The majority of my work these days tends to be with companies that need support in scaling up. That may be because they’re on a rapid growth path, and need to ensure that the business scales robustly. Or because they’ve plateaued (or started a slow decline), with a myriad of symptoms to boot. In almost […]
Execution
How SME leaders kill off their strongest advantage
It never ceases to amaze me when SMEs voluntarily kill off their own advantages. One of the beauties of being relatively small is that we can be nimble. We can respond or pre-empt quickly. We don’t need to get 8 levels of approval, manage 9 competing quarterly-bonus obsessed execs and align 12 business units. Yet […]
Leading in Crisis (4) – Be open
Out of 7 roles of authority, business leaders currently rank last in public opinion of response to the Covid Crisis. Behind journalists. Behind government leaders. Why is that? My guess would be that it’s because most are doing a shocking job of listening to and looking after their teams. It’s really hard to look after […]
Leading in crisis (3) – Confidence
If you lead a business, the last thing your team needs right now is brazen acts of vulnerability. (Let the trolling commence!). In times of crisis, we need leaders who inspire confidence in the direction we’re going. Because confidence turns purpose from fantasy to hope. But most of us can’t just switch confidence on and […]
Can the Coronavirus make us better?
I used to think that only when the aliens attacked would we find enough common ground to work together as a single human race. Because although we face innumerable global challenges, from environmental to social to political, it is only when the danger seems immediate that we respond. It seems Covid-19 beat the aliens. Now […]