“How you see the world depends on where you sit. People tend to see what they want to see. Continue reading
Leadership
What is a well-conceived vision ?
” Vision has become one of the most overused – and least understood – words in the language.The word vision conjures up all kinds of images. We think of outstanding achievement. We think of deeply held values that bond people in a society together.We think of audacious, exhilarating goals that galvanise people. We think of something eternal – the underlying reasons for an organisation’s existence. We think of something that reaches inside us and pulls out our best efforts.We think of the dreams of what we want to be. And therein lies a problem.All of us know vision is important, but what exactly is it?” Continue reading
Changing the World
“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the World. I found it difficult to change the World, so I tried to change my nation. Continue reading
Trust and shared responsibility built in difficult times carry over into the future.
“…All change involves risk, and many people commit only if they have confidence in those advocating the change. Continue reading
Competence in Relationships as well as Technical Competence
“Can an organisation intentionally shape itself into a movement? One of the first things required in movements is spirit-lifting leadership, leadership that enables, enriches, holds an organisation accountable, and in the end lets go. Continue reading
Choosing our response to circumstance
“Whether a problem is direct (problems involving our own behaviour), indirect (problems involving other people’s behaviour), or no control (problems we can do nothing about, such as our past and situational realities), we have in our hands the first step to the solution. Continue reading
Creative Tension
“Leading through creative tension is different than solving problems. In problem solving, the energy for change comes from attempting to get away from an aspect of current reality that is undesirable. With creative tension, the energy for change comes from the vision, from what we want to create, juxtaposed with current reality. While the distinction may seem small, the consequences are not. Many people and organisations find themselves motivated to change only when their problems are bad enough to cause them to change. This works for awhile, but the change process runs out of steam as soon as the problems driving the change become less pressing…With problem solving, the motivation for change is extrinsic. With creative tension, the motivation is intrinsic.”
– Peter Senge, Author of The Fifth Discipline : The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
You can’t be the only one making decisions.
“Leaders of federations don’t think of their associates as ‘troops’. And the associates don’t think of their leaders as generals. The leader of the new federal corporation has to be a leader of leaders. Continue reading
Build Emotional Bank Accounts that create a commerce between hearts
“Unless you are influenced by my uniqueness, I am not going to be influenced by your advice. Continue reading
Every dispute has a history
“Every dispute has a history; we have been sending messages to them and they have been sending messages to us, even if only by silence or by a professed refusal to negotiate. Positions have been staked out. Proposals have been made and rejected. One thing we know for sure: if the conflict is continuing, whatever we have been saying and doing so far has not worked. It has not produced the result we want, or we would have turned our attention to other matters by now…”
– (Beyond Machiavelli – Roger Fisher, Elizabeth Kopelman & Andrea Kupfer Schnieder, Harvard University Press, 1994)
ONE TUSK 