Who’d have thought that ‘Management by Walking Around’ (MBWA) was actually ‘invented’ by US President Abraham Lincoln? MBWA reputedly originated at Hewlett Packard in the 1970s, and was brought to wider attention by management consultants like Tom Peters. But according to historian Stephen Oates, it really started when Lincoln began informally inspecting… Read More »Walking the job – lessons from Lincoln
The issue of gay marriage has once again brought gay rights back to the top of the political agenda. But Gus Van Sant’s brilliant Milk reminds us just how far society has come on gay rights in the last 30 years – and the struggle and sacrifice of some of those… Read More »Five ways how Harvey Milk can improve your leadership
With the release of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, interest in the famous American President has never been higher. In Lead like Lincoln, I highlighted five key leadership lessons I personally took from the movie. Many other writers have identified additional lessons, both from the movie and the man himself. Mark Crowley’s… Read More »More leadership lessons from Lincoln
There aren’t many movies based on Powerpoint presentations. So it stands to reason that Al Gore’s slide show on climate change, the subject of An Inconvenient Truth, is just a little bit special. Gore shows that if you create a compelling story around an important issue, a presentation is as… Read More »10 ways to make your presentation memorable
Advisers who can’t be trusted. Threats from more powerful competitors. A divided organisation who have no faith in your ability to lead, and are deeply suspicious of your motives Oh, and potential assassins at every turn. That’s the scenario confronting the new monarch in Elizabeth, Shekhar Kapur’s fascinating film on… Read More »Baptism of fire: how Elizabeth stabilised her nation
Creativity is usually considered a prized asset. But according to recent research reported on Lifehacker.com, many of us tend to reject creative ideas out of hand. The research showed the novelty of new ideas can make people feel uncomfortable, leading them to reject them in favour of the tried and tested. This… Read More »Why we reject creative ideas: lessons from A Bug’s Life
Humour is a powerful weapon in learning and you can find plenty of it in Chicken Run, the brilliant animated pastiche of World War II escape movies. Our heroine is Ginger, the plucky hen who leads her fellow inmates of Tweedy’s Chicken Farm in an audacious mass breakout to secure their freedom.… Read More »Lead like Ginger: five lessons from Chicken Run