Category Archives: Leadership in the news

Page 1 of 6123...Last »

Sir Alex Ferguson’s slow management

John's reflections, leadership, Leadership in the news Leave a comment

As I wrote last time, the recent announcement of the retirement of Alex Ferguson, Manchester United’s legendary manager, generated an outpouring of articles in the British press. Of course, much of what I saw in the newspapers and magazines focused on the man’s remarkable record of success in leading his side to the peaks of British and European football glory. More interesting to me, though, was discovering aspects of his personality and management philosophy that I had not seen before, characteristics that led me to compare him to another sports legend, former basketball coach Phil Jackson.  Why did my recent reading about Alex Ferguson make me think of Jackson? On … Continue reading

On the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson

authenticity, John's reflections, leadership, Leadership in the news Leave a comment

  Of course, I had planned to start something completely different on the blog this week, but I have been distracted these past two days by reaction to the announcement that Alex Ferguson is retiring as manager of one of the world’s top football sides, Manchester United.  Now, before you get to thinking that this week’s post will be about football, rest assured that I have no intention of that. As I am always quick to emphasize, I do not write of Margaret Thatcher or Barack Obama to discuss politics, or of Phil Jackson to expound upon the game of basketball. Rather, I look for leadership lessons in their stories. … Continue reading

When do work-from-home arrangements make good sense?

Leadership in the news, Storytelling 1 Comment

As promised, I return here to another debate that continues in the current press and on the Internet. Several weeks ago, I wrote that I would come back to this issue after gleaning some more insight from online forums, and from my colleagues and friends. If the discussion of work-from-home continues, it is certainly in part because of the depth of emotion it seems to generate from both “camps”, and also because there are no clear answers. As I read, researched and questioned those around me, I often had the sense that each compelling argument on one side had an equally compelling counter-argument on the other. By way of reminder, … Continue reading

Cleaning up some “loose ends”

Leadership in the news, Leading by autobiography, Storytelling Leave a comment

This week and next, I will “close” on two subjects I have recently promised to return to. Today, I continue a bit more on an item that simply won’t go away: reactions to Margaret Thatcher’s death. Next week, I will return briefly to the debate about working from home, and to the outpouring of opinion around Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision to require office presence for all employees. On Wednesday, I was invited to lunch at L’Oreal headquarters in Paris with three prominent members of the company’s human resource group. One of them was English, one Italian, and one Croatian. We talked of storytelling, leadership development, communication, and possibilities for … Continue reading

Margaret Thatcher and leading by autobiography

John's reflections, Leadership in the news, Leading by autobiography Leave a comment

My last post closed with the observation that Margaret Thatcher is the best example I have ever found of one of the core concepts of my leadership teaching and coaching: leading by autobiography. So, what exactly do I mean by this term? In essence, leading by autobiography involves learning use the most powerful communication device known to man: personal storytelling. Winning leaders explain their values and beliefs, they reveal who they are, by telling their own personal stories of identity. And, they engage others with their stories of a collective and meaningful future. In general, those who lead by autobiography seem to share four fundamental attributes. 1. Self-knowledge: These transformational … Continue reading

Page 1 of 6123...Last »