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
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler” Albert Einstein Communicating effectively is surprisingly difficult. In our attention-starved, multi-tasking society, we rarely have people’s undivided attention when we’re communicating. The onus is on you to make your audience sit up and take notice. And the simpler you… Read More »Five simple ways to make your message memorable
Whatever your role – leader, manager, parent – it’s a fair bet that influencing is one of the skills you’ll be using most today. Whether it’s getting your manager to back your idea or encouraging your teenager to knuckle down to their studies, influencing is a core skill. And it’s become… Read More »Under the influence: nine tactics for persuasion (1)
There are many ‘good’ companies, but few that are ‘great’. In leadership terms, what makes the difference? Jim Collins’ business bestseller Good to Great outlines two key characteristics of what he calls ‘level five leaders’: those with the capacity to lead not just good companies, but great ones. Collins and his… Read More »From good to great: level five leaders
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
Watching Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, it’s striking how little America seems to have changed politically in 150 years. Two diametrically opposed ideologies still lie separated by a narrow middle ground. Similarly, it’s distinctive how relevant Abraham Lincoln’s leadership is for our contemporary world. Here are five lessons from Lincoln’s struggle to… Read More »Lead like Lincoln: leadership lessons from honest Abe