great companies who deliver sustained superior results, the leaders display just the opposite characteristics. He describes those leaders as displaying personal humility with professional will.




And finally...

I do see this as being the beginning of the debate, not the end. This is a fascinating subject which we can never stop learning about.

Moreover, in the workplace nothing is more important. Unless we can develop great leaders, who inspire and engage their people, we will never unlock the potential that exists in everyone. In particular we need to focus on developing the next generation, those who will lead people and organisations to greatness in the decades ahead.

Great leaders can and do transform teams and organisations.

Please keep contributing to the debate. E-mail me or contact me via the web site link.

I finish with a quote from Sheila Murray Bethel, which captures the point that we are always learning

'Leadership is not something that you learn once and for all. It is an ever-evolving pattern of skills, talents and ideas that grow and change as you do.'

Enjoy the journey!




The full list of definitions


The ability of an individual or a group to enable other individuals or groups to follow a chosen path

Coaching and conducting an orchestra where every other musician is in tune and in pace

A clear vision of where we are going, the ability to listen to other peoples ideas and to involve them in planning, the ability to make small feel big and big feel enormous, personal integrity, making achievement of goals fun

The principled ways things are done, by example. A commitment to develop a team

A set of behaviours, skills and traits that are used, depending on the people and the circumstances at any given moment in time

The ability to direct, guide, influence and motivate others

Making sure you do right things, not just things right

A personal attribute that enables an individual to get people to want to do something the individual defines

Someone who can make a group of people happy to participate on a common journey

Captain with the ability to steer the quickest route by way of the calmest waters

Having clear aims and goals, inspiring teams to input and learn, giving respect and trust

A provider of direction, encouragement and enthusiasm who instils best practice, confidence and clear thinking

Provide a vision, create a plan, take decisive action and inspire others to follow

The ability to motivate others through knowledge, clear thought and action

The ability to inspire the team to achieve the leader's desired end result

A positive, inspirational and challenging approach to life that makes people feel excited and confident in moving things on

Leadership is an action not a position

Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things

Providing clear guidance and support to those you are leading.

To give direction and a sense of purpose and meaning

To take the first step in guidance towards direction with followers

Removes clutter and doubt, to re-assure you that success will follow

Being able to deliver a message or strategy cohesively through the people in your team

A clear vision, and the ability to inspire people to join you on that journey

Anyone who can inspire, motivate and gain the commitment of people to achieve great things

Self critical, passionate, listening, hardworking, demanding, rewarding individual seeking better than self to team

Articulates a vision, facilitates framework to deliver and supports, creates 1+1+1=4+ environment

Providing a vision that is clear and followed and driven by individual commitment

An individual capable of organising, motivating and focussing a group of individuals to deliver team/company objectives

Creating a sense of direction with space, political or other, to let people perform in

Our Ten Intelligences

Iv'e recently been reading a book called 'Head First' by Tony Buzan. I'm a great fan of Mr Buzan anyway, he being the 'inventor' of mind mapping. I was first introduced to the concept of mind maps about fifteen years ago, and it is no exaggeration to say that this simple tool revolutionised my ability to organise presentations, take notes when with clients and to plan just about anything, inside or outside work.

If you haven't tried using them (and they are so simple, but a really powerful way of working) then grab any of Tony Buzan's books on the subject, or try his web site www.mind-map.com, or drop me a note and I'd be delighted to give you an introduction, because it really works.

Anyway, back to the point of the blog. In his book 'Head First' Buzan explodes the myth that intelligence is all about your IQ. Too often, especially at work, that is how people are judged or measured. Often promotion, the chance for high office, seems to be completely dependent on the number of letters after a person's name and the level of their IQ.

But how many times have you come across seemingly intelligent people in big jobs who are just so poor at organising themselves, at leading and managing others, at building relationships, at taking decisions. I certainly came across so many people like that in my corporate life and I continue to do so as I work with all sorts of organisations.

As I began to work for myself I came across the concept of EQ, or Emotional Intelligence, our ability to build relationships through empathising with people and truly understanding them. At that point so much fell into place, and I perhaps began to understand what had held me back in my previous working life. I had been working in a culture where the very existence of EQ was not even recognised, let alone valued.

