You face a huge variety of problems every day. Understanding the type of problem you face helps you determine the best way approach and solve it. Most problems can be distilled down to: Diagnosis – not knowing what to do Alignment – not being aligned on what to do Execution – not being able to do […]
Category Archives: Blog
September
02
Leadership hack 006 – alignment is not agreement
posted by Max
Aligning people when everyone agrees is easy. However, you will often disagree with others on what you are trying to achieve and how best to achieve it. Disagreement is not harmful, most of the time it is beneficial to have our ideas and assumptions tested – two minds are better than one. However, if a […]
August
26
Leadership hack – 005 giving clear direction
posted by Max
Why are we surprised when a piece of work comes back and it was not what we were expecting? There are two possible reasons. The first is that the person you asked to do the work did not understand what was expected of them. The second is that the person you asked lacked the skill […]
August
19
Leadership hack 004 – controlling the monkey
posted by Max
We all do it. Someone questions the work that you have just completed or your thoughts on a topic or problem, and you feel the threatened. You roll our eyes, become defensive or even worse, passive-aggressive. Deep inside you know that your response is unhelpful, and does nothing to solve the problems you face or […]
July
29
Leadership hack 002 – Leadership – it is not about you
posted by Max
“People spend 99% of the time thinking about themselves. Actually, that’s probably a little low,” Liam Scott, speechwriter Could this statistic be correct? While the evidence base for behind this particular claim is questionable, there is some research that does support the view that people spend the majority of the time thinking about themselves (see Scientific American). […]
July
23
Leadership hack 003 – the key to negotiation is understanding why someone wants something
posted by Max
Imagine you are a parent with two children. They are arguing over who has the last orange. You have been asked to intervene, which of the follow options would you choose? Don’t let either child have the orange King of Solomon style, divide the orange in two and give each of the children half an orange Decide […]
July
16
Leadership hack 001 – understanding skill and will
posted by Max
Much leadership advice is generic. In this series of posts, I aim to explore tactical tips for leaders to use when facing a specific problem. How do you turn around a poor performing follower? Understanding whether the follower has a lack of skill or lack of will (or even both) is essential to understanding how you […]
July
08
Can leadership be defined? Part 6 – The answer
posted by Max
Over the last four posts, we have explored the four common definitions of leadership – person, process, results and position. By analysing each of these, it is possible to show that each type of definition has both strengths and weakness. Leadership definitions which rely on a leader’s position while evident, are unhelpful. By defining a leader […]
July
01
Can leadership be defined? Part 5 – What do process based definitions of leadership tell us? By Max Eskell
posted by Max
Leaders provide vision, priorities and alignment. Robert Kaplan Process definitions of leadership attempt to define leaders by what they do and how they behave. A quick trawl of Flipboard, LinkedIn or even military valour citations (the photo shows the Battle of Rorke’s Drift), shows that leaders are expected to do certain things or behave in a certain […]
June
24
CAN LEADERSHIP BE DEFINED? PART 4 – WHAT DO RESULT BASED DEFINITIONS OF LEADERSHIP TELL US? BY MAX ESKELL
posted by Max
“Leaders are right a lot” Amazon principle of leadership Results based definitions of leadership are very compelling. Increasing profits, successful product launches or double-digit growth in revenues growth, are all easily verifiable examples of success, which many people ascribe to leadership. However, others are more cautious, and ask “can you attribute to success to one person?“. […]
June
15
Can leadership be defined? Part 3 – What do person based definitions of leadership tell us? By Max Eskell
posted by Max
Even under the increased scrutiny of the modern world, there are still leaders who are able to command attention and who engender followership. While Barak Obama and Christine Lagarde are great examples of charismatic leaders in positions of power, there are also examples of leaders who do not occupy formal leadership positions. Take for example Malala Yousafzai, […]
June
09
Can leadership be defined? Part 2 – What do position based definitions of leadership tell us? by Max Eskell
posted by Max
In my last blog post, I argued that defining leadership was challenging. The potentially limitless combinations of leader, follower and situation are too numerous to analyse, let alone distill to an extent that a single definition of leadership is universally useful. For example, leading a platoon in combat is very different to leading a golf club. […]
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