I recently came across this article from Gill Corkindale about how British bank CEOs are failing to take responsibility for the failure of their banks and their banks’ role in bringing on the global financial crisis. When the British CEOs answered the questions of the parliamentary select committee last week, their lack of self-awareness was astounding. Says Corkindale: [...]

“I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone who brings people together.”
Bartlett, Tennessee, 18 August, 2000
Thus said outgoing American president George W. Bush. This was one quote among many that the BBC recently put together in a collection of Bush misstatements . While he didn’t get the words out right, his sentiment, that a leader is someone who brings people together, is actually true. [...]

The American auto makers are rapidly becoming another casualty of the financial crisis. However, the financial crisis is not the sole reason for their downfall; we need only look to Toyota and other non-American auto makers to see that–while not thriving, these non-American car companies are at least surviving the downturn without any government handouts. [...]

Today it was announced that the seven highest ranking executives at Goldman Sachs will not be taking their bonuses this year . It’s an good move and will generate some positive publicity for the firm, especially because they announced their decision before other banks and before bonus season starts in earnest. Likewise, such a move was almost a necessity given the potential for public outcry if multiple executives were receiving bonuses worth over $50 million each after the company was one of the 9 banks that shared a $150 billion cash injection earlier this fall.
This move reminds me of some of that activity that Linda Lee Davies, Nada and I found in our recent book Leading for Success . One of the seven sides of great leaders we identified was ‘finding ways through.’ In the chapter dedicated to that subject, we said: [...]

This past July I had the pleasure of conducting a master class for the NHS in London. The NHS runs these classes as a way to engage staff with the latest in leadership thinking and leadership best practice. My talk, ‘Leadership in the NHS: Driving Strategic Improvement at all Levels,’ is available to watch as a podcast on the NHS’s website here .

Is it lonely at the top? According to Andrew Cave and Steve Tappin, the authors of the new book The Secrets of CEOs (reviewed here ), it truly is. Almost half of the 150 chief executives they interviewed said the job was “intensely lonely” and they didn’t know who to turn to for advice. The authors found this to be a common response:
 

I can’t talk to the chairman because in the end he’s the one who is going to fire me. I can’t talk to my finance director because ultimately I’m going to fire him, and I can’t tell my wife because I never see her and when I do, that’s the last thing she’ll want to talk about.

This doesn’t surprise [...]

This article, ‘ How to be a leader in your field ‘, is technically a guide for students in professional schools, but I found it to have a lot of great advice for anyone interested in becoming better and more productive at her job.
One excerpt:
Write down all the difficulties that seem to recur in your experience of practicing your profession – anything, however small, that often seems to go wrong. Or else become an anthropologist for a day, and hang out with some people – students, immigrants, new customers, etc – who are dealing with your profession for the first time. Experience consternation at the difficulties they run into. Collect a dozen difficulties. Then start making theories of what causes those difficulties. Big, pretentious theories are best, especially if they exaggerate how important the difficulties you’ve listed really are. Elaborate your theories in [...]

Turbulent times in my mother-country.  Recent discussions with Russian and Americans as well as Georgians confirm the suspicion the Georgia’s turbulent relationship with Russia has little to do with democracy but a great deal to do with ensuring that former USSR territories are kept in Western hands, so that natural resources, particularly oil, flow freely to the West without paying any duty to the Russians.
Looked at closely it’s evident that the current Georgian President, Saakashvili has behaved like an autocrat not a democrat.  He has closed down newspapers, bullied  the media, locked up many dissidents who are  supporters of democracy and has now even imprisoned the son of Gamsakhurdia, the very first president of Georgia after the break  up of the Soviet Union.  In point of fact, his attack on South Ossetia is just one of a series of similar attacks.
The Russians had little [...]

Yahoo has been hemorrhaging high-level employees since the Microsoft takeover bid fell through (handily, technology blog TechCrunch has been keeping track ). Clearly there’s a great deal of dissatisfaction in the company.
Two of the most recent departures were the founders of companies Yahoo purchased (Flickr and Del.icio.us). When this happens, one has to assume that the purchasing company was stifling innovation by not providing effective leadership. Leadership contexts can change depending on the size of the team, the team’s location, and the personalities on the team.
Sensitivity to when people will need to act in different roles can help keep employees happy and make them more productive.

One of my favorite leaders in history is Alexander the Great . He ruled and commanded, but also interacted with others of his period by displaying greater skill in battle and a greater capacity for discourse in debate than his fellow Macedonians or his enemies.
He had theatrical skills but was also a man of daily routine. He attended to the business of the day (there was justice to dispense, taxes to be levied and distributed, pay, subsistence, and court expenses to be accounted for, appointments to be made and revoked) but was always ready for battle, and even so, the Olympian manner he adopted in battle and in the hunt was rarely used in the management of his immediate circle.
Reconnaissance and staff discussions preceded the advance to combat, highlighting precision, timing and caution. To lead so well, without the aid of modernity, is quite impressive.