But Buzan takes it a whole stage further by proposing that as a human being we each possess no less than ten intelligences, and if we choose to we can expand and develop each one of these intelligences, transforming our abilities and tapping into our natural genius.

I'd love to briefly introduce you to these ten intelligences, but if you are interested to know more, get hold of the book, it is very readable, well laid out and contains a load of practical ways in which you can develop each of the intelligences.

Buzan divides the ten intelligences into three groupings: creative and emotional intelligences, bodily intelligences and traditional IQ intelligences.

Each group then sub-divides as follows:

Creative and Emotional Intelligences:

1. Creative Intelligence: this is about our ability to think in new ways, to be original. It includes the speed and ease with which we can come up with new ideas, our ability to challenge beliefs and to see things from a differing point of view, our originality and our ability to build upon ideas. Buzan gives Richard Branson as an example of someone with high creative intelligence, someone who was severely dyslexic and struggled through his academic career, considered to be not bright by his teachers. Look what happened to him!

2. Personal Intelligence: this one is about understanding ourselves, and our own personal effectiveness. It's the sort of stuff I train regularly with my Breakthrough Personal Effectiveness programme, the kind of thinking and material in the personal victory part of Covey's 'Seven Habits of Highly Effective People'. Its about our ability to take control, make the right choices and organise ourselves. Christopher Reeve is the very powerful example of someone who has managed to do this despite the most horrendous of physical disabilities.

3. Social Intelligence: this is the one which comes the closest, for me, to the concept of EQ. This is about our ability to build highly effective relationships with others, to understand them, to build empathy, to be at ease in social situations. Nelson Mandela is Buzan's very interesting example of this, the way in which he conducted himself and influenced others after three decades of imprisonment.

4. Spiritual Intelligence: I guess this one takes a bit more explaining, but for me it's about our personal values, the things that are deep inside us, our beliefs, how much at peace we are with ourselves. Mother Teresa is perhaps the predictable but nevertheless powerful example quoted.

Bodily Intelligences:

5. Physical Intelligence: so we move on to the three bodily intelligences, and the premise here is that the more healthy you are, the more balanced and physically fit your body becomes the more balanced and mentally fit your brain becomes. The two work in harmony, as in the saying 'a healthy body is a healthy mind.' I guess we all understand and appreciate the link, it's just doing something about it, through regular exercise that's the tough bit! Michael Jordan is the quoted example but there would be many we could all think of.

6. Sensual intelligence: this is about using each of our five physical senses (and intuition, our 'sixth sense') to the full extent of their quite incredible powers. Walt Disney's work in translating the senses into film is a great example. The opportunities to look, listen, smell, touch and taste, as well as to use our intuition, are around us every day. And did you know that research has shown that when we act on our intuition it is the right decision more than 80% of the time?

7. Sexual Intelligence: this was the one I didn't expect to find here, and the chapter was so interesting that I read it three times! So what is it that makes us live longer, has inspired many of the greatest works of art, music and literature, makes the skin glow, has inspired renaissances and revolutions, reduces stress and is the main reason the human race still exists? Yes, the answer is sex! By the end of the chapter Buzan had convinced me of the link between a healthy sex life and the development of the brain. Mind you, it wasn't hard! And yes, Marilyn Monroe was the quoted example.

Traditional IQ Intelligences:

8. Numerical Intelligence: back to earth with a bump as Buzan examines the traditional IQ intelligences. So many people rank their numerical intelligence as the least developed of their intelligences, but we all possess it and we can all develop it. A Cambridge mathematician is the quoted example, but as with all the examples it doesn't have to be about famous people. We all know people around us who demonstrate or more of the ten intelligences brilliantly. Sad to say I love numbers, I wasn't that great at Maths at school but it's not about algebra and logarithms, who needs those anyway?

9. Spatial Intelligence: this is another fascinating one. Spatial intelligence is about being able to see the relationship of shapes to each other, our ability, for example, to read a map and to turn the information it gives us into actions. It's our ability to understand and use the space around us. Michael Schumacher is the example given.

10. Verbal Intelligence: the last of the ten and again a very traditional one. It's about our ability to use language effectively. Don't forget that we have managed to learn the language we speak and our brain is therefore far more intelligent that the world's most intelligent computer! Here's another intelligence we can really develop. Did you know that the average person writes, speaks and recognises only about 1,000 words! Shakespeare is the inevitable example.

