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  • Because ‘toast lands on the buttered side!’

    Parkinson's Law is the adage that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." - The Peter Principle is the principle that "In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence." - Baruch's Observation is "if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." - Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology, “there is always one more bug.” - Ducharme's Axiom, "If you view your problem closely enough you will recognise yourself as part of the problem." - Executivecoachingguru says, "people will believe anything if you lean in intently and whisper it"

  • Brand You – Top Tips

    1. Accessorise so the top boys see you as one of them, don't over reach, just go for the next level. I know it sounds superficial (and it is), but you have to look like you belong in the club. But always remember 'subtle classic elegance' always beats 'trendy, flash and loadsa money'. Your accessories are reflecting your reliability and common sense and for heavens sake there is no point having a £500/$900 suit if you have a £50/$90 watch. 2. Have an elevator pitch of the benefits of what you are doing, not just the activities you are doing. Rehearse it, with eye contact and emotional content. 3. Understand who your boss is sucking up to and do it better. 4. Only put yourself forward for things that will succeed. 5. If you're responsible for it, then you should be in charge of it. 6. Seek 'face to face' feedback, tell them what you are going to do, do it, ask for feedback. Continue forever. 7. Have integrity. Stand for something. You don't have to be right, but you do have to have an opinion. 8. Be seen, press the flesh, have a tangible presence, take the long way everywhere, so people know you're around. 9. Practice your reactions and behaviours untill what isn't natural becomes natural, the first time to find out what you sound and look like when challenging someone, shouldn't actually BE the first time! 10. Don't gossip! Ever! I mean it! It'll kill your career faster than a bullet!

  • Life is a one shot deal, leadership is only truly authentic when you lead as a whole person

    "If I had my life to live over again, I'd dare to make more mistakes next time. I'd relax, I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I'd have fewer imaginary ones. You see, I'm one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments. And if I had it to do over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I've been one of those people who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have. If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies." - Attributed to Nadine Stair (85 years young)

  • Control Panel

  • “I have come to the frightening conclusion…

    That I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.” - J.W.Goethe

Leadership Facts

  • 66% of business leaders say they are more aggressively educating employees on their role in delivering on the value proposition - Grant Thornton, February 2006
  • 75% of executives say good physical fitness is critical for career success at the executive level - TheLadders.com, November 2005
  • Organizations spend upto 30% of their L&D budget on leadership development, as the foundation for management training, succession planning, executive education, and other critical talent management areas – Bersin Associates
  • If you type ‘leadership’ into Amazon you get a return of 287, 367 leadership related titles, which means that if you read a book a month every month it would take you 23,947 years to read them all – Executive Coaching Guru, with the help of Amazon.com
  • Emotional Intelligence delivers superior profit (+102%) and revenue (+52%) when viewed against average performers – Boyatzis & Wheller, Longitudinal Study In Professional Service Firms, 1999
  • 70% of the impact on employee climate and motivation is due to leadership style and this in turn has a 30% impact on discretionary on efforts and outputs of performance – Harvard Business School Review
  • 84% of Senor HR Managers polled said, “business managers didn’t have the time to manage talented staff” and 60% thought managers didn’t have adequate skills to do it anyway! – Hewitt Talent Survey, 2008
  • 86% of institutional investors across europe believe that social and environmental risk management will have a significantly positive impact on a company’s long term market value – Business in the Community
  • We’re all supposed to want a promotion more than dear life, but according to a survey conducted by the consultancy DDI, this is just not so: “59% of the 600 managers polled said they put it just above bereavement, this is called Transition Anxiety” – Development Dimensions International (DDI)
  • The ability to ‘identify and develop’ leaders against a defined framework, is the measure of success for 75% of leadership success – Aberdeen Group, 2005: Retention & Succession in the Corporate Workplace
  • 96% of Chairmen ranked talent management as highly important to the success of their organization, yet one third of the organizational succession plans are ineffective and showing no signs of improvement – CEO challenge 2004: Top ten challenges. New York: The Conference Board
  • 75% of executives surveyed identified improving or leveraging leadership talent as a top business priority.  Yet, despite recognition of its importance, leadership development is going nowhere fast. Currently, most leaders are not satisfied with their organization’s development offerings and confidence in leaders has declined steadily over the past eight years – Development Dimensions International: Global Leadership Forecast 2008|2009
  • Dell Computer Corporation’s 330 senior managers received executive coaching over a 2 year period. To date over 90% of the coaching participants tend to be promoted more often that those who weren’t – Telegraph, 2005
  • The failure rate in 2006 for executives brought in externally to senior level positions was 30%. One of the key reasons for failed executive tenure was a lack of support network – McKinsey, 2006
  • The number of departing CEO’s  in the UK doubled last year – Financial Times, 25th January, 2008
  • From 1998 – 2008, while the workforce is expected to grow by 12%, the number of 25-44yr olds (the age from which tomorrows leaders must emerge) is expected to decline by 6% – The war for talent. Michaels, E., Handfield-Jones, H. & Axelrod, B. (2001). Boston: Harvard Business School Press
  • - 70% of Executive Interventions fail
    - 70% of Mergers fail
    - 70% of Outsourcing Projects fail
    - 70% of Business Process Re-engineering Projects fail
    - 70% is the contribution of business leaders to organizational climate, with organizational climate contributing up to 25% in terms of overall business return – Hays Group

If you have any facts that you think are relevant to this page please let me know.
Thank you.

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