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 Leadership is intellectually simple, but behaviourally complex. Successful people are often intuitive and what they do from moment to moment really cannot be written down. In a rapidly changing environment they constantly diagnose, respond to what is happening and make judgements with choices and trade-off. But this intuitive or instinctive leadership is really based on accumulated wisdom that has been shaped by experience, knowledge and a set of core values. A raft of evidence now exists to prove that management and leadership development works. But are organisations taking it seriously? How much preparation are they giving their future leaders? 
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Essential ReadingThe new language of leadership
A profound shift is taking place from predictive to non-predictive demand from push to pull economics. And if organisations are to adapt to this, their leaders need to radically reassess their behaviour.
The difference between management & leadership
It sounds great. You lead people, and you manage things. Its salient. Even philosophical. But its wrong.
Four steps to leadership heaven
Good leadership is never simple, but according to the experts, managers who want to be better leaders need to develop four fundamental abilities.
Seven principles of leadership
Effective leadership boils down to seven key principles, according to a new guide for employers. But organisations will only get it right if the message on how to lead comes from the top.
Eight little secrets of being a good boss
So you have just landed your first management job. Congratulations. But before you get too excited, remember that newly-minted managers are much closer to being reviled than revered - and how to be a good boss is one of the most challenging aspects of any management position.
Leadership vs Management
Many people think of leadership and management as interchangeable. But as this 20-year veteran of the executive recruitment industry and now CEO of an executive search firm argues, there is a vast divide between them.
Wanted: more bad (as in good) leaders
Sometimes, bad behaviour is inspirational. That's why great leaders need to be unreasonable. That's what leaders do. It's why the cool kids were the cool kids. It's what progress depends on.
Obsession with leadership undermining organisations
Controversial management Professor Henry Mintzberg has launched a broadside at his own colleagues in management education with a robust denunciation of the current obsession that business schools seem to have with teaching "leadership".
Empowering leadership not always the answer
Empowering leaders who give their employees room to think and behave independently are often perceived as more effective than the traditional directive leader. But according to U.S. researchers, this isn't necessarily so.
Jim Collins and Level 5 Leadership
Jim Collins is best known for his influential books Built To Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies and recent bestseller Good To Great. In his latest book, he examines how a good company becomes an exceptional company.
Leadership styles
What's most important for business leaders: traditional leadership skills or emotional intelligence? The answer, acording to new research, may be both.
Latest on LeadershipLeadership for the creative classHow do so-called creative class employees - innovative knowledge workers who often have little interest in managing people show leadership? The answer is that they promote a better way for others something which goes against the conventional view of leadership as 'a role'.
Responsible leadershipThere's more to responsible leadership than demanding more corporate social responsibility. As John Wells, President of business school, IMD, explains, it is a balance of between getting the right results and getting results the right way.
The dangerous ego of authorityPeople parading their positional authority with an air of superiority rarely command the admiration they think they're getting. After all, how much respect do we give people who rely on the phrase "because I said so" to motivate? They should drop the ego and build some real leadership skills, instead.
Do you think you can lead?For many leaders, business culture is "all about me" and finishing first. Yet this mindset risks ignoring one of the most important requirements for effective leadership, namely influencing skills. And the art of influencing starts with empathy: not "what's in it for me", but "what's in it for you".
Abolishing the myths of leadershipWe need great leadership now more than ever. But we're not getting it - because we seem to have forgotten what leadership really is. Leadership is about work, not personality. It's not about being visionary and it's not about managing people. Business leaders simply need to manage performance
Is your leadership developing or diminishing?Many leaders are gifted, enthusiastic and driven, but they often overlook the fundamentals. Things like monitoring the ideas, the horizon, and their organization's capabilities, plus listening to feedback and adapting appropriately to create the conditions for success.
Leader or manager?Too many people still confuse strong leadership with good management and vice versa. So I thought I would provide some simple guidelines and examples to differentiate between the two and determine whether an individual is either or both.
Soft skills can be hard to learnSo-called "soft skills" have taken a much higher profile in recent decades. Yet some personality types notably Type As - still have a tough time even grasping the value of soft skills, let alone mastering the skills themselves.
Integrity: the missing ingredientIt isn't enough for CEOs to show they can do the job. If they want to win the trust of these working for them and break the growing cycle of cynicism, they need to demonstrate real personal integrity, too.