I guess the main point that comes through for me in the book is that we each possess all ten of these intelligences, it's just that some are more developed than others. So even if you claim you are not creative, or no good with numbers, it doesn't mean you don't have the potential to be so, you have just not developed that particular intelligence.

So get working on all ten and unlock your unique and enormous potential!

The Concept of the 'Servant - Leader'

You may remember that from time to time those at the top of organisations have spoken about 'inverting the triangle.' Often this is within the heady atmosphere of the annual conference or sales meeting, and the boss puts up a slide with an inverted triangle, showing him or her at the bottom, then their direct reports, then managers and supervisors, and finally front line staff right at the top of the diagram, often with customers shown at the top of the slide. The boss will talk about their role being to support everyone else in the organisation, with each level of management being there to support the front line in dealing with customers. It sounds inspiring, and apart from the surprised and worried faces of the boss's direct reports it's positively received, if with an air of cynicism.

And unfortunately too often the cynicism is well founded because the idea, even if it was proposed with the best of intentions, never lasts longer than the next mini crisis, when the boss and reports revert to type finding it easier to sit at the top of the triangle barking orders.

Maybe that is a bit unfair but unfortunately I find the true execution of the 'inverted triangle' very rare. But where it happens it can make an incredible difference to the effectiveness of organisations. It can create a culture where real empowerment takes place and where front line staff feel truly supported. This is the principle of the 'servant-leader' first coined by Robert Greenleaf, an American 'management development guru' (whatever that means) in 1970. As a recent excellent article in People Management Magazine pointed out, Greenleaf believed that great leaders are motivated by the desire to serve others, a refreshing break away from those recent leaders motivated by self-interest and the pursuit of power (step forward Sir Fred Goodwin and a host of moat cleaning and duck house building MPs).

Greenleaf goes on to say that the best test of a 'servant-leader' is whether those who are served grow as people. Now there will be a view that in these difficult times this is just too wishy-washy. That what we need is strong, decisive even autocratic leaders taking the hard decisions. But there is nothing weak or indecisive about being a 'servant-leader.' They still make the tough decisions but they ensure they are made for the right reasons and implemented in the right way.

A great example from the article of a 'servant-leader' is Chesley Sullenberger, the US Airways pilot who on 15 January safely ditched a passenger jet carrying 155 people into the Hudson River. After his aircraft hit a flock of birds and lost power in both engines soon after taking off from La Guardia airport Sullenberg performed a textbook emergency landing and ensured everyone was evacuated before himself, walking the aisles more than once to check.

In a 2005 essay, Larry Spears, who worked closely with Greenleaf, outlined the ten characteristics of a 'servant-leader' as follows:

1. The ability and willingness to listen to people

2. The determination to strive to understand and to empathise with others

3. The potential to heal (in organisational terms the ability to resolve issues)

4. Being aware and understanding issues involving ethics and values, knowing right from wrong.

5. Able to persuade, seeking to convince others rather than to coerce compliance

6. Able to think beyond today's realities and to conceptualise solutions to problems

7. Displays foresight, the ability to predict the likely outcome of a situation

8. Stewardship, playing their role in holding their organisation in trust for the greater good of society

9. Commitment to the growth of each individual in the organisation

10. Seeks to find some means of building a community among those who work within an organisation

Take a minute to consider your own role as a leader, whether you lead an organisation, or a team, or as a peer leader within a team or as a leader within your family. To what extent are you a 'servant-leader', how truly dedicated are you to serving others?

'Our Iceberg is Melting': a framework for change

This is a compelling fable about driving change seen through the eyes of a penguin colony in Antarctica (don't groan, it works!) It's co-authored by John Kotter, who also write 'A Sense of Urgency'
(See below)

The premise of the book, (easily and quickly read at only 140 pages, and that includes the pictures of cute penguins!), is that leaders of any team or organisation need to be constantly aware of the challenges their organisations face, and to plan to drive and deliver successful change to meet those challenges. That includes overcoming those complacent and doubting, who bury their heads in the sand, those Kotter refers to as the 'No-Nos'.

It was Charles Darwin, no less, who wrote in the 'Origin of the Species'

'It is not the strongest of the species that will survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change'

In the fable one of the penguins (not a leader at the top of their organisation) notices that their iceberg is beginning to melt and then faces the challenge of convincing those at the top of the problem, then galvanising them and eventually the whole colony into action, overcoming the many barriers and obstacles to change along the way.

