Is creativity at the heart of leadership? Well, my own view would be that it is deeper than that: creativity is at the heart of being a human being. We are all familiar with the various attempts to locate in what exactly the essence of being human is. Man (kind) is the thinking animal (homoContinue reading “Creativity and leadership”
Author Archives: mappingmotivation
Escaping funk
A recent question on Linkedin was: What methods do you use to get out of a funk? What a great word and also great question! Of course there are many ways to get out of a funk – advanced techniques about this or that which enable us to change our ‘state’. I’d like to focusContinue reading “Escaping funk”
The challenge to coaching
A coach recently asked the question: what was the biggest challenge to your coaching business? Given the abundance of coaches now in the market that is a good question. I think there are two distinct sides to this. First, the operational side – which is about developing our skills as coaches and communicators to enableContinue reading “The challenge to coaching”
The beautiful game
Ah! The football season! Don’t you just love it? Frankly, I scarcely ever watch it, but I have to be careful: I nearly said ‘never watch it’, but I did manage to tune in to watching a couple of England’s magic moments in this World Cup. Naturally, I was duly bored and exasperated in equalContinue reading “The beautiful game”
Authoritarian leaders
We referred to NF Dixon’s classic book, On the Psychology of Military Incompetence, and its distinction between the autocrat and the authoritarian. How further did he distinguish between these two types? Firstly, the autocrat is somebody who may well be strict and a disciplinarian, but this is not a result of emotional disturbance. Dixon expressesContinue reading “Authoritarian leaders”
Leadership and authority
One of the most interesting studies that recognizes that leadership ‘incompetence’ is far more likely to derive from emotional rather than intellectual deficiencies is NF Dixon's classic book On the Psychology of Military Incompetence. Basically, what Dixon found was that incompetence in military leadership went way beyond notions of stupidity or incompetence, though both theseContinue reading “Leadership and authority”
Leading a meeting 3
Remember, the Chair's greatest strength is not in asserting his/her own will and position; it is in faithfully representing the collective will of the meeting, and acting in the capacity of a servant seeking to realize the objectives for which the meeting was called. If staff can perceive that about the Chair, they will listen,Continue reading “Leading a meeting 3”
Leading a meeting 2
To be more specific about leading a meeting, the Chair should consider: *composition of meeting – who should attend – avoid deferring to other people's view of their importance and to the custom of inviting 'stale' people because they've always been invited; how many should attend – this will depend upon what the purposeContinue reading “Leading a meeting 2”
Leading a meeting
Leading a meeting is arguably the most demanding aspect of leadership: one feels, rightly, in the spotlight; everyone is waiting for a 'lead' and one is so conscious of the implications of a false step, a wrong note; and one is fully aware that the general expectation of meetings is that they are unproductive –Continue reading “Leading a meeting”
Motivation with Mark Knopfler 2
We have established that we can learn a lot from studying a successful band/man like Mark Knopfler. We also know before sketching the three core lessons that even doing all the right things does not necessarily lead to success – things go wrong whether you like it or not. As it says in the goodContinue reading “Motivation with Mark Knopfler 2”
The Mapping Motivation Series 