Steve Radcliffe on exercising your leadership musclesSteve Radcliffe, one of Europe's leading coaches, wants to promote better leadership. He argues that leadership is something we can all rise to. It's not complicated or theoretical - it's all about practise.
The importance of being stylishIt was Oscar Wilde who noted that "in all important matters style, not sincerity is the essential". For Trevor Phillips, beleaguered chairman of the UK's Equality & Human Rights Commission, Wilde's words are proving all too accurate.
The era of permanent cut-backs?Rather than starting to move beyond recessionary cost-cutting, we may be on the brink of an era of permanent cut-backs where companies have to earn the right to grow.
So you think you can lead?Competencies, skills, talent, intellect, technical expertise and drive define many of today's leaders. But that's not enough. What about empathy? What about emotional connection?
Companies hanging onto their CEOsIn a crisis you want your most experienced captain at the helm, which is why American and European boardrooms are doing all they can to keep their most battle-tested CEOs in place until things pick up.
Why isn't good leadership recognized?He lets others take the limelight. He encourages his people to make decisions. He delegates. He asks for others' opinions before giving his own. Sounds like great leadership to me. So why are so many people sniping at James L. Jones, President Obama's national security advisor?
Managers unprepared for the recoveryWith growing signs that a turnaround may not be that far off, managers need to begin moving out of survival mode and start positioning their businesses for recovery.
Senior managers need to go back to schoolIf senior managers think their years of experience have given them the skills they need to ride out the recession, they need to think again. Too often when the chips are down, they simply fail to give clear leadership.
Seeking competent leadersIt seems obvious that sports teams pick people based on their ability. Yet as we are all discovering to our cost, many businesses have been more concerned with social skills, likeability and charisma when choosing their leaders than they have been with their real effectiveness.
What the auto industry bailout says about US industryThe sight of America's Big Three car bosses going cap-in-hand to Congress for a bailout encapsulates some harsh truths about America's industrial decline. Colossally overpaid, professionally incompetent and hugely conceited, they aren't fit to run a company, still less the world's economy.
More senior women needed, nowThe dominance of a male, macho, risk-taking business culture is at the heart of the world's economic woes and knee-jerk rescue plans may be making things even worse.
Tough times call for tough leadershipWhen they're confronted by a downturn, business leaders all tend to take the same short-term, top-down approaches. But in the longer term, they don't work. So how about taking some really tough decisions - like asking the people who work for you what they would do to get out of this mess?
Don't rely on your recession veteransCompanies risk losing their most recession-experienced executives as the global downturn bites, just at the point when they are crying out for a steady hand on the tiller.
Two faces of leadershipEvery time there's a presidential election, plenty of advice is proffered about what we can learn from the candidates about leadership. But this time round, there are real and illuminating - differences in the candidates' leadership styles.
Dithering, dawdling and decisivenessWe expect our leaders, be they politicians or business people, to be strong, confident and decisive, particularly when the going gets tough. Instead, they are dithering and dawdling, leaving us all to take our own decisive actions instead. And that's tough.
Did Plato have the answers to Wall Street's problems?Almost 2,500 years ago, Plato argued that the endless quest for pleasure affects the kind of leaders that democracies produce. Those who do rise to the top are unlikely to be motivated by concern for the common good, but rather by self-interest. Sound familiar?
A bad beginningCarla has just started a senior government job to find herself with a deputy who was passed over for the same job. He is hurt, angry and causing trouble. Is there anything she can do salvage the situation? Max McKeown thinks there is.
US workers left cold by their leadersNearly half of American workers rate their immediate supervisor more highly than their boss, viewing their senior executives as uninspiring, demotivating and stuck in their ivory towers.
Can big company executives suceed in a start-up?Identifying big company executives who can achieve success with a start-up can be tough. Many star players at big companies wilt in a small company where they have finite resources and little or no supporting infrastructure.
Execs unhappy with their leadership developmentLeadership development seems to be going nowhere fast, with most senior executives dissatisfied with their organization's development offerings.
Consciousness, unconsciousness and leadershipBetrayal and mistrust are rampant in the corporate world of today which given the behaviour of our political leaders is hardly surprising. But it's not because our leaders are arrogant, greedy or contemptuous of others. It's because they're just not conscious of the effect their behavior has on the world around them.
More on Leadership . . .
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