The book summarises the eight steps that lie at the heart of any successful change programme, big or small, as follows:

1. Reduce complacency and increase urgency

2. Pull a team together to guide the needed change

3. Create a vision

4. Communicate the vision (by capturing hearts and minds, not through 144 power point slides!) Build understanding and buy-in.

5. Empower others to act, removing barriers so that those who want to make the vision a reality can do so

6. Create some short term wins

7. Don't let up, be relentless until the vision is a reality

8. Make the changes stick, because tradition dies a hard death.

And yes, the penguins do succeed, they find a new home on an even nicer iceberg, and if Disney ever made it into a film there wouldn't be a dry eye in the house!

I just think that eight point framework for driving any change is just so powerful, and is the basis on which I see many of my clients drive successful and sustainable change in their teams or organisations.

'A Sense of Urgency'

I've recently read a book called 'A Sense of Urgency' by John Kotter, and I think it has some highly important messages for all organisations in any sector.

The book's premise is really simple, leaders in organisations are so often aware that change is necessary, be it a new strategy, a new IT system, an acquisition or a re-organisation, but too often the change comes too slowly, or a great new idea stalls.

What is missing is a true sense of urgency in the organisation, led from the top but demonstrated at every level. The sense of urgency which does not waste time in pointless meetings, drives action, encourages people to grab opportunities, to make every minute count and to remove non value adding activities.

I do visit many organisations which believe they have this sense of urgency. But time and time again they are confusing this with simply running around indulging in 'pointless busyness'. Those leaders I come across with a true sense of urgency focus every day, indeed every hour on actions that will make a difference, move forward and execute at pace on the truly important things.

A typical example of a sense of urgency would not be an attitude that I must have a project team meeting today, but that the meeting must accomplish something important today.

The book sets out a series of practical examples for how leaders can first adopt this sense of urgency themselves and then build it through their team and organisation.

I do recommend this book to you. I can remember countless examples of leaders desperately in need of a sense of urgency. Their teams and organisations are drowning in complacency. Things are being allowed to drift, and in today's financial climate that is a recipe for economic suicide. In other organisations people run around like headless chickens, always busy but achieving nothing.

But I also come across great examples of a true sense of urgency, like the Chief Executive of a successful organisation I work with who has recognised that current achievement is no reason for complacency. Even though sales and profit are growing she is already engaged in scenario planning, thinking about the future and demanding action and new thinking today that will sustain success in tomorrow's new world.

If you are interested have a read of the book yourself and let me know what you think.

The Starfish

'I find this story of a boy and a starfish (click on the link below) an incredibly powerful way of demonstrating what we can influence and change.

So many people want to change the World. The problem is they just do not know where to start. The answer is to begin by changing the things we can influence. Make a difference to just one person. Throw back one starfish.

The more we focus on those things we can change, the more our influence will grow. Change one person, make a positive difference to them and they will influence someone else. It's called 'growing our circle of influence.'

But it starts even closer to home. As Gandhi said

'We must be the change we wish to see in the World'

If we want to change the beliefs, actions or behaviours of one person, inside or outside work, we must first consistently demonstrate those beliefs, actions and behaviours ourselves. It's the only place change can start. '

Click on this link to read more

'The Ultimate Question'

'I have been really taken by this book by Fred Reichheld. In it Reichheld, a Fellow at Bain & Company, makes the case for driving good profits from loyal customers. Sounds obvious! What he then does though is to provide a compelling and simple formula for consistently measuring customer satisfaction and acting on your findings.

Some organisations I work with are already using this approach, with transformational effect. Very impressive'

Click on this link to read more.


'The Speed of Trust'

'When I was first introduced to this book by Stephen M R Covey (son of Stephen R Covey) I was a little sceptical, especially since Mr Covey senior had written the Foreword, but once I began reading it I was completely hooked.

In the book Stephen demonstrates the absolute and undeniable link between the level of trust in a team or organisation and the ability of that team or organisation to execute- to get things done.

He therefore makes a direct link between the level of trust and financial results.

Simple and obvious once more, common sense even, but as we know common sense is all too often not common practice?.'

Click on this link to read more